The Lunar Phases Talisman (*Limited Edition*)

- In the example above, the dial of the moon phases wheel will be set to the 26 degrees of Sagittarius, which is approximately the last small square of the sign in a counter-clockwise direction. The number 18 on the day wheel will be set to the same approximate degree as the new moon.

After adjusting the talisman for the new moon, it is now set for the whole month and you can see in a glance the approximate days of the month that the different phases will appear in the night’s sky and their respective sign placement. When you want to recall where the moon is at any time, just look at the Talisman and you will know immediately!

Keep in mind that the placements on the Talisman are approximations, and not accurate to the minute. This is supposed to be a rough guide and not a substitute for astrological software. This is because the different phases of the moon are in relation to the sun, and the sun moves approximately 1 degree per day. Every day the moon travels through the zodiac the sun moves one degree. Therefore, if you want to be more accurate in calculating the placement of the moon you need to add one degree per day to the moon’s placement. For instance, if the new moon (where the sun and moon are in the same degree) is at 21 degrees in Aries, then when the moon is in its waxing gibbous phase about 11 days after the new moon, the sun has moved 11 degrees in the zodiac and is now in the sign Taurus; which means that the full moon will not be in Libra (the sign opposite to Aries) but in Scorpio.

If you keep that in mind and compensate for the movements of the sun while observing the Talisman, you can attain a fair approximation of the sun and moon positions, at all times. There are, of course, other considerations that you can utilize if you know a little Astrology/Astronomy, which has to do with the speed of the moon (that it's not steady and changes a bit from its waxing and waning phases), and other minute changes in the movements of the sun which is a little more than a round degree per day. However, this is for the professional to consider, and should not bother you.

All the explanation above indicates that the earlier the degree of a sign that the new moon takes place in, the more accurate the Talisman will be; mainly in accordance with sign placement. The more the new moon will occur in late degrees, the less accurate the Talisman becomes (if not adjusted), as the month advances.

A rule of thumb that is easy to remember is to take into account that a lunation is approximately 30 days (29.53 days). So you need to look at the degree where the new moon is and see when the sun moves a sign during these 30 days (every sign is 30°). In our example above, if the new moon happens in 21 of Aries, then it has 9° to travel in Aries before it moves to 0° Taurus.
This way, you can know in advance which phases will be on certain days and in what signs. In this example, the first quarter phase will happen in the sign of Cancer, but the full moon will happen in Scorpio, and the third quarter will happen in Aquarius.