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 1866· 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 14 Dec 1865 – 02 Jan (3 weeks), 9°26' Capricorn back to 23°08' Sagittarius; shadow from 26 Nov 1865 to 22 Jan. Stations at 01:07 and 22:31 UT.
Retrograde 04 Apr – 27 Apr (3 weeks), 28°39' Aries back to 17°44' Aries; shadow from 21 Mar to 15 May. Stations at 02:24 and 18:48 UT.
Retrograde 07 Aug – 30 Aug (3 weeks), 5°30' Virgo back to 22°32' Leo; shadow from 19 Jul to 14 Sep. Stations at 07:14 and 20:36 UT.
Retrograde 27 Nov – 17 Dec (3 weeks), 23°36' Sagittarius back to 7°19' Sagittarius; shadow from 09 Nov to 05 Jan 1867. Stations at 21:08 and 15:30 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1866· once this year
Retrograde 21 Nov – 01 Jan 1867 (6 weeks), 27°07' Sagittarius back to 11°50' Sagittarius; shadow from 20 Oct to 01 Feb 1867. Stations at 03:22 and 01:00 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1866· once this year
Retrograde 01 Dec – 18 Feb 1867 (11 weeks), 0°15' Leo back to 11°10' Cancer; shadow from 30 Sep to 26 Apr 1867. Stations at 22:11 and 14:50 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 1866· once this year
Retrograde 20 May – 18 Sep (17 weeks), 2°15' Aquarius back to 22°25' Capricorn; shadow from 23 Feb to 11 Dec. Stations at 14:47 and 17:26 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1866· once this year
Retrograde 19 Feb – 09 Jul (20 weeks), 12°19' Scorpio back to 5°38' Scorpio; shadow from 16 Nov 1865 to 15 Oct. Stations at 21:08 and 12:17 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1866· twice this year
Retrograde 09 Oct 1865 – 08 Mar (21 weeks), 3°55' Cancer back to 29°50' Gemini; shadow from 24 Jun 1865 to 23 Jun. Stations at 18:16 and 08:37 UT.
Retrograde 14 Oct – 12 Mar 1867 (21 weeks), 8°23' Cancer back to 4°17' Cancer; shadow from 29 Jun to 27 Jun 1867. Stations at 12:27 and 23:31 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1866· once this year
Retrograde 16 Jul – 21 Dec (23 weeks), 12°50' Aries back to 10°01' Aries; shadow from 25 Mar to 11 Apr 1867. Stations at 09:30 and 11:55 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1866· twice this year
Retrograde 13 Aug 1865 – 25 Jan (24 weeks), 14°13' Taurus back to 12°15' Taurus; shadow from 11 Apr 1865 to 28 May. Stations at 22:00 and 23:26 UT.
Retrograde 15 Aug – 27 Jan 1867 (24 weeks), 15°10' Taurus back to 13°11' Taurus; shadow from 12 Apr to 30 May 1867. Stations at 00:06 and 06:53 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.