Moon Calendar 2026 & 2027

Reading the lunar cycle

A lunar month is the 29.5 days between one new moon and the next. At the new moon the Moon and Sun occupy the same zodiac degree, so the Moon rises and sets with the Sun and is lost in its glare. Two weeks later, at the full moon, the Moon stands opposite the Sun and is fully lit. Because the two lights are exactly opposed, a full moon always falls in the sign opposite the Sun's current sign — which is why August full moons land in Aquarius or Pisces rather than Leo.

The sign and degree matter more than the phase alone. A full moon at 13° Virgo activates whatever sits near 13° Virgo in your own chart, which is why the same full moon lands very differently for two people. To see which of your placements a given lunation touches, cast your free natal chart and compare the degrees, then read your monthly horoscope for the wider context.

Lunations that fall near the lunar nodes become eclipses — see the eclipse calendar for those dates. For planetary stations rather than lunar phases, the retrograde calendar covers Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, while the ingress calendar and zodiac season dates track sign changes.

Frequently asked questions