The moon and the sun have a huge impact on our energy. Learning about the moon and the sun is probably one of the first things to explore if new to Wicca. The importance of the Sun and Moon is reflected in the naming of two of the weekdays. Monday (Moon Day) and Sunday (Sun Day).
It can be quite difficult at first when learning about the phases of the moon to understand and recognise just by looking up outside what phase the moon is actually in. The picture to the left can help you to identify each phase by exploring the portion of the moon that is lit, starting from the New Moon and moving through all of the phases back to the New Moon again.
Primary and Intermediate Moon Phases
Western Culture further separates the lunar month into 8 moon phases, 4 primary and four intermediate phases. The Primary moon phases take place at a specific time and include the moon phases:
The time taken between each primary moon phase is on average approximately 7.38 days (7 days 9 hours) which is how the length of a week was originally sourced.
Intermediate moon phases fill in the spaces between the Primary phases. These include:
