On the days when the larger planets, Jupiter through Pluto, turn retrograde or end their retrograde phases, and of course, give or take 48 hours for the sake of argument, we experience an intense version of the planet. This is called a station. The news gets a little juicy around these times and our individual tempers get a little piqued, according to the planet.

For example, on Jupiter’s station (He’s the good guy), the stock market goes up for a few days and individuals feel “up.” When Saturn, the bad guy, is stationed, life seems to come to a grinding halt. Uranus’ station is a little manic. The station of Neptune spaces us out. And Pluto’s station feels a little, well, murderous. Thank the gods we’re only talking about a couple of days.

By the way, reading the headlines around these times helps us to learn about the planets.

Here are the dates to be aware of in the future; and we’ll provide the previous stations, so you can look back and see what happened the last time around. After all, history is the greatest teacher.

Jupiter’s stations:
October 12, 2009
July 23, 2010
November 18, 2010
August 30, 2011

Saturn’s stations:
May 16, 2009
January 13, 2010
May 30, 2010
January 26, 2011
June 12, 2011

Uranus’ stations:
July 1, 2009
December 1, 2009
July 5, 2010
December 6, 2010
July 9, 2011

Neptune’s stations:
May 28, 2009
November 4, 2009
May 31, 2010
November 7, 2010
June 2, 2011
November 9, 2011

Pluto’s stations:
April 4, 2009
September 11, 2009
April 7, 2010
September 14, 2010
April 8, 2011
September 16, 2011

And what should one do when the planets are stationed? Go to the movies. Sleep in. Take an extra yoga class. Find a positive way of standing still. So long as we do what the planets are doing, all is well in the world.