Tracey Rampling BrownAs a Moonologer some of the questions that come up are things like “Why doesn’t the Full Moon match the zodiac season? The signs aren’t in a specific order—we just had the Full Moon in Leo but it’s not Leo season until August! How do the Sun and Moon align this way?”
This is a concept that often trips people up, especially in the early stages of their astrology/moon journey so I’ve put together a quick graphic and am sharing my answer here as well.
The New Moon happens when the Sun and the Moon are in alignment, so the new moons will always follow the patterns of the zodiac “seasons”.
For example, the upcoming Pisces new moon will always occur within the period of February 19 – March 20, and in 2022 it falls on March 2—or March 3, if you’re in Australia.
The Full Moon, however, happens when the Moon is opposing the Sun, so it will occur on the opposite side of the zodiac.
Usually, you can assume it will be the direct opposite sign, eg New Moon Pisces/Full Moon Virgo, but on occasion, we’ll have a Full Moon that occurs twice in the same sign—for example, in 2021 we had two Full Moons in Aquarius, one in July and one in August.
This is super rare and only happens when the Full Moon occurs around 0-1° (the one in July 2021 was at 1°25′ Aquarius) the first time, and 28-29° (the one in August 2021 was at 29°36′ Aquarius) the second time. The second Full Moon is referred to as a (true) Blue Moon.
Basically, the Sun “moves” slower than the Moon when it comes to transiting through the zodiac signs. It takes the Sun approximately a month to move through a single sign, which is often referred to as a “season” (eg Pisces season, which runs from February 19 – March 20).
The Moon moves a lot faster as it orbits the earth, and transits through all 12 signs of the zodiac each month. It takes approximately 2.5 days for the Moon to shift through each sign during its 29.5 day cycle. Keeping track of where the Moon is on any given day is referred to as working with the “daily moon”.
So to bring it all together: if the Moon starts its cycle in the same sign as the Sun (at the New Moon), and takes approximately 29.5 days to move through all the signs, after ~14 days it will have progressed halfway around the sky from where the Sun is, to the opposite side of the zodiac by the time it reaches the Full Moon.
And that is why even though we may be in “Pisces season” we will experience a Virgo Full Moon. 
Want to discover more about the energetic influences of the zodiac throughout the different phases of the moon cycle? Come and join us in the Moon Manifestation Academy! Each month you’ll receive a guide with all the information you’ll need to harness the New Moon and Full Moon energy, as well as an invite to join my live New and Full Moon ritual circles. Find out more details here.
