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 1857· 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 – 12 Feb (3 weeks), 18°06' Aquarius back to 2°25' Aquarius; shadow from 06 Jan to 04 Mar. Stations at 10:12 and 13:02 UT.
Retrograde 20 May – 13 Jun (3 weeks), 14°57' Gemini back to 6°24' Gemini; shadow from 05 May to 28 Jun. Stations at 12:53 and 10:37 UT.
Retrograde 18 Sep – 10 Oct (3 weeks), 17°00' Libra back to 1°50' Libra; shadow from 29 Aug to 25 Oct. Stations at 16:48 and 09:37 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1857· once this year
Retrograde 19 Apr – 31 May (6 weeks), 27°53' Taurus back to 11°25' Taurus; shadow from 16 Mar to 04 Jul. Stations at 01:15 and 20:20 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1857· not retrograde this year
Mars holds a straight course through 1857; 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 1857· once this year
Retrograde 04 Sep – 31 Dec (17 weeks), 15°59' Taurus back to 5°58' Taurus; shadow from 11 Jun to 24 Mar 1858. Stations at 17:48 and 06:13 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1857· twice this year
Retrograde 26 Oct 1856 – 09 Mar (19 weeks), 14°14' Cancer back to 7°16' Cancer; shadow from 23 Jul 1856 to 11 Jun. Stations at 08:47 and 00:14 UT.
Retrograde 09 Nov – 23 Mar 1858 (19 weeks), 28°21' Cancer back to 21°24' Cancer; shadow from 07 Aug to 26 Jun 1858. Stations at 16:33 and 11:24 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1857· twice this year
Retrograde 30 Aug 1856 – 28 Jan (22 weeks), 25°00' Taurus back to 21°00' Taurus; shadow from 14 May 1856 to 15 May. Stations at 15:47 and 16:57 UT.
Retrograde 04 Sep – 02 Feb 1858 (22 weeks), 29°13' Taurus back to 25°13' Taurus; shadow from 18 May to 19 May 1858. Stations at 05:52 and 02:54 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1857· once this year
Retrograde 25 Jun – 01 Dec (23 weeks), 22°41' Pisces back to 19°53' Pisces; shadow from 04 Mar to 21 Mar 1858. Stations at 12:05 and 04:57 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1857· twice this year
Retrograde 04 Aug 1856 – 17 Jan (24 weeks), 5°39' Taurus back to 3°41' Taurus; shadow from 03 Apr 1856 to 19 May. Stations at 22:45 and 06:30 UT.
Retrograde 06 Aug – 18 Jan 1858 (24 weeks), 6°37' Taurus back to 4°39' Taurus; shadow from 04 Apr to 20 May 1858. Stations at 06:04 and 10:42 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.