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 1886· 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 30 Mar – 22 Apr (3 weeks), 23°57' Aries back to 12°37' Aries; shadow from 16 Mar to 10 May. Stations at 04:36 and 18:41 UT.
Retrograde 02 Aug – 26 Aug (3 weeks), 0°48' Virgo back to 18°11' Leo; shadow from 14 Jul to 09 Sep. Stations at 11:25 and 04:25 UT.
Retrograde 23 Nov – 13 Dec (3 weeks), 19°32' Sagittarius back to 3°16' Sagittarius; shadow from 04 Nov to 31 Dec. Stations at 11:32 and 05:59 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1886· once this year
Retrograde 28 Jan – 11 Mar (6 weeks), 8°09' Pisces back to 22°16' Aquarius; shadow from 28 Dec 1885 to 13 Apr. Stations at 23:10 and 11:24 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1886· once this year
Retrograde 25 Jan – 16 Apr (12 weeks), 25°13' Virgo back to 5°53' Virgo; shadow from 20 Nov 1885 to 22 Jun. Stations at 22:18 and 20:26 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 1886· once this year
Retrograde 20 Jan – 23 May (18 weeks), 6°00' Libra back to 26°02' Virgo; shadow from 25 Oct 1885 to 20 Aug. Stations at 08:39 and 06:12 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1886· twice this year
Retrograde 20 Oct 1885 – 03 Mar (19 weeks), 8°23' Cancer back to 1°26' Cancer; shadow from 17 Jul 1885 to 05 Jun. Stations at 12:35 and 05:47 UT.
Retrograde 03 Nov – 17 Mar 1887 (19 weeks), 22°31' Cancer back to 15°34' Cancer; shadow from 01 Aug to 20 Jun 1887. Stations at 20:41 and 16:31 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1886· once this year
Retrograde 11 Jan – 10 Jun (21 weeks), 7°43' Libra back to 3°34' Libra; shadow from 30 Sep 1885 to 25 Sep. Stations at 19:45 and 23:10 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1886· twice this year
Retrograde 28 Aug 1885 – 01 Feb (22 weeks), 25°35' Taurus back to 22°46' Taurus; shadow from 07 May 1885 to 24 May. Stations at 21:36 and 19:13 UT.
Retrograde 31 Aug – 04 Feb 1887 (22 weeks), 27°50' Taurus back to 25°01' Taurus; shadow from 09 May to 27 May 1887. Stations at 09:08 and 06:04 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1886· twice this year
Retrograde 02 Sep 1885 – 13 Feb (23 weeks), 3°07' Gemini back to 1°08' Gemini; shadow from 30 Apr 1885 to 16 Jun. Stations at 04:50 and 16:04 UT.
Retrograde 03 Sep – 14 Feb 1887 (24 weeks), 4°04' Gemini back to 2°05' Gemini; shadow from 01 May to 18 Jun 1887. Stations at 06:30 and 23:29 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.