by Nancy Robbins
ELEMENT PERSONALITIES, HOMES, and GIFTS SERIES
THE AIR ELEMENT – Mental Power
Air is the breath of life, inspiration, and aspiration. With every breath you take, you are inhaling air that has been in every nook and cranny of our world, from the dry region of the Sahara, to the peaks of the Himalayas, to the lush and humid Amazon rainforests. You connect with air with conscious breathing. Air is the power of the East – the power of the mind – thought, illumination, inspiration with new ideas and new beginnings, freedom, and spiraling, flowing movement. Air is found in whispering breezes that shimmer leaves playfully on a branch, dizzying whirlwinds, raging hurricanes bursting upon land, or in delicate seeds lofted into the air by a sudden gust. Air circulates high above the land and offers you a higher perspective as it brings freedom, uplifts, exhilarates, and expands. Air is the Power of Spirit that creates change and transformation. Air is the realm of the eagle and the owl. Calling forth the Air Spirit will help you find your wings so that you may fly high and hear the whispering voices of your Spirit guides.
AIR CORRESPONDENCES
Key words: Mental abilities, movement, communication, inspiration, psychic abilities, innovation, sacred breath, new beginnings, freedom, illumination, perception.
Direction: East
Season: Spring
Time: Dawn
Moon phase: New
Planets: Sun, Mercury, Uranus
Zodiacal Signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Gender: Masculine
Colors: Yellow and Violet (colors of flowers in spring), Gold and neutral colors.
Senses: Touch and Hearing
Instruments: wind instruments
Creatures: birds (eagle, hawk especially), winged insects
Natural Symbols: feathers, incense smoke, fragrant flowers, spiraling vortices
Trees: elder, eucalyptus, bamboo, cottonwood trees
Herbs/Oils: comfrey, lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, spearmint, lemon, rosemary
Incense: sandalwood, lemon, spearmint, lavender, clover, sage, frankincense, myrrh.
Minerals: Fluorite, Golden Yellow Topaz, Yellow Sapphire, Amethyst, Aquamarine, Selenite.
Spirit Guides: Thoth/Hermes/Mercury/Odin – Thoth was the Egyptian god of Wisdom, who eventually became associated with the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the Olympian gods, who could travel as fast as thought. Hermes was changeable, quick witted and inventive. His Roman equivalent was Mercury whose cult spread widely among the Celtic and Germanic peoples of the Roman Empire who identified him with Wotan or Odin, the god of speech, breath, wind, storm and magic. Mercury is the god of communication.
Archangel representing the East: Raphael – Archangel of Healing who works with the Green Ray of Truth, Healing and Science.
Air Elemental: Generally called Sylphs, but the unique sub-categories are Fairies, Fairy Queens, Fairy Guardians, Sylphs and Sylphons, Storm and Seasonal Sylphs, Plant Devas, Over-lighting Devas, Landscape Angels, Blue Fairies, and Earth Angels. Similar to human form, most have transparent delicate wings normally double their body size with sharp angular facial features. They are ever changing shape, wafer thin effortless dancers, fluttering on the breath of the wind. Smaller sylphs are called Fairies. Sylphs work with modeling and directing the wind, and fairies are connected with the expansion of life in an area, as in assisting a rose bud to bloom. They work side by side with Angels, and they bring inspiration into our lives, enhance communication, spiritual journeying, and insight. They manage the air, gathering of clouds and the formation of wind, rain and snow. They also help plants to grow. They are related to the nervous system in the human body. They love children, the scents of mint and light flowery essences such as tulips, and love the sound of bells and windchimes. They are fierce protectors of your home. They are ruled by Queen Paralda (servant to Archangel Raphael) and their king is Yod He Vawhe.
You also have a body elemental as a “sylph” and this one works with our mental capacities, our thoughts, our intuition and our rational abilities. Drugs, and alcohol will distort their presence.
