#If I could find that therian forum I used to be active on when I was a young kit I would love to rejoin it

[chimerabytes]

(tl;dr please feel free to reach out to me if you ever want to talk + you can ask if i have any other social platform accounts if youd like to keep talking with me on other things!)

also to add on to my tags on prev post (edited to be put under a read more because this got way longer than i intended):

i apologize if my lack of communication skills and my lack of people permanence has caused anyone to feel awkward around me and/or think that i don't see them as a person worth keeping around.

i sincerely mean this when i say it: i do see you as someone worth keeping around. i know i struggle with showing it, affection is not my strength point in the slightest. but i will continue to keep trying my best to be at least approachable. and i dont mind if you want to keep your distance and just kinda vibe from the sidelines. i still appreciate you and i respect your space.

to be honest i have a pretty big personal bubble that i find nearly impossible to let people into, the closer people want to get to me and the closer i want to get to others. think of my sociability like two magnets with the same sides facing each other: the closer you try and force them together, the stronger the force of repulsion can be felt.

i try not to mean any ill intentions towards most people! but i know that even if i don't mean it, i can still hurt people regardless. and i hate hurting people who don't deserve to be hurt. i appreciate the folks who follow me - by doing so you are welcomed into my bubble, and can peek into a very personal part of my life that i bare out in the open for others to see.

essentially... i just want to say that i do care about others, just not in the most open way. and my inbox is always open if you want to chat with me and get to know me better. i have tumblr dms open - both asks and using the IM feature. i have discord and a plethora of other social accounts on multiple platforms, including:

quotev

mastodon (plush.city is my main instance where i can be found!)

just plain 'ole e-mailing me is totes cool with me!

flight rising (yes. i will allow people to send me messages on FR and tag me in forum posts. i cannot guarantee i will reply to every thing right away, but i do read all my messages within 24-48 hours of them being sent by you!)

i don't use twitter anymore, sadly. so i apologize if thats your preferred avenue of communication!

i could dig up my skype account again if anyone wants to add me on there?

i don't use a lot of other messaging apps that are popular these days aside from discord and tumblr, but if you want you could pitch me an offer to join a website/ chat/ platform that you use and i may join!

however you will Never get me to join instagram, snapchat or tiktok. Sorry, I just dont think those apps are for me.

i try to keep my avenues of conversation open. even though i admittedly am not great at chatting and most of my affection and sillies are gleaned from what kind of memes and silly reaction pics i send, i still do want to offer up a metaphorical chill spot for people to join me in.

i realize this is pretty long so i'm going to end this, although im not sure how? just like, if you ever have any thoughts, concerns, questions, or want to just talk to me at all about literally anything (i dont care if you only send me like, one word, I will likely respond anyway!) then like... As the boys would say, hit me up, I guess?

[who-is-page]

i heard that youre a good resource on therianthropy/otherkinity so uh

i know that you can be a therian for animals, real or otherwise (im a cat therian) but can i be, like, a scoutbot tf2 therian? is that allowed?

also can you have multiple theriotypes (i think thats the term) at once?

There's a longstanding history of therians who have had multiple theriotypes at one time, so you don't need to worry there. The idea that therians could only ever have one theriotype arouse around the mid-2000's, and was propagated largely due to the grilling and gatekeeping culture that was ongoing at the time-- the circles you will mainly see parroting that language nowadays usually are similar in the ways they micromanage the ideas around what does and doesn't count in terms of someone's personal therianthropy.

The Scoutbot TF2 question is trickier to answer. In terms of "is this a thing you're allowed to do," the answer is yes (as the saying goes, you can do whatever you want forever) but you might run into an issue where people assume your experiences are different than you may intend to represent them as.

The therian community traces its roots back to the were community of the 1990's, specifically to alt.horror.werewolves (which is often shortened to AHWw). On AHWw, there was a were-Pontiac who went by the name Ponty. I've seen arguments for and against the legitimacy of this user, but there's still the fact that they were an active participant in the community, and they specifically identified as a Pontiac car. There have also been other inanimate objects within the community, such as a broom who was on the Werelist forum for a brief period of time (and I think I've heard talk of a violin on a different forum elsewhere, too-- but take that one with a grain of salt, since I can't remember exactly where or when it was, and I could be misremembering).

