New Moon happens when the Moon is caught between the Sun and the Earth and the side of the Moon that is in shadow faces the Earth. New Moons are a monthly occurrence and it takes about 29.5 days for the Moon to orbit Earth.

Although invisible to the naked eye, the new moon promises new beginnings and is often signified as being a period of rebirth by those who honor it. 

What the New Moon means for you, and some rituals you can practice to maximize your experience:

The New Moon phase indicates a time to set intentions for releasing negative energy. It signifies a time to set intentions for goals and freeing yourself from burdens.

Regardless of your religious or spiritual alignment, if you’re open to both the power of self-care and lunar magic, the New Moon can bring you a unique opportunity of revival and releasing that which no longer serves you.

Here are 5 things you can do to get the most out of this new moon:

1. Cleanse yourself and declutter your space

A good place to start is cleansing yourself. Taking a bath with Aura soak Bath salt and the self-love crystal bundle  is my favorite part of the New Moon.

Your home is likely the place you’re most vulnerable. To many, it’s a sacred space. One surefire way to rid the old and welcome anew is to clean and declutter your home.

You can donate clothes and other belongings, rearrange your room, wash bedding, clean from top to bottom. You can also light candles and incense if you’re into it.

In Indigenous practices, smoke cleansing or smudging is used to cleanse themselves and ward off negative energy and also offer protection. Sacred traditions use white sage and Palo santo for this.

You can always research on your own lineage and look for herbs and specific practices of your ancestors — you can’t go wrong with walking around your home with a candle in tow, reciting a personal prayer or affirmations like, “I honor my home and welcome only positivity and love here.”

2. Set new intentions

Whether the last moon cycle afforded you abundance or exhausted your energy, the New Moon can offer a new perspective. The good news about a fresh start is that you can always reinvent those perspectives with new intentions.

Setting intentions is necessary for every faculty of life. It’s the context or purpose for everything you do. Do you have intentions of writing a book, exercising more, or starting a new project? Or working on self-care and balancing your mental health.

The best way to fulfill these goals is to have a clear vision of them. Writing intentions in a journal and reciting them during the New Moon and onward can help reemphasize your connection to them.

The New Moon is the perfect time to realize new objectives and purposes. No intention is too big, so long as you can keep your focus on them.

3. Write a letter to people and situations that hurt you — and then burn them

Although the New Moon is a time for renewal, it’s also the perfect time to reflect on people and situations that didn’t end well or yield the growth or advantages you wanted.

Has a feud from the past been haunting you? Are you being visited by people or situations through dreams or unwanted thoughts? Now is the time to make peace with those situations by telling them how you really feel — raw, unedited, and unapologetically — through a letter.

Writing open letters and burning them afterward can bring a new perspective to your experiences. Maybe you can apply the lessons learned to the present-day.

Reflecting on these experiences also acts as the catalyst for finally letting them go.

4. Keep a gratitude list

Counting your blessings makes room for more of them. It’s easy to take for granted, all the things we’ve attracted into our lives because it’s become habitual.

Using the New Moon to reflect on your blessings not only heightens your essence of attracting more, but it also amplifies what the last moon phases have brought into your life.

You can never go wrong with holding space for a gratitude list in your journals. Plus, it’s always refreshing to be reminded of all the beauty that already exists within you.

The right time to give thanks will always be now.

5. Let go of that which no longer serves you

Rebirth is impossible without the act of letting go. Carrying around the weight of worry, feuds, and toxic relationships can be a hard burden to carry. It doesn’t do you any good to hold on to things that don’t help you grow.

How do you let go? Maybe it’s something as simple as deleting an app that distracts you or blocking someone’s number. It can be throwing away belongings that used to be sentimental but are attached to painful memories.

Maybe it’s more complicated than that — it could be cutting ties with a toxic partner, removing yourself from a friend group, or breaking a habit like excessive worry.

Letting go is no simple task, especially if those attachments once held value or power. But if those things hold you back in any way, it’s time to let go, and the New Moon can bring new insight and hope to a path of healing if you allow it.

Healing always starts with releasing negativity and letting go.

Start new with the new moon...

Hitting restart can cultivate an array of different feelings — it may feel exciting to shift focus and start fresh on a new project, but melancholic to let go of relationships that once served you immeasurable joy.

There’s much to learn about the death of an era, even if that era lasts just a month. The New Moon can offer a new world, a philosophical mindset, and an improved self.

But you can’t birth a new identity of love and light without first putting to rest the pain that binds you.

Do you follow the moon cycles? What did you do at the last new moon and what will you do at the next new moon? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy new moon.