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 1973· 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 04 Mar – 27 Mar (3 weeks), 28°35' Pisces back to 15°00' Pisces; shadow from 18 Feb to 15 Apr. Stations at 12:58 and 08:18 UT.
Retrograde 06 Jul – 30 Jul (3 weeks), 3°20' Leo back to 22°51' Cancer; shadow from 19 Jun to 14 Aug. Stations at 16:56 and 21:49 UT.
Retrograde 30 Oct – 19 Nov (3 weeks), 26°36' Scorpio back to 10°33' Scorpio; shadow from 10 Oct to 06 Dec. Stations at 10:26 and 14:15 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1973· not retrograde this year
Venus holds a straight course through 1973; no spell, no shadow, no station to mark.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1973· once this year
Retrograde 19 Sep – 26 Nov (10 weeks), 9°16' Taurus back to 25°18' Aries; shadow from 02 Aug to 17 Jan 1974. Stations at 23:24 and 00:10 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 1973· once this year
Retrograde 30 May – 28 Sep (17 weeks), 12°07' Aquarius back to 2°17' Aquarius; shadow from 06 Mar to 21 Dec. Stations at 22:07 and 13:31 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1973· twice this year
Retrograde 02 Oct 1972 – 13 Feb (19 weeks), 20°35' Gemini back to 13°37' Gemini; shadow from 29 Jun 1972 to 18 May. Stations at 16:33 and 12:59 UT.
Retrograde 17 Oct – 27 Feb 1974 (19 weeks), 4°45' Cancer back to 27°46' Gemini; shadow from 14 Jul to 02 Jun 1974. Stations at 05:39 and 21:11 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1973· once this year
Retrograde 27 Jan – 26 Jun (22 weeks), 23°03' Libra back to 18°56' Libra; shadow from 15 Oct 1972 to 11 Oct. Stations at 05:23 and 22:05 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1973· once this year
Retrograde 09 Mar – 16 Aug (23 weeks), 7°26' Sagittarius back to 4°39' Sagittarius; shadow from 18 Nov 1972 to 06 Dec. Stations at 14:07 and 15:57 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1973· once this year
Retrograde 06 Jan – 11 Jun (22 weeks), 4°25' Libra back to 1°40' Libra; shadow from 18 Sep 1972 to 01 Oct. Stations at 07:01 and 20:26 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.