Planets in retrograde

What retrograde means

A planet is retrograde when, seen from Earth, it seems to move backward through the zodiac. No planet really turns around. Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun at different speeds, and when Earth and a planet pass each other, the planet appears to slip back, the way a slower car seems to drift backward as you pass it on the highway. Mercury turns retrograde three or four times a year, for about three weeks each time. Venus does it every 19 months or so, for about six weeks, and Mars every 26 months or so, for about two and a half months, so some years go by with no Venus or Mars retrograde at all. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto each turn retrograde about once a year, for four to five months.

In astrology, a retrograde is traditionally seen as a time to review, revisit, and rethink, and to finish what's already under way rather than start something new. Each planet has its own themes, from Mercury's messages to Pluto's deep changes. It's tradition, not a rule.

The retrograde shadow

The shadow is the stretch of the zodiac a planet crosses three times over the course of a retrograde. Moving forward, before its retrograde, the planet first reaches the degree where it will later turn direct. That's when it enters the shadow. It goes on to the degree where it turns retrograde, moves back over the whole stretch, and turns direct where the stretch begins. Then it covers the same ground a third time, moving forward, and leaves the shadow once it's back at the degree where it turned retrograde.

How the dates are calculated

We calculate each planet's position as seen from Earth and find, to the minute, the two stations of each retrograde: the moments the planet turns retrograde and turns direct. The shadow runs between the degrees where those two stations fall. Times are in the local time of the place you've picked, or in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) if you haven't picked one.