Retrograde calendar

A graha is retrograde when it seems to move backward through the signs as seen from Earth. It happens when Earth overtakes it, or when it passes Earth, much as a slower car seems to drift back when you pass it on a road. The graha keeps its path.

The Sun and Moon never turn retrograde. Rahu and Ketu are points on the Moon's path, and the mean node always moves backward, so there is no turn to date.

Mercury three or four times a year, for about three weeks each time. Venus about once in a year and a half, Mars about once in two years, Jupiter and Saturn once a year, for several months each. The tables show the exact turns.

Indian Standard Time. A turn that happens late at night in India can fall on the next or the previous date in another country, so check the time column when you live abroad.

A turn is the instant the graha stops and starts to move the other way. The times are computed to the minute by the dhoop calculation engine, and other sources can differ by a few hours, depending on how they define the stop.

A retrograde lasts weeks or months, and the graha moves backward as well. Some runs start in one sign and end in the previous sign. Each row names the sign at the start and at the end.

This page gives dates and signs, nothing more. What a retrograde means for you depends on your chart, which is a conversation worth having with someone who knows how to read it with you, and dhoop can talk it through.