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 2016· 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 05 Jan – 25 Jan (3 weeks), 1°02' Aquarius back to 14°54' Capricorn; shadow from 19 Dec 2015 to 14 Feb. Stations at 13:06 and 21:52 UT.
Retrograde 28 Apr – 22 May (3 weeks), 23°36' Taurus back to 14°20' Taurus; shadow from 14 Apr to 07 Jun. Stations at 17:26 and 13:18 UT.
Retrograde 30 Aug – 22 Sep (3 weeks), 29°04' Virgo back to 14°49' Virgo; shadow from 10 Aug to 06 Oct. Stations at 13:01 and 05:32 UT.
Retrograde 19 Dec – 08 Jan 2017 (3 weeks), 15°07' Capricorn back to 28°50' Sagittarius; shadow from 02 Dec to 27 Jan 2017. Stations at 10:53 and 09:47 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 2016· not retrograde this year
Venus holds a straight course through 2016; no spell, no shadow, no station to mark.
♂︎Mars retrograde 2016· once this year
Retrograde 17 Apr – 29 Jun (10 weeks), 8°54' Sagittarius back to 23°03' Scorpio; shadow from 18 Feb to 22 Aug. Stations at 12:16 and 23:40 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 2016· once this year
Retrograde 08 Jan – 09 May (17 weeks), 23°14' Virgo back to 13°15' Virgo; shadow from 13 Oct 2015 to 07 Aug. Stations at 04:47 and 12:18 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 2016· once this year
Retrograde 25 Mar – 13 Aug (20 weeks), 16°24' Sagittarius back to 9°46' Sagittarius; shadow from 19 Dec 2015 to 19 Nov. Stations at 10:02 and 09:40 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 2016· once this year
Retrograde 29 Jul – 29 Dec (22 weeks), 24°30' Aries back to 20°33' Aries; shadow from 11 Apr to 15 Apr 2017. Stations at 21:05 and 09:20 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 2016· once this year
Retrograde 13 Jun – 20 Nov (23 weeks), 12°02' Pisces back to 9°14' Pisces; shadow from 22 Feb to 10 Mar 2017. Stations at 20:35 and 04:31 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 2016· once this year
Retrograde 18 Apr – 26 Sep (23 weeks), 17°29' Capricorn back to 14°55' Capricorn; shadow from 28 Dec 2015 to 16 Jan 2017. Stations at 07:18 and 14:44 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.