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A post shared by Elephant Journal (@elephantjournal) on Jun 2, 2019 at 6:00pm PDT

*Whether astrology is science or magic, we’re open to most things, if they may be of benefit. ~ Ed.

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At 3:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on June 3rd 2019, the moon reached the new moon phase of her cycle.

We can find tons of information online on how to apply this new moon in Gemini to our lives. Gemini is the ruler of communication and partnerships, while the new moon is a time for setting intentions. Astrology has increased in interest, appreciation, and reach in recent years and we can find new astrologers blogging on the daily.

But what exactly is a new moon?

And why is it a good time for setting intentions?

I find that digging deeper into the moon’s cycle can give us much greater understanding of how she impacts our lives and much greater power to align our lives with her phases.

First things first.

At 3:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, the moon didn’t actually reach her new moon phase. What happened at that exact time is that she plunged deep into her depth of darkness. That time is when she is scientifically and physically the most hidden from sight due to her position relative to the sun. This is the opposite of when she reaches her peak of brightness at the time we call the full moon.

Though many people in our culture call this depth of darkness the new moon phase, we’ve overlooked and forgotten arguably the most important moon phase, the dark moon phase.

In the ancient goddess cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages of humankind, the moon was revered as much more than master of the ocean tides. She represented the fundamental death and rebirth cycles in nature. She taught us how death is required to feed new life.

This understanding coincided with the invention of agriculture, using the composting of waste and death to feed the ground and grow new life in the form of plants and food.

Our modern day culture often fears death. And we’re not just talking about the actual death of a person’s life.

Our lives contain many little deaths that many of us are conditioned to feel shame over: the ending of a romantic relationship, leaving a career, dropping a dream, dropping a belief or belief system, ending a project prior to its completion, dropping out of school, ending a friendship, losing a material object, moving out of a home, or ending a family dynamic.

It is completely normal to feel sadness, regret, and even anger over any of these deaths. But often, we’re ashamed of them, and we try and hide our feelings and move on from these little deaths without knowing how to process them.

Recognizing the dark moon phase gives us an opportunity to honor the little deaths. To feel the depths of darkness before the death is then used as fuel, as energetic compost, for a rebirth.

My favorite representation of the dark moon is fire.

Fire is the ultimate destruction and transformation, the alchemy that leads to a rebirth.

Fire helps us honor and transform our darkness within. Otherwise, we’re moving from new moon intentions to full moon manifestations over and over again, building new layers on top of each other, trying to make changes in our lives, without ever acknowledging the dark, hidden layers beneath.

Using fire, we illuminate the darkness, we honor the little death, and we use the transformational energy of the fire to clean out and integrate those deep, hidden layers into energy and fuel for the new layers of intention.

Modern day culture and new age spirituality focuses on positive affirmations and manifesting a dream life, but we’ve forgotten an important piece of any such change: the destruction that precedes the beautiful transformation.

At 3:01 a.m. Pacific Standard Time today, June 3rd, 2019, after the moon reached her depth of darkness at 3:00 a.m., that is when the new moon phase actually began. The point at which the moon starts her path toward becoming light again. The rebirth of the moon cycle.

After we’ve laid down the death of compost into the ground, that is when we plant the seeds. That is why the new moon becomes the phase of setting intentions. The intentions are how we plant energetic seeds in our lives. Intentions of change, intentions of growth, intentions of manifesting our dream life.

So, the next time you see an article on Google or an astrology blog about the new moon, remember that the exact time referenced is actually the dark moon revered by ancient cultures for thousands of years.

Know that the death of the dark moon and the rebirth of the new moon are both here to remind you that it’s okay to feel the depths of darkness around deaths, destruction, and endings, because honoring and transforming that darkness gives fuel for the seeds of change and growth with the new moon.