Spirituality and Otherkin

[Arjhan]

I thought I'd bring up this topic as its own thread, yet also because I would like to see opinions about it in one easy-to-discover place. I'll define it in a moment, from known and trusted sources within the community (not Tumblr.)

First, while I am in communities where I can talk freely about Otherkin with like-minded folks (mostly on Discord), sometimes it's nice to get away from the echo-chamber (as well as the gate-keepers) and find out what those in the spiritual communities think of us who self-identify as something not human. Most Otherkin these days do so from a purely spiritual path. A rarer number determine their kintypes by psychology. For them, it's just how their brains are wired, so to speak.

Otherkin definition: To identify as something other than human.

This includes what are called therians (known to exist or have existed animals of the Earth), and the catch-all label 'Otherkin.' It covers everything that is not therian, including 'mythological' entities, and the lesser-known types of machine-kin, alien-kin, and others. Sometimes it's difficult to tell if someone is a troll due to their choice of "kintype" (toasterkin, toiletkin are common choices and obvious.) But with patience, they make themselves known either way.

For most Otherkin, the identity is simply there, part of their soul, and isn't always up front and present. For others, it is present much of their waking life (I'm of the former.)

Many will feel 'phantom limbs' but that is not to be confused with humans who have lost physical limbs. It's simply a term that deftly describes the experience of feeling wings, tail, or even whole bodies, such as with a centaur when those appendages do not and have never existed on their human form in this life. What happens is that they have a 'shift' to those limbs or forms, and describing it is akin to 'phantom limb syndrome' without actually being that.

I'd post a link, but as I'm a recovering newbie, I'll do the next best thing for a site that has the best articles on the subject: otherkin(dot)net
I'll also get into my own experiences as interest in the thread grows

(I am posting to this forum because it seems like a good fit, as most Otherkin are spirituality-based, and it is a major part of our spiritual development.)

[Shivani Devi]

Thank you for telling me what an Otherkin is..

Well, I know that biologically, both our kind selves are members of the genus Homo Sapien Sapiens...

If I am going to identify as being something as "Other", I would require a more descriptive label than that, just that to pacify my insatiably curious ego..

I have tried being an "Angel"...that didn't work..I tried "Demon", that didn't work either...and now I am "trying Human" even though I don't know what it is that I perceive is being "different" to anybody I have personally met...and in every, single, conceivable way...and therefore I can't get the whole "Inter connection" thing...

Until the only thing I could do about it
was not try to label it..even as a "soul" or even "God"....but feeling absolute, unconditional love is better than feeling nothing.

I still have no conceivable notion as to what I am though....but that can have its spiritual perks too...

[Arjhan]

You're welcome :)

One important major difference about Otherkin that I forgot to mention is that you don't choose it; it chooses you. You don't have a say in what that identity is. All you can do is either admit that you have it, or try to ignore it.

Understand, though, that I have known many who have changed theirs over the years, too, as more information has come to them, and they realized that they were mistaken on the form. I have never experienced that, but I don't dismiss it, either. Sometimes it takes longer to determine what you are, if you are Otherkin. If not, well, more inner-exploration is in order.

I have had an almost life-long love of centaurs (and djinn/genies) and yet neither became Otherkin until much later in my life. I could tell there was something different about me internally, and it felt like it was connected to both. I had those feelings several years before I knew about Otherkin. Once I read up about the concept, it made sense that was also what I was feeling. It clicked. The only next step left to me was to admit that's what was happening. That process took another couple of years.

I'm still in the process of determining if 'Djinni' is truly a second kintype or not. Most of my friends in the community started much earlier in their lives, like in their teens or twenties. I haven't met more than a handful who discovered it later than that, and none as I did, in my late-40s.

I do agree with you about not trying to label it. My beliefs in the soul is that it can be any life-form it wants. Otherkin comes into play when we've been (or still are) some other life-form in our sea of Other Lives that made some impact on the Higher Self, Over-Soul, or whatever you want to call the primary source of our lives. For some reason, the two forms of centaur and djinni made a huge impact on it, and it wanted me to know.

As for perks, well, I at least can use both in fiction-writing