Our Luna is the great regulator of our world. She regulates our weather, moods of the animals, the sprouting of plants, and flow of the tides, both of ocean and of women, and She affects many other things as well. Her regulation may not be apparent to the untrained, but is there in the background none-the-less. She affects your mind and behavior in crucial ways through subconscious influence.
The Lunar phases can be described in a few ways, but one thing is sure: the phases of the Moon are regular. To the trained eye and mind, they form the hands of an immense clock in the sky.
These are easily seen by facing the South at the proper time.
(However, do not look for the dark-Moon, let Her remain a mystery, let Her be known by inference.)
Notice 8 divisions of 3 hours, yielding a 24 hour day. Can you see the image of the Celestial Cow Goddess?
While the Moon is as regular as a clock in the position of her "hands", She is not regular in the sense of the length of her Lunation. However, this is not a contradiction, and familiarity brings understanding. Each Lunar phase can be as long as 31 days or as short as 27 days. She orbits around the Earth in a basically circular orbit, but the Earth orbits the Sun in an elliptical orbit. The Earth gains speed during the closer part of Her elliptical orbit, when She comes nearer the Sun during winter. Luna gains speed orbiting in her chasing the Earth as well. Thus, when the Earth is nearer the Sun, somewhat before, during and somewhat after winter solstice, the Moon's lunar cycle is usually about 27 days. When the Earth is farther from the Sun in Her orbit, then the Moon's cycle can be as long as 31 days. Luna's cycles are not exactly the same in their length every time, just as women's cycles are not exactly the same in their length every time.
That said, there is a consistent way to think of the timing of each of the 8 phases of the Moon:
The dark new Moon (implied 1st quarter) She rises with the Sun approximately at 6 AM and sets with the Sun approximately at 6 PM.
The dark new moon is said to have 3 days in length, bracketed by the morning where She is can be seen waning into a tiny sliver and disappearing into the eastern dawn, to the time that She is once again seen in the evening, waxing as a beautiful thin sliver in the western dusk. Mythologists, such as Joseph Campbell, say that this time of 3 dark days for the Moon is the origin of the many God and Goddess Heroes going for 3 days into the underworld. Mythologists have called these three unseen, presumably underworld-days the "Harrowing of Hell"
However, it is interesting to note that this time could just as easily be called "The Three Days of Marriage with the Sun", because it is at this time that the Moon rises and sets with the Sun. This is the real reason why She is unseen to the eye at the time of the dark-Moon. Her close movement to the Sun makes her impossible to see at this time, adding to Her mystery. (You may have noticed before that when the air is very clear it is possible to see the dark part of the Moon.) Being fallible, human-beings tend to loose track of the amount of days she is unseen. It is interesting to note there is a very old Druidic saying that goes, "Never make a wish on the dark-Moon, to do so would be to bring bad luck onto yourself." Maybe they meant you would blind yourself with the Sun if you tried to do so.
The waxing crescent, right handed horn moon, or bow moon. She rises approximately at 9 AM and sets approximately at 9 PM. Her zenith is perpendicular to her rising and setting, so at 3pm.
The waxing half moon or right handed ear moon (2nd quarter) She rises approximately at 12 Noon and sets approximately at 12 Midnight. Her zenith is perpendicular to her rising and setting, so at 6PM.
The waxing or right handed eye moon
The full moon or full milk moon, the white blaze (implied 3rd quarter) She rises opposite the Sun approximately at 6 PM and sets opposite the Sun approximately at 6 AM.
The waning or left handed eye moon
The waning half moon or left handed ear moon (4th or last quarter)
The waning crescent, left handed horn moon, sickle or plow moon
Copyright © J. G. Jones