The Moon
Where the Moon is today, and what each phase of the cycle has traditionally been used for.
Right now
Waxing Gibbous
Refining rather than starting. Adjust and continue.
Day 10.8 of the lunar cycle · 81% illuminated
Next full moon August 28, 2026, 6:19 AM · next new moon September 11, 2026, 5:27 AM
The Eight Phases
One full cycle takes about 29.5 days. Each phase has its own traditional use.
How the Cycle Works
The Moon takes roughly 29.5 days to travel from one new moon to the next. Astrologically the waxing half — from new to full — is associated with building and growing, and the waning half with releasing and completing.
The Moon also changes zodiac sign every two to three days, which is why the same phase can feel different from month to month. In a natal chart, the Moon describes emotional life rather than identity — see the Moon in our planet guide.
What This Page Shows
The current moon phase, calculated for right now rather than pulled from a table, along with the eight phases of the cycle and what each is traditionally read as.
The calculation uses the Meeus algorithm for true phase times, which accounts for the moon's genuinely irregular motion. An approximation based on the mean synodic month can name the wrong phase for an entire day near a boundary, which is the kind of error that is easy to make and hard to notice.
Phase Is Not The Same As Sign
These get confused constantly. The moon phase is how much of the moon's lit face is turned toward Earth, which depends on the angle between the moon and the sun. The moon sign is where the moon sits against the twelve signs.
One is a relationship between two bodies; the other is a position of one. You can be born under a full moon in any sign, and under any phase in any sign, because the two vary independently.
The cycles are also slightly different lengths - about 29.5 days for the phases and 27.3 for the signs - which is why they drift steadily out of step rather than repeating together.
On Full Moons And Behaviour
The claim that full moons drive hospital admissions, crime or sleeplessness has been studied extensively and the meta-analyses find no effect. The belief persists strongly among people who work nights, which is a well-documented case of confirmation bias: a busy night during a full moon is memorable and a busy night otherwise is Tuesday.
The one plausible historical mechanism is light. Before electric lighting a full moon meant people could travel and work after dark, and more activity produces more of everything. That is a real effect with an obvious cause, and it has been largely irrelevant for a century.