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 1897· 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 13 Jan – 03 Feb (3 weeks), 9°48' Aquarius back to 23°52' Capricorn; shadow from 28 Dec 1896 to 23 Feb. Stations at 15:47 and 09:38 UT.
Retrograde 09 May – 02 Jun (3 weeks), 4°36' Gemini back to 25°52' Taurus; shadow from 25 Apr to 18 Jun. Stations at 22:36 and 18:42 UT.
Retrograde 09 Sep – 01 Oct (3 weeks), 8°25' Libra back to 23°38' Virgo; shadow from 20 Aug to 16 Oct. Stations at 09:43 and 13:36 UT.
Retrograde 28 Dec – 17 Jan 1898 (3 weeks), 23°48' Capricorn back to 7°36' Capricorn; shadow from 11 Dec to 06 Feb 1898. Stations at 13:32 and 18:12 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1897· once this year
Retrograde 07 Apr – 20 May (6 weeks), 16°55' Taurus back to 0°28' Taurus; shadow from 05 Mar to 22 Jun. Stations at 11:38 and 02:10 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1897· once this year
Retrograde 02 Nov 1896 – 16 Jan (11 weeks), 29°24' Gemini back to 11°34' Gemini; shadow from 05 Sep 1896 to 20 Mar. Stations at 06:50 and 08:17 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 1897· once this year
Retrograde 25 Dec 1896 – 26 Apr (17 weeks), 10°13' Virgo back to 0°13' Virgo; shadow from 29 Sep 1896 to 24 Jul. Stations at 11:33 and 07:50 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1897· once this year
Retrograde 09 Mar – 28 Jul (20 weeks), 0°45' Sagittarius back to 24°07' Scorpio; shadow from 03 Dec 1896 to 03 Nov. Stations at 19:24 and 08:15 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1897· once this year
Retrograde 03 Mar – 03 Aug (22 weeks), 29°02' Scorpio back to 24°58' Scorpio; shadow from 19 Nov 1896 to 16 Nov. Stations at 14:25 and 00:31 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1897· twice this year
Retrograde 22 Sep 1896 – 26 Feb (22 weeks), 20°18' Gemini back to 17°29' Gemini; shadow from 01 Jun 1896 to 19 Jun. Stations at 16:54 and 04:45 UT.
Retrograde 25 Sep – 28 Feb 1898 (22 weeks), 22°33' Gemini back to 19°44' Gemini; shadow from 03 Jun to 21 Jun 1898. Stations at 04:50 and 16:02 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1897· twice this year
Retrograde 12 Sep 1896 – 23 Feb (23 weeks), 13°44' Gemini back to 11°44' Gemini; shadow from 11 May 1896 to 26 Jun. Stations at 17:47 and 22:02 UT.
Retrograde 13 Sep – 25 Feb 1898 (23 weeks), 14°43' Gemini back to 12°43' Gemini; shadow from 12 May to 28 Jun 1898. Stations at 22:21 and 04:36 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.