Glossary 18 terms

Lunar calendar

  1. Lunar phase A lunar phase is one of the shapes the Moon takes across a roughly 29.5-day cycle, as the angle between the Sun, Earth and Moon shifts. The visible lit portion moves from the…
  2. New moon The new moon is the phase when the Sun and Moon are aligned on the same side of Earth (in conjunction). The Moon’s lit face then turns away from us, so its disc stays dark and…
  3. Full moon The full moon is the phase when the Sun and Moon sit on opposite sides of Earth, in opposition. The face of the Moon turned toward us is then fully lit and appears as a round,…
  4. First quarter The first quarter is the waxing half-moon, seen about a week after the new moon. The Sun and Moon then form a right angle as viewed from Earth, and exactly half of the visible…
  5. Last quarter The last quarter is the waning half-moon, seen about a week after the full moon. The Sun and Moon again form a right angle as viewed from Earth, and half of the visible disc…
  6. Waxing moon The waxing moon refers to the whole half of the cycle running from the new moon to the full moon. Evening after evening, the lit part of the visible disc grows, as the Moon…
  7. Waning moon The waning moon refers to the whole half of the cycle running from the full moon to the new moon. Evening after evening, the lit part of the visible disc shrinks, as the Moon…
  8. Eclipse An eclipse happens when a new moon or full moon falls near the lunar nodes, the two points where the Moon’s orbit crosses Earth’s path around the Sun. At a new moon, the Moon…
  9. Lunar nodes The lunar nodes are the two points where the Moon’s orbit crosses the ecliptic, the plane of the Sun’s apparent path. The north node marks where the Moon climbs above that…
  10. Black Moon Lilith Black Moon Lilith is a calculated point in the birth chart, not a body: it corresponds to the apogee of the Moon’s orbit, the spot where the Moon swings farthest from Earth.…
  11. Eclipse season An eclipse season is the window of about thirty-five days during which the Sun travels close to a lunar node. Every new moon in it becomes a solar eclipse, every full moon a…
  12. Void-of-course Moon A void-of-course Moon is the stretch when the Moon, before it leaves a zodiac sign, has already made its last major aspect to the other planets. Until it enters the next sign,…
  13. Lunar return A lunar return is the moment the Moon comes back to the exact position it held in the natal chart, which happens roughly every 27.3 days, the length of the sidereal month.…
  14. Lunar gardening Lunar gardening is the practice of timing garden work, sowing, transplanting, pruning, harvesting, to the Moon’s cycle: waxing and waning phases, ascending and descending moon,…
  15. Ascending moon The ascending moon is the roughly thirteen-day stretch when the Moon rises a little higher in the sky each day, its declination climbing along the zodiac. It is not the same as…
  16. Descending moon The descending moon is the roughly thirteen-day stretch when the Moon rises a little lower in the sky each day, its height falling along the zodiac. It is not the same as the…
  17. Red moon (lune rousse) The lune rousse is, in French rural tradition, the lunation that begins just after Easter, roughly between late April and late May. Its name comes from the belief that its…
  18. Blue moon A blue moon is, in the modern popular sense, the second full moon in a single calendar month; in the older almanac sense, the third full moon in a season that has four. It…