So is there historical basis for non-animal therians? The answer is, absolutely, yes! However, when people use the term therian or reference their theriotype, there is an underlying assumption that there is an inherent form of animality connected to their identity because of the history and culture around the community and term. For some non-animal therians, that works perfectly into their paradigm and is exactly why the term therian appeals to them so much-- they may not be an animal, but they still experience that animality and ferality that is so often closely associated with therianthropy and which is often assumed to be a relevant part of the concept, so the term perfectly encapsulates everything they hope for people to understand about their identity and its experiences.

For other non-animal identified folks, they don't experience anything they'd want to label as animality, and so they don't find the term therian useful to apply to themselves. If they were to use it, they would end up in a situation where they would be presenting their identity in a way that implies importance on specific things that aren't actually relevant to them.

What terms someone uses are going to come down largely to personal preference, how accurate they feel the term is in application to their experiences, and how well that term conveys their experiences to others on a surface level. Therian isn't necessarily a term everyone will find applicable, but for those who do resonate with it, it's perfect for what it needs to do.

I hope this made sense!

[zezzydergy]

5. Tell the story of the first person you came out to.

The first person I came out to was my best friend. (for the purpose of anonymity, I will refer to them as X). I was very lonely and isolated at the time. After a bad breakup and having a lot of the people I called friends abandon me when my life got hard, I spent my weeks alone in my apartment. The only times I got out was to go to an lgbtq+ group on Tuesdays. I really needed it and it was really nice. This is where I met X. We kinda hit it off and eventually, my Tuesday nights meant I would go to their place afterward and have a sleepover. One day though, I was feeling incredibly upset. I experience strong sky lust every once in a while and I had no one to talk to because I wasn’t active in the alterhuman community. 

I was scared to talk to other nonhuman folk due to my first interaction being bullied off of a therian forum for being a dragon and being s-baited/being told I was insane. I ended up finding a dragon-specific forum but no one cared to interact with me, which happens. I am not entitled to anyone’s time and attention but it did make me feel even more alone. I knew I needed to vocalize why I was upset but I was deeply afraid of X’s reaction to me being altrhuman.

I’m glad I ended up talking to them about it because it’s made us get so much closer to one another and it’s done me a lot of good. It felt like I could just take my human coat off and hang it up when I went to spend time with them. 

They did admit to having been worried about my sanity at first but after talking about it with me over a few months, they realized my identity is a whole lot more complicated and now they simply accept my alterhuman experience as something completely unique.

[thelightfluxtastic]

30DayTheri 20: Neurodivergence

I see my therianthropy as caused by/a form of neurodivergence, and I’m going to explain why. This is something I have written about before on the old Alt+H gorums, but as I cannot find that post, I will try to rewrite my case, hopefully improving it, rather than copy-paste. Though I will probably cross-post this to the new forums once it’s done. Anyway: Lets start by listing some of the traits that overlap between kin experiences and neurodivergence. Note I use the umbrella term deliberately. While some examples are typically associated with autism, it’s not exclusive (e.g. sensory issues are also present in ADHD, cerebral palsy, and whatever giftedness is). Will link sources whenever I can.

Not making eye contact (therian logic: threat display in many species)

“Improper” facial expressions (grinning also a threat in many animals)

Sensory processing/sensitivity (sensory shifts usually seen as differing attention or sensitivity to stimuli, rather than physically having inhuman senses)

Differences in proprioception and body map (phantom shifts)

Differences in mental state and cognition (mental shifts)

Unusual walking gaits and postures, sitting positions

Feelings of alienation or disconnection from others (autistic and adhd people seeing themselves as “alien”)

Identification with animals more than humans 

This tumblr post covers a lot of these overlaps using hypothetical examples of a person with autism and a person with therianthropy. They seem to do similar things, but for different reasons. For example, “Jeremy likes to sit in strange positions. He does this because it puts pressure on certain parts of his body in ways that feel good and sitting this way helps him stay calm and focused. Jeremy is autistic.George likes to sit in strange positions. He does this because it feels more natural to him to act as though he has four legs and sitting this way reduces the dysphoria he usually experiences when sitting normally. George is a therian.”

