Last Quarter Moon Emoji
U+1F317:last_quarter_moon:About Last Quarter Moon 🌗
Last Quarter Moon () is part of the Travel & Places group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E1.0. Type on GitHub and Slack to use it. Click copy above to grab it, paste it anywhere.
Works in iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, and every app that supports Unicode.
Often associated with last, moon, quarter, and 1 more keywords.
Meaning varies across cultures, see cultural notes below.
Scroll down for the full story: meaning, trends, combos, and more.
How it looks
What does it mean?
🌗 is the last quarter moon: exactly 50% illuminated on the left side, the mirror image of 🌓 (first quarter). Seventh of the eight astronomical phase emojis. It happens about three weeks into the lunar cycle, around day 22 of the 29.5-day synodic month, when the moon has completed three-quarters of its orbit from one new moon to the next.
Approved in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as LAST QUARTER MOON SYMBOL. The face version is 🌜, same phase with a profile. 🌗 is the clinical version; 🌜 is the storybook version.
Like 🌓, the name misleads. 🌗 is half-lit, not quarter-lit. The 'quarter' means the moon has traveled 75% of the way through its cycle, and at that orbital position, the sun-earth-moon geometry lights exactly half of the visible disc. In astrology, 🌗 is the 'crisis of consciousness', the counterpart to the first quarter's 'crisis of action.' Where 🌓 asks whether you'll commit, 🌗 asks what you'll release.
The last quarter is also the moon you see in the morning. It rises around midnight, is highest at dawn, and sets near noon. People who get up early often spot it without realizing which phase it is.
🌗 shows up mostly in astrology content. The 'release what no longer serves you' framing is this phase's contribution to internet mindfulness vocabulary, and that language has spread from moon-magic blogs to wellness influencers to therapist Instagram. Posts structured as 'last quarter 🌗 check-in: what are you ready to let go?' recur every month without fail.
It's also popular in decluttering and minimalism content, where the 'clearing out' visual language maps well to the 'shrinking moon' metaphor. Amateur astronomers use 🌗 for early-morning lunar viewing posts, since this is the phase visible during dawn.
Because 🌓 and 🌗 are visual mirrors, they show up together in 'beginning and ending' captions or before/after posts about a project, relationship, or habit.
The last quarter moon: half lit on the left side, about three weeks into the lunar cycle. Used in astrology as the 'release' or 'letting go' phase, in mindfulness content for shedding what no longer serves, and in astronomy posts for morning-moon sightings.
🌗 usage by context
The Complete Lunar Cycle
| Illumination | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| 🌑 New Moon | 0% | Invisible. New beginnings, intentions, void. |
| 🌒 Waxing Crescent | 1-49% | First sliver. Growth starting, hope emerging. |
| 🌓 First Quarter | 50% | Half lit (right). Decision point, action. |
| 🌔 Waxing Gibbous | 51-99% | Almost full. Refinement, patience. |
| 🌕 Full Moon | 100% | Fully lit. Completion, intensity, werewolves. |
| 🌖 Waning Gibbous | 99-51% | Starting to shrink. Gratitude, sharing. |
| 🌗 Last Quarter | 50% | Half lit (left). Release, forgiveness. |
| 🌘 Waning Crescent | 49-1% | Final sliver. Rest, surrender, closure. |
Emoji combos
Origin story
The last quarter is the waning counterpart to the first quarter. At this point in the cycle, sun-earth-moon geometry positions the moon 90 degrees from the sun (the same angle as first quarter), but on the opposite side of Earth. The lit hemisphere now faces the 'morning' side of our sky, which is why this phase is visible from midnight through to mid-morning.
Historical astronomers sometimes used the last quarter as the astrological marker for closing chapters. Medieval almanacs associated the waning half of the cycle with harvest, preservation, and winding down, and the last quarter specifically with settling accounts. Old English and Welsh folklore warned against starting new ventures during waning phases: 'plant in the waxing, harvest in the waning'.
