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 1938· 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 20 Dec 1937 – 09 Jan (3 weeks), 15°36' Capricorn back to 29°20' Sagittarius; shadow from 03 Dec 1937 to 29 Jan. Stations at 19:51 and 19:33 UT.
Retrograde 11 Apr – 05 May (3 weeks), 5°36' Taurus back to 25°10' Aries; shadow from 28 Mar to 22 May. Stations at 14:08 and 07:58 UT.
Retrograde 14 Aug – 06 Sep (3 weeks), 12°19' Virgo back to 28°58' Leo; shadow from 26 Jul to 21 Sep. Stations at 13:52 and 22:34 UT.
Retrograde 04 Dec – 24 Dec (3 weeks), 29°46' Sagittarius back to 13°28' Sagittarius; shadow from 16 Nov to 12 Jan 1939. Stations at 16:39 and 11:15 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1938· once this year
Retrograde 30 Oct – 10 Dec (6 weeks), 4°56' Sagittarius back to 19°34' Scorpio; shadow from 28 Sep to 11 Jan 1939. Stations at 16:22 and 19:51 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1938· not retrograde this year
Mars holds a straight course through 1938; 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 1938· once this year
Retrograde 21 Jun – 19 Oct (17 weeks), 2°15' Pisces back to 22°23' Aquarius; shadow from 28 Mar to 10 Jan 1939. Stations at 15:31 and 05:40 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1938· once this year
Retrograde 30 Jul – 14 Dec (20 weeks), 18°02' Aries back to 11°13' Aries; shadow from 24 Apr to 19 Mar 1939. Stations at 23:08 and 21:36 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1938· twice this year
Retrograde 19 Aug 1937 – 18 Jan (22 weeks), 13°41' Taurus back to 9°42' Taurus; shadow from 02 May 1937 to 04 May. Stations at 13:56 and 04:42 UT.
Retrograde 24 Aug – 22 Jan 1939 (22 weeks), 17°49' Taurus back to 13°50' Taurus; shadow from 07 May to 09 May 1939. Stations at 02:11 and 12:05 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1938· twice this year
Retrograde 23 Dec 1937 – 30 May (23 weeks), 21°09' Virgo back to 18°21' Virgo; shadow from 02 Sep 1937 to 21 Sep. Stations at 17:05 and 10:43 UT.
Retrograde 26 Dec – 01 Jun 1939 (23 weeks), 23°20' Virgo back to 20°32' Virgo; shadow from 05 Sep to 24 Sep 1939. Stations at 02:33 and 22:41 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1938· twice this year
Retrograde 31 Oct 1937 – 11 Apr (23 weeks), 0°07' Leo back to 27°50' Cancer; shadow from 04 Jul 1937 to 08 Aug. Stations at 19:56 and 01:37 UT.
Retrograde 02 Nov – 12 Apr 1939 (23 weeks), 1°30' Leo back to 29°13' Cancer; shadow from 06 Jul to 09 Aug 1939. Stations at 12:19 and 14:41 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.