That’s all well and good but... can people always tell why they are doing something? The introspection illusion would indicate this is not as reliable as we might hope. I tend to slam my hands down on the nearest surface when I’m excited. Related to handflapping or canine playbows and excited tippy-tapping? Or consider my lifelong chewing behavior- sensory stimming, or dog behavior? And don’t dogs chew for sensory stimulation too?

So is that it? All therians and otherkin are “just [diagnosis]” and mistaking it for something else? Well, no, it’s not that simple. Informal polls have indicated a higher prevalence of neurodivergent diagnoses in otherkin, but it’s not a one-to-one relationship. This scientific research paper found a higher prevalence among therians of self-reporting a diagnosis, and higher scores on the Autism Spectrum Quotient. However, the ASQ is not diagnostic, it merely indicates trends and shared traits that warrant further inspection. The same paper also found Therians were no different from controls on traits like personal growth, purpose and self-acceptance, and that the therian identity may have been protective against some negative effects, like anhedonia.

It can’t be ignored that many therians/otherkin do not have a diagnosis of a neurodivergent condition, even having sought one out (i.e. thus circumventing the issue of just not being able to see a professional). A lot of therians and otherkin consider the possibility of mental illness when first questioning. I literally asked my therapist (whom I was out to about my therianthropy) whether I could have been on the autism specturm, and after going over it with me in detail, she concluded I was at most subclinical, and didn’t meet diagnostic criteria, missing an entire subsection of traits. I know other therians who have had the same experiences- finding that they check the boxes on certain traits, but just don’t-quite’-fit clinical criteria.

Now, as a counselor, I know better than most exactly how much diagnoses are affected by culture, norms, and are ultimately somewhat arbitrary and nebulous. But it should also not ignored that mental illness, regardless of diagnosis, is always defined by causing distress or impairing function- something that doesn’t apply to many cases of nonhuman identity. 

This is why I am specific in saying I believe therianthropy is a form of neurodivergence, rather than a mental illness. I see it as emerging from functions and activity of the brain, of being one of many diverse ways a brain can be wired. Because of this, it overlaps in traits with other forms of neurodivergence (like autism, ADHD and others). It’s another circle on the big Venn diagram. So questioning whether a certain behavior like chewing is an “autism” thing or a “therianthropy” thing is a little bit like asking whether emotional dysregulation is an autism, adhd, bpd, etc. thing. It belongs to all of them and isn’t the defining factor of any. Because modern diagnostic labels are based on clusters of symptoms, these overlaps can result in dual diagnoses, though not always (e.g. if a persons symptoms are mostly in the overlap of autism and adhd, they might be diagnosed with both, whereas another person’s experiences may be much more one than the other, and they only get/need one label). So a person can be a therian and have no other label, be a different form of neurodivergent and not a therian, or both a therian and have another neurodivergent label. And all three of these people would share certain but not all traits and experiences.

[aestherians]

My response to this video is gonna be ridiculously long, so hit J if you want to skip it

“Fictinkin is Terrible” Bad grammar. Should either be ‘fictionkin are terrible’ or 'fictionkinity is terrible’. But I digress.

“I actually used to be fictionkin” It’s generally agreed that if you’re 'kin, that’s what you are. It’s an inherent trait, like a hair color, and you can’t just quit it (though you can realize you never were 'kin in the first place or you can stop associating with the community or you can refuse to use any of the labels). A better wording would probably be “I used to think I was fictionkin.” This is just nitpicking, honestly, as it doesn’t change the experiences you’ve had with the community.

“[The otherkin community consists] of people who believe they are the spirit of a species besides human, born into the wrong body.” Not exactly wrong, not exactly right. This describes a lot of otherkin but by far not all. I believe my soul is partially that of a bison but I don’t believe I should’ve been born in the body of a bison. I also feel like I’m a gnoll (you know,, those fuckers from D&D) on a psychological level, which I chalk up to a lot of weird things in my late childhood/early teens, such as roleplaying werewolves and imprinting on the art of DarkNatasha. It’s not play-pretend, it’s just a… character trait, I guess you could say. Like being Pagan or being really into knitting. A large portion of otherkin believe it’s a purely psychological phenomenon or that the cause is a mix of spiritual and psychological stuff. Likewise, a lot of otherkin don’t feel like they’re born into the wrong body. It’s very subjective how each individual describes their otherkinity.

