Balsamic New Moons Explained

Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology [https://nightlightastrology.com/].

Today we're going to take a look at the difference between balsamic moons or dark moons and new moons. Sometimes the distinction gets lost on us, or sometimes we don't know exactly when or how to make the distinction, like when is it a balsamic moon and when is it turned to new.

A lot of people have questions about dark moons or balsamic moons. I think some people get a little bit scared by them or anxious about them, and sometimes we oversimplify new moons as well. Since we're in the transitional space between dark and new right now today, I thought this would make for a fun educational bonus episode.

So that's our agenda for today. Before we get into it, as always, remember to like and subscribe; it really helps the channel to grow when you take two seconds to subscribe. If you're not yet, it's free to do so. You can find transcripts of any of these daily talks on our website, that is NightlightAstrology.com.

You can check everything out that we are doing and have the offer over there. No promotions today, because it's a Sunday bonus episode. Let's get right into it. I'm going to put a chart up on the screen here; you can see today, Sunday, June 14, that the moon and sun are coming together in Gemini to form the new moon.

Let's take this forward, so you can see exactly when this perfects. I'm going to advance the clock by hours here, and we'll see that as the two planets come close together, that they can join around the 24th degree of Gemini. They do so late tonight, at least Central Time, where I live in the Minneapolis area.

They will conjoin and form the new moon. Now people will typically ask, what's the difference between a balsamic and new moon on a technical level? Like, how do you discern the difference between the two? So, let me try to give you a pretty good example.

These examples will differ from astrologer to astrologer, which is where some of the confusion comes from. So, there are several basic definitions of a balsamic moon. Sometimes people will say that the balsamic moon is anywhere in the 30 degrees prior to a new moon, and this is problematic for a few different reasons.

One is that people will then, you know, you'll see alternate definitions that say, well, no, it's 45 degrees, and others will even say it's 60 degrees. So just know that throughout the history of astrology, when you get to about 60 degrees out, or two whole signs out from the exact conjunction, people will typically start arguing about where the balsamic moon lands.

The most typical definitions by degree are somewhere between 30 and 45 degrees. Now, another definition has to do with the moon being in the 12th place relative to the starting point of the new moon. For example, in the chart that you're seeing right now on the screen, let's back this up, and I'll show you exactly what I mean.

Some people have also defined the balsamic moon as follows: as soon as the moon enters the 12th sign relative to the sun, it's in the 12th whole sign place. That 12th whole sign place relative to the sun is thought of a bit like the 12th house, a place of moksha, or liberation, or release, a place that is sometimes thought of as a bit malefic, and sometimes not.

It's not really fair to think about the 12th house as just a bad place, but there are also some legitimate ways that the 12th house can be difficult. So I think it's a very fair way of looking at the balsamic moon is through the 12th whole sign placement. As soon as the moon is in the 12th place relative to the sun, between then and the time it conjoins the sun, it's said to be balsamic.

So you have competing definitions. I suppose you're probably wondering, like, well, what do you work with? Like, just tell us what you do first. I just wanted to lay it out, so you know what your options are. I don't think I've ever seen someone go prior to two signs out when there's a sextile by whole sign.

If I were to back this into Aries and the moon were in Aries, and there's a whole sign sextile to me, that doesn't qualify. Part of the balsamic nature is, I think, the 12th placement, the 12th sign placement all the way up to the preceding new moon. So, let me give you the definition that I work with.

I work with, as long as the moon is in the 12th place relative to the sun, as soon as it enters that place, it's a balsamic moon. Now that is going to mean that the number of degrees can be pretty variable. Right now we've got 30 degrees of Taurus plus 20 degrees of Gemini; it's about 50 degrees of separation.

But let me just show you another example. Let's do the next moon cycle. The next moon cycle will be slightly different. You'll see that when the moon enters Gemini and it's in the 12th sign relative to Cancer, the sun's at 18 degrees, so we have more like 38 degrees. That will continue to vary every cycle of the year.

So, what we want to do is get to the point where we just have a definition that can meet every different circumstance in a decent way, and for me that's always been the 12th place. I like the basic meaning from ancient astrologers: the moon in the 12th place relative to the sun was considered a somewhat challenging placement, and we're going to talk about why in a minute.

