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 1878· 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 01 Jan – 22 Jan (3 weeks), 27°54' Capricorn back to 11°46' Capricorn; shadow from 16 Dec 1877 to 11 Feb. Stations at 22:16 and 06:14 UT.
Retrograde 25 Apr – 19 May (3 weeks), 20°16' Taurus back to 10°55' Taurus; shadow from 11 Apr to 04 Jun. Stations at 22:01 and 17:50 UT.
Retrograde 27 Aug – 19 Sep (3 weeks), 25°51' Virgo back to 11°39' Virgo; shadow from 07 Aug to 04 Oct. Stations at 20:09 and 13:53 UT.
Retrograde 16 Dec – 05 Jan 1879 (3 weeks), 12°00' Capricorn back to 25°42' Sagittarius; shadow from 29 Nov to 25 Jan 1879. Stations at 19:59 and 18:26 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1878· once this year
Retrograde 31 Jan – 13 Mar (6 weeks), 10°33' Pisces back to 24°38' Aquarius; shadow from 30 Dec 1877 to 15 Apr. Stations at 09:39 and 22:45 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1878· not retrograde this year
Mars holds a straight course through 1878; 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 1878· once this year
Retrograde 25 May – 23 Sep (17 weeks), 7°09' Aquarius back to 27°19' Capricorn; shadow from 01 Mar to 16 Dec. Stations at 17:34 and 14:22 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1878· once this year
Retrograde 14 Jul – 29 Nov (20 weeks), 2°54' Aries back to 26°08' Pisces; shadow from 08 Apr to 03 Mar 1879. Stations at 15:59 and 10:37 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1878· twice this year
Retrograde 04 Dec 1877 – 02 May (21 weeks), 29°28' Leo back to 25°19' Leo; shadow from 21 Aug 1877 to 17 Aug. Stations at 18:36 and 21:57 UT.
Retrograde 09 Dec – 07 May 1879 (21 weeks), 4°14' Virgo back to 0°05' Virgo; shadow from 27 Aug to 22 Aug 1879. Stations at 19:00 and 23:27 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1878· twice this year
Retrograde 10 Aug 1877 – 14 Jan (22 weeks), 7°34' Taurus back to 4°45' Taurus; shadow from 18 Apr 1877 to 06 May. Stations at 12:16 and 19:38 UT.
Retrograde 13 Aug – 17 Jan 1879 (22 weeks), 9°49' Taurus back to 7°00' Taurus; shadow from 21 Apr to 08 May 1879. Stations at 02:35 and 08:48 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1878· twice this year
Retrograde 25 Aug 1877 – 06 Feb (24 weeks), 25°31' Taurus back to 23°33' Taurus; shadow from 22 Apr 1877 to 09 Jun. Stations at 07:38 and 07:36 UT.
Retrograde 26 Aug – 07 Feb 1879 (24 weeks), 26°28' Taurus back to 24°30' Taurus; shadow from 24 Apr to 10 Jun 1879. Stations at 14:32 and 10:59 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.