New Moon Wishes and Rituals: How to Write Them Well
A sheet of paper, a pen, three sentences. A new moon needs no more than that, but the three sentences have to be true.
In our house nothing grand was done at the new moon. My grandmother put a candle in the window, made coffee, and said that tonight we wish, but quietly. Then each of us turned her cup over and kept to herself what she had been thinking of.
Later I learned that you can also write it down, and that writing works better than only thinking. Not because the paper does magic. Because a wish you have to put into a whole sentence suddenly shows whether you mean it.
Here is how I do it: when, how many wishes, in what words, and what a ritual can and cannot do.
Why the new moon is the time for beginnings
At new moon the Sun and the Moon stand at the same point in the sky. The Moon is invisible, and the night is the darkest of the month. From here it grows, for about two weeks, until the full moon.
Tradition reads this as a picture: what is sown in the dark grows with the light. Farmers sowed by it, fishermen mended their nets by it, and many of the world’s calendars begin their month with the first visible crescent. The new moon is a blank sheet. That is why it suits wishing better than the full moon, when everything is already bright and full.
How the whole cycle is built and what the other seven phases stand for is described in my piece on the moon phases.
How to write new moon wishes
Many rules circulate online. I keep to a few, and they have proved themselves.
- After the new moon, not before. Write only once the exact moment has passed, the same evening or the day after. The hours before still belong to the old cycle. The time is in the moon calendar.
- Few wishes. Three is good, five is a lot, ten is a shopping list. If you write down twenty things, you have chosen none of them.
- By hand. Pen and paper, not the phone. The hand is slower than the head, and in that slowness you notice where you hesitate.
- Concrete. Not “more money” but “put two hundred aside every month until March”. Not “love” but “meet someone I do not yet know once a week”.
- Within your own reach. Do not wish for anything another person has to do. “He should get in touch” is not a wish, it is waiting. “I will write to him on Saturday and say what I want” is one.
- Date it and keep it. Put the sheet in a book or a drawer. You will need it again in two weeks.
The fifth point is the one I am strictest about. A wish that depends on someone else’s behaviour turns you into a spectator. Rephrase it until it contains a verb you can carry out yourself.
Do not wish for the door to open. Wish for the nerve to knock.
The new moon in the twelve signs
Every new moon stands in a zodiac sign, always the one the Sun is in at the time. The sign sets the theme. You can wish for anything at any new moon, but wishes that fit the sign come more easily.
New moon in Aries
The first new moon of the astrological year. Theme: yourself, your body, something you start alone. Good for courage and for whatever you have put off too long.
New moon in Taurus
Money, belongings, food, sleep, your own worth. Wishes about income and saving, about a garden, about a habit that is kind to the body.
New moon in Gemini
Speaking, writing, learning, siblings, neighbours. A course, a language, a conversation you want to have.
New moon in Cancer
Home and family. A move, a renovation, peace with your mother, a place where you feel safe.
New moon in Leo
Joy, children, play, showing yourself. Wishes about anything you love doing without it needing to be useful.
New moon in Virgo
Daily life, work, order, routines. A better shape to the day, a cleared desk, a task you want to do properly.
New moon in Libra
Partnership, contracts, fairness. What you want from a relationship, and what you yourself give to it.
New moon in Scorpio
Trust, shared money, closeness, everything that lies beneath the surface. A good new moon for ending an old matter and making something new out of it.
New moon in Sagittarius
Travel, study, belief, the bigger picture. Wishes that take you further away than usual.
New moon in Capricorn
Career, long-term goals, responsibility. What you want to have achieved in a year, and the first step towards it.
New moon in Aquarius
Friendships, groups, plans for the future. Where you want to belong and what you would like to do for others.
New moon in Pisces
Rest, dreams, compassion, completion. The last new moon of the circle. Wishes about letting go and resting fit better here than big plans.
The next four new moons:
A note on the first two. Venus has been retrograde since 3 October and only turns direct on 14 November, with Mercury following on 13 November. So at the Libra new moon and the Scorpio new moon, wishes that settle something existing fit better than wishes for something brand new in love. I explain why in my piece on Venus retrograde. The exact times are in the moon calendar for October 2026 and the moon calendar for November 2026.
Small new moon rituals without the kitsch
A ritual is an action you carry out on purpose and in peace. There is nothing more behind it. You need no crystals, no incense and no particular colour of candle.
The candle. Light a candle before you write and blow it out when you are done. It marks the beginning and the end. For the time in between, your phone is in another room.
The cup. This is my favourite. Make yourself a Turkish coffee, drink it slowly and think of just one of your wishes. Before you turn the cup over onto the saucer, say it silently. We call this moment niyet, the intention, and it belongs to every cup, not only at new moon. How the brewing, drinking and turning are done is in my guide on how to read a coffee cup.
The open window. Write your wishes, read them aloud once, and open the window for a minute. That is all. My grandmother said a wish needs fresh air.
The first step the next day. This is the real ritual. For each wish, find one thing that takes less than ten minutes and do it while the Moon is still a thin crescent. An email, a phone call, an appointment.
What you do not have to do: burn the sheet, bury it or put it under your pillow. You may, if you like. But I would rather you kept it.
What the full moon two weeks later shows
About fourteen days after the new moon comes the full moon. Take your sheet out again. Now you can see what has become of the three sentences.
There are usually three kinds. One wish is moving: you did something for it and something stirred. One stands still, because you did nothing. And one you no longer care about. Cross out the third. That is not failure, it is the point of the exercise: the full moon shows what you really want.
The Libra new moon is followed on 26 October by the full moon in Taurus, the Scorpio new moon on 24 November by the full moon in Gemini. And there is a longer arc as well: about half a year after a new moon, the full moon stands in the same sign. If you keep your sheet that long, that is often when you first see what became of a wish.
What a ritual can and cannot do
I tell this to everyone who comes to me: a new moon ritual does not grant wishes. It puts them in order.
What it can do: make you say once a month, in whole sentences, what you want. Give you a fixed evening for thinking about it. Show you after two weeks whether you did anything for it. That is not a small thing. Most people know very precisely what they do not want and very vaguely what they do.
What it cannot do: change another person, cure an illness, produce money, replace a decision. If something weighs on you seriously, it belongs with a person trained for that, not on a sheet by the window. And if a wish is still on the sheet after three new moons without your having done anything, ask yourself whether it is your wish or somebody else’s.
You will find more on the signs the Moon passes through in the astrology lexicon.
Frequently asked questions
When exactly should I write new moon wishes?
After the exact moment of the new moon, ideally the same evening or the following day. Tradition names the first one or two days as a good time. Before the new moon the Moon is still waning, and those hours belong to letting go.
How many wishes can I write at the new moon?
Some traditions say up to ten. I advise three. The fewer wishes there are on the sheet, the more likely you are to do something for each one.
What do I do with the paper after a new moon ritual?
Keep it. Put it in a book or a drawer and take it out again at the full moon. Burning or burying it is the custom in some places, but then you can no longer read what you wished for.
Can I make a new moon wish for another person?
You can wish someone well, and that is always right. But wishes meant to steer another person’s behaviour do not belong on the sheet. Write instead what you yourself intend to do in the matter.
What if I missed the new moon?
Then write during the days of the waxing crescent, while the Moon is still thin. And if that has passed too, wait for the next one. Another comes in a little over four weeks.