A guide to using the Moon phases

From my amazon and Booktopia best-selling Hay House book Moonology; working with the magic of the lunar cycles.

A guide to using the Moon phases

Need to know; the Moon moves through 8 main phases every month from New to Full and back again…

For hundreds of years, tradition and folklore have declared that each Moon phase is ‘good’ for performing certain activities. And in 1967, American writer Dane Rudhyar published a seminal book called The Lunation Cycle, in which he explored the idea that the relationship of the Sun and the Moon in our birth chart is a big key to understanding our personality. It’s a great book that all hardcore Moon manifestors should read.

Over the years, I have developed my own take on using the energies of each Moon phase – i.e. determining what we should and shouldn’t do at each one, particularly in terms of manifesting our dreams – which I’ve outlined in the following guide. My approach is based partly on Rudhyar’s work, plus common and traditional wisdom and my own experience. Ideally, we’d all work with the Moon as she goes through all her phases. However, most people will only think about which phase the Moon is in when they’re having trouble in life – for example, if they’ve hit a rough spot and want some cosmic help. And that’s totally fine.

The main thing is to understand that each Moon phase is good for one thing or another. Remember: the more you’re in tune with the Moon, the more easily life will flow. You can find out which phase the Moon is in by visiting my site – www.moonology.com. It’s shown there every day on the home page. If you’d like this information sent directly to your email inbox, sign up for my newsletters: www.moonologybook.com/dailymessage

THE 8 MAIN PHASES OF THE MOON

The New Moon phase
• Plant the seeds of your future dreams.
• This phase begins 1–3½ days after the Balsamic Moon.
• Keywords of this phase: a clean slate, potential, dreams

This is arguably the most exciting part of the lunar cycle. It might feel like a quiet time, when things are brewing, but in fact it’s when you start to manifest your dreams – or not. This is a time to look forward to; to plan for; to make time for. Creation takes time. Reciting the mantra ‘I am blessed’ at this point in the lunar cycle will really help you. At the time of the New Moon, ideas are coming from the ether and we must decide which of them we want to latch onto. We need to remember that anything is possible. This is definitely the time to think about what you do want, and not think about what you don’t want. Meditate on your dreams. That will allow you to tune in to your higher self, so you have all the guidance you need to move towards them. Having a massage is highly recommended at this time, or some hot sex, or even a hot bath – anything that reminds you that you’re alive in your body. What are you planning to make of your experience as a human being?
Transform your life with the Moon phases.

If you’re serious about being a deliberate manifestor, the New Moon phase is when you should make time for yourself and put your wishes in writing or in a drawing. Writing works very well for most people; however, I personally think drawing or even doodling is even better. The reason for this is, creating a little drawing of your dream/wish means you’re actually visualizing it coming true – and that’s huge. It means you really start to believe it and when you do that, you start to manifest it. As they say, ‘If you can believe it, you can achieve it.’ (More about all this in Part II.) Worried you can’t draw? It doesn’t matter. However, if you choose just to write down your goals, be sure to imagine them in your mind’s eye as you do so. Feel them. To quote Dr Wayne Dyer: feel the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Feel it in your body. Feel the elation. Reading your wishes out loud is also very powerful. You will radically accelerate your manifesting if you get this part of the cycle right.

If you would like a free How To Make Your New Moon wishes PDF with info from my book Moonology, just click here to have it sent to you instantly for free.

If you would like to find out which part of your your chart the New Moon is triggering – for example, your 7th House aka your Love Zone or your 9th House aka your Travel Zone or your 10th House aka your Career Zone please just click here to buy our New Moon Info Sheets. These contain some info found in my book Moonology but effectively, we do the work for you, working out where the New Moon is and what that means for you.

The Waxing Crescent Moon phase
• Explore your dreams.
• This phase begins 3½–7 days after the New Moon.
• Keywords of this phase: courage, moving forwards, faith

This is the time to allow your dreams to blossom and flourish. If it doesn’t sound too poetic, think of yourself and your dreams as a flower that’s opening up. Remember, the Moon is moving from being invisible to full power, and it’s the same for your dreams. Right now you might not be able to see what you’re going to manifest, but before too long they will start to show up, just as the sliver of the Waxing Crescent Moon is showing up in the skies.