Now, the question becomes, at what point does it turn to new? So for that, let's go forward a little bit, and I'll show you the definition that I use. There are two definitions that I think are the best, and people will vary in the number of degrees. Some people will say as soon as it's in the same whole sign as the sun; to me, that's too broad.

I would say if it's within eight degrees, then I'm comfortable. The reason that I say eight degrees is because often the moon is given a pretty broad orb of application to conjunction. For example, engagements with traditional planets, meaning an exact aspect forming, was said to be within three degrees.

So if you use the moon with the sun within three degrees, I think for sure within three degrees we can say that's a new moon that's forming, and the signature will probably act more like a new moon. I feel really comfortable with that. But for me, because the moon moves faster, if I see the moon about this range right here, this is just about nine degrees, I might like to go in a little bit more, like eight.

When I see that, and I know how quickly the moon moves, I'm thinking to myself, the moon is really in the process of creating its new moon right now. If you look at an astronomy program and see how close the invisible body of the moon is, you really get a feel for what I'm saying. When it's within eight degrees, it's basically coming right onto the sun.

So yeah, for me, I think eight degrees is a fair range. Beyond that, I tend to think of it more as balsamic. I want to admit that that's a bit subjective, and that practitioners do vary in exactly how many degrees they like to use for a balsamic moon. So all of that is just good information.

So let's reiterate: when the moon enters the 12th whole sign, somewhere between about usually between 30 and 60 degrees out (some people like 30 to 45 degrees out), but for me, when it enters the 12th whole sign relative to the sun, that's when we're really in the balsamic phase. Up to about eight degrees out, I consider it balsamic.

From within eight degrees to the conjunction, I'm going to consider that a new moon. That's my practice. But all right, what does it mean? So I have usually five things to watch for. I couldn't make this list; I tried, but it's six. So you got six. All right, well, hopefully you'll forgive me.

There are these moments that often get collapsed when we're at the end of a cycle. A lot of you know that there's a balsamic moon, and you may know the difference, but a lot of people don't. The closer we get to the new moon, they just think, oh, we're just at a new moon. But there's a distinct feeling and a difference in feeling between balsamic and new.

If I had to put it simply, the balsamic moon is the completion or the resolution of the ending. The new moon is the beginning of the becoming. I know that's wordy or whatever, so I don't recommend necessarily using that in practice, but I want to get philosophical about it.

One is about dissolution and finalizing a dissolution process; the other is conception and a kind of start of something. But prior, just like conception, it's born in a space of invisibility and sort of potentiality. So here are six things to watch for. We'll start with balsamic. I've got three for balsamic and three for new.

Now the moon is still in the superior position in the balsamic phase. We went over this in the video I did last week's bonus episode on the last quarter moon, so check that out. I think for the next couple of weeks we're going to land on moon cycle dates, so I'll probably continue this, and we'll do first quarter in full.

Anyway, the moon is still in the superior position, which means it has the dominant effect on the sun, whereas in the first half of the cycle, the sun has the dominant effect on the moon. I explained all of that in the last episode on the last quarter moon. But what that means is that the environment, the consequences, the accumulated experience of the cycle, all reflected by the moon, have almost completely overtaken the solar agenda.

In other words, the sun's ambitions have been educated by the reality of the cycle. The story has largely been told and written by this point, and the balsamic phase is really like, what is the deepest wisdom of what you've learned? It's not what you accomplished, it's not what the result was, it's what have you learned. What is the insight?

Remember that every cycle is pointing us toward transcendental enlightenment. So at a deep level, the balsamic phase is like, what has the cycle taught you? What evolutionary shifts, psychological shifts of meaning and learning have you accomplished? That's one way of thinking of a balsamic moon.

Even if the experiences of a balsamic moon can be challenging, and the insight might not be there right away, the experiences of the balsamic moon will often lead to this sense of wisdom and completion. The harvest has already happened. The cycle has already given its feedback, and now what you're really doing is the seed of the decomposing fruit that's going into the ground is preparing the next cycle with insight from the previous cycle.

