Your birth phase: The Waxing Crescent

 

On your first day of life, a Crescent Moon blessed you. This Moon is so fertile and alluring, humans have been carving it into stone walls, painting it on sacred bowls, crowning their deities with it, stamping it onto coins, sewing it on their flags, and in the early twentieth century, they posed for photographs while pretending to swing merrily on top of it. For millennia the Crescent Moon has been a symbol of growth, prosperity, and hope. The word “Crescent” is derived from the Latin “crescere,” meaning to increase, improve, or cultivate—all of which hints at the purpose of those born during this phase.

Your Moon tribe is here to better itself. You’re the immigrant who finds success in a new country, the first in your family to earn a college degree, or the first to leave a successful family business to make it on your own. You’re a climber, an “improver,” an artist in upward mobility; underneath it all, you’re a genuine dreamer. You’re designed to make progress—through planning, perseverance, and learning. Your tribe tends to rise up through established channels, changing old structures as you go rather than tearing them down. Who wants to reach the top of a building that’s just rubble?

But your dreams may sometimes feel bigger than your confidence. If doubts, guilt, or fear of disapproval haunts you, know that you can restore yourself every month during the days of the Crescent phase. The quality of this period is like an energetic nectar whose formula—encoded by the Sun and Moon in your birth chart—is especially designed to renew your spirit. You can absorb a little of its blessings through the atmosphere, but you can increase your nourishment if you pay attention.

Spend time with this Moon. Learn when and where it appears. Pick a quiet moment each month to sit and breathe with it. Let your breath slow, lengthen, and deepen, as your energetic field gently grows bigger and more diffuse. This is how your receptivity unfurls and your spirit begins to drink in the Crescent Moon. The less you think about it, the more this rejuvenating nectar soaks in.

The play of light and dark on the face of the Moon is a “secret” teaching—meaning, most people don’t bother to notice or ponder it much. But the next time you sit with your Moon phase, observe how much of the Moon is lit and how much is dark. The light symbolizes awareness—conscious intelligence (or the “masculine” mind). The dark symbolizes instinct and unconsciousness (or the intuitive “feminine” mind).

Now that you know which is who, you can see how the play of reflected sunlight on your birth Moon might hint at the ideal flow between your own conscious and subconscious minds. It’s a picture of the sacred contract between your left and right brains. With much of the Moon still in shadow, your conscious mind is led by intuition. You’re designed to trust in things you cannot see. Look further. Even where it’s dark, the surface of the Moon is somewhat visible.

A special quality of your birth Moon is that it’s the only one illuminated by “earth shine.” The entire orb of the Moon is dimly visible behind its lit crescent. This is a visual suggestion of your remarkable Crescent gift of seeing possible futures. The more wholeheartedly you believe in your dreams, the more they will actually come true.

 

The monthly dates for your birth Moon phase each are available in my Moon Workshop and Moonprints report—where you can also learn about your “progressed” Moon phase. Many astrologers believe your progressed phase is one of the most important factors for assessing your current potentials. I agree!

Copyright 2021 Dana Gerhardt