The moon travels around our Earth and makes a complete circle approximately every 29.5 days—known as a lunar month.

As it traverses its ecliptic path, it enters each of the 12 Zodiac constellations, as each constellation is partitioned into exactly 30-degrees of the 360-degree circle. Therefore, it takes approximately two-and-a-half days for the moon to travel through each sign.

The term, “Void of Course Moon” (commonly known as VoC) refers to the period when the moon is in an “in between” stage. This happens approximately every two days, and can last for anywhere between a few minutes and several hours, depending on the position of the sun—or the last planet the moon aspects.

When the moon enters a constellation, it usually makes aspects to planets within that constellation (occasionally, while in a constellation, the moon doesn’t aspect any planet.)

These major aspects are known as the conjunction, the opposition, the sextile, the square, and the trine. After the moon has made its last aspect to a planet, it then enters the Void of Course period (even though it will still be transitioning through that constellation for a short period of time before it reaches the next constellation).

The moon is always within one of the 12 constellations, as they are divided equally along the moon’s path, but the time between the moon making its last aspect and entering a new constellation is known as Void of Course.

During the moon’s journey through the constellations, the most noticeable part of it to us is when the moon aspects a planet. If we are highly attuned to the energy of the moon, we will notice that our personal journey alters depending on which planet the moon makes contact with.

This is why, I personally believe, it is vital to gain a brief understanding of which planets are transitioning a constellation at the same time as the moon. Particularly, when the ruling planet of a constellation is traveling through it, as when a ruling planet is moving through its own constellation and also aspects the moon, we can be quite severely impacted (positively or negatively).

For example, Venus rules Libra, so if the moon is travellng through the constellation of Libra and it makes contact with Venus, we will notice an enhanced spike in Venus’ characteristics showing up in our own lives, particularly if we already have a connection to Venus due to our birth time.

We can imagine the Void of Course as though a background story or a movie soundtrack is playing as the moon passes through each constellation. Every couple of days, the theme changes as the moon leaves one constellation and then enters another with different planet activity and its own unique energy.

Sometimes it is referred to as though the moon has set assignments that are completed when the last aspect is made, and then has a “free period” before beginning a new assignment when it reaches the next constellation. If we think about projects or themes in our own lives, we will likely notice that they stop and start in time with the moon’s beginnings and completions.

When Void of Course occurs, it can feel like everything has paused, as the moon takes a cosmic break and moves on from the last aspect to a planet and travels toward a new constellation. As the moon has no contact with anything significant in the sky during this period, there is a break in the background theme and the energy we were feeling loses momentum.

This VoC phase is when we may notice energetic disharmony in our lives, as though something feels immensely different, but if we are not aware of VoC we may struggle to discern what it is.

If we decide to pay attention to VoC dates and times, we will notice that as soon as the moon enters VoC, we will likely feel some sort of disconnection, as though our own lives are temporarily venturing off course along with the moon. Void basically means empty, so many people notice that they feel as though there is an absence of influence in their lives as the moon enters what many call an “aspect vacuum.”

This may leave us feeling a little perplexed and shaken, however, if we align with the moon’s energy we can greatly benefit from it by using this phase for reflection and to breathe deeply, regroup, and gather ourselves together before continuing on to the next chapter.

It is widely known that the moon causes ebbs and flows that can hugely impact our emotions. Those who are highly sensitive to lunar energy and are aware of the effects of VoC often follow the dates and times to allow a fuller and more detailed understanding of the highs, lows, pushes, pulls, and twists and turns that we experience each day.

Many believe that during VoC periods, our intuition is weakened, our judgment isn’t as reliable as normal, we will feel emotionally and physically fatigued, and we will also feel an intense inner confusion and instability. We may also feel angry, irritable, and frustrated, as nothing appears to be going our way.

However, instead of feeling high-strung and exhausted, we can consciously choose to combat this phase by taking a little time out of our schedule for much needed introspection, prayer, yoga, rest, reading, sleep, or meditation so that we can rebalance, center, nourish, and reenergize the body and mind.

Void of Course takes place at the same time the world over. For example, if the moon is Void of Course at 12 p.m. on the West Coast, it will be Void of Course at 3:00 p.m. on the East Coast—everyone experiences it simultaneously. We just need to ensure we have converted our time zone if it isn’t UTC.

Please click here to convert the UTC times listed below to your own time zone.

Below are the Moon Void of Course dates and times for May.

Please note the following times are in UTC:

May 1st, 8:22 p.m.: Moon Begins VoC Cancer

May 2nd, 4.:12 a.m.: Moon Enters Leo

May 4th, 4:35 a.m.: Moon Begins VoC Leo

May 4th, 9:46 a.m.: Moon Enters Virgo

May 6th, 12:42 p.m.: Moon Begins VoC Virgo

May 6th, 6:20 p.m.: Moon Enters Libra

May 8th, 10:59 p.m.: Moon Begins VoC Libra

May 9th, 5:00 a.m.: Moon Enters Scorpio

May 10th, 9:42 p.m.: Moon Begins VoC Scorpio

May 11th, 4:59 p.m.: Moon Enters Sagittarius

May 14th, 2:14 a.m.: Moon Begins VoC Sagittarius

May 14th, 5:37 a.m.: Moon Enters Capricorn

May 16th, 10:22 a.m.: Moon Begins VoC Capricorn

May 16th, 5:50 p.m.: Moon Enters Aquarius

May 19th, 12:33 a.m.: Moon Begins VoC Aquarius

May 19th, 3:52 a.m.: Moon Enters Pisces

May 21st, 3:39 a.m.: Moon Begins VoC Pisces

May 21st, 10:10 a.m.: Moon Enters Aries

May 23rd, 6:59 a.m.: Moon Begins VoC Aries

May 23rd, 12:32 p.m.: Moon Enters Taurus

May 24th, 7:08 a.m.: Moon Begins VoC Taurus

May 25th, 12:15 p.m.: Moon Enters Gemini

May 27th, 6:18 a.m.: Moon Begins VoC Gemini

May 27th, 11:24 a.m.: Moon Enters Cancer

May 29th, 6:59 a.m.: Moon Begins VoC Cancer

May 29th, 12:12 p.m.: Moon Enters Leo

May 31st, 11:14 a.m.: Moon Begins VoC Leo

May 31st, 4:16 a.m.: Moon Enters Virgo

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Author: Alex Myles
Image: Flickr/Jan
Editor: Travis May