Moon Phase Today

What each moon phase means

The lunar cycle is roughly 29 and a half days from one new moon to the next. Within that, the eight named phases each carry their own tradition — what to plant, when to harvest, what to set down and what to pick up. The table below holds both halves at once: the older gardening calendar on the left, the older ritual calendar on the right. Neither is required; both are useful as rhythm.

Phase	In the garden	In the practice
New Moon	Sow above-ground crops — leafy greens, herbs, flowering annuals. Sap flow is said to favour upward growth.	Set quiet intentions. The dark sky is the unwritten page.
Waxing Crescent	Graft and prune for structural support. Light is returning.	Visualise the shape of what you set down. Tend the first signs.
First Quarter	Fertilise — traditional peak absorption window.	Push past the first resistance. Commit to the path.
Waxing Gibbous	Repot before the full-moon peak. Roots establish quickly.	Refine. Edit what's working and let the rest fall away.
Full Moon	Harvest aromatic herbs — moisture content in leaves is said to be highest now.	Release and celebrate. Bring gratitude for what's grown.
Waning Gibbous	Prune fruit trees. Energy moves down toward the roots.	Give back. Share what the cycle gave you.
Last Quarter	Sow root crops — carrots, onions, potatoes. Gravitational pull is high; light is falling.	Forgive. Clear the emotional field for what's next.
Waning Crescent	Rest period. Weed, pest-clear, prepare soil for the next cycle.	Rest. Go inward. Restore before the new moon.

The two columns aren't translations of each other — they're parallel uses of the same rhythm. You can follow one, both, or neither. The point of the calendar is to give the cycle a shape you notice.

Does lunar planting actually work? An honest look.

We get asked this a lot, and we don't want to dodge it.

The honest answer is that the science is thin. The most influential lunar-planting calendar — Maria Thun's biodynamic system, in print since the 1950s — has been studied a number of times. Reviews of those studies (Spiess in Biological Agriculture & Horticulture, a number of agronomy pieces since) find effects that are small, inconsistent, and easily overwhelmed by the things that obviously matter for plants: soil moisture, temperature, light, and how attentive the gardener is. There isn't a strong, replicated effect on yield from sowing on a particular moon phase.

We say this so the rest of the page can rest on something honest.

Because there's a second answer, gentler and just as true: lunar gardening is a rhythm, and a rhythm is a powerful thing for the person tending the plants — regardless of what the plants think. Sowing on the new moon and pruning on the last quarter gives your weeks a shape. It draws you outside at consistent intervals. It asks you to notice the sky. The gardener who turns up at the soil every four or five days because the moon is asking them to is a better gardener than the one who shows up when they remember, even if the carrots can't tell the difference.

If your question is "will my plants grow noticeably better if I plant by the moon?" — probably not. If your question is "will I be a more present, more rhythmic gardener if I follow a lunar practice?" — almost certainly yes. We use this tool the second way, and recommend it the second way. The same is true of the ritual column: the moon is not literally clearing your crystals or absolving your grudges. The cycle is a container for you to do that work yourself, on a schedule you didn't have to invent.

That's the Mist position on the practice generally. The cycle is the shape; the meaning is what you bring to it.

How we calculate the current phase

The tracker works from the mean synodic month — the average time between two consecutive new moons — anchored to a verified observation.

• Reference new moon: 11 January 2024, 11:57 UTC.
• Synodic period: 29.53059 days (the mean — true cycles vary by a few hours either way).
• Elapsed: milliseconds from the reference new moon to "now," modulo the synodic period.
• Phase index: the fractional progress through the cycle × 8 (we use the eight-phase model).
• Countdown to next phase: the difference between the current fractional position and the next eighth of the cycle, converted to days and hours.
• Update frequency: every minute, so the countdown stays current without thrashing the page.

This is accurate to within a few hours of the true astronomical phase, which is fine for ritual practice and rough gardening planning. For minute-precise lunar event timing (eclipses, supermoons, exact perigee), we point readers at NASA's lunar visualisation page — the underlying ephemerides are far heavier than we want to ship in a browser, and they're already free.

A lunar month in practice

For anyone wanting to try the rhythm for a single cycle, here's what an evening-by-evening practice can look like. Light by both sides — you can lean toward the garden, toward the ritual, or both at once. The dates here are sample-only; the tool above shows your real ones.

Day 1 · New Moon

Sow basil, coriander, salad leaves, or any quick annual you want flowering on the next full moon. In the same hour, write down two or three small things you want to set in motion this cycle. Keep the list short and somewhere you'll see it.

Days 4–7 · Waxing Crescent → First Quarter

Tend the seedlings. Fertilise once at the first quarter (a tomato feed at half-strength works for most houseplants and herbs). On the ritual side: visualise the list from day one, then pick the one item that has the most resistance around it and act on it once.

Days 8–14 · Waxing Gibbous → Full Moon

Repot anything pot-bound while energy is building. On the full moon, harvest the aromatic herbs you sowed at new — mint, basil, lemon balm — for cooking, drying, or a simple tea ritual. Make this the most ceremonial evening of the cycle.

Days 15–22 · Waning Gibbous → Last Quarter

Prune what got leggy in the build-up. On the last quarter, sow root crops if it's the season for them, or repot a slow-growing rooted plant (snake plant, ZZ) where energy is now heading. On the ritual side: review what's stuck from your day-one list. Forgive yourself something.

Days 23–29 · Waning Crescent

Rest the cycle out. Clean pots, sharpen secateurs, prepare soil for the next round. Don't sow. Don't start a new intention until the next new moon — the gap is the practice. The next dark sky is coming.

Frequently asked

Pair with

• Lunar planting guide — the longer-form companion, month-by-month planting practice across the cycle.
• Water ritual — a small evening practice that pairs naturally with the new and full moon turns.
• Library: Tao Te Ching (Mitchell) — the cyclical, non-prescriptive frame that underpins how we read all rhythms.
• Crystal clearing ritual — a short full-moon practice for anyone who keeps a crystal collection.