whoawoomy:

shadowfae:

whoawoomy:

Anyone want to join me in finding a new term for actual otherkin + fiction kin to use because tumblr fuckin ruined it?

This isn’t even a joke! like if anyone has any ideas leave a reply pls!

Otherkind / fictionkind.

Those were older terms, largely out of use now. It’s what some greymuzzles suggested. Tumblrkin did ruin it, that’s why we call them tumblrkin. You won’t find this problem anywhere outside of their circles.

Use those two above and everyone who knows a little bit about community history will know what you’re talking about.

(It also dethrones the myth of otherkin being ‘other + kinship’, when it’s “other (as in not man, not elf) + -kind” (elvenkind, mankind, etc).)

I have heard of otherkind before! I just forgot about those terms because I’m forgetful lol

That seems like a good substitute! I like it quite a bit actually! Thank you! c:

It’s older as in it was more popular like… a decade ago? I wasn’t there so this is secondhand info but if you’re not a complete newbie, you’ll recognize the term. It’s not archaic old. Old enough to have a driver’s license, but not in the grave yet.

Definitely use the older terms if you prefer them. You definitely won’t get any flak for it.

rachelisanemotionalmess:

I think I’m otherkin but I don’t know what I’m kin with and I’m just

FUCKING WEIRD

Oooh, questioning kid!
Good luck!!

whoawoomy:

Anyone want to join me in finding a new term for actual otherkin + fiction kin to use because tumblr fuckin ruined it?

This isn’t even a joke! like if anyone has any ideas leave a reply pls!

Otherkind / fictionkind.

Those were older terms, largely out of use now. It’s what some greymuzzles suggested. Tumblrkin did ruin it, that’s why we call them tumblrkin. You won’t find this problem anywhere outside of their circles.

Use those two above and everyone who knows a little bit about community history will know what you’re talking about.

(It also dethrones the myth of otherkin being ‘other + kinship’, when it’s “other (as in not man, not elf) + -kind” (elvenkind, mankind, etc).)

birbbbbbbb:

calling all otherkin- convince me otherkin is a real thing

i keep hearing about this otherkin thing all over tumblr

what is otherkin, you might ask?

(in my words) from what I have gathered, it’s the belief that you were something other than human in a past life.

but if it was in a past life, why is it important to you now?

i have questions I’d like otherkin to answer. im honestly curious about it.

When and why did you decide to become otherkin?

What is the meaning of astral wings/tails/ears?

What benefit does being otherkin give to you?

Would you ever stop being otherkin?

Try to answer all of these questions as detailed as you can, I genuinely want to know about the minds of otherkin. Also, add as much extra information as possible! Even if they’re just dumb fun facts. You don’t have to add any extra info if you can’t come up with any!

1. It isn’t a choice, I didn’t decide a thing. I am otherkin whether I want to be or not. I could deny and repress it. I am physically capable of that. But doing so is incredibly unhealthy and would largely make things worse. I know this because I tried. I wasn’t even very good at it, but it didn’t make anything better. 

2. They are limbs you get in the astral realm. Oftentimes they’re mixed up with supernumerary phantom limbs: when you feel limbs that aren’t a part of your body physically but still seem to be there. You know that trick where they hide your real arm behind a wall, attach a fake arm, convince your brain the fake arm is yours, hit it with a hammer, and then you get actual pain? That’s tricking your brain into making the fake arm a phantom supernumerary arm. Some folks just get SPLs. Why? We don’t know, there isn’t enough studies to tell us. We just know they exist.

3. It’s a significant part of my identity. It doesn’t give any specific benefit over any other experience I’ve had. You’re asking me effectively how being in a private school would benefit me, versus public school or homeschooling. There’s effects, but they vary as much as I do as a person; and someone else who also went to private school could have a vastly different experience. And neither of us would be able to tell you what public school would be like, accurately and without stereotypes. (For the record, I’ve never been to private school, but you get the point.)

4. I couldn’t if I tried. Would I, if it were possible? For the longest time, I would have said yes. But through my otherkin identity, I stumbled upon my twin brother from a past life that happened at the very least eight hundred years ago (assuming their year was as long as our year), and he’s kind of the only reason I’m alive (genetic case of depression, whooo), so no, I wouldn’t stop and change that part of my identity.

But it’s involuntary anyway, so I couldn’t.

