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 1881· 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 02 Mar – 24 Mar (3 weeks), 26°27' Pisces back to 12°49' Pisces; shadow from 15 Feb to 13 Apr. Stations at 02:12 and 20:49 UT.
Retrograde 04 Jul – 28 Jul (3 weeks), 1°06' Leo back to 20°40' Cancer; shadow from 17 Jun to 11 Aug. Stations at 04:32 and 09:30 UT.
Retrograde 28 Oct – 17 Nov (3 weeks), 24°30' Scorpio back to 8°28' Scorpio; shadow from 08 Oct to 04 Dec. Stations at 00:06 and 04:18 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1881· once this year
Retrograde 12 Apr – 24 May (6 weeks), 21°19' Taurus back to 4°52' Taurus; shadow from 09 Mar to 27 Jun. Stations at 02:05 and 18:12 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1881· once this year
Retrograde 17 Nov – 02 Feb 1882 (11 weeks), 15°33' Cancer back to 26°57' Gemini; shadow from 18 Sep to 09 Apr 1882. Stations at 14:21 and 17:33 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 1881· once this year
Retrograde 14 Sep – 10 Jan 1882 (17 weeks), 26°14' Taurus back to 16°12' Taurus; shadow from 21 Jun to 04 Apr 1882. Stations at 20:11 and 09:21 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1881· once this year
Retrograde 24 Aug – 06 Jan 1882 (19 weeks), 12°26' Taurus back to 5°33' Taurus; shadow from 20 May to 10 Apr 1882. Stations at 13:46 and 21:58 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1881· twice this year
Retrograde 18 Dec 1880 – 17 May (21 weeks), 13°47' Virgo back to 9°37' Virgo; shadow from 05 Sep 1880 to 31 Aug. Stations at 19:36 and 04:28 UT.
Retrograde 23 Dec – 22 May 1882 (21 weeks), 18°34' Virgo back to 14°25' Virgo; shadow from 10 Sep to 05 Sep 1882. Stations at 19:00 and 07:06 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1881· twice this year
Retrograde 17 Aug 1880 – 21 Jan (22 weeks), 14°19' Taurus back to 11°31' Taurus; shadow from 25 Apr 1880 to 13 May. Stations at 06:15 and 09:17 UT.
Retrograde 19 Aug – 23 Jan 1882 (22 weeks), 16°35' Taurus back to 13°46' Taurus; shadow from 28 Apr to 15 May 1882. Stations at 20:25 and 20:24 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1881· twice this year
Retrograde 28 Aug 1880 – 08 Feb (24 weeks), 28°22' Taurus back to 26°24' Taurus; shadow from 25 Apr 1880 to 11 Jun. Stations at 03:00 and 16:35 UT.
Retrograde 29 Aug – 09 Feb 1882 (24 weeks), 29°19' Taurus back to 27°20' Taurus; shadow from 26 Apr to 13 Jun 1882. Stations at 04:54 and 23:58 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.