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 1988· 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 02 Feb – 23 Feb (3 weeks), 28°04' Aquarius back to 12°40' Aquarius; shadow from 18 Jan to 14 Mar. Stations at 06:17 and 17:35 UT.
Retrograde 31 May – 24 Jun (3 weeks), 26°46' Gemini back to 18°09' Gemini; shadow from 16 May to 09 Jul. Stations at 22:38 and 22:46 UT.
Retrograde 28 Sep – 20 Oct (3 weeks), 27°03' Libra back to 11°38' Libra; shadow from 08 Sep to 04 Nov. Stations at 21:33 and 05:23 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1988· once this year
Retrograde 22 May – 04 Jul (6 weeks), 0°27' Cancer back to 13°55' Gemini; shadow from 19 Apr to 07 Aug. Stations at 13:25 and 14:10 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1988· once this year
Retrograde 26 Aug – 28 Oct (9 weeks), 11°28' Aries back to 29°52' Pisces; shadow from 13 Jul to 13 Dec. Stations at 14:38 and 05:08 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 1988· once this year
Retrograde 24 Sep – 20 Jan 1989 (17 weeks), 6°07' Gemini back to 26°05' Taurus; shadow from 01 Jul to 14 Apr 1989. Stations at 13:59 and 06:12 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1988· once this year
Retrograde 11 Apr – 30 Aug (20 weeks), 2°33' Capricorn back to 25°55' Sagittarius; shadow from 05 Jan to 06 Dec. Stations at 01:59 and 10:09 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1988· once this year
Retrograde 04 Apr – 05 Sep (22 weeks), 1°02' Capricorn back to 27°02' Sagittarius; shadow from 21 Dec 1987 to 20 Dec. Stations at 19:36 and 09:33 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1988· once this year
Retrograde 11 Apr – 18 Sep (23 weeks), 10°11' Capricorn back to 7°25' Capricorn; shadow from 22 Dec 1987 to 08 Jan 1989. Stations at 12:59 and 18:24 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1988· once this year
Retrograde 14 Feb – 20 Jul (22 weeks), 12°35' Scorpio back to 9°45' Scorpio; shadow from 30 Oct 1987 to 06 Nov. Stations at 14:08 and 04:08 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.