Lunar Phases - Explained 🌙
Please note, each moon phase is roughly around 3 days or 2.85 days
New Moon - the moon is just beginning to become illuminated, so it can correspond with new beginnings, a fresh start, cleansing, exploring new opportunities, newfound health or relationships, finding peace with yourself, and moving on - “out with the old and in with the new.”
Waxing Moon - The moon is continuing to grow, becoming more and more visible, so it can correspond with attraction magick, reaching goals, manifestation magick, positive energy, success, wishes, good luck, gaining wealth, and dreams come true.
First Quarter - this moon is halfway illuminated, on its way to becoming fully illuminated, so it can correspond to balance, and the need to make decisions.
Full Moon - The moon is fully illuminated, so it can correspond with extra energy, a magickal boost, cleansing, charging, enchanting, performing divination, and honoring lunar deities.
Third Quarter - this moon is also halfway illuminated, but on its way to becoming invisible in the sky, therefore while it can still correspond with balance, it can also correspond to focusing on the task at hand, banishing, and breaking old habits.
Waning Moon - The moon is becoming less illuminated and seems as though it’s disappearing, so it can correspond to generalized negative energy, reflection, introspection, the transformation of the self, banishing things, binding others' actions or undoing bindings, letting go, moving on, cleansing, breaking bad habits, and finding peace.
Dark Moon - the moon is completely hidden in the sky, with no illumination at all, so it can correspond to cursing, banishing, binding, seeking justice, a reflection of the self, and generalized destruction.
Blue Moon - this moon is either the third of four full moons in a season, or the second full moon in a month, so its appearance can correspond to wishes, dreams, divination, achievement, and focus.
Black Moon - this moon is an additional new moon that appears in a month or in a season, or the absence of a full moon or of a new moon in a month, therefore it can correspond to extra power and manifestation.
The Moon's Orbit
You may have personally observed that the moon goes through a complete moon phases cycle in about one month. That's true, but it's not exactly one month. The time required for the moon to move to the same position (same phase) as seen by an observer on earth is called the synodic period or lunation and it is 29.5305882 days on average (+/- 0.27 days due to the varying distance between the earth and the moon). If you were to view the moon cycling the earth from outside our solar system (the viewpoint of the stars), the time required is 27.3217 days, roughly two days less. This figure is called the sidereal period or orbital period. Why is the synodic period different from the sidereal period? The short answer is that on earth, we are viewing the moon from a moving platform: during the moon cycle, the earth has moved approximately one month along its year-long orbit around the sun, altering our angle of view with respect to the moon, and thus altering the phase. The earth's orbital direction is such that it lengthens the period for earthbound observers.
Although the synodic and sidereal periods can be used in certain calculations, the moon phase can't be precisely calculated by a simple division of days because the moon's motion (orbital speed and position) is affected and perturbed by various forces of different strengths. Hence, complex equations are used to determine the exact position and phase of the moon at any given point in time.
Also, looking at the diagram (and imagining it to scale), you may have wondered why, at a new moon, the moon doesn't block the sun, and at a full moon, why the earth doesn't block sunlight from reaching the moon. The reason is that the moon's orbit around the earth is about 5 degrees off from the earth-sun orbital plane.
However, at special times during the year, the earth, moon, and sun do in fact "line up". When the moon blocks the sun or a part of it, it's called a solar eclipse, and it can only happen during the new moon phase. When the earth casts a shadow on the moon, it's called a lunar eclipse, and can only happen during the full moon phase. Roughly 4 to 7 eclipses happen in any given year, but most of them are minor or "partial" eclipses. Major lunar or solar eclipses are relatively uncommon.
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