#otherkin

Is the character you identify as the same entity as the character in the source material, or a version, an echo, or something related but distinct?

First time trying out the writing prompt feature, and realizing I may need to add a button to automatically quote it in the post text.  The one I selected today was: 

This song was based on original lyrics, written by me in April 2011: https://www.otherkin.net/posts/whats-changed/

This version was performed acapella by me, to the melody that I originally imagined when writing it.  Yes, that's my actual voice, and sorry for the background noise of the air conditioner and the mechanical keyboard. 

I don't love this version, I prefer the previously posted version set to music and performed by an AI, Suno.  However, I will admit that part of my reaction there is feeling something along the lines of dysphoria when I hear my own voice recorded.  I have a fairly decent singing voice, but I much prefer to share it in live in-person contexts.  Bardic circle around a campfire, for example.  Maybe sometime I'll see you there.

This song was based on original lyrics, written by me in April 2011: https://www.otherkin.net/posts/whats-changed/

However, it was set to music and performed by an AI, Suno.  This allowed me to share it in a format that I simply wouldn't have been able to otherwise, and personally I think this is the best version of the song, and came out remarkably consistent with my original vision for it.  However, I will also be posting an acapella version in my own voice, with the melody as I had originally imagined it when writing the song.  You can find that here: https://www.otherkin.net/posts/whats-changed-acapella-version-de497393/

Originally posted to the WanderingPaths mailing list on April 8, 2011. This was written as a poetic focus used as part of a Calling to the spirit the otherkin community once had.

By oak and ash and rowan tree The ancient magic calls to thee Who are kith and kin to we By blood and spirit called to me.

When we realize that we were once an intelligent being different from humans, we tend to drift away to those distant times when things were simpler and much different. This happens for two reasons: the previous body had a number of advantages over humans, and we simply already know how to live in that other body. Even in the same lifetime, we may have a more localized situation where, in the face of difficulties, we do all kinds of things to escape back to a carefree childhood. So the fierce rejection of the current body is the same thing, but on a slightly different level. Yes, we were once animals and other humanoids and maybe even nature spirits, but that doesn't devalue the life we have now - it enriches it.

the sounds of waves drifting across the stormy seas of my mind

So...this might take a bit of explaining. My name is Ami and Ami is the name my parents gave me; just not my biological parents.

A hearth for those of mythic heart
Fae-born, Elf-souled, from Otherworld,
Of dragons' power, angels' grace,
Chimaeric beasts of eld,
Shifting folk of fur and tail,
Spirits of the living Green,
Of shadows or celestial light,
Tribe of Danu, Aes Sidhe--

Mommy,
did you hide my wings?
can I have them back?
so I can fly up high.
why can't I reach the sky?
Daddy,
why are my paws not grey?
can't we please go hunting today?
my hands can't handle this.
they won't obey
Grandpa
when you were little,
did the dragons soar?
did they whirl and dive?
why don't they come anymore?
Grandma,
have you ever seen a faerie?
or maybe a nymph in the rain?
Grandma,
I want to see my old friends again.

I wake up in the middle of the night.
Shaking i turn on my bedroom light.
Slowly i turn round and round.
I listen, but there is no sound.
Where are the trees and the grass so green.
I look around it can't be seen.
I really wonder to myself
"is this true?" "am i an elf?".
"Is this some calamity?".
I am questioning my sanity.

There is no solace on Earth for us, for such as we
Who seek a hidden city we may never come to see
Only the moon, the stars, the wind and the rain
The watch-fires under the universe, then the open road again

Where have all the faeries gone?
This I cannot say
But the woods are empty now
Where once they used to play
When I walk among the trees
I listen for their song
But the glades are silent now
Where have they all gone?

A lot of these might also apply to anyone [kin or otherwise] of a general magical or pagan persuasion as well. YMMV. Look to the *s for Eshari's humble opinion of which "count" more, as they're less explicable by other things.

(to the tune of "You may be right" by Billy Joel, obviously).

I might look the same, but I'm not quite like you
I'm at least a little fey; can you see right through?
I'm still made of flesh, I'm still made of bone
But I've had you fooled enough to leave me alone

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.