The other way of thinking about a balsamic moon is in terms of composting, which is what I was just referring to. If you think about the sun representing a coherent sense of purpose and direction, and an ideal, again, think of the acorn and the oak tree that it contains as a sort of platonic image of what it wants to become, or what it will become by its nature.

The sun is like that; it's very platonic and ideal. So if the sun represents that sense of purpose, direction, and an ideal image toward which something is aiming and trying to become, and remember, in this reality it always falls short. In the balsamic phase, that original image dissolves, or a role, or ambition, or direction, or idea, or agenda kind of expires.

Certain kinds of certainties are diminishing, or softening, or maybe the ego is sort of loosening its grip on the story. That does not necessarily mean that something has failed or gone wrong, because every cycle goes like this: it becomes too small or not enough, or there's an adjustment, or there's wisdom that comes from it, and a starting fresh.

So there's a composting that happens, and it's a question of, well, who have you become after everything that's happened, or what wisdom or insight is left after composting everything in this prior cycle? The old identity, or the old ambition, or the old direction is in its recycling and its decomposition, becoming a fertile soil.

I know that's a little vague, but you really have to spend time with it. It really helps to have a meditation practice. I bang this drum all the time, but when you have a meditation practice and you go through many balsamic moons, you get to feel what it's like, and you can actually see the quality of what's going on in your consciousness, in your mind, and reflect on experiences as you're going through.

There's no better way to understand these things, and then they no longer become just metaphors. Finally, I think for the balsamic moon, there is a return to mystery. Earlier in the cycle, we're trying to make things happen from a conscious sense of what we hope for or want. In the balsamic phase, there's a lot of relinquishing of control and a kind of surrender.

What I think I'm trying to say is that there's a sense that there was something bigger and more insightful and wiser than me that was a part of how the cycle unfolded. Always we realize we're co-creators; we realize that there are forces of fate that orchestrate the unfolding of our choices and free will: choice and reaction, action and consequence.

There's an intelligence behind it, and when we see all of that under a balsamic moon, there's a little clearer sense that I'm not directing everything. Often there's more humility and curiosity and a kind of willingness to surrender and let something bigger take the wheel. It's not bad to have intentions or ambitions, but we surrender something of knowing exactly how things will go or why things happen.

This is why under balsamic moons it really helps to slow down and take a little quiet time, because it's hard to feel that if you're just staying busy all the time. There's a natural point of release and surrender of the conscious mind, of our sense that we're at the center or nexus of control.

Anyway, number four, we go into the new moon. When we shift into the new moon, it's different because now there's a new covenant being formed between our choice, our active choices and conscious desires and intentions, and fate. Sun and moon unite, and now the previous dialogue between the two kind of goes quiet. There is neither superior nor inferior.

Purpose and fate, which is the orchestrating of our choices and our will with circumstance and outcome, they don't see each other yet; they don't know each other as different. So there's an agreement that's emerging. I'd like to go in a direction, and the universe knows our hearts and knows our intention or intentions and knows our motivations better than we do.

It is partly helping orchestrate outcomes and experiences in relation to our ambitions so that we evolve and become more enlightened. That's the paradigm that was clearly a part of the ancient mystical view that informed astrology. So we're consciously, or sort of semi-consciously, saying what we want, and there's a new desire, a new sense of purpose animating life force with a seed image that wants to go somewhere.

The moon, as the force of fortune and fate and circumstance, says, "Okay, let's explore this, and we're going to take this seed and weave it into a form, and let the form be educational, let it turn into something, let you taste its fruit, and let you learn from the process, and then let it go and do it again."

Every month, we do this. This is why moon cycles are one of the most basic things to study and live our lives in the rhythm of. They are deeply illuminating, but almost impossible to see and live and grow by if you don't have regular time for being, not doing. That looks different for everyone. Maybe it's a walk in the woods for you, maybe it's journaling, maybe it's meditation for me.

But you have to have some space for reflection and hearing the voice of the universe speak. You can't just live caught up in a constant spin cycle of astrological tracking without space for reflecting on the tracking. I say this because new moons are a very good time, like the balsamic moon, to be relatively more receptive and quiet and listening.

Our intentions, being formed with more consciousness and reflectiveness, are typically easier on us than those that are being lived out from pure impulse and in a kind of blindness to what we're doing and why. That's what we say about all planetary transits. They teach us, and the more reflective and aware we become, usually the easier it is.

