Working with the phases

Following the moon through the month

The moon takes about 29.5 days to go from new to full and back — a synodic month, and the oldest calendar humans have kept. Eight named phases sit along that cycle, and each has a long-standing use: a rhythm of beginning, building, releasing and resting that repeats twelve or thirteen times a year.

What each phase is called

New moon is the dark: the moon sits between us and the sun and shows nothing. It waxes crescent, then first quarter — a half-lit disc, despite the name, because it is a quarter of the way round. Waxing gibbous follows, more than half but not yet whole. Full moon is the sun and moon opposite each other with the earth between. Then it wanes gibbous, reaches last quarter, thins to a waning crescent, and goes dark again. Waxing means growing; waning means shrinking. Gibbous simply means humped.

Charging and cleansing crystals in the moonlight

The full moon is the traditional night for it. Put your stones on a windowsill, an outer sill or a table where the light falls, from moonrise until morning — and yes, cloud is fine, the practice never depended on a clear sky. It suits stones that dislike the sun: amethyst, rose quartz, fluorite and citrine all fade in daylight, so moonlight is the safer charge. Selenite and kyanite are usually said not to need cleansing at all, and selenite is often used to cleanse everything else. Water is the one to be careful with — selenite dissolves, and pyrite and hematite will rust.

Times, and why yours may differ

Moonrise and moonset are given for eight UK cities above, and they shift by several minutes across the country — sunset in Glasgow is not sunset in Cardiff. Phase times are British time. The next new and full moon are counted from tonight, so the page is right whenever you open it.