In this app's computation Venus turns retrograde twice in the three years 2026 to 2028: in October 2026 for 41.7 days and in May 2028 for 43 days, moving direct through the whole of 2027. Below are the station dates, then what BPHS, Saravali and Advanced Predictive Astrology say about a retrograde planet and where Venus, a natural benefic, lands in their readings. For the planet itself see Venus in Vedic astrology; the term is defined at vakri.
Venus retrograde dates, 2026 to 2028
| Turns retrograde (UTC) | Turns direct (UTC) | Days | Sidereal sign and degree at each station | Signs crossed while retrograde |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 October 2026 | 14 November 2026 | 41.7 | Libra 14.26 to Virgo 28.62 | Libra, Virgo |
| 10 May 2028 | 22 June 2028 | 43 | Taurus 25.44 to Taurus 8.93 | Taurus |
Indian time is UTC plus 5 hours 30 minutes. Both 2028 stations come late in the UTC evening, at 23:50 on 10 May and 22:55 on 22 June, so in India Venus turns retrograde on 11 May 2028 (05:20 IST) and direct on 23 June 2028 (04:25 IST). The 2026 stations keep their dates in India, at 13:07 IST on 3 October and 05:55 IST on 14 November, and no station falls within an hour of Indian midnight.
The 2026 period begins at Libra 14.26, in one of the two signs Venus rules (BPHS Ch. 4 Sl. 15-16½). Moving backwards, Venus crosses into Virgo on 5 November 2026 at 19:33 UTC, which is 01:03 IST on 6 November, and turns direct at Virgo 28.62 before moving forward into Libra again. The 2028 period never leaves Taurus, the other sign Venus rules (BPHS Ch. 4 Sl. 8): it runs from Taurus 25.44 back to 8.93. Sign pages: Libra, Virgo and Taurus. The other retrograde pages cover Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
The engine's test for retrograde motion
The vakri page explains the engine's test, which compares Venus's longitude half a day either side of a moment; the station tool finds each turn to the minute and confirms it against the engine's own transit flag a day either side. Rahu and Ketu, the lunar nodes, are always counted retrograde, as BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 3-4 itself describes them; the Sun and Moon never are.
What BPHS, Saravali and a modern book say about a retrograde Venus
Unlike Mercury, Venus needs no chart test to settle which side of these readings it sits on. BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 11 counts Venus among the benefics, and Saravali Ch. 4 Sl. 9 names Jupiter, Mercury and Venus as benefics by nature, with a malefic proviso for Mercury alone. That decides how the verses below read for Venus.
| Source | What it says | Where that leaves Venus |
|---|---|---|
| BPHS Ch. 27 Sl. 21-23 | Of eight motions for Mars to Saturn, Vakr (retrograde) is rated 60, the highest, and Anuvakr (entering the previous sign while retrograde) 30 | Strength |
| Saravali Ch. 4 Sl. 36 | Retrograde motion is among the things that make a planet strong | Strength |
| Saravali Ch. 5 Sl. 39 | A retrograde benefic is strong and able to confer a kingdom; a retrograde malefic brings grief and purposeless wandering | The benefic half applies |
| Saravali Ch. 41 Sl. 66-68 | The dasha of a retrograde planet brings wandering, troubles and enmity, but this holds for malefics only, not benefics | Exempt, as a benefic |
| Advanced Predictive Astrology Vol. II p. 325 | A planet retrograde at birth is generally adverse, felt on health in its dasha; even a retrograde benefic cannot keep health sound | Adverse, benefic or not |
| Advanced Predictive Astrology Vol. II p. 124 | Rule 18: the dasha and antardasha of retrograde planets are never good | Adverse, with no exception |
For a benefic the books part company sharply: Saravali spares a retrograde benefic the troubled-dasha reading, while Advanced Predictive Astrology makes no exception for one. In this app's simplified Shad Bala a retrograde Venus earns the Chesta (motional) point, which the engine's comment cites to a handbook (Kannan p. 23), not to these books.
BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 49-50 and Saravali Ch. 3 Sl. 35-36 agree on Venus's extremes: exalted in Pisces with the deepest point at 27 degrees, and debilitated in Virgo, the seventh sign from it, with the deepest fall at the same 27 degrees. Neither period touches Pisces, so Saravali Ch. 5 Sl. 14 does not come into play. That verse reports a view "held by some" that a planet retrograde in its exaltation sign, or one that reaches that sign by moving back into it from the sign after it, produces no effect. The 2026 period is the mirror case: Venus reaches Virgo, its debilitation sign, by moving back from Libra, and turns direct at Virgo 28.62, 1.62 degrees before the deep-fall point, so it never reaches 27. Sl. 14 speaks of exaltation only, and this page attaches no reading to the debilitation case.
BPHS Ch. 27 Sl. 21-23 also gives the 2026 period a second name. Retrograde motion as such is Vakr, rated 60; entering the previous sign while retrograde is Anuvakr, rated 30, and the 2026 period does that when it carries Venus from Libra back into Virgo on 5 November (UTC). The 2028 period, which stays inside Taurus, is Vakr only. This app does not draw that distinction: its Chesta point is the same for any retrograde Venus.
