Waxing Gibbous
Refine and trust the process
Next Waxing Gibbous: Tue, November 17 to Tue, November 24 (UTC)
The Moon is almost full. The waxing gibbous is for refining what you started and trusting that it is coming together.
The meaning of the waxing gibbous
In the days before the full moon, most of the disc is lit and the Moon is visible well into the night. The work is nearly done, but not quite.
This is a phase of fine-tuning. Look at what is working, polish it, and resist the urge to start over.
The first quarter asked you to commit. Now the commitment needs care. Small checks matter here: rereading, testing, asking one person for honest feedback while there is still time to use it.
Astrologers often link this stretch with the question "why?" You may look at your effort and wonder whether it is good enough. Let that question improve the work. Answer it with one specific fix, and save bigger doubts for after the full moon, when you can see the result.
The waxing gibbous in the sky
- Disc lit
- 51 to 99%, growing each night
- Angle from the Sun
- Between 90° and 180°
- Rises
- In the afternoon, before sunset
- Sets
- After midnight, before sunrise
- Northern Hemisphere
- Lit on the right, with a shadowed sliver on the left
- Southern Hemisphere
- Lit on the left, with the dark sliver on the right
The angle is measured from the Sun eastward to the Moon. Rise and set times are local and shift with the season and your latitude.
Waxing Gibbous rituals
- ✦Review your progress since the new moon and note what is working.
- ✦Make one small improvement rather than a big change.
- ✦Practice patience. Some things need a few more days.
In love
Pay attention to the details: how you listen, how you show up, what you remember. Small repairs land well now, like a follow-up to last week’s tense talk or the plan you kept postponing. Notice what the other person does for you, too, and say so.
In work and money
Edit, test and polish. Quality now pays off at the full moon. Go through the finished parts with a checklist and fix the three things a reviewer would spot first.
What to avoid during the waxing gibbous
- ×Starting a brand new project before this one is done.
- ×Polishing forever. Decide in advance at what point the work counts as finished.
- ×Comparing your halfway point with someone else’s finished result.
Journal prompts
- “What needs a little more care before it is ready?”
- “What feedback have I been avoiding, and who could give it honestly?”
- “What is already working that I can simply keep doing?”
Dane Rudhyar’s lunation type: Gibbous
Born under the waxing gibbous
Rudhyar’s Gibbous type covers a Moon 135° to 180° ahead of the Sun. It is read as a searching, improving nature, always asking how something could work better and why it matters. People with this phase are often drawn to study, craft or any work where getting it right is the point.
In natal astrology the phase comes from the Sun-Moon angle in eight bands of 45°, so it can differ slightly from the phase you would have seen that night. The waxing gibbous seen in the sky begins at 90°, so people born in its first days fall under the First Quarter type. Your free birth chart shows where your Sun and Moon were when you were born.
Upcoming waxing gibbous dates
The waxing gibbous runs from the first quarter to the full moon. The next windows:
- Tue, November 17 to Tue, November 24
- Thu, December 17 to Thu, December 24
- Fri, January 15, 2027 to Fri, January 22, 2027
- Sun, February 14, 2027 to Sat, February 20, 2027
- Mon, March 15, 2027 to Mon, March 22, 2027
- Tue, April 13, 2027 to Tue, April 20, 2027
Dates in UTC.
Common questions
When is the next waxing gibbous?
The next waxing gibbous is Tue, November 17 to Tue, November 24 (UTC). The one after that is Thu, December 17 to Thu, December 24.
How long does the waxing gibbous phase last?
About seven days, from the first quarter to the full moon. It happens once every lunar cycle of about 29.5 days.
Where do I look for the waxing gibbous?
It rises in the afternoon and is up for most of the night, setting in the small hours before dawn.
How is the waxing gibbous different from the first quarter?
The first quarter is an instant, when the Moon is exactly half lit. The waxing gibbous is the week that follows, with more than half lit and the dark part shrinking each night. In the moon cycle the quarter is a decision point and the gibbous is time to refine.
What comes after the waxing gibbous?
The full moon, when the whole disc is lit and the Moon rises around sunset. It is the peak of the cycle, when what you have been building tends to show.
How can I tell a waxing gibbous from a full moon?
Look along the edge facing away from the Sun. A gibbous moon has a soft shadow on that side, and it is already up in the east at sunset instead of rising then. A day before full, the difference is hard to see without binoculars.
What does it mean to be born under the waxing gibbous?
In the lunation types, a Moon 135° to 180° ahead of the Sun at birth makes you a Gibbous type. Astrologers connect it with analysis, self-improvement and a need for work to mean something.
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