2026 Astrology Calendar: Every Retrograde, Eclipse, Ingress, and Moon Phase

If you want one page that holds the whole astrological year, this is it. 2026 is a year of slow-planet relocation: Neptune and Saturn both settle into Aries, Uranus moves into Gemini, and Jupiter crosses into Leo at midyear, while Pluto holds steady in Aquarius. Layered on top are four eclipses (a pair in February–March, a pair in August), three Mercury retrogrades, and a Venus retrograde in the autumn. Every date below is computed from the Swiss Ephemeris — the same engine professional astrologers use — and given in Universal Time (UT).

How to read these dates. All times are UT. An event timed near midnight UT can fall on the adjacent calendar day in your own timezone, so when a date matters for a ritual or a decision, check it against your local clock. Degrees are rounded to the nearest tenth.

The Big Shifts of 2026: Where the Slow Planets Go

The fast inner planets set the texture of a given week. The slow planets set the backdrop for the whole year, and 2026 has an unusually busy one — three of them change signs, which only happens a handful of times a decade.

Neptune Enters Aries (January 26)

Neptune first touched Aries in 2025, slipped back into Pisces, and on January 26, 2026 it commits to Aries for the long haul. After more than a decade dissolving boundaries in watery Pisces, Neptune in fiery, initiating Aries shifts the collective imagination from "merge and surrender" toward "begin and assert." It stays in early Aries all year (it retrogrades July 7 and stations direct December 12, never leaving the sign).

Saturn Enters Aries (February 14)

On February 14, 2026, Saturn joins Neptune in Aries — a once-in-29-years ingress. Saturn in Aries asks where you need structure around action, courage, and self-direction rather than around other people's expectations. Its first long pass runs all year (Saturn retrogrades July 26 and stations direct December 10). We cover this transit in depth in the guide to Saturn in Aries 2026.

Uranus Enters Gemini (April 26)

Uranus leaves Taurus — where it spent seven years shaking up money, food, and the physical world — and enters Gemini on April 26, 2026. Uranus in Gemini points the disruptive, inventive charge toward communication, information, transport, and how we think and talk. It then retrogrades back toward the Taurus–Gemini cusp in September, so the first taste of this multi-year shift is brief.

Jupiter Enters Leo (June 30)

At midyear, on June 30, 2026, Jupiter moves from Cancer into Leo, opening a roughly year-long chapter of expansion in the house Leo occupies in your chart. The midyear transits around this ingress are mapped day by day in the July 2026 planetary transits guide.

Pluto Holds in Aquarius (All Year)

Pluto spends all of 2026 in Aquarius, retrograding May 6 and stationing direct October 16 without changing signs. It is the steady deep-water current under everything else — the slow transformation of power, technology, and collective structures that continues through the decade.

2026 Eclipses

Eclipses are the year's pressure points: supercharged new and full moons that tend to accelerate beginnings and endings. 2026 has two eclipse seasons.

The February–March pair runs along the Aquarius–Virgo themes of community, systems, and daily order; the August pair lights up the Leo–Pisces axis of self-expression and surrender. The August 12 Total Solar Eclipse in Leo is the headline event — total solar eclipses are rare and tend to mark genuine turning points in the house and life area they touch.

2026 Retrogrades

A retrograde is not a delay imposed on you; it is a window the sky leaves open for review. The cleaner read is "revisit, refine, finish" rather than "launch."

Mercury Retrograde 2026: Three Windows

Mercury turns retrograde three times in 2026, each time in a different element, so each window has a different flavor.

If you track only one set of dates, these are the most useful for everyday planning — back up devices, double-check agreements, and expect conversations to circle back. For how a Mercury phase interacts with mood, see Mercury retrograde vs. moon anxiety.

Venus Retrograde in Scorpio–Libra (October–November)

Venus stations retrograde on October 3 at 8.5° Scorpio and backs into Libra before stationing direct on November 14 at 22.9° Libra. Venus retrograde is the year's relationship-and-values review — old connections resurface, and it is traditionally read as a time to reconsider rather than to begin something new in love or money.

Outer-Planet Stations

The slow planets each station twice, marking the midpoints of their yearly review cycles.

*Jupiter and Uranus carry retrogrades in from late 2025; the listed direct station is when that earlier cycle ends.

2026 New & Full Moons

Twelve to thirteen of each across the year. The four eclipse lunations are marked. New moons start cycles; full moons bring them to a head.

Two of these have dedicated guides: the Capricorn full moon on June 29 and the Aquarius full moon on July 29.

Month-by-Month: Where to Go Deeper

The tables above are the full year at a glance. For day-by-day context — which transit lands when, and how the dates string together into a story — two months have detailed walkthroughs so far:

• June 2026 planetary transits — Cancer season opens, a Gemini new moon resets mid-month, and a Mercury retrograde closes it out.
• July 2026 planetary transits — Jupiter enters Leo while the Mercury retrograde finally lifts.

For the broader mechanics of how moving planets interact with a fixed birth chart, keep the overview of astrological transits handy.

How to Use This Calendar With Your Own Chart

A calendar of the sky only becomes personal when you lay it over your own birth chart. The single skill that makes every date here legible is knowing which house each sign rules for you.

1. Find your houses. Learn the framework in how to read a birth chart and the guide to the astrological houses. The house that holds, say, Leo tells you where Jupiter's midyear expansion lands for you specifically.
2. Map the slow shifts first. Note which houses hold Aries (Saturn and Neptune), Gemini (Uranus), Leo (Jupiter), and Aquarius (Pluto). Those four areas carry the year's main themes.
3. Use the moons as checkpoints. When a new or full moon lands in a sign, find that house and treat it as a beginning or a culmination in that life area.

None of this is a prediction. It is a vocabulary for noticing shifts in pace and priority that you can check against your own weeks and keep or discard.

Questions People Ask About 2026 Astrology

What are the biggest astrology events of 2026?

The standouts are Saturn and Neptune both entering Aries (February 14 and January 26), Uranus entering Gemini (April 26), Jupiter entering Leo (June 30), and the Total Solar Eclipse in Leo on August 12. These slow-planet ingresses reshape the backdrop for years, not just months.

When is Mercury retrograde in 2026?

Three times: February 26 to March 20 (Pisces), June 29 to July 23 (Cancer), and October 24 to November 13 (Scorpio).

What are the 2026 eclipse dates?

Four eclipses: an Annular Solar Eclipse on February 17 (Aquarius), a Total Lunar Eclipse on March 3 (Virgo), a Total Solar Eclipse on August 12 (Leo), and a Partial Lunar Eclipse on August 28 (Pisces).

Is 2026 a big astrology year?

Yes, in the sense that three slow planets change signs — Neptune, Saturn, and Uranus — which is uncommon. Years with multiple outer-planet ingresses tend to feel like the ground is shifting under longer-term themes rather than just day-to-day events.

Related Reading

• Saturn in Aries 2026 — the year's defining Saturn ingress, in depth
• June 2026 planetary transits — the month-by-month walkthrough
• July 2026 planetary transits — Jupiter's move into Leo
• Full moon June 29, 2026 and full moon July 29, 2026
• How to read a birth chart and the astrological houses
• Overview of astrological transits

Sources & Method

Every date and position on this page is computed, not copied. A daily scan at 00:00 UT detects each sign ingress, retrograde and direct station, and new and full moon across 2026; each event is then refined to its exact moment by bisection. Eclipse times come from the Swiss Ephemeris global eclipse functions. The generator script lives in the repository and can be re-run to verify any figure. Times are UT; convert to your timezone for local timing.