Moon tables
Void of course Moon in GMT: converting the listings
The GMT Moon listings existed for one reason: readers in Finland, Australia and the Americas all wanted the same table, and Greenwich time is the one clock everybody can convert from. This page keeps the method and the notation, and explains the conversion properly.
Why GMT
A listing in one local time zone is only correct for people in that zone, and only for as long as the daylight saving rules stay the same. A listing in GMT never adjusts for daylight saving. Everyone adds or subtracts their own offset once, and the table works in Vancouver, Helsinki and Sydney alike. The small print: in summer Britain itself does not run on GMT, it runs on British Summer Time, one hour ahead.
The notation
The GMT tables used the 24-hour clock and a compact one-line format for the last aspect. A typical pair of lines, taken from an old January listing, reads like this:
| Line as printed | How to read it |
|---|---|
| 2 Jan 20:07 Moon 28 Ari 57 Sxtil Nep 28 Aqu 57 V/C | At 20:07 GMT the Moon at 28 degrees 57 minutes of Aries made a sextile to Neptune at 28 degrees 57 minutes of Aquarius. That was its last aspect in Aries, so the Moon is now void of course. |
| 2 Jan 22:16 Moon enters Taurus | About two hours later the Moon changed sign and the void ended. |
- V/C marks the start of the void. Everything before it on the line is the last aspect, which you can ignore unless you study astrology.
- Sxtil, Sqr, Trine, Oppos, Conj are the five major aspects: sextile, square, trine, opposition, conjunction.
- Sign abbreviations are the first three letters: Ari, Tau, Gem, Can, Leo, Vir, Lib, Sco, Sag, Cap, Aqu, Pis.
- New and Full Moons and eclipses were listed separately for the year and also flagged in place.
Converting to your own time
West of Greenwich you subtract hours, east of Greenwich you add them. Take 13:00 GMT as the example:
| Place | Offset from GMT | 13:00 GMT becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Pacific Time (Vancouver, Los Angeles), standard time | minus 8 | 5:00 |
| Eastern Time (Toronto, New York), standard time | minus 5 | 8:00 |
| Central Europe (Berlin, Paris), winter | plus 1 | 14:00 |
| Finland, winter | plus 2 | 15:00 |
| Eastern Australia (Sydney), standard time | plus 10 | 23:00 |
Two things catch people out. First, daylight saving: during summer time add one more hour in Europe and North America (Pacific becomes minus 7, Finland plus 3). Second, the southern hemisphere observes daylight saving in the opposite months, so Sydney in January is plus 11, not plus 10. When in doubt, check a world clock for the exact date rather than trusting a memorised offset. If the conversion crosses midnight, the date changes too.
Using the GMT table and the local table together
The Pacific-time listings page explains what a void of course Moon is and what to do with one. This page is the time-zone layer on top of that. If you generate your own tables today, set the software to your location and the question goes away; the GMT format remains useful when you are comparing notes with someone on another continent.
Time zones matter for your chart too
A birth time is only useful once it is tied to the right place and offset, which is exactly the conversion above in reverse. The full birth chart does that step for you and places all ten planets for the moment and city you were born in.
See my full chartThis address previously carried the GMT Moon listings compiled for Astrologically Speaking. The explanatory text has been rewritten; the yearly tables are no longer maintained.