Air (classical element)

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Air (classical element)

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
spirare ("to breathe").

ir is one of the four classical element

Classical element

Many ancient philosophy used a set of archetype classical elements to explain patterns in nature. In this context, the word element refers to a chemical substance that is either a chemical compound or a mixture of chemical compounds , rather than a chemical element of modern physical science....
s in ancient Greek philosophy

Greek philosophy

Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. Many philosophers today concede that Greek philosophy has shaped the entire Western thought since its inception....
and science. According to Plato

Plato

Octahedron

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Encyclopedia

Latin

Greek and Roman Tradition

Air is one of the four classical element

Classical element

Greek philosophy

Plato

Octahedron

An octahedron is a polyhedron with eight faces. A regular octahedron is a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at each wikt:vertex....
; air is considered to be both hot and wet. The ancient Greeks used two words for air: aer meant the dim lower atmosphere, and aether
Aether

Aether originally was the personification of the "upper sky", space and heaven, in Greek mythology.The term aether, ?ther or ether may also refer to one of the following:...
meant the bright upper atmosphere above the clouds. Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greece Greeks philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Platonic Academy in Ancient Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world....
, for instance writes that "So it is with air: there is the brightest variety which we call aether, the muddiest which we call mist and darkness, and other kinds for which we have no name...." Among the early Greek Pre-Socratic philosophers, Anaximenes

Anaximenes

Anaximenes may refer to:*Anaximenes of Lampsacus , Greek rhetorician and historian*Anaximenes of Miletus , Greek pre-Socratic philosopher*Anaximenes , a lunar crater...
(mid-6th century BCE) named air as the arche
Arche

In the ancient Greek philosophy, arche is the beginning or the first principle of the world. The idea of an arche was first philosophized by Thales of Miletus, who claimed that the first principle of all things is water....
(first principle of the world). As it grows warm and rarefied, air becomes fire; as it cools and condenses it becomes water, then earth and rock. A similar belief was attributed by some ancient sources to Diogenes Apolloniates

Diogenes Apolloniates

Diogenes of Apollonia or Apolloniates , an ancient Greek natural philosopher, was a native of the Milesians colony Apollonia, Thrace in Thrace, present-day Sozopol on the Black Sea....
(late 5th century BCE), who also linked air with intelligence and soul (psyche), but other sources claim that his arche was a substance between air and fire. Aristophanes

Aristophanes

Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a prolific and much acclaimed comedy playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays have come down to us virtually complete....
parodied such teachings in his play The Clouds
The Clouds

The Clouds is a Greek comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes lampooning the sophists and the intellectual trends of late fifth-century Athens....
by putting a prayer to air in the mouth of Socrates

Socrates

Socrates was a Classical Greece Philosophy. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known only through the classical accounts of his students....
.

Air was one of many archai proposed by the Pre-socratics, most of whom tried to reduce all things to a single substance. However, Empedocles

Empedocles

Empedocles was a Hellenic civilization pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek colony in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the origin of the cosmogenesis theory of the four classical elements....
of Acragas (c. 495-c. 435 BCE) selected four archai for his four roots: air, fire

Fire (classical element)

Fire has been an important part of many cultures and religions, from pre-history to modern day, and was vital to the development of civilization....
, water

Water (classical element)

Water has been important to all peoples of the earth, and it is rich in spiritual tradition....
, and earth

Earth (classical element)

Earth, home and origin of humanity, has often been worshipped in its own right with its own unique spiritual tradition....
. Ancient and modern opinions differ as to whether he identified air by the divine name Hera

Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
, Aidoneus

Hades

Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"....
, or even Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
. Empedocles’ roots became the four classical elements of Greek philosophy. Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greece Greeks philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Platonic Academy in Ancient Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world....
(427-347 BCE) took over the four elements of Empedocles. In the Timaeus
Timaeus (dialogue)

Timaeus is a theoretical treatise of Plato in the form of a Socratic dialogue, written circa 360 Before Christ. The work puts forward speculation on the nature of the physical world....
, his major cosmological dialogue, the Platonic solid

Platonic solid

In geometry, a Platonic solid is a convex set polyhedron that is regular polyhedron, in the sense of a regular polygon. Specifically, the faces of a Platonic solid are congruence regular polygons, with the same number of faces meeting at each vertex....
associated with air is the octahedron

Octahedron

An octahedron is a polyhedron with eight faces. A regular octahedron is a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at each wikt:vertex....
which is formed from eight equilateral triangles. This places air between fire (four triangular sides) and water (twenty triangular sides), which Plato regarded as appropriate because it is intermediate in its mobility, sharpness, and ability to penetrate. He also said of air that its minuscule components are so smooth that one can barely feel them.

