Embracing New Moon Rituals: A Feminist and Post-Evangelical Christian Approach

“The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4

In 2022, I shared 4 meditations based around the primary phases of the moon cycle. I had been working deeply with the concept of cycle-syncing for a year, and reflecting on the monthly cycle of the moon and my monthly cycle as a woman helped me honor my own embodied female experience. Find those meditations here.

In the 3 years since, I have incorporated a monthly New Moon ritual into my spiritual practice. This year, I will be sharing monthly guide sheets for incorporating a New Moon ritual into your spiritual practice.

Find the New Moon landing page here.

Why New Moon rituals?

Ancient and indigenous cultures followed a lunar calendar, because tracking the moon phases was a visible way to mark the passing of time on a consistent basis. A lunar month starts at the new moon. Psalm 104:19 says, “You made the moon to mark the seasons.”

Gathering at the New Moon is an ancient feminine spiritual practice. In the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament of the Bible), we see the importance of Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon festival. Many significant events are recorded as happening during the new moon.

One day, I was reading a feminist Bible commentary on the book of Hebrews (as one does) and stumbled upon a delightful piece of Jewish midrash. In Exodus 32, we find the story of the Israelites wanting to make a golden calf to worship. Check out this excerpt below from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a midrash thought to be composed by a 2nd-century sage:

You may have read the book The Red Tent. It depicts these types of women-only spaces, where women would gather during their menstrual cycle. The New Moon phase of the lunar cycle is correlated with menstruation, and in some indigenous cultures, women who were thought to be most intuitive while menstruating. For these reasons, my group of friends gather to honor the New Moon and to cultivate and share our intuition. Women's circles honor the exchange of wisdom, and the shape of a circle symbolizes shared leadership.

Why bring the Bible into this?

I want to share a bit of a Biblical foundation for how I work with the moon cycles in my personal spiritual practice. You may wonder why I would bring the Bible into this. As a Christian, the Bible is a primary sacred text from which I've sought wisdom and guidance since birth. For years I fought against this spiritual inheritance because of all the harm done in the name of Christianity. Now, although I am influenced and inspired by many spiritual traditions, I acknowledge that the Christian tradition as my spiritual "native language"–the lens through which I tend to engage in spirituality. Much of my work focuses on bringing redemption to passages of scripture that have been used to condemn people.

I grew up being told that Astrology is demonic. Reading my horoscope felt dangerous, even though when I did read it, it seemed as innocuous as a message you’d find inside a fortune cookie. Much of this view can be traced back to Augustine, a very influential Christian figure in the fourth century. Augustine saw Astrology as a way humans for humans to try and blame God or the celestial bodies for sin. He seemed to believe that if people thought their lives were predetermined by the stars, then they could let themselves off the hook for their behavior.

How we are impacted by the moon and the sun

Historically, Astrology was not horoscopes and zodiac signs. It was a branch of natural philosophy dealing with the physical influence of the cosmos on the earth. It is clear that the sun and the moon both have a significant impact on our earthly lives, and up until the time of Galileo, the fields of Astrology and Astronomy were considered essentially the same.

In fact, we live by a solar calendar. Our modern calendar gives a date based on the position of the sun in relation to the stars behind it. The seasons are based on the equinoxes. We mark the summer solstice as the day when we have the most hours of daylight and the winter solstice, when we have the fewest hours of daylight.

In contrast, we see in many traditions and cultures the ways in which the moon plays a role, like Lunar New Year in East and South Asian countries, the Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins at a New Moon, and in Jewish tradition, the festival of Passover begins on a Full Moon. If you’ve ever wondered why the date of Easter varies so widely from year to year, it’s because Easter is set to occur on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Spring Equinox. So even the holiest day of Christian tradition is linked to the moon cycle.

My current view of zodiac signs

Because of my upbringing, I understand how deeply uncomfortable Christians can be with Astrology and the zodiac signs. I also am aware that many associate moon rituals with pagan practices and witchcraft, which is why Christians tend to fear these practices. However, I believe there’s a way to incorporate the moon cycle into a spiritual practice without worshiping the moon, and there’s a way to let zodiac signs guide your intentions without using them for “fortune-telling.” This is why in my New Moon ritual, I do discuss the zodiac signs.

