Lunar Calendar

What a lunar calendar is for

A solar calendar tells you the date. A lunar calendar tells you where you are in a cycle — which is what you actually want when you are deciding whether to start something, finish something, or leave it a fortnight.

The month above is built from the real ephemeris: each date carries the sign the Moon occupies, the phase, and the lunar day counted from the last New Moon. Nothing is approximated from a table.

The four quarters, and what each is traditionally for

• New Moon to first quarter — beginnings. The conventional advice is to start here and keep it small; energy is genuinely low at the New Moon itself and builds over the following days.
• First quarter to full — building. This is the productive stretch of the month in almost every tradition that uses lunar timing, and the one to protect if you have a deadline.
• Full Moon to last quarter — harvest and visibility. Things become obvious. Good for reviewing, publishing, and having the conversation; poor for deciding under pressure.
• Last quarter to New Moon — clearing. The traditional window for ending, cancelling, cleaning and repairing rather than launching.

Void-of-course days

Between the Moon's last significant aspect in one sign and its entry into the next, it is said to be void of course. Traditional electional astrology treats that window as poor for initiating anything you want to stick. Voids happen most weeks and can last from minutes to most of a day; the void-of-course tool lists them precisely.

Moon sign versus your sign

The Moon spends two to three days in each of the twelve signs, so it passes through your own sign once a month. Those days are traditionally read as more emotionally exposed — your mood closer to the surface, your judgement less neutral. The two or three days when the Moon is opposite your sign are read as the reverse: other people's needs louder than your own.

Using this practically

Pick one thing to time by the Moon rather than trying to time everything. Most people who find lunar timing useful use it for a single recurring decision — when to publish, when to have difficult conversations, when to rest — and ignore it for everything else. That is a far better test of whether it works for you than a month of trying to schedule your whole life around it.