Jupiter Transit Astrology: Jupiter Retrograde in Leo, Dec 2026 to Jul 2027

Under Jupiter, everything gets bigger: the opportunities, the appetite, and sometimes the mess. In Jupiter transit astrology, that's the whole character of the planet, and right now Jupiter is about to slow down over the last part of Leo.

Here's the short answer. Jupiter stations retrograde on December 12, 2026, at 27°01' Leo, turns direct on April 12, 2027, at 17°00' Leo, and leaves its shadow on July 11, 2027. Two weeks later, on July 26, 2027, it moves into Virgo. So if you have anything between about 17° and 27° of Leo, Taurus, Scorpio or Aquarius, Jupiter's loop runs from this autumn into next summer.

How a Jupiter transit works

Jupiter takes about twelve years to go around the zodiac, so it spends about a year in each sign. It entered Leo on June 30, 2026, and it leaves on July 26, 2027. While it's there, it moves through whichever of your natal houses fall in Leo, and it touches any natal planet it meets: conjunct in Leo, square in Taurus and Scorpio, opposite in Aquarius.

On its own, Jupiter crosses a degree in a few days. What makes a Jupiter transit last months is the retrograde loop. Every year Jupiter stops, backs up about ten degrees, and goes forward again, and any degree inside that loop gets crossed three times. If you're new to reading a transit's whole length, we walk through the phases in how long an astrological transit period lasts.

Jupiter's 2026–2027 arc, dated

• June 30, 2026: Jupiter entered Leo.
• September 17, 2026: Jupiter reached 17°00' Leo, the degree where it will later turn direct. That's the start of the pre-retrograde shadow.
• November 16, 2026: Mars catches up with Jupiter at 25°53' Leo. Mars is in its own pre-retrograde shadow by then, so both planets will come back over this ground.
• December 12, 2026: Jupiter stations retrograde at 27°01' Leo.
• April 12, 2027: Jupiter stations direct at 17°00' Leo.
• July 11, 2027: Jupiter gets back to 27°01' Leo and leaves its shadow.
• July 26, 2027: Jupiter enters Virgo.

All dates are US Eastern time, calculated with the Swiss Ephemeris.

Three examples

These are general examples, not readings of anyone's chart. Starlit Journey uses a 1.5° orb for Jupiter, so a transit starts when Jupiter comes within 1.5° of the exact aspect and ends when it moves past that.

Natal Sun at 20° Leo

Jupiter first meets this Sun on October 6, 2026. It backs over it on February 22, 2027, during the retrograde, and crosses it a last time on June 1, 2027. It separates on June 12, 2027. In between, Jupiter drifts out of orb for a few months at a time, so the transit tends to come in waves rather than one long stretch. A Jupiter conjunction to the Sun is often read as a year of more: more visibility, more invitations, more of whatever you're already building.

Natal Moon at 22° Taurus

Here Jupiter makes a square. The exact hits fall on October 18, 2026, February 7, 2027 (retrograde) and June 15, 2027, and it separates on June 24, 2027. A Jupiter square to the Moon can read as a pull between comfort and growth: wanting more room, and noticing what you're attached to. The same dates apply to a Venus at 22° Aquarius, which Jupiter opposes on those days.

Something at 27° or 28° Leo

Degrees near the station behave differently. A point at about 27°30' Leo comes into orb on November 17, 2026, while Jupiter is slowing down. Jupiter turns around just short of it on December 12, then lets go in early January. The only exact hit comes much later, on July 13, 2027, and the transit separates on July 21. That's a long, quiet build with one late peak.

If your 5th house is in Leo, Jupiter spends the whole loop there, in the part of the chart linked with creativity, romance and play. If it's your 10th, the loop runs through work and public life.

What Jupiter tends to ask

Jupiter was the king of the Roman gods, generous and expansive, the one who handed out gifts. That's the archetype: abundance, faith, the bigger picture. The catch is that Jupiter expands whatever it touches, the good and the bad. So a Jupiter transit is less "good luck" and more a question of discernment. Water the plants you want to grow, and watch for the weeds.

A few open questions for the retrograde months:

• Which of this year's new openings actually fit you, and which ones were just exciting?
• Where has "more" helped, and where has it only made things louder?
• What's one thing that was only beginning last spring that deserves more room now?
• If Jupiter is a magnifying glass, what has it shown you that needs to change?

None of this says what will happen. It's the shape of the transit: when it starts, when it peaks, and when it ends. Saturn turns direct two days before Jupiter turns retrograde, so if you're tracking both, here's where Saturn's December 10 station leaves things. And because Mars meets Jupiter in this same stretch of Leo, it's worth reading alongside the full Mars retrograde 2027 timeline. For how all of this fits together, start with how planetary transits work.

See your own arc

Want the long view of 2027 in one place? The free 2027 Transit Planner is just below: every slow transit of the year, by date and degree, with space to plan.

And if you'd like to see exactly where Jupiter's loop crosses your own chart, Starlit Journey maps every active transit as a full arc, from entry to separation. The positions come from the Swiss Ephemeris. The plain-language notes on each phase are written by AI, and labeled that way.