Plato’s student Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greeks philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, Poetics , theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology....
(384-322 BCE) developed a different explanation for the elements based on pairs of qualities. The four elements were arranged concentrically around the center of the universe to form the sublunary sphere

Sublunary sphere

The sublunary sphere is a concept derived from Greek astronomy. It is the region of the cosmos from the Earth to the Moon, consisting of the four classical elements: Earth , Water , Air , and Fire ....
. According to Aristotle, air is both hot and wet, and occupies a place between fire and water among the elemental spheres. Aristotle definitively separated air from aether

Aether (classical element)

According to ancient and History of science in the Middle Ages, aether , also spelled ?ther or ether, is the material that fills the region of the Universe above the Sublunary sphere....
. For him, aether was an unchanging, almost divine substance that was found only in the heavens, where it formed celestial sphere

Celestial sphere

In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an imagination rotation sphere of "gigantic radius", concentric spheres and coaxial with the Earth....
s.

In ancient Greek medicine

Medicine in Ancient Greece

The first known Greek medical school opened in Knidos in 700 BC. Alcmaeon of Croton, author of the first anatomical work, worked at this school, and it was here that the practice of observing patients was established....
, each of the four humours

Four humours

Erich Adickes, Eduard Spranger, Ernst Kretschmer, and Erich Fromm all theorized on the four temperaments and greatly shaped our modern theories of temperament....
became associated with an element. Blood

Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's Cell s ? such as nutrients and oxygen ? and transports waste products away from those same cells....
was the humor identified with air, since both were hot and wet. Other things associated with air and blood in ancient and medieval medicine included the season of spring

Spring (season)

Spring is one of the four temperate seasons. Spring marks the transition from winter into summer....
, since it increased the qualities of heat and moisture; the sanguine temperament (of a person dominated by the blood humour); hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite

A hermaphrodite is an organism having both male and female reproductive organs. In many species, hermaphroditism is a common part of the life-cycle, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which partners are not separated into distinct male and female types of individual....
(combining the masculine quality of heat with the feminine quality of moisture); and the northern point of the compass.

The alchemical symbol

Alchemical symbol

Alchemic symbols, originally devised as part of the protoscience of alchemy, were used to denote some elements and some compounds until the 18th century....
for air is an upward-pointing triangle, bisected by a horizontal line.

Indian Tradition

In Hinduism

Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
, Vayu (Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
???? ), also known as Vata ???, Pavana ??? (meaning the Purifier) , or Prana, is a primary deity, who is the father of Bhima

Bhima

In the Mahabharata, Bhima was the second of the Pandava brothers. He was son of Kunti by Vayu, but like the other brothers, he was acknowledged son by Pandu ....
and the spiritual father of Lord Hanuman

Hanuman

Hanuman , , known also as 'Anjaneya' or Maruti , is one of the most popular concepts of devotees of God in Hinduism and one of the most important personalities in the Indian epic poetry, the Ramayana....
. As the words for air

Air (classical element)

In traditional cultures, air is often seen as a universal power or pure substance. Its fundamental importance to life can be seen in words such as aspire, conspire, inspire, perspire, and spirit, all derived from the Latin spirare ....
(Vayu) or wind (Pavana) it is one of the Panchamahabhuta the "five great elements" in Hinduism. The Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
word 'Vata' literally means "blown", 'Vayu' "blower", and 'Prana' "breathing" (viz. the breath of life, cf. the *an- in 'animate').

In Indian tradition the element Air is also linked to Shani

Shani

Shani is one of the Navagraha which are the nine primary celestial beings in Hindu astrology, or Jyoti?a. Shani is embodied in the planet Saturn....
or Saturn and the north-west direction.

