Luzclara and I started our next class series.
We Are All Medicine Women: Carried by Breath.
An exploration of the air.
And the shamanic uses of air.
https://wisdomfeed.thrivecart.com/carried-by-breath

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What is air?
Air = atmosphere = gases

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Gas = "a substance or matter in a state in which it will expand freely to fill the whole of a container, having no fixed shape [unlike earth] and no fixed volume [unlike water]."

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Gases are often colorless.
Gases are usually invisible.
Gases can be odorless.
Gases rarely have a taste.
Gases are inert (mostly) or reactive.
Gases can be "noble."

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Gases create the atmosphere surrounding the earth.
The atmosphere is air.

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Air is ubiquitous.
Air is everywhere.
But not equally everywhere.
There is more air at sea level than on a mountain top.

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Air pushing down on the surface of the earth = air pressure.
Sea level = high air pressure
Mountain top = less atmosphere pushing down = lower pressure.
A difference in air pressure can make your ears to pop.
Makes it harder to boil water, too.

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Air always moves.
Draft, waft, gust, breath,
That's how we experience it.
Puff, breeze, zephyr, flurry, blow, gust

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The fastest gust of wind ever recorded on Earth was 253 miles per hour.
That would blow you away.

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Air always moves.
It moves in a sacred way.
Wankan tanka.

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"Wankan tanka" is often translated as "Great Spirit."
This is not wrong.
A more literal translation of the words, however, yields:
"Great Mystery."

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I was told by a grandmother of the Plains Nations
That the truest translation is:
"Mysterious movement."
The altar to Wankan Tanka,
The holy place of mysterious movement,
is a space of bare earth,
Brushed flat,
With a single object placed on it:
A down feather.

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The constant movement of the feather,
The trembling of the down feather,
The vibration visible in the feather,
Even on a still day,
That is
Mysterious
Movement

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Air is never still.

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Air is gas.
Gases.
Oxygen is a gas in the air.
But air is more than oxygen.
Much more.

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The primary gases in the atmosphere are
Nitrogen (78 percent) and
Oxygen (21 percent).
So air is mostly nitrogen.

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Other gases present in the air we breathe:
Argon (about 1%): used in light bulbs and between the glass in insulating windows.
Carbon dioxide (0.04%): carbonates beverages, prevents oxidation, slows ripening, and prevents mold development in harvested and stored foodstuffs. Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide.
Neon (0.0018%): lights up signs, lasers, and your television screen.
Helium (0.0005%): fills balloons, and preserves food freshness.
Methane (0.00017%): helps keep the earth warmth
Hydrogen (0.00005%): the most abundant element on earth, is used, unfortunately, to hydrogenate oils.
Ozone (0.00006%): absorbs dangerous ultraviolet from the sun and also helps keep the earth's temperature stable; not too hot, not too cold.

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Yes.
Air is much more than oxygen.
Three-quarters of each breath we take is nitrogen.
Is that important?

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To be continued.

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We breathe in beauty.
We breathe in a giveaway dance.
We breathe as our hearts beat,
beating as one with the earth's heartbeat.
We breathe in green blessings.
We breathe out gratitude.
We breathe in joy.