All plants and animals entrain to lunar rhythms and cycles to some degree. This includes people who for thousands of years, have worshiped the moon, and gauged time according to its cyclic movement. This includes fishermen, farmers, and gardeners who plan according to the phase of its cycle. You too can use Waning Moon energy to empower change and transformation.
While many people celebrate the energy of the Full Moon, by clearing energy and letting things go, the energy of the Waning Moon is particularly effective at releasing stubborn energy blocks and sticky resistance, helping break you free from obstacles and limitation to fulfill your goals.
The Meaning of the Moon
Moon Energy and the Lunar Cycle As Forces From Change
The moon has symbolic significance in nearly every culture. Moreover, it’s almost universally associated with change, cyclical animal behaviors, and mood fluctuations Because of this, it’s also a symbol of deep transformation.
Although many associate the moon with the night, each month of a period of time it can be seen in day. Still, the moon is more visible at night and, of course, it’s often the most conspicuous celestial body in the night sky.
Lunar Cycles
The moon’s monthly cycle is most often divided into quarters, but it can also be divided it into more segments by subdividing the both waxing and waning stages further into crescent and gibbous phases. When it comes to the meaning (energy) of these phases, there is a great deal of consistences across cultures and traditions.
The Waning Moon
The Waning Moon is the segment of the lunar cycle when the illuminated side of the moon is shrinking and the dark side is increasing. It follows a Full Moon, increasing demising until it fades into a New Moon.
Changing Intensities Within the Cycle
Many people believe that as the moon wanes, shrinks from a complete sphere to a crescent, and finally disappears completely, its force and influence diminish or become more subtle. Following this logic, the Full Moon is the most powerful and dramatic time to let go or definitively end something.
As the moon wanes, the effect is progressively more and more gentle and less powerful or dramatic. The energy is more about reflecting, planning, and aligning oneself to let go or come to terms with a completed transition. As this energy dissipates, the energies of creation begin to percolate.
How Do You Know the Moon is Waning?
It depends on which hemisphere you’re in.
Northern Hemisphere:
- The moon’s dark or incomplete side is to the right and it’s becoming darker from right to left.
- The moon is visible at dawn.
Southern Hemisphere:
- The moon’s dark or incomplete side is to the left and it’s becoming darker from left to right.
- The moon is visible at dawn.
If you want to see how the moon would look in the Southern Hemisphere, just look at these Northern Hemisphere photos upside down.
Lunar Energy For Letting Go and Releasing
The Waning Moon is about ending, letting go, and releasing.
Full Moon energy is about definitive action related endings and release. In contrast, the energy of the Waning Moon supports the more complete and protracted process of change.
Reinforcing Commitment to Change
Since the Waning Moon follows the Full Moon, it is also a time to reinforce and strengthen your conviction, address your resistance and honor, and soothe the sadness and grief that can follow closure or arise in the wake of transitions.
This phase of the cycle is also aligned with mental and emotional adjustments such as relinquishing feelings of anger or resentment, disentangling yourself from a co-dependent relationship, or assessing whether you need to seek assistance, counseling, or guidance to help with a matter you’re unable to adequately address on your own.
It’s worth noting that while on a physical level change oftentimes appears to be instantaneous, on an it generally begins to unfold on emotional, mental, spiritual, and subtle (energetic) levels long before the physical manifestation or actions. And, it can take time to fully adjust to an ending or release. For example, the declaration of a relationship endings can be instantaneous, but regardless of who imitates it, a period of mourning, adjustment, reflection typically follows.
Turning Inward and Reflection
The Waning Moon is about shedding old ideas, beliefs, and behaviors to make space for new ways of thinking and behaving. Thus, this is an excellent time for mind-body and inner relationship work.
Furthermore, the Waning Crescent Moon phase, which is close to the New Moon, can enhance clarity when you’re considering a relocation, leaving a job, or dissolving a relationship. It acts as a preparation period and a time to look inward, reflect, gain perspective, and weigh options or strategies that inform your next more such as new goals and intentions.
Using the Energy of the Waning Moon:
Of course, you can always set goals, plan, and take action at any time and there are change factors other than the moon that come into play. Some transitions, such as being fired, follow a course of their own, and you just have to go with it. But even in these unpredicted or uncontrolled circumstances, you can still choose how you want to navigate the change. You can decide how you want to respond and move forward given what has happened.
Both the Waning and Waxing Moons are about reflection so many of the practices are the same, but the intention or content of the reflection is different. The following practices are for the Waxing Moon (see Using Waxing Moon Energy to appreciate the differences).
- Meditation
- Sitting in silence, allowing elements of resistance to arise and be explored
- Walking alone in nature
- Mind-body and inner relationship work concerning what is holding you back
- Journaling about resistance, obstacles, and capacities you have to address them
- Daydreaming and imagining fulfillment of your intentions and goals
- Dream interpretation, particularly addressing resistance and fear
- Shamanic practices such as journeying, divination, and extraction
- Introspective retreats related to assessing your constraints and letting go
- Oracle card reading
You can also create personal Waning Moon Rituals.
These practices help you step outside your analytical mind, access centers of wider perspective and creativity (e.g., your heart center, gut, and right brain or body brain). When you shift your perspective, you more easily identify new potentials and opportunities.
The Waxing Moon is best for dreaming and scheming and imagining new possibilities as well as planning workable steps (large or small) that can fulfill your new intention.
If You Need or Want Support to Let Go, See:
- Mind Body Spirit Blog posts about lunar energy and the meaning of the phases of the moon.
- Moon Energy | Meaning of Moon Phases
- Personal Growth, Natural Healing, and Wellness Workshops, entitled Releasing Limiting Beliefs
- Clearing Energy With Smudging ebook
- IET Soul Star Clearing
- Spiritual Life Coaching and Energy Healing sessions
Updated January 28, 2024