The Air Personality:
If this is your dominant element you have a powerful mind – you can be rational, and analytical, as well as imaginative, intelligent, and psychic. You are open-minded, idealistic, drawn to the arts and are also known for your grace and diplomacy. You like to feel free and unbounded, and have a tendency to be articulate, innovative and would make a good teacher. You are guided by your logic and rational thinking which can be restrictive if you take an overly intellectual approach and do not balance it with your intuitive side. You are very organized and cautious, and have a master plan for life and calculate your actions accordingly, and are not generally risk takers.
The Air Home & Style:
Air homes are lofty, airy, expansive, spacious, formal, classic, simple, Zen-like, and have sleek lines. There is lots of space for air to flow around furniture, and accessories are high quality without clutter. Shapes are rectangular, taller than wide, as in high ceilings, tall windows, and columns. Plants are also tall and spiky, as in irises, orchids, lilies, or daffodils. Lighting is bright and crisp and well-defined as with halogen lights. Music is often classical with wind instruments or breezy jazz. Locations governed by air include workplaces, meeting rooms, schools, libraries, and places of movement and travel such as railway stations, and airports, offices & psychiatrist offices. In a home it presides over the eastern quadrant of a room or building.
Air Style: To create the Air Style the space needs to be a place where air can flow freely without obstruction and have freedom of movement so that new ideas can flow in the space and promote growth. An Air home is a place where clear thinking is unobstructed with clutter, and has clean, sleek, and minimalist lines. One way to accomplish this is to think Zen – serenity, simplicity, and peacefulness.
- Building Style: Modern, minimalist, colonial, Scandinavian, industrial, art deco, high-tech
- Colors used: neutral colors: white, beige, pale yellow, cream, tan, grey, black.
- Metals used: aluminum, stainless steel, chrome, tin.
- Surrounding landscape: Gardens are found in the formal classical style with tall trees and tall
greenery such as bamboo. Formal statuary, columns, and fountains are in an Air landscape.
- Natural Environment: In the natural world air is most dominant on mountain tops, windy plains,
hills with a panoramic vista, and in the skies.
USING THE GIFTS OF THE AIR ELEMENT
There are many ways to use the air element to purify and enhance your space, here are a few:
- Open windows for fresh air flow.
- Hang wind chimes, mobiles, flags, banners, or wind-catchers to stimulate air flow.
- Improve the quality of your air with air filters, and air purification systems.
- Sacred Sound: Air is the medium for sound which greatly affects our emotions and health. Play
music, crystal or Tibetan bowls, chanting and singing and let these sacred sounds resonate in your
space to create harmony and higher consciousness. Your home will absorb the octaves that it needs
to be in harmony from the sounds that you create. You can also create healing sound with bells,
gongs, tuning forks, singing bowls, wind chimes, drums, rattles, clapping, toning, and musical
instruments.
- Nature Sounds: Get out in nature or bring nature to you with nature sounds and birdsong.
- Scent and Aromatherapy: Scent can create mood changes through their effect on brain-wave
activity. The essential oils used in aromatherapy have great healing vibrations that affect our energy.
You can also use essential oils in diffusers. Scents of bowls of fresh flowers, potted
flowers, or fruits such as lemons and limes, or scented woods such as cedar or balsam pine needles
can rejuvenate the senses. (Take a look at my aromatherapy, chakra, and energy clearing and
enhancing sprays, such as the Negativity Purifier spray to clear and enhance you and your home’s
energy.
- Spirit Smoke – Incense & Smudging: Smoke connects us to the Spirit of the Air. Our prayers rise on smoke to God, and the answers to these prayers travel back to us by the same path. You can create smoke with incense or by smudging – a ritual burning of herbs, whose smoke helps to purify a person or space. The most common herbs used for smudging are smudge bundles of sage, sweetgrass, or cedar.
- Improve sound quality – Reduce noise levels that drain you or are unsafe – add rugs, curtains, weather stripping, sound enclosures, landscaping to soundproof your home.
- Color: Yellows and neutral colors – beige, cream, tan, greys.
- Activities: Meditation, Brainstorming, Divination, Vision Quests, Martial Arts, Tai Chi Chuan,
Philosophical Debates, Expressive Arts, Take a walk on a windy day and let the air sweep you clean.
Feel the wind on your body and allow any spirit messages to come to you.