Retrogrades › Pluto › 1959
Pluto is retrograde once in 1959: Dec 8 – May 14 in Virgo.
Looking for the latest dates? See Pluto retrograde 2026.
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.
| Pre-shadow begins | Retrograde | Direct | Post-shadow ends | Signs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 1958 | Dec 6, 1958, 10:33 AM ET | May 13, 1959, 5:54 PM ET | Sep 5, 1959 | 4°14′ ♍︎ Virgo 1°40′ |
| Aug 17, 1959 | Dec 8, 1959, 3:09 PM ET | May 14, 1960, 8:57 PM ET | Sep 6, 1960 | 6°10′ ♍︎ Virgo 3°35′ |
Dec 6, 1958 – May 13, 1959 · 158 days
Pluto turns retrograde at 4°14′ Virgo on Dec 6, 1958, 10:33 AM ET (1958-12-06 15:33 UTC) and direct at 1°40′ Virgo on May 13, 1959, 5:54 PM ET (1959-05-13 21:54 UTC).
Astrologers link this retrograde to work routines, health and details.
Shadow: Aug 14, 1958 – Sep 5, 1959.
Dec 8, 1959 – May 14, 1960 · 158 days
Pluto turns retrograde at 6°10′ Virgo on Dec 8, 1959, 3:09 PM ET (1959-12-08 20:09 UTC) and direct at 3°35′ Virgo on May 14, 1960, 8:57 PM ET (1960-05-15 00:57 UTC).
Astrologers link this retrograde to work routines, health and details.
Shadow: Aug 17, 1959 – Sep 6, 1960.
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.
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.
Same year: Mercury retrograde 1959 · Venus retrograde 1959 · Jupiter retrograde 1959 · Saturn retrograde 1959 · Uranus retrograde 1959 · Neptune retrograde 1959 · All planets now
Pluto is retrograde once in 1959: Dec 8 – May 14 in Virgo. The year also opens with the retrograde that began on Dec 6, 1958, ending May 13, 1959.
About 156 days in total during 1959; each retrograde lasts 158 days. Including the pre- and post-shadow, each cycle spans roughly 386 days.
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.
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.
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.