New moon journal prompts are questions you write about on the day of the new Moon, or the day or two after, when a new lunar cycle begins. Most of them do one of two things: look back briefly at the cycle that just ended, or help you choose a single direction for the next four weeks. You do not need all of them. Pick two or three that catch on something real, write for about ten minutes, and finish with one line you would like to carry into the month.
The prompts below are grouped so you can start where your life is this month rather than where a generic list assumes it is. There is a short set for looking back, five sets by area of life, a set for choosing a direction, and one question for each sign the new Moon can fall in.
How to use these prompts
The new Moon is the start of the lunar cycle: the Moon sits between Earth and the Sun, its lit side faces away, and for a night or two there is nothing to see. That makes it a natural point to stop, look back, and decide what the next stretch is about. Nothing here depends on believing the Moon does anything. It is a start date the sky hands you.
A workable session looks like this:
- Read the lists and mark two or three prompts that make you pause. Ignore the rest.
- Write without editing for three or four minutes per prompt. Lists and half-sentences count.
- Read back what you wrote and underline one line that sounds like it matters.
- Turn that line into a direction if you want one: a word, a phrase or a question. How to do that well is in new moon intentions.
Paper, a notes app or a journal in an app all work. What matters is that you can find the page again at the full Moon.
Prompts to look back at the last cycle
A new cycle goes better with a short look at the old one. Keep this part brief: a few lines, not a review.
- What filled most of my weeks this cycle?
- What did I finish, even if it was small?
- What did I keep postponing, and what was the postponing protecting me from?
- Which day of the last cycle would I happily live again?
- What am I glad to leave behind with this cycle?
Prompts by area of life
Choose the area that is loudest this month. If two compete, the one you would rather not look at often has the more useful answer.
Work and career
- What part of my work do I want to be known for by the end of this cycle?
- Which task have I been carrying in my head instead of on a calendar?
- Where am I busy without moving anything forward?
- What would a good enough version of the big project look like in four weeks?
Love and relationships
- Who would I like to see more of this month, and what is one way to make that easy?
- Which conversation have I been rehearsing instead of having?
- Where do I give more than I can comfortably give, and where do I hold back?
- What does a good evening with the people close to me look like right now?
Self and emotions
- How would I describe the last week to a friend, in three honest words?
- What tends to drain me in an ordinary week, and how much of it can I change?
- What do I need more of: rest, company, quiet, movement, or something else?
- When did I last feel like myself, and what was I doing?
Decisions and change
- Which decision have I been circling, and what would I need to know to make it?
- What am I choosing by not choosing?
- If I had to decide by the full Moon, which way would I lean today?
- What is the smallest step that would make the decision more real, without making it final?
Creativity and inspiration
- What have I been curious about lately that has nothing to do with being useful?
- What would I make this month if it only had to be interesting to me?
- Where do my best ideas show up, and how can I spend more time there?
- What did I enjoy as a child that I have not tried as an adult?
Prompts for choosing a direction
These come last, after you have written enough to have something to choose from.
- If this cycle had a one-word title, what would it be?
- What would make the next four weeks feel well spent, even if nothing big happens?
- What do I want to do less of, and what will I do instead?
- Which line from today’s writing would I like to read again at the full Moon?
- What is a question I would like to keep asking until the next new Moon?
If you want to turn a line into an intention, new moon intentions explains how to keep it short and usable.
A prompt for each sign of the new Moon
A new Moon always falls in the sign the Sun is in, because at that moment the two are lined up on the same side of Earth. That means every sign gets a new Moon about once a year, somewhere within the weeks the Sun spends there. Astrology gives each sign its own themes, and many people like to add one sign-specific question to their list. The dates below are the usual Sun-sign windows; they shift by a day from year to year, and once in a while a sign gets two new Moons in a row.
| New Moon in | Usually between | A question for the cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Aries | 20 March and 19 April | What would I start if I let it be rough at first? |
| Taurus | 20 April and 20 May | What do I want more time with, rather than more of? |
| Gemini | 21 May and 20 June | Which question do I want to spend this month asking? |
| Cancer | 21 June and 22 July | Where do I want to feel more at home this month? |
| Leo | 23 July and 22 August | What would I make if nobody had to approve it? |
| Virgo | 23 August and 22 September | Which one routine, fixed, would make the rest easier? |
| Libra | 23 September and 22 October | Which relationship would I like to feel more even? |
| Scorpio | 23 October and 21 November | What am I ready to look at honestly? |
| Sagittarius | 22 November and 21 December | What do I want to understand better by the next new Moon? |
| Capricorn | 22 December and 19 January | What do I want to build slowly, one cycle at a time? |
| Aquarius | 20 January and 18 February | Where would I like to do things my own way? |
| Pisces | 19 February and 20 March | What could I stop forcing this month? |
Each sign page explains what the Moon in that sign is said to suit and what a new Moon there tends to be read as. For exact dates of this year’s new Moons, use a published table such as the US Naval Observatory’s Moon phases data or timeanddate.com, and convert it to your own time zone.
When nothing comes
Some new Moons the page stays blank. That is information too: often it means the last cycle was full and the next one wants to be lighter. Three ways in, if you would like to try:
- Write a list instead of sentences. Ten things that happened in the last four weeks, in any order.
- Answer the smallest prompt on the page. “What did I finish?” is easier to start than “What do I want?”
- Stop after one line. A single honest sentence is a complete new moon entry.
It is also fine to skip a new Moon entirely. The next one is about 29.5 days away, and nothing is lost in between.
Where this lives in Cosmia
Cosmia opens each new Moon with a Cycle Theme on the Today screen and offers three possible Cycle Intentions under it, or a space to write your own; you can also skip it, and the cycle runs without one. The day’s Reflect on question gives you one prompt to start with, and the Journal keeps what you write by date, so the new Moon page is there when the full Moon comes. The full Moon side of the cycle is in full moon journal prompts, and all eight phases are in journal prompts for every Moon phase. The rest of this section is collected under daily reflection.
