Which Moon Phase Are You?

Your Birth Moon Phase: The Script You’re Working With

The Moon phase you were born under says a great deal about the dynamic of your life — the general energetic direction with which you approach things, and the underlying script you’re working with. It might seem like a small detail, but it often represents a thread that runs through your entire life, frequently reinforced by other aspects and themes in the natal chart. There are eight phases in total, four on the waxing side of the cycle and four on the waning side.

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Waxing Phases

New Moon

Emergence: Moon less than 45° ahead of the Sun

People born exactly at a New Moon, or within this range, have an instinctive, youthful, and subjective approach to life. They’re often energetic and impulsive, and good at coming up with new ideas because they can envision those ideas playing out in the future. They tend to be enthusiastic about immersing themselves in new experiences. This pahse is associated with the Sun and Leo.

Crescent Moon

Expansion: Moon 45°–90° ahead of the Sun

This phase carries a natural impulse toward action — challenging old structures in a struggle to build faith in oneself. There’s a sense of needing to overcome obstacles and working to emerge from past dependencies or habits that may have become entrenched. This phase is associated with the Moon and Cancer.

First Quarter Moon

Action: Moon 90°–135° ahead of the Sun

People born here are often forceful, constructive, and motivated, channelling their energy into laying foundations for the future. Strongly oriented toward building new ideals, they’re often found tearing down old structures to make way for the new. This phase is associated with Jupiter and Sagittarius.

Gibbous Moon

Overcoming: Moon 135°–180° ahead of the Sun

This phase brings a need to clarify personal goals alongside a desire to contribute something of value to society. People born here are reflective and analytical, always seeking a better way to integrate with others, and they carry a strong desire to understand everything about the world around them, including the connections they cannot directly see. This phase is associated with Saturn and Capricorn.

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Waning Phases

Full Moon

Fulfilment: Moon 180°–135° behind the Sun

This phase often brings the lesson of thinking before acting, in order to see the meaning of one’s actions and how relationships are affected by them. People born here often have a clear, objective vision of reality and strive toward some form of fulfilment. The opposition can mark the culmination of, or the breaking away from, past relationships, suggesting an ability to make new beginnings based on a conscious awareness of identity. This phase is associated with Mercury, Gemini, and Virgo.

Disseminating Moon

Demonstration: Moon 135°–90° behind the Sun

People born here feel a pull to transmit to others what they’ve learned through study or experience. They’re natural disseminators of ideas — living out and sharing what they’ve found useful, passing on what they know. Natural-born teachers. This phase is associated with Venus, Taurus, and Libra.

Last Quarter Moon

Re-orientation: Moon 90°–45° behind the Sun

This phase can bring challenging psychological reorientations, as old patterns of behaviour are pushed to change and evolve. There may be a crisis of consciousness as ideological beliefs are forced into a definite system of thought. The scale of these efforts is often only appreciated years later; these natives are frequently pioneers, and the difficulty of their path can also cultivate a strong sense of irony or humour. This phase can be associated with Uranus and Aquarius.

Balsamic Moon

Release: Moon less than 45° behind the Sun

This is a phase of transition. People born here may find themselves living out new concepts within old structures, holding a commitment to a vision of the future. In a sense, the past is being shed and the future foreshadowed, as the new Moon draws near. They can be fanatical, but also visionary, working for the greater good, helping to orient society toward a better future, and sometimes willing to sacrifice themselves toward that end. This final phase is associated with Mars and Scorpio.

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Rudhyar on the Lunation Cycle

The astrologer Dane Rudhyar wrote evocatively about these phases in his classic text The Lunation Cycle. He describes the cycle beginning at the New Moon, when the Moon is lost in the Sun’s brilliance, before the crescent reappears low in the western sky.

As the cycle progresses toward First Quarter, the Moon climbs higher at sunset, and the gap between Sun and Moon widens. By the Full Moon, moonrise and sunset coincide; Rudhyar’s image is of the Moon standing as the Sun’s equal, fully lit, able to carry the Sun’s light through the night to the Earth below.

From there, the Moon begins to wane, slowing as it draws back toward the Sun, as though drawn by longing for its radiance. At the Last Quarter, it stands at the zenith as the Sun rises. As the cycle nears its end, the pull toward the Sun grows stronger still, until the Moon rises later and later, finally disappearing into the dawn light, only to be renewed once again at the New Moon.

You can find your own Moon phase by checking the angular distance between your natal Sun and Moon, and reflecting on which of these eight scripts feels most like home.

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