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 1864· 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 16 Jan – 06 Feb (3 weeks), 11°21' Aquarius back to 25°28' Capricorn; shadow from 31 Dec 1863 to 26 Feb. Stations at 05:51 and 01:38 UT.
Retrograde 11 May – 04 Jun (3 weeks), 6°37' Gemini back to 27°57' Taurus; shadow from 27 Apr to 20 Jun. Stations at 22:52 and 19:05 UT.
Retrograde 11 Sep – 03 Oct (3 weeks), 10°02' Libra back to 25°09' Virgo; shadow from 21 Aug to 18 Oct. Stations at 02:53 and 04:09 UT.
Retrograde 30 Dec – 19 Jan 1865 (3 weeks), 25°20' Capricorn back to 9°09' Capricorn; shadow from 13 Dec to 08 Feb 1865. Stations at 03:26 and 09:34 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1864· not retrograde this year
Venus holds a straight course through 1864; no spell, no shadow, no station to mark.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1864· once this year
Retrograde 23 Oct – 05 Jan 1865 (11 weeks), 18°47' Gemini back to 1°32' Gemini; shadow from 28 Aug to 08 Mar 1865. Stations at 21:14 and 11:52 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 1864· once this year
Retrograde 13 Mar – 14 Jul (18 weeks), 27°35' Scorpio back to 17°43' Scorpio; shadow from 17 Dec 1863 to 10 Oct. Stations at 08:53 and 20:24 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1864· once this year
Retrograde 27 Jan – 13 Jun (20 weeks), 18°04' Libra back to 11°18' Libra; shadow from 24 Oct 1863 to 19 Sep. Stations at 10:51 and 12:02 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1864· twice this year
Retrograde 01 Oct 1863 – 28 Feb (21 weeks), 25°04' Gemini back to 21°00' Gemini; shadow from 15 Jun 1863 to 13 Jun. Stations at 05:29 and 02:58 UT.
Retrograde 04 Oct – 03 Mar 1865 (21 weeks), 29°29' Gemini back to 25°24' Gemini; shadow from 19 Jun to 18 Jun 1865. Stations at 22:32 and 16:26 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1864· once this year
Retrograde 11 Jul – 16 Dec (23 weeks), 8°21' Aries back to 5°32' Aries; shadow from 19 Mar to 06 Apr 1865. Stations at 06:10 and 14:20 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1864· twice this year
Retrograde 12 Aug 1863 – 24 Jan (24 weeks), 12°20' Taurus back to 10°22' Taurus; shadow from 10 Apr 1863 to 26 May. Stations at 12:48 and 15:48 UT.
Retrograde 12 Aug – 24 Jan 1865 (24 weeks), 13°17' Taurus back to 11°18' Taurus; shadow from 10 Apr to 27 May 1865. Stations at 17:41 and 19:10 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.