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 1856· 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 08 Feb – 01 Mar (3 weeks), 4°24' Pisces back to 19°24' Aquarius; shadow from 24 Jan to 21 Mar. Stations at 17:07 and 13:22 UT.
Retrograde 08 Jun – 02 Jul (3 weeks), 5°00' Cancer back to 26°03' Gemini; shadow from 24 May to 17 Jul. Stations at 22:12 and 23:44 UT.
Retrograde 05 Oct – 26 Oct (3 weeks), 3°18' Scorpio back to 17°40' Libra; shadow from 15 Sep to 11 Nov. Stations at 14:39 and 13:05 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1856· not retrograde this year
Venus holds a straight course through 1856; no spell, no shadow, no station to mark.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1856· once this year
Retrograde 24 Feb – 13 May (11 weeks), 21°39' Libra back to 3°02' Libra; shadow from 20 Dec 1855 to 15 Jul. Stations at 06:15 and 18:07 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 1856· once this year
Retrograde 29 Jul – 24 Nov (17 weeks), 9°11' Aries back to 29°15' Pisces; shadow from 05 May to 14 Feb 1857. Stations at 04:40 and 05:19 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1856· twice this year
Retrograde 12 Oct 1855 – 23 Feb (19 weeks), 0°02' Cancer back to 23°04' Gemini; shadow from 09 Jul 1855 to 28 May. Stations at 21:16 and 14:20 UT.
Retrograde 26 Oct – 09 Mar 1857 (19 weeks), 14°14' Cancer back to 7°16' Cancer; shadow from 23 Jul to 11 Jun 1857. Stations at 08:47 and 00:14 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1856· twice this year
Retrograde 27 Aug 1855 – 25 Jan (22 weeks), 20°49' Taurus back to 16°50' Taurus; shadow from 10 May 1855 to 10 May. Stations at 02:41 and 08:39 UT.
Retrograde 30 Aug – 28 Jan 1857 (22 weeks), 25°00' Taurus back to 21°00' Taurus; shadow from 14 May to 15 May 1857. Stations at 15:47 and 16:57 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1856· once this year
Retrograde 22 Jun – 28 Nov (23 weeks), 20°26' Pisces back to 17°38' Pisces; shadow from 02 Mar to 19 Mar 1857. Stations at 23:10 and 17:04 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1856· twice this year
Retrograde 04 Aug 1855 – 16 Jan (24 weeks), 4°41' Taurus back to 2°43' Taurus; shadow from 02 Apr 1855 to 18 May. Stations at 19:21 and 22:35 UT.
Retrograde 04 Aug – 17 Jan 1857 (24 weeks), 5°39' Taurus back to 3°41' Taurus; shadow from 03 Apr to 19 May 1857. Stations at 22:45 and 06:30 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.