Deepening Into the Elements Part 3: What’s In the Air

Air on the Whole

Gemini, Libra and Aquarius
embody air.

Let’s explore the nature of the element on its own and then we’ll get into how each sign fills space in its own airy way.

Getting to know air presents a unique challenge. This is the unseen element. The only way to find air with our senses is to give it something to move against. Wind whistles when it meets the corner of an exposed house. Birds dance with the air, riding slow currents in circles toward the earth or weaving against strong winds to keep their path.

Air is elusive. It can be quick to change direction or pace, quick to respond to other elements. Air is well served by movement, stagnating without it. This can be said for air people as well. They are stimulated by shifts in environment, conversation and circumstance.

Conversation is primary for air. Think of how often we hear the air as our way of perceiving it. Some people hang shells or bells outside their houses so they can more easily hear wind blow. The flutter of leaves in a breeze is a part of the breeze’s sweetness as the howl of a driving wind is a part of its brutality. Air people can chatter, chant or dialogue like no other!

Another important aspect of air is how it gathers. Without absorbing like water or consuming like fire air picks things up and carries them along without merging with them. The subtlest particles don’t escape the hand of the wind. The vortex of a tornado can pick up and move cars, houses, whole towns. Movers and shakers, air people manage to keep separate from who or what they contact, blowing away once they’ve had their time with whatever it is.

In many spiritual traditions, air or wind holds a special place as the invisible element we breathe. The difficulty in understanding this unseen force is part of its beauty though it may at times cause frustration. It’s a dancing, singing mystery capable of clearing space, gently caressing or harshly attacking depending on the way the wind blows.

Gemini

Playful Trickster or Thoughtful Introvert?

A breeze nuzzles against a line of laundry, lazily lifting and lowering shirts and sheets. All of a sudden the breeze quickens. Empowered, it pulls a garment right off the line and sends it over the hill! This is a glimpse into Gemini. That air that travels closest to the Earth, touching, tossing, playing with this and that at will.

Ruled by Mercury, Gemini’s mental faculties are impressive in their quicksilver gymnastics, their ability to gather bits of information from far and wide and bring them around for sharing. This quick wit combined with the agility of air makes Geminis capable of picking up skillsets miraculously. They are the jacks and jills of all trades par excellence. Those who keep with an art or trade for long stretches can reach impressive heights, playing expertly with their respective muse.

The symbol of twins portrays the duality experienced by this mutable sign. The way a still day can, on a dime, become a windy one is very much what happens for Gemini. Their mind and sometimes mood can change seemingly out of nowhere, leading them to need private time in their interesting abode or a jaunt about town to see what they might find. And just as suddenly they’ll stop in their tracks and head the other way.

The same way that laundry stealing breeze can be flirtatious or frustrating, Gemini loves to tease. They can talk you into a tizzy til your lips are puckered and your eyes are closed only to have left already once you notice no lips are puckering back. They do stick around as well, especially if you are a brilliant conversationalist or in some way exceedingly interesting in a way that tickles their fancy.

Geminis can confuse themselves at times, gathering so much information or so many options that they can’t seem to make a single move for the multiplicity of it all. Multiplicity is deeply in their nature, as a waft of low blowing air picks up millions of particles. Narrowing it down to 4 or 5 instead of 30 or 40 options can go a long way in simplifying and clarifying their lives.

This sign has such an air of intrigue and such a gift for sharing information that they can make excellent teachers, as long as they’re interested enough in what they teach. They can be right there with you, as present as the air you breathe, embodying the tidbits they tell you so you see what they mean in addition to hearing it. This is air magic!

Libra

Air That Seeks What’s Fair

In the tops of trees we see the patterns of the air just above us. This is where higher winds really move, carrying messages over great distance. Libra is represented by the scales, indicating what importance they give to balance and fairness. One of the ways that impulse toward equality can manifest is in being the spokesperson for an issue they care about. A cardinal sign, they will initiate a call for underserved populations, pets without homes or long oppressed peoples.

Libra is ruled by Venus, the planet of beauty, harmony, relating. In addition to orienting toward fairness they also direct much of their thought and action toward relationship. Cooperation, collaboration and communication are critical for Libra. This is the air sign that does a partner dance. The way wind needs the bells to make the music, Libra refers outside of itself to the other as a way of navigating life.

This sign can be prey to a dual thought process similar to that of Gemini. In Libra’s case, seeing both sides of all arguments with the transparency of air can be paralyzing. It lends them incredible strength as arbiters, mediators and counselors but when it comes to their own affairs this strength becomes a difficulty. With the help of a trusty friend to reflect back perspective, they can harness their hallmark clarity for their own purposes.

Librans, envoys of the high wind, do not inherently contain balance. They can sense the possibility of balance between people or factors in a situation and then move in such a way that balance is achieved. This is often fabulous but can express to a fault when they doggedly avoid facing conflict until that high wind picks up and turns ugly. When negative emotion fills them, their filter drops and harsh words stream out. A wise move for Libra is to inventory their frustrations and resentments and address them as early as they can, however unpleasant that is. Much harm can be avoided!

Venutian charmers, these folks embody the grace and beauty of air very well. They have an eye for what’s lovely and a manner that’s hard to resist. Like a bird whose territory is in the upper realms, able to perch up high for perspective, they like to see each thing articulated, to hold and appreciate each fair piece.

Aquarius

The Wisdom and Distance of Ether

 Aquarius takes us much farther out, beyond the close touch of a grass tickling breeze, beyond the gusts that push sand around the desert and whip the tops of trees about all the way out into the atmosphere. This fixed sign, traditionally ruled by Saturn, casts its vast imagination toward the possibilities that haven’t yet been explored.

Saturn is the last planet that’s visible to the naked eye in our solar system. While Capricorn embodies the structure that contains and maintains status quo, Aquarius shows us what’s on the other side of our known world. Where the air meets the cosmos the unusual and unfamiliar emerge. It’s the water bearers who fetch this down to Earth, offering innovation to humanity.

One side of spending time in the heady atmosphere is the challenge presented by one on one interactions. Aquarians are anything but typical in their dress, behavior, mentality and they don’t always know how to easefully interface with the rest of the zodiac. The distance air can keep from the emotional realm reaches its maximum with Aquarius. It’s much more natural for them to consider humanity as a whole, people in groups. Intimacy asks a lot of this sky dweller.

Humanity as a whole, however, benefits enormously from the machinations of this sign. Their flare for seeing what’s never been seen as only the etheric air can has brought many a brilliant concept into action for the greater good.

All this work they do for our collective betterment matters a great deal to them. They are often driven, ambitious and committed in true Saturnian fashion. The rub here is that Aquarians often feel invisible. There’s some confusion here because they can want to be invisible when they’d rather not deal with personal questions. Here’s what it seems to boil down to: they hate to be observed but crave to be acknowledged. If you can master the subtle acknowledgement without turning the spotlight on them too brightly they will do a funny little air dance of gratitude.

The same way they commit to career, Aquarius commits to their close family and friends. Our atmosphere seems far away but it never leaves us. As the Saturn-ruled air sign, this is the one that shows up most consistently however aloof it may seem. They are loyal and goofy and may sometimes just need some guidance around communicating the challenging interpersonal stuff.