As for your definition. It’s a bit too narrow. Otherkinity =/= past lives, and past lives =/= otherkinity. Otherkinity is defined (the wording varies, but the meaning doesn’t) as an ontological phenomenon in which a person identifies partially or entirely as a nonhuman entity on a nonphysical, profound, and involuntary level. This ranges from “I dunno, maybe my soul is an elf? I feel like one” to “I convinced myself I was a unicorn in early childhood to cope with trauma, and now that unicorn identity is irreversible and not used for coping, and just is my identity”. It can be spiritual or psychological, and as to why we think it happens? We don’t know for sure, and everyone’s theories get quite unique. Sometimes past lives do become kintypes – if you still ID as the thing, then sure. But they aren’t always kintypes, and kintypes aren’t always past lives.

That’s all.

othermagic:

In an ongoing effort to encourage community participation and provoke thought in regards to alterhumanity, we’ve decided to make a prompts challenge in a similar style to other 30-day challenges floating around the community.

What makes this one so special? For one, you don’t need to do all of them. Ever. No pressure on 30 consecutive days of answering or doing things if you start it, you can pick it up and use absolutely any of the prompts for inspiration in any way you like! Do them all at once, do them whenever inspiration is low, do them all multiple times over.

Secondly, this is broken up into question prompts and activity prompts. The question prompts follow the same general lines as a lot of other community challenges go, but rather than asking about your identity and how you figured it out, they’re specifically tailored to the idea behind this blog: learning more about yourself as “other” and applying it to magic and daily life. The activity prompts, on the other hand, are ideas to try out, things to do and make and research and generally allow you to become a more active participant in your own self-discovery. Of course, there may be some overlap between the two types of prompts, but otherwise they’ve been categorized as best as possible. It’s also worth noting that any mentions of kintypes can be replaced with hearttypes, soulbonds, etc. if you so choose.

If you take up any of these prompts or ideas and post them on Tumblr or another website, please notify us or use the tag #othermagicpromptschallenge so we can see what you’ve done! We’d love to know and see what you guys do with this.

Question Prompts:

• What part of
  your identity has had the most influence on your craft or things you’d like to
  work with?
• Do you work
  with any deities or entities from another life? If so, who (so long as you’re
  comfortable mentioning it)? If not, is there anyone or anything you’d like to
  reach out to again?
• Have you
  remembered anything that can be used for magic in this world? If not, do you
  know of anything from related sources (books and folklore related to kintypes,
  your source/canon or things similar to it) that you’d like to try out in this
  world or on the astral?
• Have any
  other books, movies, pop culture sources, or mythological sources influenced
  the way you practice?
• Do you know
  if you spoke another language? If so, have you attempted to recreate or relearn
  it in this life? If not, have you attempted to make a conlang (constructed
  language) or conscript (constructed script) that fits the feeling of your
  species/culture?
• Have you
  made any crafts or recipes related to your kintype or constructed from
  memories? If so, what are they? Share pictures or details if you’d like!
• Have you picked up any hobbies, skills or talents because of
  your kintype (e.g. sports, musical instruments, etc.)? What are they? If not,
  what would you like to pick up?
• Do you remember anything about other inhabitants of your
  world/plane/planet/dimension/timeline/etc.? What sorts of relationships did you
  have with them, personally/individually or as a group/species? Would you ever
  want to work with them in any capacity again if you don’t already?
• Was there a specific form of artistic expression (visual art
  techniques such as specific methods of sculpting or painting, musical
  instruments, song, dance, types of poetry, architecture, etc.) that doesn’t seem
  to have an equivalent here to your knowledge? If so, have you been able to
  replicate it to any degree?
• If you remember there being magic in your world/plane/planet/dimension/timeline/etc.,
  could you use it? If so, do you remember how it worked or how it felt, and have
  you attempted to recreate it?
• Have parts of your practice changed after you found out
  about your otherness? Have any parts stayed the same?
• Is there some part of your practice or your understanding of
  self that you’re having difficulty with? If so, what is it, and how can you
  make changes to it so you can continue to grow and explore? Are there things
  you haven’t given much thought to that you should consider? (For example, if
  you find yourself thinking mostly about people you used to know or the way you
  interact with your deities/other spirits and beings but not much about how your
  kintype affects you on a day-to-day basis or what sort of society, if any, you
  used to live in. Or vice versa.)

