Originally posted on the Obsidian.md Forum to share my implementation of the phases; quickly after i created another script for moon signs transits. After some time (exactly one year later, thanks to my "last year on this date" daily feature, and a request, i added full moon names, optimized the script while at it, merged with the transit script, and created this repository.
Using Templater and a javascript function, the moon's phase and zodiac sign transit are calculated from the file’s title date and inserted in a (daily) note.
Formatting options allow to display various details in the order and manner we wish :
Moon phase :
- Moon Phase :
Full Moon - Moon Phase Emoji :
🌕 - Moon Phase With Full Moon Name :
Corn Full Moon - Full Moon Emoji :
🌽
Moon sign :
- Moon Sign :
Pisces - Moon Sign Emoji :
♓ - Next Moon Sign :
Aries - Next Moon Sign Emoji :
♈ - Next Moon Sign Date :
9/9
- Templater, installed
- The javascript file obsidian_moons.js, in this repository
- That’s all!
Place the obsidian_moons.js script inside the folder of your choice. I chose Atlas/Ressources/scripts in my vault.
In the Templater settings, under User Scripts Functions, locate the scripts folder and Refresh 🔄 the Detected User Scripts.
This implementation is relative to the file’s title, which has to contain a date.
- Open your daily note’s template ― i won’t detail how to set it up if you’re not using any yet, it’s easy enough to find around here.
- On a new line, or wherever you want the moon's info displayed, insert :
<% tp.user.obsidian_moons(tp) %> - For the most basic implementation (moon phase emoji and text, english, northern hemisphere, "YYYY-MM-DD" date format ), that’s enough!
In order for a bit more control over the information displayed, we can provide the function with optional parameters :
format: what is being rendered, and how; format options are any combination of :moonEmoji: displays the moon phase emojimoonPhaseORmoonPhaseWithName: displays the text version of the moon phase, basic or with the full moon namesfullMoonNameEmoji: displays the full Moon name's emojimoonSign: displays the current sign the moon is inmoonSignEmoji: displays the current sign's emojimoonSignNext: displays the next sign the moon will be in (useful if we don't know the signs' order)moonSignNextEmoji: displays the next sign's emojimoonSignNextDate: displays the date the moon will enter the next sign (very optional, as it changes every two/three days)__: double underscore will be erased, leaving no space (usefull if we don't want a space between two emojis)- any other characters will be left as is as separators
language: the text’s language; currently, onlyen,fr, andesare supportedhemisphere: the hemisphere we are in; will influence which emoji is shown, as the moon is viewed upside downtitle_format: our daily note’s title format, usually a combination ofYs,Ms andDshour: the hour in the day at which the moon's sign will be calculatedminute: the minutes in the hourhourOffset: a positive or negative hour offset (useful to calculate the moon's sign at a location in a different timezone)
To add parameters, place them between curly braces { } with the parameter name followed by semicolons : and the parameter's value inside double quotes " ", parameter separated by a comma ,, as such :
<% tp.user.obsidian_moons(tp, { parameter1: "value", parameter2: "value" } ) %>
We can provide only some parameters and skip the ones we do not need.
