Air
Breath, wind, thought and speech: the element of the sky and of everything that moves unseen.
- Qualities
- Hot and wet (Aristotle)
- Zodiac
- Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
- Humor
- Blood, sanguine
- Tarot suit
- Swords
- Direction
- East, in modern pagan practice
Air is hot and wet in Aristotle's scheme, the element between fire above and water below. Many ancient thinkers saw it as the stuff of breath and life itself; the Greek word pneuma means both breath and spirit. Plato gave it the octahedron.
In astrology air rules Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, the signs of ideas and connection. In humoral medicine it matched blood and the cheerful 'sanguine' temperament. In modern tarot it is the suit of Swords, and pagan ritual usually places it in the east, the direction of dawn.
Linking a goddess to an element is a modern practice, drawn from Renaissance magic, the Golden Dawn and contemporary paganism; the ancient sources don't assign goddesses to elements.