What is the Dark Moon?
I’ve been a practicing Pagan Witch for over two decades, almost three at this point. I’ve seen a lot of things come and go in witchcraft and I’ve seen it change and evolve over the years. One thing I rarely ever hear mentioned anymore is the Dark Moon or some also called it the Dark of the Moon. I think part of the reason for this is that when exactly it fell in the cycle of the moon phases differed depending on who you asked. Here are the various answers I’ve seen over the years, as to when the Dark Moon is, and then I’ll tell you when I observe it and why.
Suggested Timings of the Dark Moon:
The day before the New Moon
The three days before the New Moon
The two days before and the day of the New Moon
An alternate name for the New Moon
The timing of the Dark Moon can be a bit of a sticky wicket because it is so close to the New Moon, some practitioners even have them overlapping or as one in the same, which I don’t find to work because they have distinctly different purposes. But this brings up something I’ve noticed recently in the witch community when it comes to magick and the moon phases. While I’m all for witchcraft evolving and changing, some changes just don’t work, and trying to rewrite or change what moon phases are good for what is just one of those things. So let’s break down what the main moon phases are and what they align with (correspond to) when it comes to magick and manifestation.
New Moon ~ Planting the seeds of things we wish to grow (manifest/achieve)
Waxing Moon ~ Workings to put energy into things you want to grow, manifest, or bring to you. Feeding what you want more of.
Full Moon ~ Giving a major energy boost to any working that needs it, harvesting
Waning Moon ~ Getting rid of things, banishing, letting go, releasing
Dark Moon ~ Banishing, cursing, hexing, destruction, endings, divination, death work
The moon phase cycle begins with the New Moon, but here’s where things immediately get sticky with when to observe the Dark Moon. During the New Moon, there is no moon visible in the sky, it is covered in shadow and we don’t see it. This makes it seem logical to call this the Dark Moon, right? But in astrology and astronomy, we call it the New Moon and its properties don’t correspond with those of the Dark Moon so we really can’t observe them together in any sort of practical way. That’s why, for the longest time in my practice, I observed the Dark Moon as the day before the New Moon.
But it was actually talk about the Full Moon that got me rethinking things. I’ve seen a lot of WitchTokers, yes I know VERY reliable sources, teaching that the Full Moon is for “releasing” which was NEVER something that was taught when I was a young Pagan and really doesn’t fit with what the moon is doing in the sky at that time. The moon is filling up, coming to it’s fullest point, and ripening. None of that corresponds to releasing. I’ve also seen the same said practitioners saying to cleanse crystals with the Full Moon and to use Full Moon Water for cleansing. Now, you could add a splash of Full Moon water to your mop water with the intention that it will boost or amplify the energies of your cleansing ingredients, but the Full Moon doesn’t lend itself to banishing, releasing, or cleansing.
Pro Witch tip, cleanse your crystals before CHARGING them under the Full Moon. That’s what the Full Moon is for, charging, not cleansing or releasing.
Anyhow, the point is that it got me thinking about the moon phases and what they are beneficial for and that got me to reconsider how and when I observe the Dark and New Moons. Here’s the conclusion I have come to; there is a difference between the Astronomical/Astrological New Moon and the magickal one. Our ancestors likely considered the Dark Moon to be when the moon wasn’t visible at all and for them, the New Moon was likely when they could SEE the first sliver of the moon as it started to wax. This is why I have begun to observe the Dark Moon as the night before the astronomical New Moon, the night of, and the night after. The magickal New Moon for me then is the second night after the astronomical New Moon.
If you need a framework of dates to make that make sense for you, don’t worry, I’ve got you.
The next astronomical New Moon for me will be on December 1st, 2024. Now, it’s just after midnight on the first for me so those in the Eastern Time Zone and my European followers will actually have the New Moon late on November 30th. But we’re going to go with when the New Moon will be for me in the Central Time Zone. Here’s a snapshot of the calendar to show you when I’ll be observing what.
You can see that I’ll be observing the Dark Moon on Nov. 30th, Dec. 1st, and Dec. 2nd. I’ll observe the New Moon on Dec. 3rd. Generally, you can observe a moon phase from a few days before to a few days after the actual astronomical event. In this case, I feel there is an energetic line between the Dark and New Moon. The Dark Moon is a definitive end and the New Moon is a definitive beginning. I see the rest of the moon phases as having some transitional energy that makes working with them for a couple of days up to and a couple of days after possible. The line between the Dark and New Moon though I see as much less of a grey or liminal area. There is one and then there is the other.
Now, as always, you don’t have to do as I say or do. I present all of this as information for you to consider and ultimately you’ll need to experiment and do what works best for your personal practice and life. But THIS makes sense to me. I always had an issue with engaging in New Moon practices when the moon was fully hidden, it just didn’t feel right to me, personally. And now that I’ve been trying this way of observing the moon phases, things are flowing much better for me and I feel more in tune with the natural cycle of things, particularly the moon.
Since I am a Death Witch, the Dark Moon does tend to be very important to me because my practice is largely about death and rebirth, the cycle of life (endings and new beginnings), working with Death and “dark” deities, and divination. Here are just some of the workings that working during the Dark Moon can enhance.
~ Divination
~ Endings
~ Breaking/Releasing: bad habits, self-limiting beliefs, old paradigms and programming, situations that aren’t serving your highest good, toxic people and connections, negative energies
~ Banishing: people, places, situations, energies, spirits
~ Bringing things to their conclusion
~ Bandeful workings
~ Honoring/Working with Death, death deities, or “dark” deities
We’ve got to clear away the detritus, the dead, the rubble if you will in order to make way to plant the seeds we wish to begin growing at the New Moon. The Dark Moon allows us to clear away what was so that we can create what will be. It has become an essential part of my practice. When I began my Witchcraft journey, often the Full Moon was seen as the most important moon phase, and it was often observed with more reverence and fanfare than other phases. Over time, I saw a growing number of Witches treat the New Moon as equal to the Full Moon, but as this happened I saw even the mention of the Dark Moon fade more and more.
If we are going to observe the cycles of the moon and use it in our manifestation and magick then my personal opinion is that we can’t fully do so without acknowledging and observing the Dark Moon in addition to the other phases of the cycle. While you by no means have to practice as I do, I hope that this information as at least given you something to consider or has gotten you to examine your feelings and practices when it comes to observing the phases of the moon.