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 1879· 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 Dec 1878 – 05 Jan (3 weeks), 12°00' Capricorn back to 25°42' Sagittarius; shadow from 29 Nov 1878 to 25 Jan. Stations at 19:59 and 18:26 UT.
Retrograde 07 Apr – 30 Apr (3 weeks), 1°34' Taurus back to 20°53' Aries; shadow from 24 Mar to 18 May. Stations at 04:58 and 22:11 UT.
Retrograde 10 Aug – 02 Sep (3 weeks), 8°22' Virgo back to 25°14' Leo; shadow from 21 Jul to 16 Sep. Stations at 07:46 and 19:05 UT.
Retrograde 30 Nov – 20 Dec (3 weeks), 26°10' Sagittarius back to 9°52' Sagittarius; shadow from 12 Nov to 08 Jan 1880. Stations at 16:25 and 10:50 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1879· once this year
Retrograde 02 Sep – 15 Oct (6 weeks), 8°31' Libra back to 22°32' Virgo; shadow from 31 Jul to 16 Nov. Stations at 22:08 and 06:02 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1879· once this year
Retrograde 06 Oct – 16 Dec (10 weeks), 28°48' Taurus back to 13°01' Taurus; shadow from 15 Aug to 11 Feb 1880. Stations at 20:35 and 09:02 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 1879· once this year
Retrograde 02 Jul – 29 Oct (17 weeks), 12°42' Pisces back to 2°50' Pisces; shadow from 08 Apr to 19 Jan 1880. Stations at 08:19 and 07:46 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1879· once this year
Retrograde 28 Jul – 12 Dec (20 weeks), 15°46' Aries back to 8°57' Aries; shadow from 22 Apr to 15 Mar 1880. Stations at 08:30 and 07:53 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1879· twice this year
Retrograde 09 Dec 1878 – 07 May (21 weeks), 4°14' Virgo back to 0°05' Virgo; shadow from 27 Aug 1878 to 22 Aug. Stations at 19:00 and 23:27 UT.
Retrograde 14 Dec – 12 May 1880 (21 weeks), 9°00' Virgo back to 4°51' Virgo; shadow from 01 Sep to 26 Aug 1880. Stations at 18:46 and 01:14 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1879· twice this year
Retrograde 13 Aug 1878 – 17 Jan (22 weeks), 9°49' Taurus back to 7°00' Taurus; shadow from 21 Apr 1878 to 08 May. Stations at 02:35 and 08:48 UT.
Retrograde 15 Aug – 19 Jan 1880 (22 weeks), 12°04' Taurus back to 9°15' Taurus; shadow from 24 Apr to 10 May 1880. Stations at 16:48 and 19:58 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1879· twice this year
Retrograde 26 Aug 1878 – 07 Feb (24 weeks), 26°28' Taurus back to 24°30' Taurus; shadow from 24 Apr 1878 to 10 Jun. Stations at 14:32 and 10:59 UT.
Retrograde 27 Aug – 08 Feb 1880 (24 weeks), 27°25' Taurus back to 25°27' Taurus; shadow from 25 Apr to 10 Jun 1880. Stations at 21:03 and 13:19 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.