The Moon phase you were born under

The Moon phase you were born under is the angle between the Sun and the Moon at the moment of your birth. Astrology divides the Moon's cycle into eight phases of 45 degrees each, from the New Moon through the Full Moon to the last thin crescent. The phase is read as the way your aims, shown by the Sun, and your needs, shown by the Moon, work together.

What the Moon phase at birth is

The Moon has no light of its own. One half of it is always lit by the Sun. How much of that lit half you see from Earth depends on where the Moon stands in relation to the Sun.

When the Moon stands between Earth and the Sun, its lit side faces away from you: New Moon. When it stands opposite the Sun, you see the whole lit side: Full Moon. From one New Moon to the next takes about 29.5 days.

A phase is therefore an angle, measured along the zodiac from the Sun forward to the Moon. At New Moon the angle is zero. At first quarter the Moon is 90 degrees ahead of the Sun. At Full Moon it is 180 degrees ahead, exactly opposite.

One detail confuses many people: at first quarter you see a half Moon. The name counts the cycle, not the disc.

Waxing or waning: the first thing to read

Before the eight phases, look at the two halves.

• Waxing Moon. The Moon is less than 180 degrees ahead of the Sun and its light is growing. You see it in the evening sky. Astrologers read a waxing birth Moon as building: you tend to act first and understand later, and you learn by doing.
• Waning Moon. The Moon is past the Full Moon and its light is shrinking. You see it late at night and in the morning sky. A waning birth Moon is read as distributing: you tend to understand first, draw conclusions from experience and pass things on.

Neither half makes a person more active or more thoughtful. They describe where the weight tends to lie.

The eight Moon phases and what each is read as

Read these as tendencies, not as types. No phase is better than another, and the rest of your chart decides how strongly yours shows.

How to find the Moon phase you were born under

1. Get both positions. You need the sign and degree of your Sun and of your Moon. A calculated birth chart shows them.
2. Count forward from the Sun. Go through the zodiac in its usual order, Aries, Taurus, Gemini and so on, until you reach the Moon. Every full sign counts 30 degrees.
3. Look up the result in the table above.

An example: your Sun is at 10 degrees Leo, your Moon at 25 degrees Scorpio. From 10 degrees Leo to 10 degrees Scorpio is three signs, so 90 degrees. Add the remaining 15 degrees and you get 105 degrees. You were born in the first quarter phase.

If you only know the two signs, you get a rough idea. Sun and Moon in the same sign means you were born around the New Moon, just after it or, in the balsamic phase, just before it. Sun and Moon in opposite signs means around the Full Moon.

Each phase lasts three to four days. On most days your date of birth is enough, and the birth time matters only close to the change from one phase to the next.

Moon phase and Moon sign answer different questions

Your Moon sign is the sign the Moon stood in. It describes what you need to feel safe. The phase says nothing about that. It describes the relationship between the two lights of your chart.

Your Moon sign says what you need. Your Moon phase says how those needs get along with what you are aiming for.

The main turning points of the cycle are aspects, the angles astrologers read between two points in a chart. The New Moon is a conjunction, the two quarters are squares, the Full Moon is an opposition.

• Born close to the New Moon, your Sun and Moon usually share a sign. Aim and need speak the same language, which is read as single-minded.
• Born at a quarter Moon, Sun and Moon stand at a right angle. What you want and what you need pull in different directions, and that friction tends to make you act.
• Born close to the Full Moon, your Sun and Moon usually stand in opposite signs. With the Sun in Aries and the Moon in Libra, you want to go ahead on your own and need company and agreement. Both are yours.

The guide to Sun, Moon and Rising adds the third part: the Rising sign, also called the Ascendant.

What to do next

1. Find your phase and read its line in the table. Ask where you recognize it.
2. Read it together with your Sun sign and your Moon sign. The phase is the link between them.
3. Watch the sky. About every 29.5 days the Moon returns to the phase you were born under. Notice how those days feel. The guide to the New Moon and Full Moon explains the monthly rhythm.

A Birth Chart Reading is written for your chart and calculated from your exact birth data.