• Has
  anything you questioned that turned out not to be a thing stayed with you in
  some ways? Has it influenced your craft or lifestyle or hobbies? If so, what
  and how?

Activity Prompts:

• Make a
  conlang or conscript for your species or culture. If you already have one, make
  a variation or make one based on another species, culture, or group you
  remember.
• Make sigils
  using your conlang/conscript and test them out.
• Make sigils to represent your kintypes as you experience
  them and use them as meditation aids for self-reflection and deeper
  understanding of yourself.
• Create a spell, ritual, potion, bath bomb, etc. intended to
  help you connect to the energy and qualities a being, creature, character, etc.
  that is NOT a kintype in any way so you can incorporate their positive traits
  into your life. (Note that this will in no way make you that thing, just more
  like them.)
• Make sigils of your home world/plane/planet/dimension/timeline/etc.
  and use them to carry the energy of “home” with you, or use them as
  focus tools while astral traveling or projecting.
• Use any aesthetic posts or moodboards you might have saved
  up around your blog/desktop/phone storage and use them as active meditation
  tools.
• Make a list of positive traits of your kintype that you’d
  like to embody more as well as negative traits you’d like to diminish and work
  on.
• Put together a set of clothing or accessories that remind
  you of your kintype, and enchant them to serve as a glamour/shadow shift
  inducer when worn all together.
• Find, modify, or make a recipe of a type of food or drink
  you used to have or a substitution if there’s no equivalent here (such as souls
  or animals that don’t exist here) or if you have specific dietary needs that
  don’t match that of your past self.
• Make a list of magical correspondences for your kintype(s).
  Add things like crystals, herbs, colors, household objects, animals or mythical
  creatures (if you aren’t one or making correspondences for one), weather
  phenomena, etc. that you associate with yourself.
• Find historical/folkloric accounts, stories, fictional works
  (including fanfiction for fictionkind if you’re comfortable with it) and
  compare and contrast your experiences and memories with the author/creator’s
  portrayal. PLEASE do not directly involve the author/creator in any way (such as
  direct tagging or saying these things in the comments if applicable) and don’t
  attack anyone over differences in experience or perception.

• Find
  home decor ideas, items, and/or DIY that will help you feel more at home (this
  includes things like pillow dens, blanket caves or nests and similar). Make a
  Pinterest board, a post with links and/or images, a bookmarks folder, or even a
  physical collage/idea board of things you’re most likely to be able to do or
  buy in your current living situation.

• Look into stories, movies, or other media about shapeshifting
  or not quite fitting into a human world that aren’t directly related to your
  kintype(s) and compare and contrast your thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
• Make a playlist of songs that you associate with your
  kintype(s) and use it for a shapeshifting ritual or experience.

Probably gonna try doing some of this over spring break. Might be plenty of fun.

labyrinth-oz:

So I really dig the Soulbonding symbol by @scatterbrainedadventurelog and the Otherhearted symbol by @aestherians. I suppose I’m being greedy if I also want symbols for Fictionkin and Fictionhearted, right? 😝 I know about the star used by Otherkin, but that feels…like it’s not mine in terms of being a human Fictionkin, and maaaaaaybe the Otherhearted symbol *could* work for Fictionhearted, but again that was designed for a specific community (even though I’m both Other- and Fictionhearted).

I just like convenient symbols I guess.

Anyway. Respectful discussion on the necessity of such symbols and/or design ideas welcome.

Honestly, if we were to design a fictionkind symbol, I’d say we should include at least part of a compass rose. Or maybe the elven star using a theme of a compass rose (having seven pointers instead of the large four); since the elven star was as far as I know made by the Queen Elf’s Daughters and the Silver Elves; and they were Tolkein elves. That’d do a decent job, or something along those lines.

lynxandersen:

Clearing some of the air

Okay I feel this needs to be said. Just because I don’t agree with otherkin doesn’t mean I’m shutting it down it means I’m trying to understand how y’all think, better and get a better understanding of the lifestyle. Also if I come off rude I apologize in advance that’s my natural state of being 😂

Er, forgive my lack of understanding your tone if I miss that, but uhhh, d’you want to learn what otherkin is? Because it’s a pretty interesting topic once you push trolls and wishkin out of the way, and I know a fair bit I can teach you.

Though I should point out that it isn’t a lifestyle: it’s an identity and an ontological phenomenon. A little involuntary, though I’m not surprised you mixed that up – fairly common mistake.