Okay, let me tell you what I'm dealing with. And I will have to look up that 3 part soul thing, because it might be related. Might not.

My loyalties run along the Tuatha, so although Asatru is very interesting and I can see some similarities between gods and such, it's just not 'it' for me. Part of it is because of my connections. I'm actively connected with the fae, and the sidhe. Both trooping and non-trooping (if that's the word for it). I've had my share of encounters (both astral and awake) of the lot of things. Kelpies, goblins, faerie 'children', tall forest people, piskies, gnomes, undines, and then the sidhe (the ones that have some sort of government system; usually queen/king/prince/knight etc), and so forth. And I have been told countless times that I am of their "family", and am one of them. I've even been freakin' initiated by kelpies (ho gods I sound crazy). So in the least, for whatever reason I've been 'adopted' by fae. I also feel close ties to the Morrighan, along with the whole raven/crow thing. (gods, even have been mistaken for her astrally :/) Which brings me to the first similarity: the Morrighan and her sisters versus the Valkyries.

Second part is my form and what I have seen on me during astral travel and dreams and phantom sensations and so forth. In my full form glory I'm 7-8, sometimes 9 feet tall. Wings are bat-like, brown. Although recently, they are threatening to have black feathers.. as they did many years ago after an work related injury to them. I have dark eyes (typically black sclera), and a full mouth of sharp teeth. Much like how certain native cultures will sharpen their teeth to a point. Same look. I have had things such as spikes and horns on certain occasion, usually depends on the situation. I have also seen this form in a warrior's armor. Much like seen in some Valkyrie descriptions.

Also, the connection between nephilim and faeries (and other things), makes me wonder. Is everything just family? Even by extended means?

Lastly is the angel connection, if I was going to go with the "different stories have different things, and that's why it happens" I would. But the fact of the matter is, just like the fae, I have contact with angels in the same sense of the traditional view ('God's warriors'), but as incarnates and those who are still in the realms. Most of the 'council' I've worked with for most of my life have angels or other type beings (like fallen, nephilim, 'dark angels'; which is another concept I might want to look into). And we've worked with other things such as the fae, demons, and dragon. (Uggh. I really sound crazy. But this all happened way before I learned about otherkin and other sorts of things). My work was mostly sentinel, I worked in a group or with partners when I was younger. As time went on, the groups broke up (partly due to the fact of a system break down at the time, a lot of us were displaced for some bullshit reason, but that's another story). Then for a short time I was a guardian, with a partner. That was interesting because often times I 'ran into' the children physically that I was guarding in the previous night. And then that sort of fizzled out into odd jobs, gathering intel, protection and deliver of some objects, etc. Now I'm sort of floating. I keep in contact with those I still find use in talking to, and I feel like I'll never be totally 'free' of this council. Even though, I pretty much have the choice to work or not, nowadays. I'm also a shape-shifter, have been since then. I could shift my form to many things, usually animals. Usually canine. My current form (coyote) is why for a while there I thought I may be a therian. I have found a reason for it via past-life memories. Basically, a familiar being bound to my soul. I use the form for quick travel, usually escape lol. But other things too. I experience the same types of 'shifts' as many therians do. Including what feels like near physical, especially if I half-shift astrally and then 'wake up' and my muscles feel all out of place and cramped.

Also, there is another shift type that I have coined 'dark shift' or 'dark phasing'. I have known others to have this. They were either vampires (which I am physically, but I'm trying to iron out the soul part of me) or angelic.
Basically it happens certain times, for me it's oddly amplified during the full moons. Which is my birth moon, not sure if it's relative. But my boyfriend also has them on his birth moon (new moon). So I found that interesting. They are when your behavior, personality, and energy totally shifts into the darker part of you. Homicidal and chaotic urges run rampant, and you aren't sure what you might do if someone walks into the room with you. Or if someone just gets a little too close. I usually feel like I need to go burn shit, or beat the hell out of someone. Or even play with them as if they were toys. This is the most I feel like some sort of dark fae... the energy is dark, and velvety, and the feeling is seductive, and for the most part I like it. The only thing is that it drains me. I have a love-hate relationship with it. My boyfriend on the other hand dislikes it very much. It cuts him off from being himself, hell even being in the same room with people he loves, comfortably...

