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 1970· 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 04 Jan – 24 Jan (3 weeks), 0°00' Aquarius back to 13°51' Capricorn; shadow from 18 Dec 1969 to 13 Feb. Stations at 08:09 and 16:41 UT.
Retrograde 28 Apr – 22 May (3 weeks), 22°29' Taurus back to 13°12' Taurus; shadow from 14 Apr to 07 Jun. Stations at 10:56 and 06:47 UT.
Retrograde 30 Aug – 22 Sep (3 weeks), 28°00' Virgo back to 13°46' Virgo; shadow from 10 Aug to 06 Oct. Stations at 07:25 and 00:20 UT.
Retrograde 19 Dec – 08 Jan 1971 (3 weeks), 14°05' Capricorn back to 27°48' Sagittarius; shadow from 01 Dec to 27 Jan 1971. Stations at 05:56 and 04:41 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1970· once this year
Retrograde 20 Oct – 01 Dec (6 weeks), 25°12' Scorpio back to 9°46' Scorpio; shadow from 18 Sep to 01 Jan 1971. Stations at 15:52 and 00:04 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1970· not retrograde this year
Mars holds a straight course through 1970; 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 1970· once this year
Retrograde 19 Feb – 23 Jun (18 weeks), 5°58' Scorpio back to 26°04' Libra; shadow from 24 Nov 1969 to 20 Sep. Stations at 22:01 and 09:44 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1970· twice this year
Retrograde 21 Aug 1969 – 03 Jan (19 weeks), 8°56' Taurus back to 2°03' Taurus; shadow from 16 May 1969 to 07 Apr. Stations at 05:40 and 21:02 UT.
Retrograde 04 Sep – 17 Jan 1971 (19 weeks), 22°37' Taurus back to 15°41' Taurus; shadow from 31 May to 21 Apr 1971. Stations at 14:04 and 12:58 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1970· once this year
Retrograde 13 Jan – 12 Jun (21 weeks), 8°47' Libra back to 4°39' Libra; shadow from 01 Oct 1969 to 26 Sep. Stations at 06:15 and 09:29 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1970· once this year
Retrograde 03 Mar – 10 Aug (23 weeks), 0°53' Sagittarius back to 28°07' Scorpio; shadow from 12 Nov 1969 to 30 Nov. Stations at 08:17 and 01:55 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1970· once this year
Retrograde 30 Dec 1969 – 05 Jun (22 weeks), 27°23' Virgo back to 24°40' Virgo; shadow from 11 Sep 1969 to 25 Sep. 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.