I see the zodiac signs as a personality framework, like the Meyers Briggs or Enneagram. It can help to paint a picture of our personality, strengths, and talents. I see it as descriptive, not prescriptive. I always knew I was a Pisces Sun based on my birth date, but since discovering that I’m a Cancer Moon and Cancer Rising it's been interesting to learn more about those personality types as it relates to my own life and tendencies. Similarly with how I work with the Enneagram, self knowledge is helpful to understand your tendencies, but it shouldn’t stop there. Self-awareness should help us grow and become more balanced instead of using it as an excuse for our behavior.

Scripture references to celestial bodies

When I started searching the Bible for references about the celestial bodies, I was surprised by how many references there are. In Genesis 1:14-14, God says, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.”

Job 9:9 describes God making the constellations: "God is the Maker of Leo and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south."

In Ezekiel 47:1 we learn that the Temple in Jerusalem faced the East, the direction of the rising sun. Jesus refers to himself as the light of the world, and to this day, many churches are built to face the east. In early Christianity, Christians prayed facing east, seeing in the rising sun a symbol of the risen Christ.

It is clear in the Hebrew scriptures that God does condemn divination, and there are multiple stories where people seeking God for wisdom vanquish those who are praying to false gods and seeking signs in the sky. However, in Matthew 2:1-12, we see that the Magi follow the signs in the stars to lead them to Jesus.

In Luke 21:25, Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem saying, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.” Later, in the final book of the Bible, we see strange visions that include the celestial bodies. Revelation 12:1 says, “And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet...”

We see in the New Testament that Jewish Christ-followers continued to observe the New Moon even after Jesus’s ascent into heaven (Col. 2:16). Later in the passage, Paul condemns people who judge others based on human laws, and in Galatians 5 again Paul condemns legalism.

So it does feel a bit contradictory that in some instances, it’s okay to look for signs in the heavens, and that God might even send signs. Because of this, I don't find that New Moon rituals are in conflict with my Christian faith. In fact, it has been a deeply impactful communal spiritual practice for me over the past several years.

Feminist Christian New Moon Rituals

Paying attention to the moon cycles and marking the new moon with a communal ritual with other women is a way for me to mark time intentionally. Each New Moon we gather to reflect and set intentions for the next four weeks. It's a space of accountability, connecting me to something larger than myself and providing a framework to see growth and allow myself time to experiment with new intentions.

I also have done a lot of learning around the meaning behind each of the 4 phases of the moon which are new moon, waxing moon, full moon, and waning moon. The moon shows up differently every day of the month, sometimes with more brightness, and sometimes less. In modern culture, productivity tends to be the highest value. Our days are marked in 24 hour increments, and there can be a pressure to perform equally every single day.

Male hormones operate on a 24-hour cycle. This means that, for men, testosterone levels are highest in the morning and lowest in the night. In a patriarchal society, it makes sense that the standard workday would align for what works for men. They are energetic throughout the day and hormones start to drop in the afternoon and then in the evening, when energy wanes, it’s time to go to bed.

The female hormonal cycle, however, is typically spread out over 28 days, or 4 weeks, and in 4 phases. We can see a corollary between the 4 moon phases and the 4 hormonal phases. As a person who has a monthly cycle, I notice the ways in which my energy levels wax and wane throughout the month in a predictable pattern. Noticing the shifting phases of the moon gives me a sense of permission to not have to show up at full force every single day. For more information on the moon phases and the menstrual cycle, listen to my guided meditations on the moon cycle.

Of course, not every female-identifying person cycles through the hormonal phases, and I want to be inclusive of anyone who wants to draw inspiration and permission from the moon. If you are someone who doesn’t currently experience a monthly cycle, you can choose to start your monthly cycle or rhythm with the New Moon and go from there.

I believe that the moon can be an enlightening, feminine tool in spiritual practice. In my life, this does not include direct worship of the moon, rather it offers a reminder that I can look up and be reminded that God has placed this feminine guide in the sky who mirrors my body's cycle. I have also begun to develop theological explorations of important women in scripture who embody the energy of each zodiac sign. My hope is that through my guide sheets and your New Moon Ritual practice, you are drawn closer to your own intuition, the indwelling Wisdom of God.

“Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessing.
To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no man is worthy to mention Your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful."

– Excerpt from the Canticle of the Sun by Saint Francis of Assisi, 1225