Chinese Tradition

Air is not one of the traditional five Chinese classical elements

Five elements (Chinese philosophy)

In many traditional Chinese theory field, matters and its developmental movement stage can be classified into the Wu Xing , or the Five Movements, Five Phases or Five Steps/Stages, traditionally translated as Five Elements....
. Nevertheless, the ancient Chinese concept of Qi or chi is believed to be close to that of air. Qi
Qi

In traditional Chinese culture, qi is an active principle forming part of any living thing.It is frequently translated as "energy flow," and is often compared to Western notions of energeia or ?lan vital as well as the Yoga Pranayama of prana....
(spelled in Mandarin

Standard Mandarin

Standard Mandarin, or Standard Chinese, is the official modern Spoken Chinese used in People's Republic of China and Republic of China, and is one of the four official languages of Languages of Singapore....
Pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
romanization

Romanization

In linguistics, romanization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Latin alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system ....
), pronounced , also ch'i (in Wade-Giles

Wade-Giles

Wade-Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language used in Beijing. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Francis Wade in the mid-19th century, and reached settled form with Herbert Giles' Chinese language-English language dictionary of 1892....
romanization) or ki (in Japanese

Japanese language

IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
romanization

Romanization of Japanese

The romanization of Japanese or is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. Japanese is normally written in logogram borrowed from Chinese and syllabary scripts ....
), is a fundamental concept of traditional Chinese

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
culture. Qi is believed to be part of every living thing that exists, as a kind of "life force

Vitalism

Vitalism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is#a doctrine that the functions of a living organism are due to a vital principle distinct from biochemical reactions...
" or "spiritual energy". It is frequently translated as "energy flow", or literally as "air" or "breath". (For example, "tianqì", literally "sky breath", is the ordinary Chinese word for "weather

Weather

Weather is a set of all the Phenomenon occurring in a given atmosphere at a given time. Weather phenomena lie in the hydrosphere and troposphere....
"). In Mandarin Chinese it is pronounced something like "chee" in English, but the tongue position is different. (See Media:Difficult Sounds.GIF.) The concept of qi is often reified

Reification (fallacy)

Reification is a fallacy of ambiguity, when an abstraction is treated as if it were a concrete, real event or physical entity. In other words, it is the error of treating as a "real thing" something which is not a real thing, but merely an idea....
, however no scientific evidence supports its existence.

The element air also appears as a concept in the Buddhist

Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
religion, which has an ancient history in China.

Some modern occultists equate the Chinese classical element

Five elements (Chinese philosophy)

Wood (classical element)

Tree, traditionally translated as Wood, is the growing of the matter, or the matter's growing stage. Tree is the first one of Wu Xing. Tree is yang in character, it stands for Spring , the east, the planet Planets in astrology#Classical planets, the color green, wind, and Qing Long in Four Symbols....
with air.

In Modern Magic

Ceremonial Magic

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a Magic order of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, practicing a form of theurgy and spiritual development....
, founded in 1888, incorporates air and the other Greek classical elements into its teachings. Theoricus (2=9) is the elemental grade attributed to air; this grade is also attributed to the Moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
and the Qabalistic sphere Yesod. The elemental weapon of air is the dagger, which must be painted yellow with magical names and sigils written upon it in violet. Each of the elements has several associated spiritual beings. The archangel of air is Raphael

Raphael (archangel)

Raphael is the name of an archangel of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, who performs all manner of healing....
, the angel is Chassan, the ruler is Aral, the king is Paralda, and the air elemental

Elemental

An elemental is a mythological being first appearing in the alchemy works of Paracelsus. Traditionally, there are four types:*gnomes, earth elementals...
s (following Paracelsus

Paracelsus

Paracelsus was a Medieval physician, botanist, alchemy, astrologer, and general occultist. Born Phillip von Hohenheim, he later took up the name Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, and still later took the title Paracelsus, meaning "equal to or greater than Celsus", a Roman encyclopedist, Aulus Cornelius Celsus fro...
) are called sylph

Sylph

Sylph is a mythological creature in the Western tradition. The term originates in Paracelsus, who describes sylphs as invisible beings of the air, his elementals of air ....
s. Air is considered to be active; it is represented by the Man and the symbol for Aquarius

Aquarius (astrology)

name= Aquarius| image= Aquarius.svg| Symbol= Water Bearer| Tropical Start Date= January 20| Tropical Finish Date= February 19| Sidereal Start Date= February 15...
, and it is referred to the upper left point of the pentagram in the Supreme Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram. Many of these associations have since spread throughout the occult community.

