New moon

Definition

A new moon is the lunar-cycle phase in which the Moon and the Sun share the same ecliptic degree, which corresponds technically to an exact conjunction between the two bodies. Seen from Earth the lit hemisphere of the Moon faces the Sun and the observer sees a dark disk. Astrology treats it as the opening of the roughly twenty-nine-and-a-half-day synodic cycle, a symbolic beginning inside the modern lunar calendar.

In context

If a new moon lands on the degrees of your Ascendant, the chart sketches a beginning tied to the body and to your first contact with the world. The new moon shares its underlying geometry with the full moon, the other major lunar phase, and counts as a syzygy: the Sun and Moon meet on the same degree. The zodiac sign of the new moon adds a flavor to the opening, and the house it falls in marks the area of life where the cycle resonates most clearly.

To go deeper

A new moon pairs with the other major lunar phase:

• Full moon: the opposition phase.
• Syzygy: the geometric configuration both share.
• Eclipse: a new moon sharpened on the nodal axis.