I don't mean easy as in life doesn't include suffering; I mean easy as in we become more receptive to the unfolding of events themselves, no matter what they are. So the covenant between fate and choice begins here again. Now, there's also a potentiality. The balsamic darkness and the new moon darkness are not exactly the same.

You could say that balsamic darkness is about releasing something. Have you ever gotten sick, and you're just down? Everyone has, I'm sure. During that darkness of being sick, your whole body is just shutting down, and you're trying to get well and release a sickness from your body. I'm not saying the balsamic moon is sickness, but I am saying that the kind of release in the balsamic moon is like a deep shedding.

I've tried to make some comparisons over time to the menstrual cycle. Not that I'm qualified, but women will often talk about the balsamic moon in relation to different phases of the menstrual cycle: a deep level of shedding, rest, release. But the difference is that the darkness of the new moon is more like the first day you feel better, but you still feel kind of tender and vulnerable, and a little weak.

Your strength isn't fully back, but you're like, okay, I'm not sick anymore. It's a bit like a new moon darkness: nothing is visible, because nothing has revealed itself yet. The seed has been planted. The seed exists, but the future that it points to is all in potential right now. So there's a kind of faith that's required.

There's a sense of potentiality and emptiness and openness, and a bit of vulnerability. It's a very gentle kind of start or opening, depending on the sign and planets involved. So this kind of darkness is different; it's about potentiality, but it's also something that has to be cared for in the same way that a conception moment or a birthing moment is a very tender moment full of potential.

Number six on my list is: the seed is being planted and tended to by an unknowing gardener. We have to remember that we may have an intention or a desire, but that doesn't mean we have certainty or that we know exactly where things will head or where they will go. We can't anticipate beyond the purpose, the ideas, the hopes, or aspirations, the seeding images that might be present, often only half present because we're half present.

But we have not yet experienced the fruit of the cycle, or the unfolding of the building of the cycle. So it's really good to remember that at the start of the cycle we are an unknowing gardener. I want to read you something. This is a prayer of Thomas Merton that I really love, and I thought you guys might like to hear it. This is a prayer you could pray at the new moon.

You can find it online; it's called a prayer of unknowing. To me, this is exactly the unknowing gardener's prayer at the time of a new moon, and why it's so important to try to cultivate consciousness and awareness around these cycles. "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end, nor do I really know myself."

"And the fact that I think I'm following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so." If you want to replace the God language with the universe, you could do that. "The fact that I think I'm following the universe and its path for me does not mean that I'm actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you, and I hope I have that desire in all that I'm doing."

Another way of putting that, in different language, would be the prayer you can pray is just: I hope my heart is in the right place. I hope that what I'm hoping for, striving for, what I'm trying to do in this next cycle represents the goodness in me, the goodness in the universe. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do, you'll lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. As unknowing gardeners, we can say: look, if there's something in this cycle ahead in my desires and ambitions that are going to unfold, something I need to learn that I don't see, I know that you'll help me see it.

Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you'll never leave me to face my perils alone. Not that every cycle needs to be perilous, but often the only enemy we're really facing is our unwillingness to be more conscious and more present in our hearts, more reflective, more receptive.

It's hard because it's hard to be present. It's unbearably sensitive to be really present. It's easy to fall back into guardedness, defensiveness, judgment. It's really, really hard to keep our hearts open. I say that as someone who really struggles with it every day, but I believe it's the right struggle.

I believe it's the right struggle. So at the beginning of a cycle, what we can say is: I don't know the road in front of me, I don't know where it's going, but I do know that I trust these cycles to inform me, and I pray that I continue to learn what to desire that is truly the best for me, and maybe for the world and the others that I serve in it.

So anyway, I hope you'll consider that prayer if it's useful for you. Otherwise, it's my prayer every day that whatever I make on this channel blesses your life in some way, and that something positive comes out of this that will mean that I'm doing something good with my work. At the end of the day, that is all I could hope for.

So, anyway, I hope you learned something about the balsamic and new moons here today, that it's useful for you. Hope you're having a great Sunday. We'll see you again next time. Bye.