← Encyclopedia of Astrology · lesson 142/235
Waxing Moon
What it is
The Moon is waxing for the two weeks or so between a New Moon and the next Full Moon, while the lit part of its face grows. In astrological terms the Moon is anywhere from 0° to 180° ahead of the Sun in the order of the signs: it has passed the Sun and is pulling away towards the opposition. The older phrase for the same thing is that the Moon is increasing in light.
It is easy to see. A waxing Moon is an evening Moon: it is already up when the Sun sets, standing in the west as a thin crescent, higher each night, then due south (in the northern hemisphere) as a half Moon at the first quarter, and swelling through the gibbous shape until it rises at sunset as the Full Moon. In the northern hemisphere its lit edge is on the right; south of the equator it is on the left. The astrology does not change with the hemisphere, because the phase is the angle between Sun and Moon, the same wherever you stand.
In the tradition
The waxing Moon has been read as a time of growth for as long as there are records. Ptolemy has the Moon producing moisture in her first quarter and heat in her second; the old herbalists and farmers sowed what should grow above ground with the Moon increasing; physicians watched the phase before letting blood. (That last is history, not advice: anything to do with health belongs with a qualified professional.)
In horary and natal judgement the waxing Moon is a strength. Lilly's table of fortitudes gives the Moon two points when she is increasing in light, and takes two away when she is decreasing. The idea is simple: a planet whose light is growing is read as gaining in power to bring things about.
Electional astrology made this a rule of thumb. When choosing a moment to begin something meant to grow — a business, a building, a planting, a journey — astrologers have long preferred a waxing Moon. Nicholas deVore narrows the best window to the span from about three days after the New Moon (so the Moon is clear of the Sun's beams) to about three days before the Full, and warns against starting a new venture once the Moon is past the Full. Few elections rest on the Moon's phase alone, and other testimonies can outweigh it.
How it is read
Modern astrology, following Dane Rudhyar, reads the waxing half as the half of building. Something set going at the New Moon grows into form: it meets resistance at the crescent, is pushed through into action at the first quarter, and is refined in the gibbous phase until it can be seen whole at the Full. The tone is outward, active and instinctive — doing first, understanding later.
- Born under a waxing Moon. Rudhyar's four waxing types (New Moon, crescent, first quarter, gibbous) are read as people who tend to start, build and push forward, working from impulse and will more than from reflection. It is a tendency to notice, not a rule; the rest of the chart may say otherwise.
- Waxing aspects. Michael Erlewine and others extend the idea to every planetary pair: an aspect formed while the faster planet is moving from the conjunction towards the opposition is a "waxing" aspect, read as building, while the matching aspect on the way back is "waning". So a waxing square (the first quarter) and a waning square (the last quarter) are the same angle with different meanings.
- Day to day. Many people use the waxing fortnight for beginnings, effort and growth, and keep the waning fortnight for finishing, clearing and rest. It is a rhythm to work with, not a calendar of permission.