Not phases of the moon, cycles of the moon, the sun, and combinations of the two. I remember there were 5 cycles total, from a four calendar day cycle to a cycle of approximately 19 years. The dates are not really subjective, except that the inversion point would sometimes flip from a low to a high or vice versa. I don't know whether they have software now, but at the time it mostly had to be done by hand, except I think Wilder had software for some futures contracts.
I have done another look at the cycles and found something new. There are inversions everywhere. The attachment shows what is going on. The numbered points 1, 2 and 3 are very accurate, but they could either be highs or lows with inversions in between. I'm trading a demo and see how it goes.