The engine changes one more limit for a retrograde Venus: it marks Venus combust within 10 degrees of the Sun, but within only 8 when Venus is retrograde, a pair of limits its code comment quotes from Kannan (p. 18); Mercury is the only other planet given a separate retrograde limit.
BPHS Ch. 70 Sl. 1-6 reads marriage, enjoyments and conveyances from Venus; Saravali Ch. 7 Sl. 7-13 gives it diamonds, ornaments, scents, friends, marriage, education and gold, among other things; and Saravali Ch. 4 Sl. 1-2 makes Venus the comforts of the Kalapurusha. A search of BPHS, Saravali and Advanced Predictive Astrology found no passage that tells a reader to avoid or postpone a wedding, an engagement, or a purchase of jewellery or a vehicle while Venus is retrograde in the sky. This app's Muhurat calculator does not read Venus's position or its retrograde flag at all.
Advanced Predictive Astrology is the only one of the three that reads retrogression in transit, and it does so narrowly. On p. 308 it says events are set moving when certain planets, which it names as the ascendant lord, the 10th lord and the running dasha and sub-period lords, combust, rise, retrograde or change sign. Venus is the ascendant lord for Taurus and Libra ascendants and the 10th lord for Leo and Capricorn ascendants, so for those charts, and in a Venus period, the book counts these stations among such moments, without saying what the events are. On p. 259, for a natal chart, it quotes The Times of Astrology: a retrograde planet usually leaves a deficiency in one side of the house it occupies.
Retrograde Venus in a birth chart and in the sky: what this app shows
For a birth chart, the birth chart calculator applies the engine's test to the birth moment and marks Venus retrograde when its longitude was falling. Venus is flagged in 220 of 3,000 sampled birth moments from 1985 to 2060, or 7.3 percent; that is a property of the sky in the sample, not a count of people. BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 3-4 gives the dasha rule tied to it: a graha's effects arrive at the start, middle or end of its dasha according to its decanate, and in reverse order if it is retrograde. The Venus Mahadasha page covers that period, and the Shad Bala calculator shows the motional point.
For the sky, the Gochar calculator reports the same flag beside Venus's sign and degree. Its verdict for Venus depends only on the house Venus occupies counted from your Moon sign, so a retrograde and a direct Venus in the same house get the same verdict. The Daily reading does use the flag: a graha retrograde in transit loses one point from its score for the day.
What to take care of
Advanced Predictive Astrology Vol. II p. 325 is the one cited text that ties a retrograde transit to difficulty, and it does so for a condition in the birth chart: a person born with a retrograde 6th lord in the ascendant may meet repeated trouble at work, with promotions or transfers held up, while that planet is retrograde in transit, and the matter moves once it turns direct. The same page reads a planet retrograde at birth, a benefic included, as generally adverse for health in its own dasha. Saravali Ch. 5 Sl. 39 and Ch. 41 Sl. 66-68 read a retrograde benefic the other way, so the books differ. The points below are ordinary care for readers whose chart meets those conditions, not rules from any text:
- Venus rules the 6th house for Taurus and Sagittarius ascendants. If yours is one of them and Venus was retrograde in your ascendant at birth, the book's example describes your chart: leave extra time for a promotion, transfer or approval whose decision falls inside one of the two periods in the table. The birth chart calculator shows both the ascendant and the retrograde flag.
- If Venus was retrograde at birth and the Vimshottari Dasha calculator shows a Venus Mahadasha or a Venus sub-period running, the book's health remark concerns that period, not the station dates: book the routine check-up you have been putting off. This is not a diagnosis - see a doctor for any symptom.
- Do not postpone or cancel a sound plan, a signing or a purchase only because of these dates. None of the three books asks for that, and this app does not.
- How many times is Venus retrograde between 2026 and 2028?
- Twice in this app's computation: from 3 October to 14 November 2026 (41.7 days) and from 10 May to 22 June 2028 (43 days), both in UTC. By Indian dates the 2028 period runs from 11 May to 23 June. Venus is direct throughout 2027.
- Do the texts say not to marry, or not to buy jewellery or a vehicle, while Venus is retrograde?
- No. A search of BPHS, Saravali and Advanced Predictive Astrology found no passage telling a reader to avoid or postpone a wedding, an engagement or such a purchase while Venus is retrograde in the sky. This app's Muhurat calculator does not read Venus's motion either.
- What happens when Venus moves back into Virgo in November 2026?
- Venus re-enters Virgo, its debilitation sign, on 5 November 2026 at 19:33 UTC (6 November in India) and turns direct at Virgo 28.62, short of the 27-degree deep-fall point. BPHS Ch. 27 calls this Anuvakr. Saravali's verse on retrograde entry speaks of exaltation only, so this page attaches no reading to it.
- How do I know whether Venus was retrograde when I was born?
- Enter your birth details in the birth chart calculator; Venus carries the retrograde flag when its longitude was falling across the day around your birth moment.
- Why might another site give a different date for a Venus station?
- Venus is nearly stationary for days around each station, so a difference of hours is normal. The dates here are UTC, and both 2028 stations fall on the following calendar date in India. Signs and degrees are sidereal (Lahiri); a tropical chart shows different degrees for the same moment.
Gochar Transits Today
All nine grahas' signs today, read from your natal Moon and not your ascendant.
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