“It’s origins are mainly from tumblr” Not really… The current otherkin community has its roots in the elven communities from the 1970s (namely the Elf Queen’s Daughters and the Silver Elves). The EQD have letters dating back to 1973 detailing their nonhuman identities and can trace the origins of their organization back to the late 1960s. The word 'otherkin’ was coined by Torin in a mailing list (hosted by R’ykandar Korra’ti) in 1990. This is around the same time that the therian community appeared (seperately from the elvenkind/otherkin community) in the newsgroup Alt.Horror.WereWolves. For more information, check out “Otherkin Timeline - The Recent History of Elfin, Fae,and Animal People” By O. Scribner.

“Nowadays, the otherkin community has actually been pretty dead recently…” Again, not really… If anything, there are more otherkin actively discussing their identities and connecting with each other now than ever before. The community is just isolated to private chats and servers (mainly on Discord) and heavily moderated forums like WereList, Therian-Guide, and Fictionkin Dot Com.

“…and in its place has arisen something far worse: This is the fictionkin community.” Though some of the elves of the EQD and the Silver Elves would technically be classified as fictionkin today (as they identified as canon characters from Tolkien’s Middle-earth), the fictionkin community as we know it dates back to circa 2001. In other words, it’s not a replacement for the otherkin community specific to tumblr, and it is probably older than a lot of the people watching this video. For more info, check out “A History Of The Fictionkin Community” by House of Chimeras.

“Otherkin actually has [sic] some basis in spiritual beliefs like reincarnation and spirit animals” Otherkinity has nothing to do with having a spirit animal and an otherkin have nothing to do with spirit animals. If someone isn’t first nations they shouldn’t even touch that term. I understand where the confusion comes from, though. When you’re just getting to know your animal guide/spirit guide you think about them a lot, and when you think about something a lot you’re bound to experience things that are reminiscent of otherkin experiences, such as dreaming that you are the animal or taking on the mindset of the animal. The author Lupa used to think she was a wolf therian but a couple of years down the line recognized that she’d mistaken her spirit guide for a theriotype. You can read about it in her article “Letting Go of Therianthropy For Good.”

“Fictionkin, however, these people lack any actual reasoning behind why they think they’re a fictional character. They’ll often run around in circles, trying to come up with explanations for it, usually quoting the multiverse theory.” Archetypal connection, dissociation, energetic resonance, imprinting, mental fabrication, psychic connection, differently shaped soul parts, soul shattering, spiritual links, trauma, a coping mechanism turned into an involuntary identity, astral shapeshifting, neurodivergence, developmental issues in one of the critical periods of identity formation… Need I go on? There are plenty of things (both spiritual and psychological) that could explain why some people are fictionkin.

“At least the otherkin community tries to explain their logic with actual spiritual and religious beliefs.” What’s the difference between an “actual spiritual belief” and what fictionkin believe in? Hopefully you’re aware that all religious and spiritual beliefs were created by people. Superheroes are the modern day Greek gods, and fictionkinity isn’t really different from Alexander the Great believing he was a demigod. At least I don’t see the difference, except in the number of people that believe it (and I think we can all agree that the number of subscribers a belief has does not determine how real it is, otherwise we’d all have to accept the Abrahamic god as real and atheists would be seen as delusional).

“But the fictionkin community preaches a theory with no actual evidence behind it like it’s fucking fact.” And what exactly is the evidence behind non-fictionkin beliefs about the cause of 'kinity…?

“How do you actually determine that you are these characters?” I’m not fictionkin, so I can’t speak for them, but I identify as a bison and a gnoll because I experience a lot of things that fit into either narrative more comfortably than it does a human narrative. Body dysphoria, homesickness after places I’ve never been, impulses/urges, supernumerary phantom limbs, periods where my mindset feels less human and more animal, and flashing images of being my kintypes. Am I literally a nonhuman creature in a human body? Who the fuck knows. But it feels good to me to put those experiences in that narrative.

