The month, phase by phase
A calendar file with every new and full moon and the eight festivals of the coming year. It opens in Google, Apple and Outlook calendars.
How it is calculated
Phases, the moon's position and the solstices are calculated in your browser with the astronomical algorithms of Jean Meeus, checked against the US Naval Observatory and NASA's JPL: the times are right to the minute. Times are shown in your device's time zone.
Eight phases, eight practices
The moon takes 29 and a half days to go from dark to full and back. Moon practice follows that rhythm: you begin in the dark, act as the light grows, give thanks at the full and let go as it wanes.
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Tonight
New moon
The month begins in the dark. Sit with one candle, write a single intention on paper, in the present tense as if it were already true, and keep it on your altar until the full moon.
Candles -
Tonight
Waxing crescent
The first sliver shows at dusk, low in the west. Take the first small step towards your intention, and carry a green stone in your pocket to remind you of it through the day.
For Abundance -
Tonight
First quarter
Half lit: it rises around midday and sets around midnight. In moon practice this is the moment of choice. Act on your intention and clear what stands in the way; light a stick of incense before you start.
For Focus -
Tonight
Waxing gibbous
Almost full. A time to refine rather than begin: repeat your practice, one round of the mala, 108 breaths or 108 repetitions of your mantra.
Mala Beads -
Tonight
Full moon
The whole face lit, rising as the sun sets. In crystal lore, the night to charge your stones: set them on the windowsill in the moonlight, selenite included (it takes its name from Selene, the moon; keep it away from water). Read again the intention you wrote at the new moon and give thanks for what has grown.
Selenite -
Tonight
Waning gibbous
The light begins to ebb and the moon rises later each night. The time to share and give thanks: pass on what you have learned, give away what you no longer need, light incense in the evening as a thank-you.
Incense Sticks -
Tonight
Last quarter
Half dark: it rises around midnight. The traditional time to clear and let go. Smoke through the rooms, corner by corner, then open the windows; write down what you are releasing and burn the paper in a heatproof bowl.
Smudge Sticks & Sacred Wood -
Tonight
Waning crescent
The last sliver, seen before dawn in the east. Rest and keep the evenings quiet: a bath with salts, a cup of tea, an early night. You are making room for the next new moon.
For Calm
The moon through the signs
The moon crosses all twelve signs in about 27 days, two and a half days in each. Astrological tradition reads every passage as a different weather for practice.
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Fire and beginnings: start the thing you have been circling, move your body, light a red candle for courage.
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Earth and the senses: cook slowly, tend your plants, hold a stone in your hand and stay with it.
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Air and words: write, talk, send the message you have been putting off. A good moon for journaling.
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Water and home: tidy the house, light a candle in the kitchen, call the people you come from.
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Fire and the heart: make something, dance, wear gold, let yourself be seen.
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Earth and order: clean the altar, sort your herbs and stones, write the list and work through it.
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Air and balance: fresh flowers, beauty on purpose, and the conversation that mends a relationship.
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Water and depth: shadow work, the tarot by candlelight, the questions you usually avoid.
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Fire and horizons: read, study, plan a journey, say yes to something new.
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Earth and structure: set the long goals, keep your routine, ground yourself before you climb.
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Air and other people: meditate in a group, meet friends, try the practice you have never tried.
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Water and dreams: a notebook by the bed, a bath with salts, music and incense in the evening.
The wheel of the year
Eight festivals mark the turning of the year: the two solstices and the two equinoxes, at the exact moment the sun reaches them, and the four fire festivals in between, on their traditional dates. The ring is as wide as the day is long at 45° north, the latitude of Turin and Bordeaux: thin at Yule, full at Litha.
of daylight today
The full moons of the year
The names most used today for the full moons come from the old farmers' almanacs, which gathered them from Native American, colonial and European traditions. The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the autumn equinox, the Hunter's Moon the one after it.
Your moon notebook
At the new moon, write the intention for this cycle. At the full moon, come back and read it.
Earlier cycles
Prefer paper? Notebooks & Stationery