Air refers to the atmosphere around us, the oxygen compound that we breath.
Air is a borrowing from French. The Anglo-Norman and Old French spellings were aire and eir. These spellings are not much different from that of Middle French, Spanish, Italian, and Classical Latin. This borrowing occurred in the Middle English period, sometime between 1225 and 1400 CE. Due to the Great Vowel Shift, it can be seen that the common spellings of eir, eyer, ayr, and eayre were moved from having the e or y letters to having ai.
Air is one of the main elements in the occult. It is vital to our existence as without it, we would not be able to breath and thus exist. Plants give off the gasses needed to fill the air for animals to breathe, and then the animals breathe out the gasses that plants need to live. Air is associated with life and change due to the part that it plays in nature. When creating a protection circle, air is one of the elements that would be called on to create that protection.
Sources:
“Air.” Education, education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/air/. Accessed 6 Aug. 2024.