Keep thinking about what you want. Take a moment to go back to the wish lists you made at the time of the New Moon (more about this in Part II). Read them out loud. Think about them. Visualize them. Are they starting to feel real? If not, then read them again, and visualize them again. Again, feel the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Making wishes and setting intentions is a powerful beginning. If you really want to transform your life, then you need to stay with the vision. The Waxing Crescent Moon is a time to keep the faith and to have courage. If you want something, you have to chase it. Sometimes it does take guts to go after what you want. Doing so can ignite a fear of failure. If you know this is an issue you struggle with, then you need to work extra hard at the time of the Waxing Crescent Moon not to give up before you have really got started.

The First Quarter Moon phase
• It’s time to commit.
• This phase begins 7–10½ days after the New Moon.
• Keywords of this phase: challenges, confidence, commitment

This is when the Moon looks like a ‘Half Moon’ on the way from New to Full. At this point in the cycle, you may start to have a few doubts about your ability to manifest your dreams. Perhaps your resolve and/or commitment are being tested? If you know in your heart that you’re no longer so wild about, or committed to, your old wishes, do yourself a favour and let go of them. The ego might cling but you can let it go. If you’re still feeling hyped about whatever you’re working on, this is the time to double-commit to your dreams. Sometimes we need a hiccup to remind us that we’re serious about something.

This is a really important time to go back and re-read the wish lists you made at the time of the New Moon. Re-feel them. Re-visualize them. Re-imagine them. It’s also a time when some kind of crisis or issue could come up for you – all the better for you to work a little harder on your dreams. The astrological reason behind what’s going on at this time is that the Moon is now just far enough away to clash with the Sun, making a hard angle. The angle, called a square, is known for creating an itch that needs to be scratched! In other words, issues that come up now call for some kind of action to be taken.

The Gibbous Moon phase
• Stay on course.
• This phase begins 10½–15 days after the New Moon.
• Keywords of this phase: tweak, hone, adjust

As the Moon gets closer and closer to fullness, it’s time for stamina. Don’t give up. Don’t allow your ego, or fear, to spoil your plans. Stay open to whatever life is teaching you. If you know you need to make some changes to achieve your goals, make them now. Gibbous means ‘bulging’, and that very nicely describes the phase of the Moon when hopefully, life feels bulging with potential!

This is a great time to review your plans. There is a good chance that they could use some kind of tweak now. Spend some time going over your ideas and see what feels as though it’s working and what feels like it might be about to run out of steam. This is the right time to build some kind of momentum, no matter what you’re planning. But what if you’ve only just now come up with your plans? No problem. This is actually quite a good time to start new plans too.

It’s important not to become impatient during this cycle. As the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said: ‘People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure.’ This phase is also good for getting back into any good habits or routines that you have let slip. We might be nearly two weeks away from the New Moon but ultimately, we’re still in the building phase of the Moon cycle so restarting something now is still recommended.

The Full Moon phase
• It’s make-or-break time!
• This phase begins 15–18½ days after the New Moon.
• Keywords of this phase: results, forgiveness, gratitude

The Full Moon is the high point of the lunar cycle. Things come to a head now, and we know it instinctively. If one of your wishes is to come true, it may well manifest at this point in the cycle. Or perhaps you will simply get a strong sign that it’s on its way. Some wishes take time. Check in with your emotional guidance system – how do you feel about your dreams now? Feeling encouraged is recommended. Think the best thing you can about whatever you want. Feel good. Count your blessings. If you’re Moon-sensitive, this is the time of the month when you will feel quite wound up and anxious. That’s because, on some level, your body knows that this is the climax of your current cycle and that whatever you haven’t quite managed to manifest may have to wait. This part of the cycle is yang – the energy is out there and our feelings are on display for all to see. Use this part of the cycle to release and let go.

If something hasn’t worked out, bless it and instead be grateful for all the good in your life. Look back over the past month, too, and become conscious of anyone or anything that has hurt you. This isn’t the time for blame, though: it’s the time to forgive. When you forgive, you release the karma and when you do that, you exit the situation. And because nature abhors a vacuum, you need to replace what you’re releasing. The idea is to use this high point in the lunar cycle to let go and move on. Forgiveness is one of the most important gifts we can give ourselves. Truly! Because when we forgive, we can move on.

