When somebody says “Air magic” – what do you think of?

To me, it conjures the spoken word, firstly, and the written, secondly. Air magic is breathwork. Air magic is standing with your arms outstretched to the wind and letting it carry away everything that no longer serves you. Air creates space and air moves energy. Air craves dynamic movement and grows stagnant in stillness.

In the same way that it helps to open up all of your windows and air out your house – sometimes you need to open all of your psychic windows and air out your soul. Air is the non-visible element that is always there – to remember it you simply have to return to your breath. If you need something showier, light a stick of incense and watch the smoke float and turn and reveal currents of air all around you. Showier still, stand outside on a blustery day.

As I write this, the cold December winds are turning the rainbow-colored windmill in my tiny front garden. It utters creeks and groans that have scared my neighbors late at night. That, too, is its own kind of magic.

Air creates space around endings that allows for new beginnings. It twists and moves until it finds a way. In that sense, Air has always been a great ally. Couldn’t it be said that all things begin as a thought and isn’t thought the most simple and ephemeral form of air magic?

I begin this journey with this thought in mind – I take up the mantle of the Pestomystic – with a sweet, simple air spell. One made of guinea feathers and thistle fluff so that the inspirational winds will blow me exactly where I am meant to go.