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My usual, gut-level, teeth-grinding reaction to certain referential allusions that occasionally come up during discussion is as follows:

Reality™ consists of multiple worlds, or as some today say, a "Multiverse of Realities". At a very minimum, Gaelic Traditionalists believe there is a World of the Stars (the Sky), a Middle World (the Earth, or the Land) and an Underworld (the Sea). All of these worlds are connected in some way, with events and magicks from one affecting events occurring in a different world. These Worlds, separated by what some call The Veils, are closer at certain times called the "In-Between Times". It should also be no surprise that the Ancestors practiced Their most important Magicks during such In-Between Times as the sunrise, the sunset, the moonrise, the moonset, and during the transitions of the seasons (Béaltaine and Samhain), as well as the extremes of the Sun (Mid-Winter and Mid-Summer), or the great "Fire Festivals". The period from Samhain to Béaltaine is called "An Ghrian beag" or the "little Sun". The period from Béaltaine to Samhain is called "An Ghrian mór" or the "greater Sun". Great fires are kindled during the fire festivals. The thought behind this is that "like attracts like", so that the Power of the flames will also attract the Magickal Power of the Sun. The fires also encourage and enhance the energies of the Sun and help to create conditions favorable to transmutation of magickal power.

Some of this is from the Torah, some from rabbinical commentary, some from oral tradition, and probably a number of inaccuracies caused by my fuzzy memory on the subject (PLEASE feel free to set me straight if you know this better than me). Please bear in mind that this is not necessarily my take on the whole thing, just the story as I recall it. Here's the gist:

Magpie's essay on the septagram is an incredible one. It was well thought out and researched. However, at her urging I decided to present another view of the septagram... this one intensely personal.

Forget Schoolhouse Rock: three isn't the magic number, seven is. Seven is one of the most widely recognized "lucky numbers", and comes into play with a fair amount of things, both magical and mundane... for example:

Those who would identify themselves as Otherkin or by names that essentially fall within the same description have, very slowly, become increasingly visible. At first, in the 'safe' venue of the online world, but increasingly identifiable in general society; if still quiet and private about their beliefs to most people except one another and the occasional individual who is exceptionally open minded.

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In a comment on the parent article Petrael said: "From months of research in the Japanese culture I have never found that the Imperial line of Japan claims descent from Dragons. They claim descent from Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess." The situation is not nearly as simple as it may sound. It's convoluted in the extreme, but I shall do my best insofar as my knowledge. First and foremost, a minor pet peeve of mine; "dragons" and 'long'(Chinese) or 'ryu' (Japan), are not a huge conglomerative lump, regardless of popular regard. Though they sometimes are used to represent some similar Elemental forces (and even this comparison differs widely upon closer examination), they are not the same creature unless you want to say that they are both mythological beings--and one would not attempt I would hope to confuse a Wyvern with a Satyr, or tell one that they are the same thing, if you catch my meaning. 'Western' dragons are by and large potrayed as at least appearing to be almost wholly reptilian, very much in the way that most people have become familiar with them through common fantasy fiction. 'long/ryu' have much more varied appearances and qualities--they can be avian, picine, mammalian, and indeterminate variants between the three. The "Eastern" part of the world that actually claims. most commonly, descent from "long" is actually several of the regional rulers (or Emperors) of ancient China (From which the 'Long' of the Seas are mythologically derived, amongst other things.) As I understand it, Vietnamese mythology also makes a large claim to descent from dragons, but I am much less familiar with that mythos than that of China or Japan. The descent of the Japanese imperial family from 'long'-like beings is convoluted but there is some evidence to support it, at least in an artistic and syncretic sense. The prototypical creator and creatrix of the Ni Hon Go (Rising Sun Land) are Izanami (F) and Izanagi (M). As many of the more 'modern' Japanese beliefs and images are heavily influenced by or derived from Chinese mythology (Shinto basically being a huge multileveled syncretization between Old Religious Taoism and the Aboriginal Ancestor-Worship practices of the original inhabitants of the Island chain, the Ainu--told you it got complicated), many of the older images of Izanami and Izanagi syncretize them with the ancient Chinese images of the progenitors of the universe- Pan Ku (M) and Nu Wa (F)--both of whom were originally portrayed as "Naga"-like beings--that is, serpentine and/or draconian from the waist down. The concept and imagery of the "Naga" comes from the Hindu-Vedic traditions, which has spawned much of the Taoist pantheon and imagery. (Kuan Yin is in fact a female 'aspect' or derivation of the Hindu diety Avalokitesvara [1]--in Japan, she's Kannon, and it pretty much continues in that vein on many fronts.) In the Vedic traditon, there is little to no distinction made between "Naga" and "Dragon/Long", and the words are frequently used interchangeably. In fact, many scholars have postulated that the "Dragon Kings Of The Sea" of China are actually descended from the Vedic mythology of the Naga Kings, and there's a large amount of evidence to support that. (That chunk of mythos, as well as much of that which now supports the belief structure of Feng Shui, appears to have first started appearing in Japan around the Jomon period, but it may well have been earlier, it's hard to say.) What does this all have to do with Amaterasu and Co.? Well, if one postulates that Izanami and Izanagi are derivations of Pan Ku and Nu Wa (which seems likely as much of Japanese mythology is derived similarly) then Izanami and Izanagi would indeed be considered to be of 'draconian' descent, and hence so would their children, among them Amaterasu (From which the Imperial line claims their descent) and Susano (who interestingly enough has many 'draconian' and 'serpentine' associations himself.) The fact that other associations began to be made with Amaterasu later on (most commonly the Phoenix presently due to the fire association, and interestingly enough also derivative of Chinese mythology in which 'dragon' and 'phoenix' represent both opposing and sychronous forces--'yin' and 'yang' if you will, or 'in' and 'yo' in Japanese) would be a fairly recent (at least in terms of mythology and legends) development, and not wholly representative of the original symbology. Additionally, though the Japanese people as a whole may not claim 'descent' from dragons, many of the original 'uji' (clans) of Japan (notably pre "Kojiki" and "Nihongi", both of which are frequently-mangled aggregations of older myths and legends that were highly politicised by the Yamato clan to support their rule) considered many different 'supernatural beings' to be their ancestors, before Shinto as it is commonly percieved today, and multiple individual 'uji' ritual beliefs and practices were aggregated into what it is now. If you look back far enough this information can be found.

