How to Calculate New and Full Moon Aspects

A New Moon is when the Sun and Moon are in the exact same position, and signifies beginnings. A Full Moon is when the Sun and Moon are in exact opposite positions, and signifies endings. Whether or not you’ll feel the impact of a New or Full Moon usually depends on if it’s making a close aspect to your chart.

 

 

For New and Full Moons, the only aspects you consider are the major aspects:

Conjunction – 0 degrees
Sextile – 60 degrees
Square – 90 degrees
Trine – 120 degrees
Opposition – 180 degrees

The orb of influence for these aspects with a New or Full Moon is 2 degrees, or 120 minutes (1 degree is equal to 60 minutes). The impact is fleeting, so you don’t use a wide orb.

Most places only tell you what the impact of an aspect by the New or Full Moon will be, and that you’ll feel it at some point in the two weeks before or after the New/Full Moon. I’m going to go over a method I’ve used for some time on how to pinpoint the exact day (+/- 1 day) you’ll feel the impact of the aspect.

First, you find what in your chart is being closely aspected by the New or Full Moon. Next, you determine if the aspect is applying or separating. An applying aspect is one that is yet to happen, and a separating aspect is one that already has. If the planet or point in your chart is in the 2 degrees before the New or Full Moon, it’s an applying aspect. If it’s 2 degrees after the New or Full Moon, it’s a separating aspect.

Once you determine if it’s applying or separating, you know if the aspect is before or after the New or Full Moon. If it’s applying, you know that the aspect is occurring after the New or Full Moon, but before the next New/Full Moon. If the aspect is separating, you know that it’s occurring before the New or Full Moon, but after the previous New/Full Moon.

After figuring that out, you have to count how many days are between the two New/Full Moons. You do add in the date of New or Full Moon making the aspect, but not the date of the New/Full Moon that’s previous/after. This helps you determine how many minutes fall on each day. Essentially, you just divide 120 minutes (the orb for New/Full Moon aspects) by the number of days:

12 days = 10 minutes/day
13 days = 9 1/3 minutes/day
14 days = 8 ½ minutes/day
15 days = 8 minutes/day
16 days = 7 ½ minutes/day

See how many minutes are between the point in your chart being aspected and the New or Full Moon. Each day accounts for a certain amount of minutes, so you just count forward or backward to see which day you’ll feel the impact of the aspect.

Confused? I know, an example is better! Let’s use the New Moon that occurred on August 6th at 14 degrees 34 minutes of Leo. Now let’s say you have your Venus at 15 degrees 46 minutes of Aries. That’s a trine, which is a major aspect, and it’s within 2 degrees of the New Moon (would need to be between 12 degrees 34 minutes and 16 degrees 34 minutes).

15 degrees 46 minutes is after 14 degrees 34 minutes, so we know that it’s an applying aspect and will occur after the New Moon (an applying aspect would be between 14 degrees 34 minutes and 16 degrees 34 minutes; a separating aspect would be between 12 degrees 34 minutes and 14 degrees 34 minutes).

Next, we see that the next New/Full Moon is a Full Moon on August 20th, which means that there’s 15 days in between the two plus the date of the New Moon, so 16 days total. From the chart, we see that for 16 days, it’s 7 ½ minutes per day.

Now we figure out how many minutes are between the New Moon and Venus. With the New Moon at 14 degrees 34 minutes, and Venus at 15 degrees 46 minutes, they’re 1 degree, 12 minutes apart, or 72 minutes (60 minutes plus 12 minutes).

The day of the New Moon is the first 7 ½ minutes. The day after is 7 ½ minutes – 15 minutes (another 7 ½ minutes). August 8th, 2 days later, is 15 – 22 ½ minutes (another 7 ½ minutes).

August 9th = 22 ½ – 30 minutes
August 10th = 30 – 37 ½ minutes
August 11th = 37 ½ – 45 minutes
August 12th = 45 – 52 ½ minutes
August 13th = 52 ½ – 60 minutes
August 14th – 60 – 72 ½ minutes

So we find that the aspect of New Moon trine Venus will be most felt on August 14th, with an orb of 1 day.

Let’s try another. Instead, let’s put Venus at 13 degrees 3 minutes of Scorpio. That’s a square, a major aspect, and it’s within 2 degrees of the New Moon, but it’s separating instead of applying. That means it’ll occur before the New Moon. The previous Full Moon is July 22nd, with 14 days in between plus the day of the New Moon, so 15 days total. According to the chart, 15 days is 8 minutes/day.

With Venus at 13 degrees 3 minutes and the New Moon at 14 degrees 34 minutes, that’s a difference of 1 degree 31 minutes, or 91 minutes.

The day of the New Moon is the first 8 minutes. The day before is the next 8 minutes, 8 – 16 minutes. Two days before, or August 4th, is another 8 minutes, or 16 – 24 minutes.

August 3rd = 24 – 32 minutes
August 2nd = 32 – 40 minutes
August 1st = 40 – 48 minutes
July 31st = 48 – 56 minutes
July 30th = 56 – 64 minutes
July 29th = 64 – 72 minutes
July 28th = 72 – 80 minutes
July 27th = 80 – 88 minutes
July 26th = 88 – 96 minutes

So we find that the aspect of New Moon square Venus will be most felt on July 26th, +/- 1 day.

Try it out for yourself and see when the New/Full Moon aspects will impact you!

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