Most people know their Moon sign, the sign the Moon was in when they were born. Fewer people pay attention to the Moon's phase, whether it was waxing, waning, full, new, or somewhere in between. But the phase tells you something the sign alone cannot: the relationship between the Moon and the Sun at the moment of your birth, which describes a fundamental orientation toward life.

Waxing versus waning

The Moon is waxing when it is moving from New toward Full. It is waning when it is moving from Full back toward New. You are born under a waxing Moon if your Moon is between 0 and 180 degrees ahead of the Sun in the zodiac. You are born under a waning Moon if your Moon is between 180 and 360 degrees ahead of the Sun.

Waxing Moon people

Those born under a waxing Moon, from the New Moon through the Gibbous phase just before Full, tend to have a naturally forward-oriented energy. They are builders. They are oriented toward growth, toward accumulation of experience, toward building something that did not exist before. There is often a quality of momentum, of things expanding and developing.

Waxing Moon people may find they are more instinctively action-oriented, more comfortable with beginnings and expansions than with endings. They may also be more subjective in their orientation, more driven by personal desire and vision than by detached reflection.

Waning Moon people

Those born under a waning Moon, from the Full Moon through the Balsamic phase just before the next New Moon, tend to have a different orientation. They are often more reflective, more interested in understanding or distilling experience than in accumulating more of it. There is often a quality of completion, of things ripening toward conclusion or synthesis.

Waning Moon people may find they are more naturally oriented toward wisdom-gathering, toward understanding the patterns behind events, toward what can be released or simplified. They can be more comfortable with endings and transitions than waxing Moon people.

The specific phases

Within the waxing and waning halves, the specific phase adds more nuance. New Moon people often feel like eternal beginners with fresh starts available to them but sometimes a struggle with follow-through. Full Moon people often feel a strong tension between opposing drives, illuminated but pulled in two directions. Last Quarter people often feel a sense of crisis or turning point that motivates forward movement. Balsamic Moon people often feel a sense of completion and incubation, like they are between cycles.

Finding your natal Moon phase

You can determine your natal Moon phase by looking at the degrees of your Sun and Moon in your birth chart. If your Moon degree is between 0 and 180 degrees ahead of your Sun in zodiacal order, you are waxing. If it is between 180 and 360 degrees ahead, you are waning. Most chart software will also tell you your phase directly.

Knowing your natal phase is one more way of understanding what you are naturally oriented toward, which makes working with it rather than against it considerably easier.