First of all I have to say, he's had this before we ever met. So it's not like either of us rubbed off on some of our traits and such, he's angelic, so a lot of his experiences match mine.

Eh, wow. I probably sound so fluffy -___-

big one. I used to think the who was more important than the what. but I've gone in circles with the exact what, enough times to make me sick. mainly because of the fact that I can (in logic) relate everything I've "connected" to, to everything else. Everything is "family" so-to-speak. It's why I didn't like using labels for things... but eh, it's hard not knowing for sure.

first thing's first.
just how closely related are the sidhe to angels to valkyries or other celestial types?

also, if it's possible I'd like to talk to any celestial types. preferably ones who still "work" in their forms. Either as serving a higher power, or within a 'council', or even 'free-lance'. Work is work. If you do it, you know what I'm talking about.

Please message me, if you can.

This post has been poking me in the back of the brain for a while now, trying to find clarity. Forgive me if it seems a bit vague, but I have to post on the subject before my ego decides it would only expose my ignorance. As always, I'm expressing no opinions on the validity of others ideas, nor pointing any fingers of right or wrong. I apologize in advance if anyone herein mentioned feels that way!

So Jasper, (zer05ive) recently posted an introductory entry. It brought up the subject of physical explanations for kin-related experiences. One post in particular,

"Someone has a powerful "awakening" complete with seeing angels and other hidden dis-incarnated things around them and gains knowledge of all things and all that, only to find out later that they've got a brain tumor. So, when you find yourself experiencing something "unusual" it's better to make sure the causes aren't something that can kill you, you know, just in case."

Well, it made me think, mostly about weather or not kin-related knowledge or feelings that could be explained by physical or psychological issues were any different then those without an explanation.

I recently posted in my under-loved blog(under-loved by me) about "hearing voices", and when I discovered these voices were real, and had a scientific explanation not really being upset.

So, does anyone have any opinions or books to mention or just plain comments about this? That is the validity or invalidity of other-worldly experiences with obvious scientific explanations?

I'm interested to see if anybody else has had similar experiences to what I have found in finding out that they were otherkin?

My first experience of "awakening" was a feeling of "do not want". I've seen a lot of internet posters have a feeling of attraction to various archetypes when discovering they were otherkin, but my first reaction upon my own realization was twofold, and repulsion on both counts:

1) Do not want because I have too many (mundane) psychological issues to deal with already.
2) Do not want because what I've realized I might be (and now realized I AM) isn't conventionally beautiful. Denied conventional beauty in human form, (especially as a female where the world values conventional beauty for females) I desperately wanted it any way I could get it. And dreams, meditation etc. kept leading me somewhere that my conscious human self didn't want to be. I wasn't an angel, fairy, mermaid... any of those that I had loved in childhood and desperately desired to be. All the dreams I had where I thought I was flying, I was actually SWIMMING. Although I've been a mega-goth since my teens, I put off reading Lovecraft for years, afraid of seeing something I might not like. But a friend's kindness pushed me towards the Cthulhu mythos, which helped with my awakening (although I realize it is fiction, of course, and that I am not Cthulhu or any of His creatures in fact).

I've since realized that I am a kraken. I have tentacles, even though I didn't want to accept them at first. But I am learning to explore my feelings and my dreams, and to discover that what I am may not be pretty, but I find it beautiful now. But it all fits, and some of the things I couldn't explain, I am able to understand now.

So... hello. This is me.

