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 2021· 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 30 Jan – 21 Feb (3 weeks), 26°29' Aquarius back to 11°01' Aquarius; shadow from 15 Jan to 13 Mar. Stations at 15:51 and 00:58 UT.
Retrograde 29 May – 22 Jun (3 weeks), 24°43' Gemini back to 16°07' Gemini; shadow from 15 May to 07 Jul. Stations at 22:29 and 22:07 UT.
Retrograde 27 Sep – 18 Oct (3 weeks), 25°28' Libra back to 10°07' Libra; shadow from 06 Sep to 03 Nov. Stations at 05:07 and 15:20 UT.
♀︎Venus retrograde 2021· once this year
Retrograde 19 Dec – 29 Jan 2022 (6 weeks), 26°29' Capricorn back to 11°04' Capricorn; shadow from 17 Nov to 02 Mar 2022. Stations at 10:35 and 08:49 UT.
♂︎Mars retrograde 2021· not retrograde this year
Mars holds a straight course through 2021; 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 2021· once this year
Retrograde 20 Jun – 18 Oct (17 weeks), 2°10' Pisces back to 22°19' Aquarius; shadow from 27 Mar to 09 Jan 2022. Stations at 15:08 and 05:28 UT.
♄︎Saturn retrograde 2021· once this year
Retrograde 23 May – 11 Oct (20 weeks), 13°31' Aquarius back to 6°52' Aquarius; shadow from 14 Feb to 15 Jan 2022. Stations at 09:30 and 02:28 UT.
♅︎Uranus retrograde 2021· twice this year
Retrograde 15 Aug 2020 – 14 Jan (22 weeks), 10°41' Taurus back to 6°43' Taurus; shadow from 28 Apr 2020 to 01 May. Stations at 14:20 and 08:40 UT.
Retrograde 20 Aug – 18 Jan 2022 (22 weeks), 14°47' Taurus back to 10°49' Taurus; shadow from 03 May to 05 May 2022. Stations at 01:26 and 15:36 UT.
♆︎Neptune retrograde 2021· once this year
Retrograde 25 Jun – 01 Dec (23 weeks), 23°12' Pisces back to 20°24' Pisces; shadow from 04 Mar to 22 Mar 2022. Stations at 18:56 and 13:08 UT.
♇︎Pluto retrograde 2021· once this year
Retrograde 27 Apr – 06 Oct (23 weeks), 26°48' Capricorn back to 24°18' Capricorn; shadow from 04 Jan to 27 Jan 2022. Stations at 19:52 and 18:07 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.