Today’s phase, the next new and full moons, and a complete month to explore. The times are astronomical; traditional meanings are a way to read the rhythm, not a rule.
The Moon today
Monday, August 24, 202685.8 % lit · age of the lunation 11.6 days · Moon in Capricorn
The month’s four main changes, with the exact time in Central European Time.
Each disc shows the Moon’s approximate illumination at noon on that day.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 48 % Last Quarter | 2 37 % | 3 27 % | 4 19 % | 5 12 % | ||
| 6 6 % | 7 2 % | 8 0 % | 9 0 % New Moon | 10 2 % | 11 5 % | 12 10 % |
| 13 16 % | 14 24 % | 15 33 % | 16 42 % | 17 52 % First Quarter | 18 63 % | 19 73 % |
| 20 82 % | 21 90 % | 22 96 % | 23 99 % | 24 100 % Full Moon | 25 97 % | 26 92 % |
| 27 84 % | 28 74 % | 29 64 % | 30 54 % Last Quarter | 31 43 % |
All times are Central European Time. Each phase is drawn as it looks from the northern hemisphere; from the south it looks the same, only the other way round.
The Moon changes sign every two and a half days. These are its entries this month:
From the invisible beginning to the full moon and back to silence: what happens in the sky and how tradition interprets it.
The Moon rises and sets with the Sun, so you cannot see it: its lit face is turned the other way. This is the instant the lunation — the lunar month — begins.
What it is for: The phase of what begins. Good for setting intentions, sowing, signing beginnings and asking the question that has no answer yet.
The first thread of light, thin as a fingernail, appears in the west at dusk and sets soon after the Sun.
What it is for: Time for first steps: file the application, make the call, plant what has to grow. The course can still be corrected.
Exactly half a Moon, lit on the right in the northern hemisphere. It rises at noon and sets at midnight.
What it is for: The phase of push and decision. You clear what is in the way, ask for what you need, and hold on to what you started even when it costs.
Almost full and bigger every night, it already lights a good part of the darkness.
What it is for: Time to refine and finish: review, polish, rehearse. Whatever is cooking wants its last adjustments before it is served.
The Moon stands opposite the Sun: it rises as he sets and lights the whole night. The briefest phase to catch, and the one everybody knows.
What it is for: A phase of fullness and clarity: celebrate, close, see what was hidden. Also the night of overflowing feelings, so look before you speak.
Light starts to go from the edge, and it rises later every night.
What it is for: Time to share and give thanks for the harvest, and to tell what you learned. The energy turns inward.
Half a Moon again, now lit from the other side. It rises at midnight and sets at noon.
What it is for: The phase of letting go: cut clean, forgive, sort out cupboards and accounts, release what leads nowhere.
The last thread before the silence, visible in the east before dawn. It is also called the balsamic moon.
What it is for: Days for rest, for long dreams and for starting nothing. You gather, you clean, and you wait for the new moon.
These popular names come from almanacs and northern-hemisphere traditions; they may vary by place and culture.
The phases are computed with Jean Meeus's algorithms, the ones the astronomical almanacs use: the minute shown is the exact instant, not an estimate.
Your birth moon phase depends on the exact date and time. Calculate it and discover which part of the cycle was illuminated when you arrived.
The Moon was the first clock. Before there were weeks, months or hourglasses, people counted time by what they could see in the sky: a whole lunation —from one new moon to the next— lasts 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes, and that is where our months come from, the word itself included. This calendar is the pocket version of that ancient clock.
At the top you have today's Moon drawn exactly as it stands: with its percentage of light, how many days old this lunation is, and the zodiac sign it is passing through. Below that, the whole month day by day, the four phases with their exact time, and the Moon's entry into each sign. You can walk through the months with the arrows: forward to plan something, back to understand why that particular night went the way it did.
The phases are not decoration, they are geometry. The Moon does not change shape; what changes is the angle we see it from as it goes round the Earth. When it sits between us and the Sun we cannot see it — new moon; when the Earth is the one in the middle, we see it whole — full moon. Everything else is the positions in between, which is why the thread of light grows from the right and fades from the left when you watch from the northern hemisphere.
As for what each phase is «for», tradition agrees on the essentials: a waxing Moon goes with what is beginning and what should increase, and a waning Moon goes with what is closing, being cut, being let go. That is why people sowed on a waxing moon and pruned on a waning one, and why some still cut their hair with one eye on the calendar. Take it as a rhythm to organise yourself by, not as a law: the Moon keeps the beat, the music is yours.
If you are curious about what the sky says about you, right next door are the daily horoscope, the zodiac sign compatibility and, if you are not sure of yours, the zodiac sign calculator.