“It’s really concerning that these people would base their entire identities around something so vague.” Assuming someone’s kintype is their entire identity because you only know them from their 'kin blog is like assuming Drea Renee’s entire identity is 'knitter’ because she runs a big knitting blog. It doesn’t really fly. I’m otherkin, sure, but I’m also an animal science student, an aspiring amateur entomologist, a collector of old books, a fantasy fan, a cat lover, a scourer of thrift stores, and I could go on. Old books isn’t my entire identity. Insects aren’t my entire identity. Otherkinity isn’t my entire identity. I understand the assumption as you only see most 'kin on their blog devoted to otherkinity, but trust me, they will 9 times out of 10 have a private main blog where they post about all the other stuff that interests them.

“Let’s assume these memories are real. Don’t you think it would be possible to have memories of a character you aren’t even familiar with?” Plenty of people do, actually! They usually only find out when their source comes out, though. A somewhat famous example is Ebony who identified as a thestral a few years before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released. You can read about this in their essay “Fangs, Flesh and Flight” on House of Chimeras’ Livejournal. I myself have had several 'memories’ (I’m reluctant to call them that for personal reasons) of being an elderly woman in various situations. I’ve looked everywhere for something that matches those images, but I’ve pretty much resigned myself to it just being a 'normal’ past life.

“They pretty much make their self-indulgent canon” As a canon-divergent gnoll, I am Offended™. Nah, but honestly, canons and people’s relationships with them are weird (and I have a gut feeling that non-'kin would call our experiences fake whether we adhere to canon or not). Some people swear up and down that Shiro from Voltron still loves his ex, others claim the opposite. And neither of them are wrong since it’s all about the media consumer’s own perception of what they’re shown. Then there are people like me who just go off whatever gut feeling they have, so whatever kind of gnoll I identify as doesn’t show up in any tabletop canon that I’m aware of. I technically identified as a gnoll before I knew what a gnoll was and on my blog there are plenty of posts where I list my traits, asking if someone knows a creature matching them. In the end a kind Anon pointed me towards gnolls.

“According to these people you don’t even have to have memories to be kin. Actually, there’s no real determining factors for how to be kin and nothing is stopping you from being kin with every single fictional character that you like. As a matter of fact, people who are only kin with one or two characters are the minority.” You don’t need memories to be 'kin as there are many other factors that could cause you to feel nonhuman/like a fictional character. I’ve already gone over this in “How do you actually determine that you are these characters?”. What stops you from having a billion characters as your kintype at once is the simple fact that only a smaller number can really be significant enough parts of your personality to constitute kintypes. There’s no set upper limit, but somwhere around 5 is usually where you should start to get really skeptical. The people who have a list of 100 supposed kintypes have just really misunderstood what other-/fictionkinity is and need to be gently corrected. I hate to sound like I’m yelling ‘no true scotsman’ but among genuine otherkin, you’ll rarely find someone with more than 10 kintypes. Past lives, sure, but not kintypes.

“…delusions of being fictional characters.” 'Kinity is not a delusion. Please don’t downplay mental health issues by comparing them to a subculture. The DSM-IV classifies a delusion as “A false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained despite what almost everyone else believes and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary. The belief is not one ordinarily accepted by other members of the person’s culture or subculture (e.g., it is not an article of religious faith). When a false belief involves a value judgment, it is regarded as a delusion only when the judgment is so extreme as to defy credibility.” Otherkinity is an identity, not a belief, and it is in identity that makes no claims about the external world (with the exception of a select few elves and fae in the 80s/90s who claimed to be genetically otherkin). The beliefs surrounding otherkinity, however, can be delusional in rare cases like physical shifting. But in almost all cases the beliefs would fall into the culture/subculture category like religions do.

"And as they always say, anyone can become kin! You don’t even need to take it seriously.” The people who say that are going against the +40 years of established knowledge about the community and the otherkin experience. They’re wrong. You can not 'become 'kin’, only realize you were 'kin your whole life. You can, however, choose to become a copinglinker, which I believe a lot of the kids on tumblr actually are. If you chose your kintype, if you can drop a kintype all willy-nilly, or if you’re “kin to cope,” you’re a copinglinker, not otherkin. It’s a matter of misinformation and a lack of resources (and of kids refusing to listen when more knowledgeable people correct them).