Forgiving anyone or anything that has hurt you in the past four weeks (or indeed ever) is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself – it’s detoxifying. The clearer you are now, the better able you will be to sow more seeds at the time of the New Moon in two weeks’ time. Once you’ve released any upset through forgiveness, fill up again with gratitude. The Full Moon is the time when emotions come to the surface to be dealt with. Once you’ve let go of any unsettled or unresolved feelings you have about someone or something, focus on good feelings by thinking about who and what you’re grateful for. You can learn more about New Moon forgiveness with this free Full Moon Forgiveness Kit and guide here.

The Disseminating Moon phase
• B-r-e-a-t-h-e…
• This phase begins 3½–7 days after the Full Moon.
• Keywords of this phase: cycle: relax, accept, regroup

After all the intensity of the Full Moon, it can be tempting to fall into a slump. If things didn’t work out for you then, what next? A lot of energy has been expended and you may want to relax a little during this part of the cycle. If that’s the case for you, then do it. You will find that the more you work in accordance with the lunar phases, the more easily life will flow. This isn’t the time to start something new, then, but rather to go easy on yourself as you regroup your forces.

The more you can accept ‘what is’, the better your emotional health. Also, the more you can down tools now, the greater your chances of success will be later on. This is also a good time to share your wisdom with others. What have you learned? Can you pass it on? Over the past few weeks, you’ve been growing in wisdom and experience. Now is the time to share what you know with others. We’re now officially in the ‘waning’ phase. The Moon will appear to grow smaller every night between now and its disappearance at the time of the New Moon. It’s as though we have stepped through from one side of life to another. We’re through the door of the Full Moon and now we get to see what’s on the other side.

Accept that you are where you are and it’s okay. Try to relax during this part of the cycle. If you’ve been doing the hard yards on manifesting your dreams in the fortnight between the New Moon and the Full Moon, you will have earned a break.

The Third Quarter Moon phase
• What do you know?
• This phase begins 7–10½ days after the Full Moon.
• Keywords of this phase: re-evaluate, balance, trust

This Moon phase can be awkward. It’s the halfway point between the wonder of the Full Moon and the potential of the New Moon. On some level, we know that what didn’t work for us in the past has dissolved on an etheric level. It’s time to re-orientate ourselves. Although we might feel tired during this part of the cycle, this is no time to stop, or to rest on our laurels. There’s tension at this time: a result of the hard angle between the egotistical Sun and the emotional Moon. We may not want to let go but we know we need to. Adjustments are required. We have to make way for the new, which we sense is just around the corner, in the form of the New Moon in one week’s time.

The Third Quarter Moon (like the First Quarter Moon) looks like a Half Moon. Any conflict that occurs now is worth examining – ask yourself what the message is in any challenges you face during this phase. A change of course may be called for. Let go. This part of the cycle can be a crossroads. Look back and see how far you’ve come. Do you deserve a pat on the back for what you’ve achieved? Then allow yourself that. Where to from here? It can be decision time as you work out what you want to take with you into the New Moon cycle that’s coming soon, and what you want to leave behind. This is also a very good time to break bad habits. You’re at a turning point so the question is, ‘Which way do you want to turn?’ Are you sticking with your old plans or making new ones?

The Balsamic Moon phase
• And release…
• This phase begins around 10½ days after the Full Moon, and continues until the New Moon.
• Keywords of this phase: healing, soothing, surrender

The word ‘balsamic’ comes from the word ‘balsam’, which means ‘anything healing or soothing’. And that’s what this ‘last part’ of the lunar cycle (before the New Moon) is all about. We have moved from hopes and dreams to explosions of potential: to realizations of what can and cannot be, to acceptance and forgiveness and surrender… and now comes the healing and the soothing. If you want to live consciously, in line with the Moon cycles, this is the time to go easy on yourself.

Start to think about your dreams again and allow hope to guide and inspire you. Remember that anything is possible. Live gently. B-r-e-a-t-h-e. One of the best ways to work with this cycle is to chant the Sanskrit words Om Namo Narayani, which mean ‘I surrender to the Divine’. The Divine has a plan for us all, and we’re all the Divine made manifest! So surrender now. It’s easier said than done, but by chanting Om Namo Narayani and asking your soul to surrender, it becomes possible. The lunar cycle is ending and it’s really time to let go and move on.

It’s also a time for rest and healing. Give yourself a break. Daydream. Dream big. Go wild in your imagination. Smile to yourself. Once again, this is a brilliant time to put a stop to any habits that aren’t good for you. It’s also a time to end relationships that aren’t working for you. If there has been a drama with someone and you want to continue the relationship, this is another wonderful time to release upset.

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