The phases are caused by the Earth's shadow (lit from behind by the sun) casting a piece of the moon into shadow. But because the moon orbits the earth those phases are only experienced the same way on one fixed part of the earth's surface. It's is the earth's changing orbit in space which really makes it seem as though the moon cycles through phases from a fixed position on earth. In other words, on the moon, in an earth day, you would actually cycle through all of the phases. Assuming you were on the earth-facing side, you would experience a strange type of day with the blocked out sun rising and setting behind either the earth or the moon twice a day. You would thus have two 'days' and two 'nights' in an earth day. On the 'dark side' of the moon, you would experience full day all of the time and no phases at all.
These cycles are described as the collective changes that take place due to the effects of the earth's movements on its climate which prevails over the thousand of years.
The earth's rotation on the axis and the revolution around the sun involve the gravitational attraction thus creates variation and complex cycles. So the distance between the earth's and the sun and the moon create s variation as seen by the seasons.
It is associated with the timing of the northern lights and the shift in the temperatures of the surface waters of the midlatitudes of the pacific ocean.
