Venus Retrograde 2026: Dates, Meaning and the 8-Year Cycle

Venus is retrograde from October 3 to November 13, 2026 in US time zones (November 14 in Universal Time). It turns retrograde at 8°29′ Scorpio, slips back into Libra on October 25, and turns direct at 22°51′ Libra, about 42 days in all. Venus does this every 19 months, and in astrology the period is read as a time to review love, values and money rather than start something new. Below are the exact dates, calculated with the Swiss Ephemeris, the astronomy behind the illusion, and every Venus retrograde from 2009 to 2034.

In this guide

1. Venus retrograde 2026: every date
2. What Venus retrograde actually is
3. How often Venus goes retrograde
4. The eight-year echo
5. Every Venus retrograde, 2009 to 2034
6. Venus and Mercury retrograde together
7. What Venus retrograde is traditionally read as meaning
8. Venus retrograde in Scorpio and Libra
9. Born with Venus retrograde
10. Frequently asked questions

Venus retrograde 2026: every date

We calculated every event below with the Swiss Ephemeris, the reference behind professional astrology software. Times are given in Universal Time (UT) and in US Eastern time, which switches from daylight saving (EDT) to standard time (EST) on November 1.

The “shadow” dates mark the stretch of the zodiac that Venus will cover three times: forward before the retrograde, backward during it and forward again after it. Many astrologers treat the shadow weeks as a build-up and a wind-down, so for practical planning the whole window runs from late August to mid-December. Our guide to your Venus sign explains what this means for anyone born during the retrograde.

What Venus retrograde actually is

Venus never actually reverses. Every planet keeps moving forward in its orbit; a retrograde is what it looks like from a moving Earth. NASA’s StarChild site puts it plainly:

“Retrograde motion is an APPARENT change in the movement of the planet through the sky. It is not REAL in that the planet does not physically start moving backwards in its orbit.”

— NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, StarChild: “What does it mean for Mercury to be in retrograde?”

For Venus, the illusion happens when Venus, on its faster inner orbit, overtakes Earth. As it swings between Earth and the Sun, its position against the background stars appears to slide backwards for about six weeks. The midpoint of the retrograde is the moment Venus passes directly between us and the Sun, called inferior conjunction; in 2026 that falls on October 23, 11:44 p.m. EDT, at 0°45′ Scorpio. Around that date Venus is lost in the Sun’s glare. Before it, Venus is the bright “evening star” after sunset; after it, Venus reappears as the “morning star” before dawn. Many astrologers call that conjunction a Venus cazimi, the heart of the Sun, and read it as the turning point of the retrograde.

How often Venus goes retrograde

Venus turns retrograde once every 19 months or so, because that is how long it takes to lap Earth: NASA’s Venus fact sheet gives this synodic period as 583.92 days. The gap between retrogrades from 2009 to 2034 ranged from 580 to 588 days. Each retrograde lasts 41 to 43 days, which makes Venus the planet that spends the least time retrograde: 7.2% of all days from 1900 to 2099, compared with 19.2% for Mercury and 9.5% for Mars.

That figure is old news. In Christian Astrology, published in London in 1647, William Lilly gave almost exactly the same length in his chapter on Venus:

“she is two dayes stationary before retrogradation, and so many before direction, and doth usually continue retrograde 42 dayes.”

— William Lilly, Christian Astrology (London, 1647), p. 73, original spelling

Lilly was right to within a day. Watching Venus’s cycle is far older still: the British Museum holds a 7th-century BC copy of the Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa, a Babylonian record of when Venus appeared and vanished, used for omens (museum number K.160). Our history of where the zodiac signs came from follows that Babylonian thread.

The eight-year echo

Five of Venus’s 583.92-day cycles add up to 2,919.6 days, about two days short of eight years. So every eight years, Venus turns retrograde in nearly the same place and at nearly the same time of year, a couple of days earlier and about 2.4° further back each time. Over those eight years the five retrogrades fall in five different parts of the zodiac, and joined in order they trace a five-pointed star, often called the Venus pentagram. The current set is Aries and Pisces (2025), Scorpio and Libra (2026), Gemini (2028), Capricorn (2029–30) and Leo (2031).

The Scorpio and Libra retrograde of 2026 belongs to a series you can follow back and forward:

If you remember what love, money or your sense of what matters looked like in October and November 2018, astrologers would say this is the same theme coming round again.