In the Golden Dawn and many other magical systems, each element is associated with one of the cardinal points and is placed under the care of guardian Watchtowers. The Watchtowers derive from the Enochian system of magic

Enochian magic

Enochian magic is a system of ceremonial magic based on the evocation and commanding of various spirits. It is based on the 16th-century writings of Dr....
founded by Dee. In the Golden Dawn, they are represented by the Enochian elemental tablets. Air is associated with the east, which is guarded by the First Watchtower.

Wicca

Air is one of the four elements that appear in many neopagan traditions. Wicca

Wicca

Wicca is a neopaganism, nature-based religion. It was re-popularised in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired United Kingdom civil servant, who at the time called it Witchcraft and its adherents "the Wica"....
in particular was influenced by the Golden Dawn system of magic, and Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley , , was a United Kingdom occultist, writer, mountaineering, poet, and yogi. He was an influential member of several occult organizations, including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the A?A?, and Ordo Templi Orientis , and is best known today for his Works of Aleister Crowley, especi...
's mysticism, which was in turn inspired by the Golden Dawn. Common Wiccan attributions include:

The cardinal direction
Cardinal direction

The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are north, south, east, and west, commonly denoted by their initials - N, S, E, W. They are mostly used for geography orientation on Earth but may be calculated anywhere on a rotating astronomical object....
of east
East

East is a Direction in geography. It is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points, opposite of west and at right angles to north and south....
.
Yellow
Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, but does not significantly stimulate the S cone cells; that is, light with much red and green but not very much blue....
, or pastel
Pastel

Pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation....
colors. (Some associate air with green
Green

Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520?570-Nanometre....
or even a light blue.)
The wand
Wand

A wand is a thin, straight, hand-held stick of wood, ivory, or metal. Generally, in modern language, wands are ceremonial and/or have associations with Magic but there have been other uses, all stemming from the original meaning as a synonym of rod and virge, both of which had a similar development....
or the athame
Athame

An athame or atham? is a ceremonial double-edged dagger, one of several Magical tools in Wicca used in Traditional Witchcraft and other pagan beliefs and religions such as Wicca for various ritual knives....
.
Woodwind instrument
Woodwind instrument

A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against an edge of, or opening in, the instrument, causing the air to vibrate within a resonator....
s.
The suit of Wands or Swords in the Minor Arcana
Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana of occult or divinatory tarot consist of fifty six cards, which are closely related to the deck of fifty two playing cards used in most modern card games....
of tarot
Tarot

The tarot is typically a set of seventy-eight cards, composed of twenty-one Trump , one The Fool , and four Suit of fourteen cards each?ten pip and four Face card cards ....
. Swords are traditionally associated with Air, and still are in most Tarot decks, however, increasingly decks are being published with Wands associated with Air and Swords with Fire. This is still a matter of debate within the esoteric and Wiccan community.
Mind, intellect, consciousness, study, communication.
The alchemic notion of Azoth
Azoth

'Azoth' was considered to be a 'universal medicine' or 'universal solvent' sought in alchemy. Its symbol was the Caduceus and so the term, which being originally a term for an occult formula sought by alchemists much like the philosopher's stone, became a poetic word for the element Mercury , the name being originally derived from Arabic al-z...
.
Sunrise, childhood, spring
Spring (season)

Spring is one of the four temperate seasons. Spring marks the transition from winter into summer....
, beginnings.
Incense
Incense

Incense is composed of aromatic Biotic material materials. It releases fragrant smoke when burned. The term incense refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces....
.
Birds, insects, flying
Flying

Flying is the act or process of flight. The term may also refer to:*Aviation*Flying , an aviation monthly*Flying , the second album by British rock band UFO ...
creatures.
Masculine energy.
Many gods and goddesses, including Aradia
Aradia

Aradia can refer to:* Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, an 1899 book by Charles Godfrey Leland.** Aradia , a character in the book alleged to be the daughter of Diana, come to teach witchcraft....
, Athena
Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
, Hermes
Hermes

Hermes is the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. An Twelve Olympians, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of thieves and road travelers, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention, of general commerce, and of the cunni...
, Mercury
Mercury (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....
, Nuit
Nuit

Nuit is the speaker in the first Chapter of the Book of the Law, the sacred text of Thelema written or received in 1904 by Aleister Crowley....
, Shu
Shu (Egyptian deity)

In Egyptian mythology, Shu is one of the primordial gods, a personification of air, one of the Ennead of Heliopolis . He was created by Atum from his breath, resulting from an act of masturbation or autofellatio in the city of Heliopolis....
, Thoth
Thoth

Thoth, , though variations are accepted , was considered one of the more important god of the Egyptian pantheon, often depicted with the head of an Sacred Ibis....
, Uranus
Uranus (mythology)

Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos , the Greek language word for sky. In Greek mythology Uranus , or Father Sky, is personified as the son and husband of Gaia , Mother Earth ....
and Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
.

