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 1786· four 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 30 Dec 1785 – 19 Jan (3 weeks), 25°49' Capricorn back to 9°40' Capricorn; shadow from 13 Dec 1785 to 08 Feb. Stations at 12:20 and 19:48 UT.
Retrograde 23 Apr – 17 May (3 weeks), 18°02' Taurus back to 8°39' Taurus; shadow from 09 Apr to 02 Jun. Stations at 09:00 and 04:48 UT.
Retrograde 25 Aug – 17 Sep (3 weeks), 23°42' Virgo back to 9°32' Virgo; shadow from 05 Aug to 01 Oct. Stations at 08:49 and 03:20 UT.
Retrograde 14 Dec – 03 Jan 1787 (3 weeks), 9°55' Capricorn back to 23°37' Sagittarius; shadow from 26 Nov to 22 Jan 1787. Stations at 10:03 and 08:13 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1786· once this year
Retrograde 15 Dec – 24 Jan 1787 (6 weeks), 22°01' Capricorn back to 6°38' Capricorn; shadow from 13 Nov to 25 Feb 1787. Stations at 00:58 and 23:20 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1786· once this year
Retrograde 20 Oct 1785 – 01 Jan (10 weeks), 15°20' Gemini back to 28°13' Taurus; shadow from 25 Aug 1785 to 04 Mar. Stations at 12:04 and 20:47 UT.
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 1786· once this year
Retrograde 09 Sep – 05 Jan 1787 (17 weeks), 21°17' Taurus back to 11°15' Taurus; shadow from 16 Jun to 30 Mar 1787. Stations at 19:37 and 09:22 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1786· once this year
Retrograde 27 May – 14 Oct (20 weeks), 17°01' Aquarius back to 10°22' Aquarius; shadow from 18 Feb to 18 Jan 1787. Stations at 05:44 and 17:56 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1786· twice this year
Retrograde 26 Oct 1785 – 24 Mar (21 weeks), 20°59' Cancer back to 16°53' Cancer; shadow from 12 Jul 1785 to 09 Jul. Stations at 17:36 and 22:09 UT.
Retrograde 31 Oct – 29 Mar 1787 (21 weeks), 25°35' Cancer back to 21°28' Cancer; shadow from 17 Jul to 14 Jul 1787. Stations at 14:06 and 17:12 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1786· once this year
Retrograde 17 Jan – 25 Jun (23 weeks), 16°46' Libra back to 13°59' Libra; shadow from 28 Sep 1785 to 16 Oct. Stations at 09:36 and 01:36 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1786· once this year
Retrograde 15 May – 25 Oct (23 weeks), 14°42' Aquarius back to 12°20' Aquarius; shadow from 19 Jan to 17 Feb 1787. Stations at 14:36 and 19:34 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.