TotM: Air

In continuing from the intermission of the elements, July's Topic of the Month is Air!

What does air mean to you? What forms do you feel connected with? This thread is a collection of anything magically, spiritually, or scientifically associated with winds and air.

Air I associated with communication from spirits. Air is also part of the whole lustral water thing for when you dip the flaming stick in the water, smoke gets trapped there.

Air is sacred and spiritual to me. It's also very magical. As Diana Paxson said in one of her many articles about it, "In the Eddas, the gift of Odhin isond, literally breath, whose metaphoric meaning, as in so many languages, is spirit or soul". Ond, or breath, is what animates the physical being and also the spirit. Ond is the force used in magics such as galdr, in the singing of the vardlokkur, in the transitioning between states. It is also the lifeforce driving us, as humans. Therefore, to me, breath (air) is one of the more important elements.

Air is the element I am most conected with. It is in my zodiac sign, is the element I most love, it's where my spirit animal moves, in almost all my best dreams I was flying or feeling the air on me, darn, it is even my Hogwarts's house element! But leaving my experiences aside, air is everywhere, it is the purest element right behind the spirit. Air is in every little place in this planet; it is life, or at least our life; it is freedom.

What I can say is, at the moment, I am studying elementals, entities that are responsible for the elements. The air elementals are known as Sylphs. Celtic tradition used to call them Elves , which has been adopted nowadays in movies and stories and etc. Here are some of the principal analogies about them:

• Element: Air.
• Part of the world: Orient.
• Supreme: Paralda.
• Places: High altitudes (mountains, cliffs, tower tops, high towers, terraces...)
• Planets: Mercury and Venus.
• Zodiac signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius.
• Favorable fumigations: Musk, aloe.
• Desfavorable fumigations: Benzoin, hellebore.
• Metals: Gold, silver, copper.
• Precious stones: Beryl, pearl.
• Vegetables: Rosemary, heliotrope or noli.
• Animals: Swan, rooster.
• Colour: Yellow.
• Season: Spring.

Eliphas Levi, has 4 prayers, each prayer is from each elemental to God (or higher power). This prayers are clearly associated with christian-judaic tradition. If you wish to call a Sylph , you can adapt the prayer of the air elementals into a calling, summoning, request and so on.

Breathwork is one of the many ways I like to try and connect to air, and it is useful when attempting to get into an altered state. I wrote something on breathwork awhile back:

http://www.spellsofmagic.com/read_post.html?post=798609

I didn't realize how diverse it is. Breath meaning life is beautiful. I use the wind when I can. It can be cleansing like water. Wind is so strong too,storms are formed by it,tornados. The wind can shape the mountains, bring down a house or keep you cool in the summer.

Air is essential to life. We need it to breathe.A cool breeze on a hot summer day feels so wonderful. The wind that makes the candle flicker in the dark when you have the air conditioning off lets my know I am not alone. The breaths I take in meditation help to put me in a calm relaxed state. This state helps me better hear and see things. Air is also associated with my sign as I am a Libra myself.