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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)

At about 1:30 am on the morning of April 18th, 2002, I discovered the Otherkin community. Like most of you, I felt as though I had found something that I had sought all my life. I had all but convinced myself that the sensation of phantom wings was an illusion; and my sense of being different was nothing more than the lingering effect of childhood trauma. (Public school was a singularly unpleasant experience - and a mercifully brief one, for I soon began learning at home.) Then, all of a sudden, I found that I was not alone, and for the first time in my life, I was at peace.

There is a reason (and often several reasons) why we often feel like we don't fit into this society of modern mankind, and thus consider ourselves, and are considered by others, to be "not normal." Much of it stems from a deeply rooted incompatibility on the philosophic underpinnings of modern human economic theory, which has little if anything to do with the truly magical nature of the spiritual beings we all know ourselves to be.

I believe that the Otherkin body ticks a little differently on the whole, even when there is no genetic trace. I think that harbouring a non-human soul will have some effect on the body in the same way that ones' state of mind affects the body too. For instance, the reason why stress makes people sick, and why energy healing such as reiki works, is because of the effect of non-physical occurrences on the physical body.

"Ghod I hate being an elf! Bloody frolicking with pixies, perverted ogres, even the stupid wine is just dreamberry juice! I wish I was in Kentucky."

I am not a werewolf. I am a therianthrope, an animal person, someone who identifies as a wolf. But I’m not a werewolf.

[Originally created for "Water Under the Bridge", newsletter of the Incipient Canton of the Broken Bridge (Brooklyn, NY S.C.A. chapter), never published.]

It seems like no matter what subculture you're a part of, there's always somebody who's supposedly stranger. Lots of folks think Otherkin are pretty weird - but even some Otherkin think that Mediakin (a.k.a. Otakukin or Otakin) are beyond unusual.

I was in wonder watching the Lord of the Rings last night. I had gone with my fiancee and a mutual friend. *sigh* It was just....wonderful. Rather than critique the movie, I will highlight my opinion on how the elves were portrayed, from the perspective of a reincarnate elf. Overall, I think the movie was really well done in all aspects (save the missing Tom Bombadil, minor point).

It's been questioned, fought over, and clichéd to the point of making me nauseous, so here are my not-so-definitive thoughts on the nature of "light" and "dark" and their place in the grand scheme.

Otherkin is a lie. An effective, tidy, comfortable lie, but a lie nonetheless.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Otherkin community, both within and without, is the proliferation of what my friend Rialian refers to as "identitykin". These are people for whom being Otherkin revolves primarily around the identity itself, rather than the application of that identity (and numerous other factors) to everyday life. Identitykin are one of the reasons why the phenomenon of being Other is often mistaken as just another attempt to "be special".

The other day I read an online comic, Theri There, about Otherkin. In it, the artist depicted different types of otherkin doing various activities that reflected their nature. An angelkin worked in a soup kitchen, a bird therian flew a hangglider, etc. In the last panel the artist showed two therians, who said that once in a while they growled when no one was around. That entire comic depicted what I perceive to be a problem of identity for Otherkin.

Feel like you're non-human, but having a hard time putting the "kin" in Otherkin? Exhaust these avenues.