The dark moon isn’t just a three-day phase that takes place in the sky. The dark moon phase symbolizes something larger that we experience in our lives, sometimes multiples times, as we move through transition and change. The dark moon phase in our lives is the time to do what is known as shadow work in magick.

Our lives are constantly going through cycles just like the moon. Like the waxing moon, we grow and learn. Like the full moon, we see our ideas and plans reach fruition. Like the waning moon, we experience loss. After the waning moon comes another moon phase during which many people choose not to perform magick: the dark moon. Lasting only three days, this is the time of darkness between the end and the beginning. Usually called the new moon on calendars, there is in fact no visible moon in the sky, plunging us into true darkness. As we all know, the dark is full of mysterious things.

When applied to the larger picture of our life’s patterns and cycles, the dark moon represents change or, more specifically, the space between when one thing ends and another begins. The gap between death and rebirth is one of life’s greatest mysteries. It holds everything we fear and everything we wish for. For example, when trees and wildlife die in a forest, they decompose and become fertilizer for the earth in which new life grows. Without this death, new life couldn’t exist. This illustrates that while darkness and death mark an ending, they also contain the next beginning.

Our lives and all our experiences mirror the cycles of the moon. While this doesn’t always occur in synch with the actual moon phase in the sky, it’s certainly observable. The dark moon energy is no exception and can be felt like a current moving through our existence.