Astrological Personalities

People born under the astrological signs of Libra

Libra (astrology)

Libra is the seventh astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the Libra . In western astrology, this sign is no longer aligned with the constellation as a result of the Precession ....
, Gemini

Gemini (astrology)

Gemini is the third astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the Gemini . In western astrology, this sign is no longer aligned with the constellation as a result of the Precession ....
and Aquarius

Aquarius (astrology)

name= Aquarius| image= Aquarius.svg| Symbol= Water Bearer| Tropical Start Date= January 20| Tropical Finish Date= February 19| Sidereal Start Date= February 15...
are thought to have dominant air personalities. Air personalities tend to be kind, intellectual, communicative, social, and helpful.

Other Traditions

Enlil

Enlil , was the name of a chief deity listed and written about in ancient Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Canaanite and other Mesopotamian clay and stone tablets....
was the god of air in ancient Sumer

Sumer

Sumer was a civilization and a historical region located in Southern Iraq , known as the Cradle of civilization. It lasted from the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period through the Uruk period and the Dynastic periods until the rise of Babylon in the early 2nd millennium BC....
. Shu

Shu (Egyptian deity)

In Egyptian mythology, Shu is one of the primordial gods, a personification of air, one of the Ennead of Heliopolis . He was created by Atum from his breath, resulting from an act of masturbation or autofellatio in the city of Heliopolis....
was the ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
ian god of air and the husband of Tefnut

Tefnut

In Egyptian mythology, Tefnut is a goddess of water and fertility, indeed her name means moist waters . She was created by Atum from his mucus, a mythology that may be related to the alternative translation of her name - spat waters....
, goddess of moisture. He became an emblem of strength by virtue of his role in separating Nut

Nut (goddess)

In the Ennead mythology, Nut , was the goddess of the sky. Her name means Night. Some of the titles of Nut were Coverer of the Sky, She Who Protects, Mistress of All, and She Who Holds a Thousand Souls....
(sky) from Geb

Geb

Geb was the egyptian mythology god of the Earth and a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis . The name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward, ...
(earth). He played a primary role in the Coffin Texts

Coffin Texts

The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. The texts are derived in part from the earlier pyramid texts, reserved for royal use only, but they contain substantial new material related to everyday desires that reflects the fact that the texts were now use...
, which were spells intended to help the deceased reach the realm of the afterlife safely. On the way to the sky, the spirit had to travel through the air, as one spell indicates: "I have gone up in Shu, I have climbed on the sunbeams."

In East Asia

East Asia

East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either Geography or cultural terms. Geography and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km?, or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia as Central Asia....
, "air" is seen as the equivalent of "spirit" or "chi

Chi

Chi may refer to:*Chi , a Greek letter*Chi , a Japanese kana*Chi , an Italian magazine*Chi , an List of traditional Chinese musical instruments#Flutes...
". Air is represented in the Aztec

Aztec

Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology....
religion by a snake; to the Scythians, a yoke; to the Hindus and Greeks

Culture of Greece

The Culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, through the influence of the Roman Empire and its Greek Eastern successor the Byzantine Empire....
, a sword; and in Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
iconography

Iconography

Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Ancient Greek e???? and ??afe?? ....
, as mankind

Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
.

External links

Elemental correspondences from Wicca: For the rest of us.
Essay on Golden Dawn elemental tradition by V.N. Frater I.C.L.
Neo-pagan version of "The Ancient Greek Esoteric Doctrine of the Elements" by John Opsopaus.

Air (classical element)

Greek and Roman Tradition

Indian Tradition

Chinese Tradition

In Modern Magic

Ceremonial Magic

Wicca

Astrological Personalities

Other Traditions

See also

External links