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 1996· 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 09 Jan – 30 Jan (3 weeks), 5°10' Aquarius back to 19°06' Capricorn; shadow from 24 Dec 1995 to 19 Feb. Stations at 21:49 and 10:18 UT.
Retrograde 03 May – 27 May (3 weeks), 28°38' Taurus back to 19°38' Taurus; shadow from 19 Apr to 12 Jun. Stations at 22:48 and 18:57 UT.
Retrograde 04 Sep – 26 Sep (3 weeks), 3°29' Libra back to 18°59' Virgo; shadow from 15 Aug to 11 Oct. Stations at 05:40 and 17:09 UT.
Retrograde 23 Dec – 12 Jan 1997 (3 weeks), 19°13' Capricorn back to 2°58' Capricorn; shadow from 06 Dec to 01 Feb 1997. Stations at 19:43 and 20:44 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 1996· once this year
Retrograde 20 May – 02 Jul (6 weeks), 28°17' Gemini back to 11°46' Gemini; shadow from 16 Apr to 05 Aug. Stations at 06:09 and 06:51 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 1996· not retrograde this year
Mars holds a straight course through 1996; 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 1996· once this year
Retrograde 04 May – 03 Sep (17 weeks), 17°39' Capricorn back to 7°49' Capricorn; shadow from 08 Feb to 27 Nov. Stations at 15:33 and 14:41 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 1996· once this year
Retrograde 18 Jul – 03 Dec (20 weeks), 7°24' Aries back to 0°36' Aries; shadow from 12 Apr to 07 Mar 1997. Stations at 20:26 and 12:44 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 1996· once this year
Retrograde 08 May – 10 Oct (22 weeks), 4°34' Aquarius back to 0°38' Aquarius; shadow from 23 Jan to 23 Jan 1997. Stations at 19:31 and 01:01 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 1996· once this year
Retrograde 29 Apr – 06 Oct (23 weeks), 27°45' Capricorn back to 24°58' Capricorn; shadow from 08 Jan to 25 Jan 1997. Stations at 09:42 and 15:35 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 1996· once this year
Retrograde 05 Mar – 10 Aug (23 weeks), 3°06' Sagittarius back to 0°20' Sagittarius; shadow from 19 Nov 1995 to 28 Nov. Stations at 20:07 and 12:06 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.