Every Venus retrograde, 2009 to 2034

Dates are in Universal Time, so a station late in the day can fall on the previous evening in the Americas. The 2026 row is in bold. The last Venus retrograde before this one ran from March 2 to April 13, 2025, in Aries and Pisces; the next begins May 10, 2028 in Gemini.

Venus and Mercury retrograde together

Mercury stations retrograde on October 24, 2026, a few hours after the Venus–Sun conjunction, and both planets turn direct within about nine hours of each other on November 13 in US time. That gives about 20 days with both retrograde at once. Some posts and videos have called it a rare double retrograde, but it is not rare: of the 125 Venus retrogrades from 1900 to 2099, 72 (58%) overlap a Mercury retrograde. What is unusual this time is the length of the overlap, about 20 days against an average of 14 when they coincide. Our guide to what Mercury retrograde actually means covers the faster cycle.

What Venus retrograde is traditionally read as meaning

In astrology, Venus stands for love, attraction, pleasure, beauty and money, and a retrograde planet is read as turning its themes inward and backward. Lilly counted a retrograde planet as weakened, scoring it 5 points against on his table of accidental debilities (Christian Astrology, p. 115). Modern astrologers frame it less as bad luck than as a review period:

The reputation for exes reappearing comes from the same “review and revisit” theme. There is no evidence that a planet’s apparent motion changes anyone’s behavior, so read these as traditional associations, not rules.

Venus retrograde in Scorpio and Libra

The 2026 retrograde starts in Scorpio, where Venus is in its traditional detriment, and backs into Libra, one of the two signs it rules. In the language of essential dignities, the retrograde moves Venus from its weakest sign into one of its strongest, which astrologers read as a shift from intense, private matters of trust and desire (Scorpio) to questions of fairness and partnership (Libra). Traditionally the people said to feel it most are those with the Sun, Moon, Venus or rising sign between 22°51′ Libra and 8°29′ Scorpio, plus Taurus and Libra, the signs Venus rules. Our profiles of Scorpio and Libra describe both signs in full.

Born with Venus retrograde

Because Venus is retrograde only about one day in fourteen, being born with it is uncommon but not rare: using the Swiss Ephemeris for the 85.4 million US births from 1994 to 2014, 7.1% had Venus retrograde. Astrologers often read natal Venus retrograde as someone who takes longer to trust in love and forms their own, unconventional sense of what is beautiful or valuable. Babies born between October 3 and November 13, 2026 will join that group. To see where Venus and the other planets were when you were born, try our Stellium Calculator, which lists all ten bodies, or the Birth Chart calculator for your Sun, Moon and rising sign.

Frequently asked questions

When is Venus retrograde in 2026?+

From October 3 to November 13, 2026 in US time zones (October 3 to November 14 in Universal Time). Venus turns retrograde at 8°29′ Scorpio and direct at 22°51′ Libra, moving back from Scorpio into Libra on October 25.

Is Venus retrograde in March 2026?+

No. The Venus retrograde before this one ran from March 2 to April 13, 2025. The only Venus retrograde in 2026 is the one from October 3 to November 13.

When is the next Venus retrograde after 2026?+

May 10 to June 22, 2028, in Gemini. After that comes December 2029 to January 2030 in Capricorn.

What is the Venus retrograde shadow period?+

The weeks before and after the retrograde when Venus is crossing the same degrees it will retrace or has just retraced. In 2026 the shadow runs from August 31, when Venus first reaches 22°51′ Libra, to December 15, when it passes 8°29′ Scorpio again.

What should you not do during Venus retrograde?+

Traditionally, astrologers advise against starting new relationships, making dramatic changes to your appearance and making big luxury or financial commitments, and favor reviewing and repairing instead. These are traditional associations, not evidence-based rules.

Do exes come back during Venus retrograde?+

Astrologers associate Venus retrograde with revisiting the past, so the idea that exes reappear is a popular reading of it. There is no evidence that it actually happens more often, so treat it as a prompt for reflection rather than a prediction.

How often is Venus retrograde?+

About every 19 months (583.92 days, NASA’s synodic period for Venus), for 41 to 43 days at a time. Venus is retrograde about 7.2% of the time, less than any other planet.