Current Mood: curious

Hey guys! :D I'm Jasper, and I consider myself a cousin of sorts to otherkin; I'm not quite kin, but we share a lot of similarities and I understand the difficulties that come from it all, so I've joined this comm to support others like myself and hopefully make a few friends along the way. :>

I suppose I should explain myself...ever since I was little, there's always been a very clear distinction between the concepts of "myself" and "this body"; I never got dressed, I dressed a body. I never ate, I fed a body. I never looked in the mirror and considered the reflection to be of myself, considered the face looking back at me "my face" [or the eyes I was looking with "my eyes"], because, to me, it was just a body; my real self, I've always thought, is a ghost-like entity that takes care of this body because, otherwise, I'd be doomed to only show up in blurry photographs on cheesy ghost-hunting shows, instead of being able to live life like I want to. A very literal "ghost-in-the-machine" setup, if you will. I never thought too much about it, though, because any time I tried to explain it to people they'd just call me weird and move on, and, after awhile, you start to believe what people say...

But then, I found the internet, and with it, these strange new people called "otherkin"...and, to make an already long story a bit shorter, now I'm here. :D It's so nice to know I'm not alone in this!

Hi guys, I'm a kitsune otherkin with a question. Are there any Buddhist otherkin here or at least ones highly inspired by Buddhism? I'm really looking into Buddhism but I have no idea how my otherkin beliefs can fit into it i.e. why do I still feel like a kitsune when those were previous lives and a refusal to call kitsunehood a lower state of being (Ten Worlds interpretation is a bit better about the state of animals but still). I don't think it's a result of bad karma to be like I am. It's just different.
I'm basically looking for your thoughts and ideas on this, how an otherkin can fit into Buddhism.

I recently watched a six part video set called Thoughts About Otherkin which are created by the YouTube user woodsofodin (previously known as pragmaticheathen). It contain a long, rambling (not a bad thing to me as I'm a rambler too), and thoughtful explaination of her disbeliving belief in Otherkin. I use that term as she believes in the sincerity of (many) Otherkin and in possible explainations and phenomenon that could lead to the conclusion that one is Otherkin, but she is skeptical of the more standard beliefs Otherkin tend to hold. Namely, she is doubtful of reincarnation ideas that state that there is a single, solid entity called a "soul" by most folks that passes from body to body unchanged and complete with identical memories and personality.

I found some commonality in this as I do believe in a sort of reincarnation, but I do not believe in a solid and unchanging soul. I believe that parts of my "soul" have been in other bodies and will pass on to future bodies, but I do not believe that my "soul" will reconfigurate itself in exactly the same way again. Also, as a therian, I do not find ideas of reincarnation to be useful to exploring why I am therian and what that means to me. It is possible, I suppose, that parts of my soul walked around in a dire wolf body. However, animals don't really collect and recollect memories or form symbolic identities like humans do and thus trying to dredge up a dire wolf past life would do little to add more understanding to my therianthropy. I have feelings of "what should be" and I don't need to confirm a literal past life as a dire wolf to explore those feelings.

Woodsofodin then goes on to explain her theories and experiences with exploring the collective unconscious and a mystical practice she calls channeling. Woodsofodin practices chaos magick, a system I don't know enough about to be 100% sure of what the terms "collective unconscious" and "channeling" mean to her, but I get the feeling that what she is talking about is at least somewhat similar to what I've heard neopagans call "aspecting". Aspecting is basically taking an outside force (deity, spirit, archetype) and drawing it into yourself so that you temporarily take on it personality, behavior, and viewpoints. Woodsofodin states that she thinks it is possible that Otherkin are channeling ideas, thoughtforms, or other beings and projecting that onto their idea of Self. According to her, she thinks it is possible for people to experience a great connection to an archetype/thoughtform/entity and to channel it often enough where, lacking any other explanation or viewpoint, the individual concludes they *are* that thoughtform. While conceding to the subjectivity and malleability of the idea of identities, woodsofodin (if I am understanding her correctly) sees her beliefs as being too far from the norm of Otherkin theories for her to "believe" in Otherkin, though she experinces many things that make her similar and sympathetic to Otherkin themselves. Where I differ is that I don't think a belief in channeling something from outside and having integrated into ones identity is incombatible with a belief in Otherkin. When I ponder this theory, I would say that what makes an Otherkin is the degree and permanancy of the integration.

