'I think,' wrote Descartes, 'therefore I am.'  This famous quotation ushered in the Age of Reason, from which we have not yet recovered.  The society in which we live continues to uphold Descartes' maxim not only as the underpinning of its educational methods and philosophy, but also as the underpinning for what is considered ability or quality in an individual.  We live in an age of tests of the intellect.  It is the smart child who passes the IQ test with glowing ease who is considered the one to watch, the one to help, the one who will some day in adulthood, contribute most to the world he lives in. 

But Descartes' proposition is a little tricky.  For one thing, it is awfully lopsided.  How about, 'I feel, therefore I am'?  Or 'I sense, therefore I am?'  Or even, 'I am conscious, therefore, I am'?  The interesting thing about twentieth century Cartesians - and this includes virtually the entire spectrum of the sciences, education, economic and business studies, and even sadly, psychology - is that they still cling stubbornly to the belief that the intellect, the reasoning of faculty in man, is the only thing in him that is really worthwhile, and the only mode of judgment and evaluation that is accurate and truthful.  Reasonable, we call these people.  Rational.  Logical.  Lovers of truth.  Astrology takes this perspective of life, and links it up with the element of air. 

Now air, apart from being necessary for life and breath, is, of all the four astrological spheres, the least tangible.  Fire can burn or warm you, water can refresh or drown you, earth can bury or grow crops for you.  But you can't see air.  Like the mind - on which endless philosophical speculations have rested for many centuries - air is volatile, breezy, shifting, clear, transparent, and, you might say definitely abstract. 

Astrology uses picture language to describe certain truths about life and people.  When you look at the traditional symbols which are associated with each sign, and with each element, certain things are communicated which fifty pages of conceptual dissertation fail to do in such a succinct fashion.  Take the three images for the three airy signs.  Gemini:  the twins.  Libra:  the balance.  Aquarius:  the waterbearer.  Now look at the symbols for the other three elements.  Fire contains the Ram, the Lion, the Centaur.  Water contains the Crab, the Scorpion, the Fishes.  Earth contains the Bull, the Maiden, the Goat.  Notice anything?  Right.  Air is the only element without any animal symbolism.  The air signs are, to sum it up in a word, civilized.  No bestial behaviour for them.  They think.  Therefore they have a chance to think about morals, values, principles, concepts, systems, right and wrong behaviour, social rules, and anything else