Mercury governs thought, speech & commerce. A Mercury transit is its movement through the sidereal zodiac — each sign change, retrograde and combustion colours how thought, speech & commerce plays out for everyone. Below are Mercury's 32 moves in 2026; pick another year to the right.
| Date | Planet | Transit | Rāśi (sign) | Nakshatra · pada | Status | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | ||||||
| Sat17Jan | Mercury | Sign change | ♐︎ Sagittarius♑︎ Capricorn | Uttara Ashadha · 2 | ☀ Combust | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Sagittarius for Capricorn. |
| February | ||||||
| Tue3Feb | Mercury | Sign change | ♑︎ Capricorn♒︎ Aquarius | Dhanishtha · 3 | ☀ Combust | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Capricorn for Aquarius. |
| Tue10Feb | Mercury | Combust clears | Aquarius | Shatabhisha · 2 | — | Mercury steps clear of the Sun — its light, and its significations, return. |
| Thu26Feb | Mercury | Retrograde | Aquarius | Purva Bhadrapada · 3 | ℞ Retro | Mercury turns retrograde — a spell to revisit and refine thought, speech & commerce, not to begin. |
| Fri27Feb | Mercury | Combust begins | Aquarius | Purva Bhadrapada · 3 | ℞ Retro☀ Combust | Mercury slips into the Sun's glare — its themes dim and turn erratic for a while. |
| March | ||||||
| Sun15Mar | Mercury | Combust clears | Aquarius | Shatabhisha · 3 | ℞ Retro | Mercury steps clear of the Sun — its light, and its significations, return. |
| Sat21Mar | Mercury | Direct | Aquarius | Shatabhisha · 3 | — | Mercury turns direct — thought, speech & commerce picks the thread back up and moves forward. |
| April | ||||||
| Sat11Apr | Mercury | Sign change | ♒︎ Aquarius♓︎ Pisces | Purva Bhadrapada · 4 | — | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Aquarius for Pisces. |
| Thu30Apr | Mercury | Sign change | ♓︎ Pisces♈︎ Aries | Ashwini · 1 | — | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Pisces for Aries. |
| May | ||||||
| Sat2May | Mercury | Combust begins | Aries | Ashwini · 1 | ☀ Combust | Mercury slips into the Sun's glare — its themes dim and turn erratic for a while. |
| Fri15May | Mercury | Sign change | ♈︎ Aries♉︎ Taurus | Krittika · 2 | ☀ Combust | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Aries for Taurus. |
| Wed27May | Mercury | Combust clears | Taurus | Mrigashira · 1 | — | Mercury steps clear of the Sun — its light, and its significations, return. |
| Fri29May | Mercury | Sign change | ♉︎ Taurus♊︎ Gemini | Mrigashira · 3 | — | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Taurus for Gemini. |
| June | ||||||
| Mon22Jun | Mercury | Sign change | ♊︎ Gemini♋︎ Cancer | Punarvasu · 4 | — | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Gemini for Cancer. |
| Mon29Jun | Mercury | Retrograde | Cancer | Punarvasu · 4 | ℞ Retro | Mercury turns retrograde — a spell to revisit and refine thought, speech & commerce, not to begin. |
| July | ||||||
| Fri3Jul | Mercury | Combust begins | Cancer | Punarvasu · 4 | ℞ Retro☀ Combust | Mercury slips into the Sun's glare — its themes dim and turn erratic for a while. |
| Tue7Jul | Mercury | Sign change | ♋︎ Cancer♊︎ Gemini | Punarvasu · 3 | ℞ Retro☀ Combust | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Cancer for Gemini. |
| Thu23Jul | Mercury | Combust clears | Gemini | Punarvasu · 1 | ℞ Retro | Mercury steps clear of the Sun — its light, and its significations, return. |
| Fri24Jul | Mercury | Direct | Gemini | Punarvasu · 1 | — | Mercury turns direct — thought, speech & commerce picks the thread back up and moves forward. |
| August | ||||||
| Wed5Aug | Mercury | Sign change | ♊︎ Gemini♋︎ Cancer | Punarvasu · 4 | — | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Gemini for Cancer. |
| Fri14Aug | Mercury | Combust begins | Cancer | Pushya · 3 | ☀ Combust | Mercury slips into the Sun's glare — its themes dim and turn erratic for a while. |
| Sat22Aug | Mercury | Sign change | ♋︎ Cancer♌︎ Leo | Magha · 1 | ☀ Combust | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Cancer for Leo. |
| September | ||||||
| Mon7Sep | Mercury | Sign change | ♌︎ Leo♍︎ Virgo | Uttara Phalguni · 2 | ☀ Combust | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Leo for Virgo. |
| Sun13Sep | Mercury | Combust clears | Virgo | Hasta · 1 | — | Mercury steps clear of the Sun — its light, and its significations, return. |
| Sat26Sep | Mercury | Sign change | ♍︎ Virgo♎︎ Libra | Chitra · 3 | — | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Virgo for Libra. |
| October | ||||||
| Sat24Oct | Mercury | Retrograde | Libra | Vishakha · 3 | ℞ Retro | Mercury turns retrograde — a spell to revisit and refine thought, speech & commerce, not to begin. |
| Thu29Oct | Mercury | Combust begins | Libra | Vishakha · 2 | ℞ Retro☀ Combust | Mercury slips into the Sun's glare — its themes dim and turn erratic for a while. |
| November | ||||||
| Thu12Nov | Mercury | Combust clears | Libra | Swati · 2 | ℞ Retro | Mercury steps clear of the Sun — its light, and its significations, return. |
| Fri13Nov | Mercury | Direct | Libra | Swati · 2 | — | Mercury turns direct — thought, speech & commerce picks the thread back up and moves forward. |
| December | ||||||
| Wed2Dec | Mercury | Sign change | ♎︎ Libra♏︎ Scorpio | Vishakha · 4 | — | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Libra for Scorpio. |
| Mon7Dec | Mercury | Combust begins | Scorpio | Anuradha · 1 | ☀ Combust | Mercury slips into the Sun's glare — its themes dim and turn erratic for a while. |
| Tue22Dec | Mercury | Sign change | ♏︎ Scorpio♐︎ Sagittarius | Mula · 1 | ☀ Combust | A fresh chapter for thought, speech & commerce — Mercury leaves Scorpio for Sagittarius. |
Every ingress (from → to), retrograde/direct station and combustion begin/end — computed from full-precision VSOP87B ephemerides with the Lahiri ayanamsa. The Status column carries a planet's ongoing retrograde / combustion until it changes. Dates are IST and may shift a day for your timezone.
The live transit board shows where every planet — the Moon included — is right now, on a gochar chart, and lets you step to any month or year.
Open the live transit board →It's Mercury moving from one rāśi (and nakshatra) to the next in the sky. Because Mercury rules thought, speech & commerce, its transits time shifts in those areas for everyone — sharpened when it stations retrograde or direct, or moves in and out of the Sun's combustion.
A transit is where a planet is in the sky at a given time, as opposed to where it was at your birth. Vedic astrology reads these moving positions — which sign and nakshatra each graha occupies, and whether it is retrograde or combust — to time the texture of a period.
A planet stays retrograde from its retrograde station until its direct station, and combust while it is within a few degrees of the Sun. The Status column flags that ongoing state on every event in between — so a sign change that happens while a planet is still retrograde is marked as such.
Positions use the Lahiri ayanamsa from full-precision VSOP87B ephemerides. The eight non-Moon grahas are listed (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu); the Moon changes sign every ~2¼ days, so it is shown on the live board instead.