---Once while deer hunting I encountered another hunter that had become separated from his partners and wandered all night without food or water. I know but that isn't the point here.
---The short version of the story is that we were able to get the attention of a helicopter flying several thousand feet overhead and it landed to see what we wanted. As it turned out they were searching for this lost hunter.
---The pilot asked all the pertinent questions and was about to leave with the then found man when he turned to me and asked if I was lost also. I said no and they all got in the helicopter and left.
---Later when reviewing the situation it occurred to me that when asked if I was lost I was standing right beside someone that was lost but I wasn't. The difference was that I knew where I was and the other person didn't.
---It may sound absurdly obvious but the main definition of being lost is "you don't know where you are". This implies that if you know where you are you're not lost however you might be confused about where you want to go.
---Now, in some cases you may not have to identify exactly where you are because you know where you are in general. For example you know that you have been traveling generally Northwest from camp but you are just confused about which way is Southeast. Or you know from studying maps in the past that there is a river or a road or something else that is Southeast and easy to find.
---Well, whatever may have gotten you into it here's some help to get out it assuming that your GPS battery went dead and you lost your compass.
---First there is the sun. It arcs predictably across the sky every day. At high noon it is not only at its highest point of the day it is also at it's southern most point. If you align the hour hand of a watch with the point on your horizon that aligns with the sun's position, then South will be in line with the time on the dial that is half way between the hour hand and 12 o'clock on the dial. With a digital watch you will have to imagine a clock face or scratch one on the ground.
---If you happen to be stumbling around in the dark there is still hope even without the sun because the moon is out many nights each month. The moon is even visible many days.
---How does the moon help? The mechanics of it are the same except that you will need to know what hour the moon is at the "high noon" position. This changes each day but there are clues given by the phase of the moon.
---So the moon is pretty handy for rough navigation. Also, since the moon and the sun are often visible at the same time you can have two references and in some cases you don't even need a watch because you can tell the time and direction by the phase of the moon and positions of the sun and moon.
---The clock face method will work for any celestial object that depends on the Earth's rotation for is apparent movement. If you have a favorite constellation and you keep abreast of the time that it will be at its highest point you can use the clock method with it.
More Moon
---The portion of the moon that we see as white is illuminated by the sun so when we are looking at waxing phases the right side is illuminated. For waning phases the left side is illuminated.
---This being the case, the sun will be West (ahead) of the moon for waxing phases and East of (behind) the moon for waning phases.
---So now we see another way to verify compass direction by noting the relationship between the sun and the moon phase. Also, time of day is easier to figure with two objects to reference.
---Let's look at a situation with a 1st quarter moon. First we will assume ideal conditions. There being a 180 degree horizon (no mountains) and 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of moon visibility. The sun rose today at 6 am and will set at 6 pm. Our 1st quarter moon will be at its highest at 6 pm so it will rise 6 hours earlier than this or 12 noon and will set at midnight. Therefore we know that the moon and sun are separated by 6 hours in their arc across the sky.
---If this rising 1st quarter moon is the same height above the Eastern horizon as is the setting sun above the Western horizon then halfway between them is the 12 o'clock noon position and also in line with compass South.
---What we have here is not an atomic clock nor is it a GPS unit but it does give usable information. This is an admittedly simplified example but it does demonstrate the principles for using the moon phases for time and direction determination.