To explain, I want to turn to her brief mention of totems and therians. She states that therians may be inwardly projecting a totemic connection. As both a totemist and a therian I would say that she is both correct and incorrect in this statement. While totemic theories are unpopular among the therian community in general, there is a sizable group of therians whose core spirituality is totemism that would agree that it is entirely possible that some therianthropy may be caused by a totemic condition. However, they (and I) would be quick to point out that the vast majority of totemic connections do not result in therianthropy. Nor does therianthropy automatically result in the tutelage of the totem spirit of your inner-beastie.

For many totemists, the perception given when working with a totem is that you are working with an external, autonomous entity. However it is not uncommon for long term work with a totem to result in an internal connection as well. A person can "carry" a totem inside themselves, a situation that can be short-term, long-term, or permanant. When an individual carries a totem there is often the sense of an overlap or merging of the personality of the totemist and the totem. I am a dire wolf therian and consider the Dire Wolf totem to be a spiritual parent of sorts. I also carry Cat and Vulture due to partnerships with them that seem to be permanent or at least very long-term. Cat and Vulture have influenced my personality and outlook on life (possibly permanently), but I do not consider myself feline or avian in the therian sense. The difference, in my perception of the matter, is that having Dire Wolf ripped from my personality would collapse it, possibly destroying my sense of identity in a way that would be extremely difficult to recover if not impossible. Having Cat or Vulture ripped away would be traumatic in its own way but would not wound my sense of Self in a terminal way.

I do believe that it is likely that, to use woodofodin's term, I am channeling an idea or entity I call Dire Wolf and for whatever reason it is projected and/or integrated into my perception of my Self. However, I disagree that this theory negates the idea or usefulness of therianthropy. The integration started before I could consciously concieve it and is so deep, so vital to my Self that I can say I *am* dire wolf just as assuredly as I could if I held a belief in a literal dire wolf past life.

Current Mood: contemplative

Fair warning, this may get into very far out territory such as otakukin.

Imagine, if you will, a fictional character, perhaps even one based in mythology. Let's say that character has fans that are very devout, the sort that put allot of focus into the character and the fictional univers she lives in. An example of such focus would be people who write Harry Potter fan fiction. Now, let's say many devoted fans that ritually focus uponthe character regardly of how real or not real she is. Examples of such rituals may include a weekly t.v. show, a role playing game among friends, a weekly online chat, a reading group that meets periodically (online or in person) once a month to discuss the books they are reading, a yearly convention among fans of a specific thing.

Now, let's say through enough ritual focus and time (or just enough focus period), a thought form, perhaps an egragore coelessed somewhere in the astral planes. Perhaps enough focus embues the thught pattersn with a conciousness. Say that entity then wants to incarnate. Right, so it incarnates into a human baby and begins having memories of a fantastical universe in which it lived. TADAH! There you have your otherkin!

So what do you guys think of this theory? Can it happen? How much time would a fictional entity need to become real? How much focus? Could a fictional god inarnate? For example, lots of chaos magicians work within the Kathulu mythos. Think Kathulu will ever incarnate? Think he can?

Our own minds often speak to us in symbols, so how do otherkin know that we aren't just attaching our identities to symbols we see in dreams and meditation. If we continue to dream about the moon, for example, that does not mean we are the moon. It likely is a symbol that carries a message for us to figure our and apply in our waking lives.

To those of you who believe your other- ness stems from a past live or past lives, how do you know? If you have memories from previous incarnations, how do you know they are memories? How do you think, if you have an opinion, those memories transfered from one body to the next?