“Eventually you’re gonna have to grow out of this.” Why? I’m happy the way I am (and functional, if that’s what you’re worried about). I’ve got friends, hobbies, and goals. I recently quit my job to focus on my studies, but up until then, I had no problems keeping it. I go to college. I go to parties. I’m going to Pride in a few hours. I’m not exactly secret about being otherkin, and all the people who’ve found out or who’ve been told that I am, have just shrugged and accepted it. If it doesn’t interfere with my day-to-day, there’s no reason to 'outgrow it’. For the record, I know plenty of people in their 30s and 40s (even a few upwards of 70) who lead completely normal lives and happen to be other-/fictionkin.

[monsterqueers]

1. What kind of system are you?

We are an origin-agnostic plural system. We do not vibe with origin terms and we dont really think origin is the end all be all of experience. We could be trauma-created, we could have always been like this, we could be all thoughtforms, we dont know and dont care to know. Our current experience is more important than our origins. We are all full separate people but we find the median-multiple binary useless(esp when people try to conflate switching styles and amnesia levels with personhood levels) so we just call ourselves plural.

2. How many of you are there?

There are four of us, though lately we have been questioning if there might be more hidden.

3. How long have you known about your plurality?

We have known about plurality in general for about 10 years(encountered some plurals on a joint furry-therian forum), but didnt really get it then. About 8 years ago we found daemon communities but didnt quite fit in them and moved on. Then 7 years ago we re-encountered plural folks and figured we were indeed plural after awhile of sifting through misinformation and getting brained over the head with the fact that no, I-the-host am not the original.

4. What kind of spaces/communities do you/did you hang out in?

Some alterhuman spaces, the r/plural subreddit, and a bunch of fandoms currently. We are chronic lurkers and have been in many other spaces -many furry forums in particular- but we dont remember most of them too well because they were ages ago.

5. Had you heard of DID/OSDD/DDNOS before you became plural/discovered your plurality?

Vaguely, it was mentioned briefly in a sci-fi comic we were reading in like 2013 as a 'I was trying to portray schizophrenia not DID this is not accurate to that experience and not what is going on' in a authors note without explaining what DID was. Other than that we heard about it properly first in the context of that being the only way to be plural a few months before we decided we were unable to deny we were were plural.

6. Do you have a wonderland/innerworld? If so, what do you call it, and what are some things that you and your system members do there?

No we dont have in inner world beyond an imagined conceptual void used for switching and impermanent imagined sensory snippet impressions that exist only when being internally communicated as near as we can tell. We dont have memories of not fronting in the memory banks (only the fronter records memory be we can all access that), so we cannot confirm this however. We used to imagine one but stopped doing so out of laziness because we didnt use it much.

7. What do you call your system members?

Headmates.

We tolerate 'alter', and HATE part when applied to us. We dont like fragment or facet for us either, nor do we like 'other selves'. But we actively recoil from 'part' as we consider ourselves all full people.

8. If you're plural but don't use the word "system" to describe you&, what word do you use?

We use system broadly and generally but call ourselves a 'collective' to emphasize personhood more.

9. What are some of the best things about being plural?

Never being alone, always having someone who understands you on a base intimate level no other person in another body can ever reach, being able to work together as a team on things rather than doing it alone, being able to take a front vacation for a bit and let other people do stuff, the banter!

10. What are some of the not-so-great things about being plural? (Any answer is valid- nothing is too minor or too major to be an answer to this question.)

We have hot garbage memory as a result of disassociation. We dont have blackouts and we specifically dont claim to be disordered, but our working memory is just very bad. Dissociation by and large is actively helpful for us and does not hamper us, but sometimes it does make things annoying. We also get identity confusion between us sometimes and being burry isnt usually very pleasant either. We also have to keep in mind the body is a shared space and have to do a lot of compromising on what we daydream about, what we do with the body, how we spend our time, what food we buy, etc.

11. Do you have a spiritual or psychological view of your plurality?

We are origin agnostic as detailed above, but I-the-host currently identify as a walk-in- Essentially- my soul appeared in the body as the original died and consumed their memories. Not on purpose and not knowingly, but taking their place while being a different person all the same. For our plurality at large we dont rule either out.

12. Do you ever experience "switching" or "possession" or any sort of change in who controls the body? If so, what do you call it, how easy/difficult is it, and what is it like? Were you always able to do this, or did you have to learn how over time?

