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 waning moon, which describes the disc losing its lit portion: descending is about height, waning is about light. Gardening tradition reads it as sap sinking back toward the roots.
Descending is not waning
The trap is the same as for the ascending moon. The waning moon loses light between full moon and new moon. The descending moon loses height in the sky over the roughly 27.3-day cycle. Two distinct clocks running in parallel: telling which way the height is going means following a calendar, the eye alone is not always enough.
What the gardening tradition reads in it
When the Moon descends, the sap is said to sink back toward the lower plant. Tradition sees this as the time to plant, transplant, prune, work the soil and tend anything to do with roots. Here too it is an invitation to set your gestures to a rhythm, not a promise of better harvests: your plants remain the judge.
Sources
- , Biodynamic sowing calendar