How to set new moon intentions, with every new moon of 2027

Setting a new moon intention means choosing, on or near the night of the new moon, one thing you want to give your attention to over the coming month and writing it down as a short, specific sentence in the present tense. You pair it with a first step you can take within a few days, and two weeks later, at the full moon, you check how it is going. That is the whole practice.

The new moon is the one phase you cannot see. The Moon sits in the same part of the sky as the Sun, its lit side turned away from us, and for a night or two there is simply nothing there. That empty sky is where the lunar month begins, which is why so many people treat it as a moment to start. This article covers how to write intentions you will follow, what goal research does and does not support, and every new moon of 2027 with a theme for each.

Why set intentions at the new moon?

The lunar cycle has an easy shape to remember. After the new moon a thin crescent returns to the evening sky, grows to full in about two weeks, then shrinks back to darkness. One new moon to the next takes 29.53 days on average. People have long read that arc as a story: begin in the dark, see what has grown at the full moon, clear away in the waning weeks.

Plenty of calendars still start at the dark of the Moon. Lunar New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the December solstice, and in 2027 it lands on February 6, the day of the year’s second new moon. The main night of Diwali coincides with a new moon too, and in 2027 that is October 29.

The new moon also suits an inward task. There is nothing to photograph and nothing to look at, which makes it a good night to sit down with a notebook. If the full moon is the time to look back and let go, as in our full moon rituals, the new moon is the time to choose.

How do you write a new moon intention?

An intention is a direction for the month: softer than a hard target, more concrete than a wish. “Be healthier” is a wish. “I walk for twenty minutes after dinner on weekdays” is an intention. You need half an hour, a pen and something to write on.

1. Look back first. Spend five minutes on the month behind you: what went well, what stalled, where your energy went. An intention that grows out of last month lands better than one pulled from the air.
2. Pick one area, two at most. Work, rest, money, a relationship, a project. Ten intentions make a list you will have forgotten by the full moon.
3. Write it in the present tense. Use “I do” or “I am” rather than “I will” or “I want to”. This is a convention of the practice, not a scientific rule, but it keeps the sentence about something you can start today.
4. Make it specific. Say what, when and how often, so that at the full moon you can honestly tell whether it happened.
5. Add an if-then plan. Name the moment you will act: “When I close my laptop at the end of the workday, I put on my shoes and go outside.”
6. Name the obstacle. Write one line about what is most likely to get in the way, and what you will do when it does.
7. Keep it where you will see it. A note by the kettle, the first page of a notebook, your phone’s lock screen. An intention you never reread does nothing.

What does behavioral science say about intentions?

The honest answer comes first: no study shows that intentions set at the new moon work better than intentions set on any other day, and there is no known way for the Moon to steer your plans. What the practice does is bundle a few habits that have been studied.

The first is the fresh start effect. In a 2014 paper in Management Science, Hengchen Dai, Katherine Milkman and Jason Riis showed that Google searches for “diet”, gym visits and commitments on a goal-setting website all rise after temporal landmarks such as the start of a new week, month or year, a birthday or a holiday. Their explanation is that landmarks draw a line under past slip-ups and prompt a big-picture view of your life. The Moon was not part of their research, but a new moon is plausibly the same kind of marker, one that returns every month without you having to invent it.

The second is planning. A 2006 meta-analysis by Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran pooled 94 independent tests of implementation intentions, if-then plans that spell out when, where and how you will act, and found a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals. That is why step five matters more than any candle.

The third is a caution. Gabriele Oettingen and Doris Mayer followed graduates looking for work, students with a crush, students facing an exam and patients undergoing hip replacement surgery. People who judged a good outcome as likely put in more effort and did better, but people who mainly enjoyed positive fantasies about that outcome did worse. A present-tense intention can slide into a pleasant daydream, and steps five and six are there to keep it tied to action.

The new moon does not do the work. It hands you a date that comes back every month, and what you write on that date is only as useful as the first step you attach to it.

The 2027 new moon calendar, sign by sign

Every new moon falls in a zodiac sign, and in astrology each sign carries a theme. Many people use that theme to color their intention. Treat it as a prompt, not a rule. Dates apply in the Americas, the UK, India and Australia unless noted, and exact local times are on each month’s page.

• January 7, Capricorn (January 8 in India and Australia). Structure and long-term goals. Example: “I plan the week ahead every Sunday evening.”
• February 6, Aquarius (February 7 in Australia), an annular solar eclipse. Friendship and fresh ideas. Example: “I contact one friend I have lost touch with each week.”
• March 8, Pisces. Rest and imagination. Example: “I keep one evening a week free of plans.”
• April 6, Aries (April 7 in the UK, India and Australia). Beginnings and courage. Example: “I send the application I have been putting off.”
• May 6, Taurus. Money, the body and steady comfort. Example: “I review my spending every Friday.”
• June 4, Gemini (June 5 in India and Australia). Learning and conversation. Example: “I read for fifteen minutes before bed.”
• July 4, Cancer (July 3 in the US). Home and family. Example: “I cook one meal a week with the people I live with.”
• August 2, Leo, a total solar eclipse. Creativity and being seen. Example: “I share one thing I have made.”
• August 31, Virgo (September 1 in Singapore, Sydney and Auckland), the black moon. Habits and order. Example: “I clear my desk before I stop work.”
• September 30, Libra (September 29 in the US). Relationships and balance. Example: “I say no to one request a week that I would resent.”
• October 29, Scorpio (October 30 in Australia). Honesty and letting go. Example: “I clear out the cupboard I have been avoiding.”
• November 28, Sagittarius (November 27 in the US). Study and travel. Example: “I sign up for the course I keep talking about.”
• December 27, Capricorn (December 28 in India and Australia). Review and plans. Example: “I write three goals for 2028, each with a first step.”

Eclipse new moons and the black moon of 2027

Three new moons in 2027 are worth circling.

On February 6, the new moon passes in front of the Sun as an annular eclipse, leaving a bright ring around the Moon. Its path runs across southern South America and the South Atlantic to West Africa, where the ring sets with the Sun. NASA is clear that it is never safe to look at an annular or partial eclipse without proper eye protection, such as eclipse glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 standard.

On August 2, the new moon brings a total solar eclipse across southern Spain, Gibraltar, northern Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia. Near Luxor, totality lasts about six and a half minutes, the longest over land this century. Much of Europe, Africa and the Middle East sees a partial eclipse, with about 42% of the Sun covered in London. In astrology, eclipse new moons are often treated as bigger turning points than ordinary ones; if you follow that idea, it is a natural night for an intention that runs longer than a month.

On August 31, a second new moon arrives in the same calendar month. A black moon is an informal name, most often used for exactly that. It holds in the Americas, Europe, Africa and India. In Singapore, Sydney and Auckland the moment falls on September 1, so their black moon is September 30 instead. With no moonlight at all, it is also a good night to step outside after writing.

When should you set your intentions in 2027?

The exact new moon can fall at any hour, so sit down on the evening closest to it. The rhythm then runs on its own: set the intention at the new moon, check in at the full moon about two weeks later, and close the loop at the next new moon.

In 2027, that could look like this. Write your first intention at the new moon of January 7 and review it at the Wolf Moon supermoon of January 22. Mark the summer with the total solar eclipse of August 2, check in at the Sturgeon Moon on August 17, and start again at the black moon of August 31. The eclipses of 2027 page has every eclipse of the year in one place.

Every date and local time is in the new moon calendar 2027, and the full moons that serve as your check-ins are in the full moon calendar. For the check-in itself, the full moon journal prompts give you questions to answer, so the intention does not quietly disappear after the first week.