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 1969· 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 20 Jan – 10 Feb (3 weeks), 16°02' Aquarius back to 0°14' Aquarius; shadow from 04 Jan to 02 Mar. Stations at 10:55 and 09:42 UT.
Retrograde 17 May – 10 Jun (3 weeks), 12°00' Gemini back to 3°25' Gemini; shadow from 03 May to 25 Jun. Stations at 19:08 and 15:46 UT.
Retrograde 16 Sep – 08 Oct (3 weeks), 14°51' Libra back to 29°51' Virgo; shadow from 27 Aug to 23 Oct. Stations at 12:36 and 09:57 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1969· once this year
Retrograde 18 Mar – 29 Apr (6 weeks), 26°49' Aries back to 10°29' Aries; shadow from 13 Feb to 02 Jun. Stations at 11:48 and 19:21 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1969· once this year
Retrograde 27 Apr – 08 Jul (10 weeks), 16°45' Sagittarius back to 1°42' Sagittarius; shadow from 01 Mar to 28 Aug. Stations at 11:32 and 06:08 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 1969· once this year
Retrograde 20 Jan – 23 May (18 weeks), 6°03' Libra back to 26°06' Virgo; shadow from 25 Oct 1968 to 21 Aug. Stations at 12:34 and 08:22 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1969· once this year
Retrograde 21 Aug – 03 Jan 1970 (19 weeks), 8°56' Taurus back to 2°03' Taurus; shadow from 16 May to 07 Apr 1970. Stations at 05:40 and 21:02 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1969· once this year
Retrograde 08 Jan – 07 Jun (21 weeks), 4°00' Libra back to 29°52' Virgo; shadow from 26 Sep 1968 to 21 Sep. Stations at 07:28 and 06:15 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1969· once this year
Retrograde 28 Feb – 07 Aug (23 weeks), 28°42' Scorpio back to 25°56' Scorpio; shadow from 10 Nov 1968 to 28 Nov. Stations at 20:17 and 14:44 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1969· twice this year
Retrograde 27 Dec 1968 – 02 Jun (22 weeks), 25°06' Virgo back to 22°24' Virgo; shadow from 08 Sep 1968 to 22 Sep. Stations at 17:06 and 14:51 UT.
Retrograde 30 Dec – 05 Jun 1970 (22 weeks), 27°23' Virgo back to 24°40' Virgo; shadow from 11 Sep to 25 Sep 1970. Stations at 08:16 and 02:26 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.