Your Moon, your inner weather
If your Sun sign is the part of you that shows up in the daylight, the Moon sign is what happens when you get home. Astrologers associate it with instinct, mood, comfort and memory: the way you soothe yourself, the atmosphere you need to relax and what you are like when you feel safe with someone. It is one of the big three, alongside your Sun and rising signs.
| Moon sign | What helps you feel settled |
|---|---|
| Aries | Action, independence, honest reactions |
| Taurus | Routine, comfort, good food, physical closeness |
| Gemini | Talking things through, variety, ideas |
| Cancer | Home, family, emotional closeness |
| Leo | Warmth, appreciation, play |
| Virgo | Order, usefulness, practical care |
| Libra | Harmony, fairness, good company |
| Scorpio | Deep trust, loyalty, privacy |
| Sagittarius | Freedom, humor, meaning |
| Capricorn | Structure, achievement, self-control |
| Aquarius | Space, friendship, belonging to a group |
| Pisces | Quiet time, creativity, spiritual practice |
Why the Moon moves so fast
The Moon circles the Earth in about 27.3 days relative to the stars, moving roughly 13° across the zodiac every day, about half a degree an hour. That means it spends only two to three days in each sign. Many birthdays have one Moon sign all day, but a little under half of all days include a moment when the Moon changed sign. If you don't know your birth time and that happened on your birthday, the calculator shows the local clock time of the change, so you can work out which sign is yours.
The Moon's phase at your birth
The phase depends on the angle between the Moon and the Sun. At New Moon they are together; at Full Moon they are opposite; the quarters sit 90° apart. The calculator gives the phase you were born under, such as waxing gibbous, the exact angle and the share of the Moon's disc that was lit. Some astrologers read a waxing birth Moon as outward, building energy and a waning one as reflective, a tradition sometimes called lunation-phase astrology.
Your Moon on the map
Your Moon also has four lines on Earth, showing where it was rising, setting, overhead and underfoot at your birth. The Moon IC line is often called the home line: places where the Moon was directly beneath you are read as good for putting down roots. See yours on the Moon lines guide or straight on your astrocartography chart.