If we don’t provide anything else than the mandatory tp, like such <% tp.user.obsidian_moons(tp) %>, it will default to :
<% tp.user.obsidian_moons(tp, {
format : "moonEmoji moonPhase",
language : "en",
hemisphere : "N",
title_format : "YYYY-MM-DD" ,
hour : 6,
minute: 0,
hourOffset: 0
}) %>
Which will be rendered on August 16th, 2025 as : 🌗 Last Quarter
And on September 7th, 2025 as : 🌕 Full Moon
<% tp.user.obsidian_moons(tp, { format : "moonEmoji | moonPhase", hemisphere : "S", language : "es" }) %>
will be rendered on August 16th, 2025 as :
🌓 | Cuarto Menguante
and on September 7th, 2025 as :
🌕 | Luna Llena
<% tp.user.obsidian_moons(tp, { format : "moonEmoji moonPhaseWithName fullMoonNameEmoji", title_format: "YYMMDD" }) %>
will be rendered on August 15th, 2025 as :
🌗 Last Quarter
and on September 7th, 2025 as :
🌕 Corn Full Moon 🌽
<% tp.user.obsidian_moons(tp, { format : "moonEmoji moonPhaseWithName fullMoonNameEmoji en moonSign moonSignEmoji (moonSignNext moonSignNextEmoji : moonSignNextDate)", language : "fr" }) %>
will be rendered on August 15th, 2025 as :
🌗 Dernier Quartier en Taureau ♉ (Gémeaux ♊ : 17/8)
and on September 7th, 2025 as :
🌕 Pleine Lune du Maïs 🌽 en Poissons ♓ (Bélier ♈ : 9/9)
Japan's moon phase and sign, with only emojis, including that of the named full moon, without space :
<% tp.user.obsidian_moons(tp, { format : "moonEmoji__fullMoonNameEmoji__moonSignEmoji" }) %>
will be rendered on August 15th, 2025 as :
🌗♉
and on September 7th, 2025 as :
🌕🌽♓
Feel free to experiment and find the display that works best for you. To test, modify the format parameter in your note's template and populate a daily note with the template, clearing and inserting everytime until you get something you like.
Full moon names are somewhat opinionated, taken from Royal Museums Greenwich (en), Wikipedia (es), Sahavre (fr).
It is also good to know that originally, the name of the full moon was the one of its lunation, meaning it was based on the month when the previous new moon occurred.
Feel free to modify the javascript file (look for the fullMoonNames variable) according to your preferences―which you can do from a simple text/code editor like notepad++.
The full moon the closest to the autumn equinox will take the name of Harvest Moon. To do so, if it's a full moon and the date is in september or october, a rough calculation finds the date of the equinox for the current year, checks if the full moon is closer to it than a half-moon cycle and labels it such.
Blue moon is the name given to an "extra" moon. Originally, it was referring to the third full moon of a four full moon season. Due to a mistake, it became associated to the second full moon occurring in the same month, and is now used as such by NASA and others. A Blue Moon isn't actually blue.
Because detecting blue moons would necessitate either to calculate all moons of a season or of a month (and/or use a database or an extra dependency), and because every full moon note creation would launch this calculation, i decided it not worth it and not to implement it in this script for now, especially considered the confusion about them. Hopefully, the general moon awareness brought by the usage of this script will be enough for one to notice when there is an extra moon! I might reconsider if there is demand for it, and if i just want to test how bad of a performance draw it would be on a full moon note creation.
A Dark Moon is similar to a Blue Moon, but for New Moons.
For the same reasons Blue Moons are not implemented for now, Dark Moons aren't either.
The name of the moon when it is full and the closest to earth (or up to 111% of its closest distance) is a Super Moon. When the full moon occurs as the moon is at its apogee, it is called a Micro Moon.
Its apparent diameter varies (in degrees of sky) from 29’20’’ (apogee, furthest) to 33’30’’ (perigee, closest), with an average of 31’25’’. Making it, when at its perigee, about 6.5% bigger and 9-16% more luminous than average; 14.5% bigger and 30% more luminous than when at its apogee.
When the moon passes through one of the twelve constellations of the Zodiac.
Used in astrology to understand the emotional, feminine influences taking place during the transit.
When the shadow of the earth covers part or the whole of a full moon. Its color becomes reddish, as the sun's rays are filtered through the Earth's atmosphere.
- un_bsd at Processing.org for the phase calculation
- Baidu and Wen Yi for the equinox date calculation
- LM Arena to translate Java to Javascript and help with sign's calculation and code.
- Obviously, SilentVoid for the amazing Templater
- Goes without saying but i'll do it anyway : the Obsidian team and Forum
Please mention any bug you find, code optimization, useful language translations or features that could be implemented. For my use it works like it is, so i can’t promise any further update. But i might, once in a while. There might be innefficiencies in the code, but i believe it’s good enough!
Hope you find it useful and informative!