The Moon is never still. Over roughly 29 days it swells from dark to full and back, and each phase carries its own mood, a rhythm people have planted, rested and reflected by for as long as we’ve looked up.
A phase is just how much of the Moon’s lit face we can see from Earth as it travels between us and the Sun. Tap through all eight:
The cycle in brief
The new moon is for beginnings, the full moon for culmination and clarity, and the waning half for releasing and resting. Many people set intentions at the new moon and review them when it comes full, about two weeks later.