Otherkin is a collective noun for an assortment of people who have come to the somewhat unorthodox, and possibly quite bizarre, conclusion that they identify themselves as being something other than human. It is also the label used by a number of communities both on and off line. (The distinction between the two is not always drawn and can lead to some confusion).

Recently I got into a conversation and an interesting topic came up- Is there a difference between weres and therians? I have to admit it threw me off a bit because I had gone through my otherkinity without considering there to be a difference between weres and therians and then two people presented themselves to me adamantly insisting that there was a difference. At first I didn't know what to think of it so I told them that as far as I knew there was no difference but I would look into it. That is exactly what I done and that is what this post is about. Throughout this post I will look at the official definitions of weres and therians, the history of weres/ therians, and people personal stances on the subject. I will eventually come to my own decision and hopefully you can come to one as well.

Most people use "up" for the same general concept, except for particle physicists for whom "up" is a type of quark (but only when discussing subatomic particles, not when taking the elevator - context is often vital). This is not strange (that's a different type of quark) but a fairly usual occurance.

"Soul retrieval" is a concept brought by Sandra Ingerman to Core Shamanism as taught by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, founded by Michael Harner. For more information, please consult The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner, Soul Retrieval by Sandra Ingerman and The Foundation for Shamanic Studies.

These days, you see a lot of people looking for someone who is 'everything they need', and using terms like soulmate, or soulbonded. You see it in the personals section. You see it in movies. You've probably heard it from some of your friends.

Everything is real.. but people mistake their illusions for reality.

One thing clear from the start. "Shadow" is a broad term. An almost insanely broad term. Many people will try to claim truths about shadows that simply don't take this into account - "truths" like no shadow can astral project, that spines and protrubrances on a shadow's body show rank. Taken in context such claims are ridiculous. Saying "no shadow can astral project" isn't just like saying no human can astral project . . . it's like saying no human, elf, dragon, therian, cat, dog, or any physical entity can astral project. Trying to make claims about rank in shadows isn't just like saying pips on a soldier's uniform show rank . . . it's saying that pips on a soldier's uniform show rank not just to other soldiers, not just to other people in his country, not just to other people on his planet, but to every fleshy being on every world in every dimension. It just doesn't make sense.

Every so often, conversations drift to the topic of people's energetics. Sometimes it's in reference to interpreting trueforms, sometimes it's in reference to recognizing a potential lover/clanmate/etc. The energetics of individual people will react differently to each observer, sometimes manifesting as "that certain something" that causes the observed individual to be identified in a particular way (friend, lover, enemy, elf, dragon, etc.).

I got into a discussion a while back with someone who was wondering about ways to see if his feelings of being a Dragon were correct or if he was just fooling himself. This eventually lead to conversations about "role-playing" as a means of "trying it on for size." This person wasn't sure if he understood the definition of role-playing in the context under discussion and so asked if I could give an example of what I meant. This is what I came up with:

First, you will know sorrow. And not just any sorrow, but the longing sorrow that comes with unfulfillment. Your soul will recall things that not even you can name, and it will want them back again. Sometimes, the old ways becomes an addiction, with all the problems an addiction brings: estrangement, loneliness, craving, even ruthlessness and double-dealing. Oh yes, double-dealing can be one of the first symptoms.

(For Rialian, who always was a godsblasted catalyst)