Dates use Eastern Time (America/New_York), including daylight-saving changes. Event cards below also show UTC; the same station can fall on a different calendar date in another time zone.
Pluto turns retrograde at 26°48′ Leo on Nov 28, 1954, 6:56 PM ET (1954-11-28 23:56 UTC) and direct at 24°18′ Leo on May 6, 1955, 2:38 PM ET (1955-05-06 18:38 UTC).
Astrologers link this retrograde to creativity, romance and self-expression.
Shadow: Aug 6, 1954 – Aug 30, 1955.
Pluto retrograde in Leo
Nov 30, 1955 – May 7, 1956 · 159 days
Pluto turns retrograde at 28°37′ Leo on Nov 30, 1955, 11:10 PM ET (1955-12-01 04:10 UTC) and direct at 26°06′ Leo on May 7, 1956, 4:01 PM ET (1956-05-07 20:01 UTC).
Astrologers link this retrograde to creativity, romance and self-expression.
Shadow: Aug 8, 1955 – Aug 31, 1956.
What Pluto retrograde means
Pluto is associated with power, endings and deep transformation. It is retrograde for about five months every year: about 43% of the time from 1950 to 2050. Astrologers read the period as a time to revisit long processes of change from the inside, rather than force them outward.
Retrograde motion is an optical effect: Earth and Pluto move at different speeds, so Pluto appears to drift backward against the stars for a while. Our dates are station times — when the apparent motion reverses — calculated with Astronomy Engine; see the methodology.
Why Pluto appears to go backward
Pluto works the same way as Mars, only more slowly: Earth overtakes it once a year. Simplified circular orbits; the dates above come from the full ephemeris.
Pluto is retrograde once in 1955: Nov 30 – May 7 in Leo. The year also opens with the retrograde that began on Nov 28, 1954, ending May 6, 1955.
How long is Pluto retrograde in 1955?
About 157 days in total during 1955; each retrograde lasts 159 days. Including the pre- and post-shadow, each cycle spans roughly 389 days.
What is the Pluto retrograde shadow?
The pre-shadow starts when Pluto first reaches the degree where it will turn direct; the post-shadow ends when it passes the degree where it turned retrograde. The dates are in the table above.
Why do Pluto retrograde dates differ by time zone?
A station is one instant worldwide, but its calendar date depends on the time zone. This calendar displays Eastern Time, including daylight-saving changes, and the event cards also show UTC. A station shortly after midnight UTC can fall on the previous date in the Americas. Compare full timestamps before concluding that two calendars disagree.
Is Pluto still retrograde during the post-shadow?
No. The retrograde phase ends at the direct station. During the post-shadow, Pluto moves direct through the degrees it covered while retrograde, until it passes the earlier retrograde-station longitude. The direct date and post-shadow end date describe different events.
Astrology is a symbolic and cultural tradition. The planetary positions on this site are calculated with astronomical accuracy; the interpretations describe what astrologers associate with them and are not scientifically validated predictions about personality, relationships or the future.