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 1861· 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 06 Mar – 29 Mar (3 weeks), 0°51' Aries back to 17°35' Pisces; shadow from 20 Feb to 17 Apr. Stations at 16:58 and 16:05 UT.
Retrograde 09 Jul – 02 Aug (3 weeks), 6°07' Leo back to 25°18' Cancer; shadow from 21 Jun to 16 Aug. Stations at 05:02 and 09:14 UT.
Retrograde 01 Nov – 21 Nov (3 weeks), 28°35' Scorpio back to 12°30' Scorpio; shadow from 12 Oct to 08 Dec. Stations at 11:29 and 12:59 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1861· not retrograde this year
Venus holds a straight course through 1861; no spell, no shadow, no station to mark.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1861· not retrograde this year
Mars holds a straight course through 1861; 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 1861· once this year
Retrograde 12 Dec 1860 – 12 Apr (17 weeks), 27°01' Leo back to 17°00' Leo; shadow from 16 Sep 1860 to 11 Jul. Stations at 18:38 and 22:35 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1861· once this year
Retrograde 19 Dec 1860 – 04 May (19 weeks), 9°31' Virgo back to 2°39' Virgo; shadow from 16 Sep 1860 to 09 Aug. Stations at 21:09 and 12:53 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1861· twice this year
Retrograde 17 Sep 1860 – 14 Feb (21 weeks), 12°01' Gemini back to 7°59' Gemini; shadow from 01 Jun 1860 to 01 Jun. Stations at 02:26 and 11:07 UT.
Retrograde 21 Sep – 19 Feb 1862 (21 weeks), 16°20' Gemini back to 12°18' Gemini; shadow from 05 Jun to 05 Jun 1862. Stations at 19:20 and 00:16 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1861· once this year
Retrograde 04 Jul – 10 Dec (23 weeks), 1°38' Aries back to 28°50' Pisces; shadow from 13 Mar to 31 Mar 1862. Stations at 17:32 and 05:22 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1861· twice this year
Retrograde 08 Aug 1860 – 21 Jan (24 weeks), 9°29' Taurus back to 7°31' Taurus; shadow from 06 Apr 1860 to 23 May. Stations at 21:42 and 00:00 UT.
Retrograde 09 Aug – 22 Jan 1862 (24 weeks), 10°27' Taurus back to 8°28' Taurus; shadow from 07 Apr to 24 May 1862. Stations at 23:41 and 08:13 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.