Waxing & Waning

Two words do a lot of work in lunar tradition: waxing and waning. They describe not a single phase but the direction the moon is heading, and much folk practice hinges on which half of the cycle you are in.

Waxing — growing. From the new moon to the full moon, a little more of the moon's lit face is visible each night, so the crescent swells to a half (first quarter), then to a gibbous shape, then to full. This is the waxing half. A waxing crescent appears in the western sky after sunset. In folk tradition the waxing moon is linked with growth, building, and above-ground crops.

Waning — shrinking. From full moon back to new, the lit portion decreases each night, from gibbous to the half of the last quarter, to a thinning crescent, to dark. This is the waning half. A waning crescent rises before dawn in the eastern sky. Tradition associates the waning moon with drawing down, root crops, pruning, and release.

A quick way to tell them apart. In the Northern Hemisphere, a moon lit on its right side is generally waxing, and one lit on its left is waning; the pattern is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere. Some people remember it as the moon being "filling from the right" as it grows.

Why it matters here. Because the moon-gardening and seasonal-ritual traditions split tasks between the growing and shrinking halves — sowing and intention-setting while waxing, pruning and letting-go while waning — knowing the direction of the cycle is the practical key to following those customs. As always, these pairings are tradition; the terms themselves, though, are precise astronomy.