Retrograde Calendar
About Retrograde Calendar
Station times, degrees, durations, and shadow periods for every retrograde of the year — computed astronomy, not folklore.
No planet ever backs up; the loop is a trick of parallax as Earth laps a slower world or is lapped by a faster one. The tradition reads it accordingly. A changes a planet's gear, not its meaning; matters under its sponsorship come round again for review, revision, repair. The days that carry real weight are the , when a planet stands still to turn. Mark those dates, not the whole stretch.
☿︎Mercury retrograde 1778· three times this year
The classic season of crossed wires; three or four short spells a year. Re-read, re-confirm, back up the files; let the signature wait for the turning day if it can.
Retrograde 22 Jan – 13 Feb (3 weeks), 18°37' Aquarius back to 3°00' Aquarius; shadow from 07 Jan to 05 Mar. Stations at 19:24 and 00:09 UT.
Retrograde 21 May – 14 Jun (3 weeks), 15°50' Gemini back to 7°17' Gemini; shadow from 06 May to 29 Jun. Stations at 06:17 and 04:36 UT.
Retrograde 19 Sep – 10 Oct (3 weeks), 17°31' Libra back to 2°18' Libra; shadow from 29 Aug to 26 Oct. Stations at 04:01 and 18:49 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1778· once this year
Retrograde 17 Dec – 27 Jan 1779 (6 weeks), 24°30' Capricorn back to 9°05' Capricorn; shadow from 15 Nov to 28 Feb 1779. Stations at 12:56 and 11:34 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1778· not retrograde this year
Mars holds a straight course through 1778; no spell, no shadow, no station to mark.
The slow planets
Jupiter outward, a planet spends four to five months of every year retrograde; that is ordinary weather, not an event. The slower the planet, the longer the spell and the less it asks of any single day. Mark the stations; the rest is season.
♃︎Jupiter retrograde 1778· once this year
Retrograde 12 Dec 1777 – 12 Apr (17 weeks), 26°53' Leo back to 16°51' Leo; shadow from 16 Sep 1777 to 10 Jul. Stations at 11:17 and 17:59 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1778· once this year
Retrograde 22 Feb – 12 Jul (20 weeks), 15°17' Scorpio back to 8°37' Scorpio; shadow from 18 Nov 1777 to 18 Oct. Stations at 12:53 and 09:35 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1778· twice this year
Retrograde 20 Sep 1777 – 17 Feb (21 weeks), 15°18' Gemini back to 11°16' Gemini; shadow from 04 Jun 1777 to 04 Jun. Stations at 10:46 and 14:18 UT.
Retrograde 25 Sep – 22 Feb 1779 (21 weeks), 19°40' Gemini back to 15°36' Gemini; shadow from 09 Jun to 08 Jun 1779. Stations at 02:50 and 02:29 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1778· once this year
Retrograde 31 Dec 1777 – 07 Jun (23 weeks), 29°17' Virgo back to 26°30' Virgo; shadow from 10 Sep 1777 to 28 Sep. Stations at 02:41 and 02:34 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1778· once this year
Retrograde 02 May – 12 Oct (23 weeks), 1°51' Aquarius back to 29°25' Capricorn; shadow from 08 Jan to 03 Feb 1779. Stations at 20:00 and 09:14 UT.
All times Universal Time (UT), from the same engine as the sky. Spells that open or close beyond the calendar year are listed with their own year on the date; the window belongs to both years and appears on both pages. On doctrine: a retrograde conditions a planet's expression; it does not doom it. The working tradition keeps no list of forbidden days, a spell that repeats a is one process rather than three misfortunes, and the shadow is context, not an extension of the sentence. The stations are the moments that matter; what a planet touches while standing still, it means.