New moon
The point in the lunar month when the Sun and Moon meet exactly — the quiet, dark start of the roughly month-long cycle.
A new moon is the instant the Moon reaches the same degree as the Sun, an exact conjunction between the two. From Earth the Moon is invisible at this point, lost in the Sun's glare, which is part of why the moment reads as a quiet one rather than a dramatic one — a start with nothing yet to show for it. It marks the beginning of the roughly 29.5-day cycle that ends at the next new moon, with the full moon sitting near its midpoint. Whatever sign the new moon falls in tends to color the flavor of the weeks that follow, at least until the next one resets things. It's the lunation most often paired with beginnings, plans not yet tested.