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 1839· 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 25 Dec 1838 – 14 Jan (3 weeks), 20°11' Capricorn back to 3°57' Capricorn; shadow from 08 Dec 1838 to 03 Feb. Stations at 13:39 and 16:37 UT.
Retrograde 17 Apr – 11 May (3 weeks), 11°11' Taurus back to 1°18' Taurus; shadow from 03 Apr to 27 May. Stations at 07:07 and 01:54 UT.
Retrograde 19 Aug – 11 Sep (3 weeks), 17°31' Virgo back to 3°45' Virgo; shadow from 31 Jul to 26 Sep. Stations at 21:04 and 23:04 UT.
Retrograde 09 Dec – 29 Dec (3 weeks), 4°19' Capricorn back to 18°00' Sagittarius; shadow from 21 Nov to 17 Jan 1840. Stations at 11:09 and 06:51 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1839· once this year
Retrograde 15 Sep – 27 Oct (6 weeks), 19°59' Libra back to 4°09' Libra; shadow from 13 Aug to 28 Nov. Stations at 03:22 and 04:05 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1839· once this year
Retrograde 31 Jan – 22 Apr (12 weeks), 0°14' Libra back to 11°00' Virgo; shadow from 26 Nov 1838 to 27 Jun. Stations at 21:33 and 15:53 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 1839· once this year
Retrograde 02 Feb – 06 Jun (18 weeks), 18°43' Libra back to 8°47' Libra; shadow from 07 Nov 1838 to 03 Sep. Stations at 17:19 and 00:13 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1839· once this year
Retrograde 20 Mar – 08 Aug (20 weeks), 10°19' Sagittarius back to 3°42' Sagittarius; shadow from 13 Dec 1838 to 14 Nov. Stations at 09:09 and 07:55 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1839· once this year
Retrograde 21 Jun – 22 Nov (22 weeks), 16°24' Pisces back to 12°29' Pisces; shadow from 05 Mar to 07 Mar 1840. Stations at 15:12 and 10:51 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1839· once this year
Retrograde 15 May – 22 Oct (23 weeks), 12°37' Aquarius back to 9°50' Aquarius; shadow from 23 Jan to 10 Feb 1840. Stations at 19:23 and 16:53 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1839· once this year
Retrograde 19 Jul – 01 Jan 1840 (24 weeks), 18°56' Aries back to 16°55' Aries; shadow from 18 Mar to 01 May 1840. Stations at 20:43 and 03:36 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.