Totems come in all shapes, sizes and colors. The otherkin community includes people who feel strong shamanic/totemic associations with nonhuman entities. Sometimes it's as easy as someone who associates with Wolf, has ended up in the therianthorpe community because traditionally shamans can "shapeshift" by way of adopting the "Totemic Mask" and this gives a strong feeling of personal identity that is tied to the totemic type...those therianthorpes may then end up in the Otherkin community, and share many feelings and experiences with other kin.

Another way that Totemic associations can draw people into the Otherkin community is when their totems are "mythological". If someone has the totem Dragon, they will exhibit dragon-like qualities and have a draw towards people who associate with -- or are -- dragons. Mythological creature totems are rare but not unheard of in the practice of shamanism. Shamanic theory has it that everyone has a totem, and on a world that is heavily populated, "rare" could amount to being a large sum of people.