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 1840· 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 28 Mar – 21 Apr (3 weeks), 22°52' Aries back to 11°30' Aries; shadow from 15 Mar to 09 May. Stations at 22:46 and 12:40 UT.
Retrograde 01 Aug – 24 Aug (3 weeks), 29°42' Leo back to 17°07' Leo; shadow from 13 Jul to 08 Sep. Stations at 05:29 and 22:48 UT.
Retrograde 22 Nov – 12 Dec (3 weeks), 18°30' Sagittarius back to 2°13' Sagittarius; shadow from 03 Nov to 30 Dec. Stations at 06:29 and 00:55 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1840· not retrograde this year
Venus holds a straight course through 1840; no spell, no shadow, no station to mark.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1840· not retrograde this year
Mars holds a straight course through 1840; 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 1840· once this year
Retrograde 04 Mar – 06 Jul (18 weeks), 18°47' Scorpio back to 8°54' Scorpio; shadow from 08 Dec 1839 to 02 Oct. Stations at 12:16 and 01:01 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1840· once this year
Retrograde 31 Mar – 19 Aug (20 weeks), 21°44' Sagittarius back to 15°07' Sagittarius; shadow from 25 Dec 1839 to 25 Nov. Stations at 04:16 and 10:49 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1840· once this year
Retrograde 25 Jun – 25 Nov (22 weeks), 20°22' Pisces back to 16°27' Pisces; shadow from 08 Mar to 11 Mar 1841. Stations at 00:18 and 15:45 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1840· once this year
Retrograde 17 May – 24 Oct (23 weeks), 14°50' Aquarius back to 12°03' Aquarius; shadow from 26 Jan to 11 Feb 1841. Stations at 08:21 and 04:59 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1840· twice this year
Retrograde 19 Jul 1839 – 01 Jan (24 weeks), 18°56' Aries back to 16°55' Aries; shadow from 18 Mar 1839 to 01 May. Stations at 20:43 and 03:36 UT.
Retrograde 20 Jul – 01 Jan 1841 (24 weeks), 19°57' Aries back to 17°56' Aries; shadow from 18 Mar to 02 May 1841. Stations at 02:40 and 10:59 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.