In modern astrology, the 'crisis of consciousness' language for this phase goes back to Dane Rudhyar's The Lunation Cycle (1967), which formalized the eightfold lunar cycle in modern astrological terms. Rudhyar tagged each phase with a psychological task, and his framework is what gets repeated (often without attribution) in moon-magic and manifestation communities today.
Approved in Unicode 6.0 (October 2010) as LAST QUARTER MOON SYMBOL. The 'SYMBOL' suffix distinguishes it from the face variant 🌜. The first-quarter mirror is (🌓).
Around the world
Western astrology and wellness content
'Release what no longer serves you' is the dominant phrase associated with 🌗. It appears constantly in moon-magic Instagram, meditation apps, and therapist TikTok.
European agricultural folklore
Traditional European farming lore paired waning phases with harvest and preservation. Some biodynamic farming practitioners still plant and harvest on lunar schedules.
Pacific and Polynesian traditions
Traditional lunar calendars in Polynesia assigned specific fishing and planting activities to the last-quarter window, when tides and fish behavior were thought to align in particular ways.
Modern astrology phrase tied to the last quarter. It means: let go of habits, beliefs, relationships, or goals that aren't helping. The framing goes back to Dane Rudhyar's The Lunation Cycle (1967) and spread through moon-magic and wellness communities.
Often confused with
Mirror image. 🌓 (first quarter) is lit on the right side and represents the waxing (growing) half. 🌗 (last quarter) is lit on the left side and represents the waning (shrinking) half. Same 50% illumination, opposite direction.
Mirror image. 🌓 (first quarter) is lit on the right side and represents the waxing (growing) half. 🌗 (last quarter) is lit on the left side and represents the waning (shrinking) half. Same 50% illumination, opposite direction.
Same phase, different treatment. 🌜 adds a profile face. 🌗 stays clinical. Use 🌗 for astronomy or astrology, 🌜 for storybook or bedtime content.
Same phase, different treatment. 🌜 adds a profile face. 🌗 stays clinical. Use 🌗 for astronomy or astrology, 🌜 for storybook or bedtime content.
Mirror images. 🌓 (first quarter) is lit on the right, waxing toward full. 🌗 (last quarter) is lit on the left, waning toward new. In astrology, 🌓 is 'act on your goals,' 🌗 is 'release what isn't working.'
Both show the last-quarter phase. 🌗 is a clinical astronomy symbol. 🌜 adds a profile face, giving it storybook or bedtime energy. Use 🌗 for tracking and astrology, 🌜 for gentle content.
Caption ideas
Fun facts
- •🌗 rises around midnight, peaks overhead at dawn, and sets around noon. It's the moon of the early morning commute.
- •The phrase 'release what no longer serves you' is the most-repeated slogan in modern moon-magic content, and the last quarter is the phase it gets attached to.
- •First quarter and last quarter look like mirror images because they are. The moon is at the same 90-degree sun-moon angle, but on opposite sides of its orbit.
- •In astrology, the 'crisis of consciousness' label for this phase comes from Dane Rudhyar's 1967 book The Lunation Cycle. Rudhyar formalized the modern eightfold psychological framework.
- •Both first and last quarter produce the weakest tides of the month, called neap tides. The sun and moon's tidal pulls partly cancel when they're 90 degrees apart.
- •In the Southern Hemisphere, the last quarter appears lit on the right instead of the left, the mirror flip of how Northern Hemisphere viewers see it.
- •Some biodynamic farming traditions prescribe pruning and harvesting on the waning half of the cycle (from full moon to new moon), including during the last quarter window.
Trivia
For developers
- •🌗 is . UTF-8: . HTML entity: .
- •Shortcodes: (Slack, Discord, GitHub).
- •Unicode name: LAST QUARTER MOON SYMBOL. Some systems also use the alternate name 'THIRD QUARTER MOON.'
Rises around midnight, highest in the sky at dawn, sets around noon. It's the half moon you see during the morning commute. Best viewing: about 1-2 hours before sunrise.
See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.
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