Moon phases can serve as a meaningful anchor for personal spiritual work. As the Moon’s light waxes and wanes, we engage with its changing energy in different ways.
The New Moon is a time for setting intentions, looking toward fresh starts, and being deliberate about where we direct our energy. The waxing phases emphasize gradual growth—making choices that help us expand toward larger goals. When the Full Moon arrives, we celebrate what we’ve achieved and honor our successes.
At the height of illumination, we also have the light and space to explore our shadows, examine the subconscious, and consider what we may have been avoiding.
The Last Quarter Moon
As the Moon’s brilliance begins to fade, we enter the last quarter phase—traditionally a time for letting go and forgiveness.
In the Major Arcana, this waning phase is represented by the archetype of Judgement, a card some find challenging to work with.
Second to last in the Fool’s journey, appearing just before the World card completes the cycle, Judgement asks us to reflect on what we’ve been carrying all along—the energies and emotions that have become part of us.
Are we ready to evolve beyond those parts of ourselves? Why do we continue to hold on to them?
Both this card and this Moon phase encourage us to forgive ourselves for lingering guilt, anger, fear, uncertainty, or doubt we’ve been clinging to.
What are you ready to release and leave behind? How will that act of forgiveness clear the way for your next stage of growth?
If this feels heavy, intense, or powerful, that’s because it is. Judgement is not an archetype for the faint of heart, but it also invites reflection and change, offering space for awareness and depth.
What has been surfacing for you during this lunar cycle? Following the Great Conjunction and the shift into the new calendar year, what have you been eager to let go of?
For more Tarot, you can also try out: Last Quarter Moon 3-Card Tarot Spread
Libra and Justice
The Moon is currently in Libra, a Cardinal Air sign associated with Justice.
This archetype of truth, clarity, and purpose suits Libra well—a sign eager to hear all perspectives and embrace the beauty and truth around and within us. Libra is often seen as the peacemaker, the mediator, someone who can empathize with different viewpoints and understand shifting opinions.
While Libra’s desire for beauty and harmony is easy to focus on, Justice highlights another important aspect of this sign: clarity.
Libra is not afraid to see things as they truly are, showing how our actions, decisions, and opinions affect both ourselves and the people and situations around us.
How do we wield our magic? What do we know to be true, and how does that knowledge influence our choices?
Considering Judgement and Justice together, we are asked to forgive ourselves for the ways we may have struggled to find balance in certain areas of life.
How are you adjusting to changing circumstances, shifting goals, personal growth, and loss? What are you ready to walk away from?
Both cards relate to control and perspective, urging us to connect with the places where we have power and the energies that are larger than us.
What are we able to release? How do our actions affect the people and structures around us?
With this last quarter Moon in Libra, Tarot can help us gain clarity around what we are working to balance, what may be fading from focus, and what we need to keep in mind as we move toward the next new moon.
Last Quarter Moon in Libra 3-Card Tarot Spread
Whatever ritual you use to mark this Moon phase, this simple three-card spread can help you explore more deeply what you may be called to release and what opportunities for new growth might be building.
The sample reading below illustrates what this spread can offer and how to interpret each position in your own reading.
Card One: Something Finding Balance
Ace of Swords
The Ace of Swords is a card of clarity and insight—a flash of awareness and truth that changes everything. This shift in perspective can sometimes feel dramatic and other times obvious, but the new perspective it brings is powerful, offering opportunities for growth and evolution.
In this position, the Ace of Swords indicates that our intellectual self is coming into balance as we begin to see both the world around us and ourselves in a new light.
What have you been discovering, recognizing, acknowledging? What new information or knowledge has shifted your path forward? How are you balancing mind and body, head and heart?
Card Two: Something Fading
Maiden of Pentacles
A card of new beginnings and planting seeds, the Maiden of Pentacles is a child of Earth, eager to explore and learn. Slow and intentional, curious and grounded, this page usually signals the start of a new journey. Yet in this position, we consider something that is fading—something we are releasing.
If you tend to see yourself as a beginner, as someone afraid to own your experience, wisdom, or personal power, this last quarter Moon may be urging you to leave that narrative behind.
How is your perspective on yourself changing? Where can you celebrate what you are nurturing—the seeds that have already blossomed and are ready for harvest? Why are you limiting yourself, and how can you expand your understanding of who you are?
Card Three: Something to Carry Forward
6 of Cups
Sometimes we need to hold on to lessons or realizations, letting them continue to shape our choices even as a new cycle approaches. The 6 of Cups is a card of memory and nostalgia, of looking backward and considering what roots have grounded and sustained us.
How have our past connections shaped us? As we look forward, keep this awareness of family, memory, and childhood joy in mind. What have you always loved? Who has supported your growth and choices along the way? What people or places have offered you emotional anchor points, and how can you continue to nurture them?
Even as we evolve, we don’t have to abandon our foundations completely. How can you keep building on what you have always held close?
Embrace Moon Tarot
As we move into this next Moon phase, keep in mind the energy of Libra and Justice, and consider what you are being called to release.
What are you noticing about your personal evolution? How are your individual shifts impacting the collective? Where can you be more objective, and how might that help you let go of something you no longer need?
This post features cards from the Lumina Tarot. All photographs by Meg Jones Wall.
