Born Under a Waxing Moon: New, Crescent, First Quarter and Gibbous

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A waxing natal Moon means you were born in the first half of the lunation cycle, after a New Moon and before the next Full Moon, with the Moon moving away from the Sun. In directed elongation, the Moon's longitude minus the Sun's, that is anything from 0° to just under 180°. This half is split into four phases of 45° each: New, Crescent, First Quarter and Gibbous.

The readings below are interpretive patterns that astrologers who use natal phases often describe, mostly following the eight-phase scheme popularised by Dane Rudhyar. They are tendencies to compare with your experience, not statements of fact about you, and they sit behind your Sun and Moon signs rather than in front of them. If you have not worked out your phase yet, start with how to find your natal Moon phase.

Calculator note: The Astrologist.com birth chart does not calculate or label Moon phases. It shows the Sun and Moon by sign, degree and minute, and the phase described here is worked out by hand from those two positions. Without a birth time, the chart places the Moon at local noon as a date reference only, so a phase read from that position is not established until the whole birth date has been checked.

The waxing half at a glance

Each phase lasted 3.17 to 4.17 days in calculations for 1900 to 2099, so the day counts are approximate. The elongation is what defines the phase.

New phase (0° to under 45°)

The Moon has just passed the Sun and is starting to pull ahead. Astrologers often link this phase with starting from instinct: acting on a feeling before it has a name, and learning by doing. One way it may show up is a preference for beginnings over upkeep, or a sense of working things out as you go.

A New phase does not require the Sun and Moon to share a sign. Utrecht, 14 May 1994, 10:20 (calculated with the free chart's routines, fictional person): Sun 23°19' Taurus, Moon 3°31' Cancer, an elongation of 40.2°. The Moon is two signs ahead, about three and a half days after the New Moon, and still in the New phase. The first 8° of this phase overlap the waxing half of a Sun-Moon conjunction.

Questions an astrologer might ask: where do you start things easily, and what helps you keep going once the first push fades?

Crescent phase (45° to under 90°)

The Moon is now clearly ahead but has not reached the right angle of the First Quarter. The common reading is effort against inertia: pushing something new forward while older habits or circumstances pull back. It may show up as determination, as impatience with resistance, or both.

Rotterdam, 4 April 1987, 15:00: Sun 14°13' Aries, Moon 24°44' Gemini, elongation 70.5°, about six days after the New Moon. This chart has no Sun-Moon aspect at all, a reminder that most phases come without one. A waxing Sun sextile Moon always falls in this phase, and a waxing square falls here when the Moon is still short of 90°.

Questions: what are you trying to establish, and what tends to hold it back?

First Quarter phase (90° to under 135°)

The phase begins at the exact First Quarter Moon, when the Moon is 90° ahead of the Sun. Astrologers often describe it as a phase of building and decisions: structures get put up, and old ones that are in the way get challenged. It can show up as readiness to act under pressure, and sometimes as friction with whatever is slow to change.

London, 8 April 1987. The elongation ran from 107.9° at 00:00 to 118.9° at 23:59, so anyone born in London that day has a First Quarter Moon, whatever the time. The Sun was in Aries and the Moon in Leo. A waxing Sun trine Moon always sits in this phase, and a waxing Sun square Moon sits here once the Moon is past 90°.

Questions: what are you building now, and how do you deal with what stands in its way?

Gibbous phase (135° to under 180°)

The Moon is approaching the Full Moon and the lit part keeps growing. The usual reading is refinement: analysing, improving, preparing something so that it is ready to be shown. It may show up as a habit of asking how a thing could be better, or as difficulty calling work finished.

Amsterdam, 9 June 1987, 07:45: Sun 17°52' Gemini, Moon 11°57' Scorpio, elongation 144.1°, about twelve and a half days after the New Moon and two and a half days before the Full Moon. In the last 8° of this phase, a chart also carries a Sun-Moon opposition that has not yet reached exact; Sun opposite Moon covers that angle, and Moon phase vs Sun-Moon aspects shows a Manchester chart with an opposition line and a Gibbous phase.

Questions: what are you preparing or perfecting, and how do you know when it is ready?

Reading the waxing phases with care

• Signs first. Your Moon sign and Sun sign say much more about a person than the phase does. Use the phase as a background rhythm that colours them.
• One in eight. Each phase covers roughly an eighth of all births, so it describes a broad pattern, not an individual signature.
• Near a boundary. If your elongation is within a few minutes of arc of 45°, 90°, 135° or 180°, read both neighbouring phases until the crossing has been checked. For 90° and 180°, the exact time of the First Quarter or Full Moon settles it. Phase tables do not list 45° or 135°, so those need more precise Sun and Moon longitudes or an ephemeris calculation of that elongation, not an estimate from the nearest quarter or Full Moon. How to find your natal Moon phase explains both checks.
• No birth time. On 27.1% of dates in London from 1900 to 2099, the phase changed during the day. Moon phase without a birth time shows how to tell whether your date is one of them.

The second half of the cycle continues on born under a waning Moon.

Using this with your own chart

Take the Sun and Moon positions from the free birth chart, work out the elongation, and read the matching phase above alongside the rest of your chart. If you want to talk it through, you can ask the Astrologist. The free chart itself does not name the phase, so share the phase you worked out.

Related articles

• Natal Moon Phases Explained
• Born Under a Waning Moon
• Moon Phase vs Sun-Moon Aspects
• Sun, Moon and Rising Explained