Air Element PC: 3rd of the 5 Elements

The 4 classical elements of Earth, Water, Air, & Fire--plus a 5th element, the quintessence or Space/Spirit--are potent sources of rich & varied imagery. They appear in Eastern philosophies as well as Western. This swap, devoted to the Air element, is the 3nd of 5 swaps, one for each element.

Air, like all 4 basic elements, has qualities both human & beyond human. Just as the human part of the Earth element is Body, Water is Heart, and Fire is Soul, Air is Mind. Air is about the intellect, consciousness, perception, study, communication. Air is also associated with childhood.

"Air [has] the ability for connection or association and the capacity to see similarity and difference. . .This element is also connected with sociability or social ease and fluidity because it naturally moves into and out of connections without getting hung up on moral, metaphysical or logical snags." (Vicki Noble & Jonathan Tenney)

If you're thinking that the qualities of Air seem more abstract than the Earth element, even more abstract than Water, you're absolutely right. I'm presenting the elements in a sequence from most concrete to most abstract:
--Earth, the physical being, is concrete.
--Water, the emotional being, is a mixture of concrete & abstract.
--Air, the mental being, is almost entirely abstract.

In its beyond-human aspect, Air is about beginning. Air is dawn, morning, the Sun rising in the East. Colors commonly associated with air are light pink, light yellow, lavender.

Those are just ideas: feel free to use one or more, or none of them, in making your card.

In this swap, you will create 1 postcard each for 2 separate partners, to be sent naked. They don't need to reflect your partners' profiles, so get started whenever.

Where to Learn More (if you want to)

If this is your first element swap, the Wikipedia article on "classical element" is well worth your time.

A mild warning: some articles on the elements contain religious language. Don't be put off: this is not a swap about spirituality, but about pictures. Just filter out what doesn't work for you, and focus on developing mental images for Air.

These 3 sites I think are especially useful for ideas about Air:

• Sparrow's site
• India Parenting --> click on last file in list
• and [peperonity.com](http://peperonity.com/go/sites/mview/wicca.wisdom /15441192)

Even if you don't give a hoot about astrology, you might want to Google the Air Signs (Aquarius, Gemini, Libra), just to generate additional ideas for your postcard. Is your Sun sign an Air sign? Or someone you know?

Sign-up Deadline is Wednesday, October 6, 2010. Postcards must be postmarked by Monday, November 1, 2010. (If you tend to be a late swapper, beware that the last weekend before the deadline is Halloween weekend!)

Don't forget to have fun!