Lunar Phases Overview

The Lunar Cycle. The Moon moves through a cycle of phases about every twenty-nine and a half days, driven by its changing angle to the Sun. As that angle grows and shrinks, the lit portion of the Moon we see waxes from dark to full and wanes back to dark again. Astrology divides this cycle into eight phases, each a stage in a passage from beginning to fullness to release. The phases describe a natural rhythm of growth. The waxing half, from New Moon to Full Moon, is a time of building, action, and increase. The waning half, from Full Moon back to New, is a time of sharing, releasing, and winding down. The New Moon plants a seed, the Full Moon brings it to light, and the cycle then returns to rest before starting again. Lunar phases are read in two ways. As current sky, the phase colors the mood of the moment for everyone. As a birth phase, the phase a person was born under adds a layer to their character, describing where in the cycle of beginnings and endings their instincts naturally sit. When a New or Full Moon falls near the lunar nodes it becomes an eclipse, a heightened version of the phase. The entries here define each of the eight phases in turn, along with eclipses.