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 1981· 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 08 Feb – 02 Mar (3 weeks), 4°55' Pisces back to 19°50' Aquarius; shadow from 24 Jan to 22 Mar. Stations at 12:29 and 07:10 UT.
Retrograde 09 Jun – 03 Jul (3 weeks), 5°12' Cancer back to 26°19' Gemini; shadow from 25 May to 18 Jul. Stations at 11:40 and 12:56 UT.
Retrograde 06 Oct – 27 Oct (3 weeks), 3°51' Scorpio back to 18°15' Libra; shadow from 16 Sep to 12 Nov. Stations at 09:15 and 09:12 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1981· once this year
Retrograde 31 Dec – 10 Feb 1982 (6 weeks), 8°54' Aquarius back to 23°21' Capricorn; shadow from 30 Nov to 14 Mar 1982. Stations at 19:45 and 20:40 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1981· not retrograde this year
Mars holds a straight course through 1981; 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 1981· once this year
Retrograde 24 Jan – 27 May (18 weeks), 10°23' Libra back to 0°26' Libra; shadow from 29 Oct 1980 to 25 Aug. Stations at 19:19 and 18:33 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1981· once this year
Retrograde 18 Jan – 05 Jun (20 weeks), 9°46' Libra back to 2°59' Libra; shadow from 15 Oct 1980 to 10 Sep. Stations at 16:58 and 02:13 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1981· once this year
Retrograde 05 Mar – 04 Aug (22 weeks), 0°06' Sagittarius back to 26°03' Scorpio; shadow from 21 Nov 1980 to 18 Nov. Stations at 01:28 and 10:50 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1981· once this year
Retrograde 27 Mar – 03 Sep (23 weeks), 24°51' Sagittarius back to 22°04' Sagittarius; shadow from 06 Dec 1980 to 24 Dec. Stations at 06:33 and 10:52 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1981· once this year
Retrograde 26 Jan – 01 Jul (22 weeks), 24°20' Libra back to 21°32' Libra; shadow from 10 Oct 1980 to 19 Oct. Stations at 12:51 and 16:30 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.