Yes we switch. Full switches take the form of the 'everpresent I'/monoconciousness/continuous memory type switching where it feels like 'you' 'become' the person switching in.

We call it switching and its Somewhat difficult in that we dont switch very often (likely because I-the-host am very much a micromanaging disaster who has a hard time letting go when we have so many things to do at all times), but switching itself when we are 'feeling switchy enough' is quite easy.

We wait till we feel 'switchy' enough (slightly dissociated or very relaxed or having A Crisis), then see if anyone else wants to front and feels up to fronting, then the person at front 'steps back' and the person who wants to switch in 'steps forward' in that imagined blank space. The switch feels like a bit of mild vertigo plus some sharp identity confusion that may last for a brief second or may last longer. You have to let go totally of being conscious if you are switching out and give up everything for a second to the person switching in. Switching in then feels like waking up out of a dream- sometimes its sharp and violent and everything snaps in in a burst of confusion, and other times its a slow slide into consciousness. The dreamlogic that used to make sense when you were dreaming, your whole thought processes and identity, suddenly is different and what it was before is alien and nothing like how you would act. The dream fades out a little, and so does the memory of the things that werent you- still there, but a little fuzzy. Your memories sharpen up again.

Partial switches and cofronting can be the 'possession-like' watching someone else do stuff with your body, but we cant do a full switch like that. We have been working on it thought.

13. How do you and your system mates relate to each other? (Are you friends, family, romantically involved, caretakers, etc.)

We are friends who share a body. We are headmates and there really isnt a non-headmate approximate term for what we are to eachother.

14. Have you come out to anybody in real life/in a singlet space about your plurality? How did it go?

Our platonic partner system and best friend/qpp who ALSO came out about being plural at the same time, funnily enough. it went well because whoops we were both plural lol.

15. What kinds of forms and appearances do your system members take on?

All but one of us usually has the mental self-image of our nonhuman identities, and the last one is a fictive who goes along with that form.

16. What are you and your system members interested in?

Videogames! Particularly jrpgs. We love fantasy stories, but video games are very immersive and we like that most. We are also very interested in data hoarding.

17. What is your life like in the meatworld?

It could be better, could be worse.

18. What are your music tastes? Movies? Favorite colors? Animals? List any other favorites as well

We like a wide variety of music, but rock-metal-electronica is always a good choice. We like cool colors mostly as well- the specifics being different between us. We also all like cats quite a bit.

19. Does your system have a host/original? If so, what do you call them? Explain what role they play in your system

We have an original, but they are gone and we consider them dead. We do have a host separate from the original. I-the-host just do most of the day-to-day life stuff, especially college, because I have the most interest in doing so.

20. Do any system members have notable relationships outside of the system? Explain them!

We have a platonic partner system, of which I-the-host have the most amount of affection towards. Other than that, we have some friends collectively bot no one else especially close.

21. If you haven't been plural for your entire life/haven't known about your plurality until later in life: what was life like before plurality compared to life now?

When we didnt know were were allowed to be More Than One we were so chaotic and almost nonfuctioning. We had no consistent opinions or identity and this distressed us. We felt very alone.

22. If you chose to become plural: why? What has changed since then?

We didnt choose to become plural, but we chose to acknowledge it and try living that way. We did so because we were so tired of trying badly to be one person. It just wasnt working, and we were so alone.

Now we are functioning and NOT alone and doing well as opposed to back then.

23. Is there anything you'd like to say to the plural community at large?

Please stop drawing lines about origin terms. They are not the end all be all of experience and we can all learn from and help eachother regardless of origin. Forcing lines prevents disordered system from getting help because they dont think they have trauma so they cant access DID/OSDD resources, it keeps disordered systems from being able to find alternative ways of fixing their issues, it harms everyone to put pressure on knowing your origins right away and stating such private information as the most important thing about you.

Also fuck the sysmeds- being trans that name is extremely apt and extremely shows the dumbass damage they do to the community that historically has always been inclusive. All they are doing is shooting themselves in the foot to lick the boot of the dsm they dont have the reading comprehension to actually read and comprehend. The singlets arent going to accept them better if they do a respectability politics- thats always conditional. They arent getting any more valid in the eyes of the psychiatric industry when they attack anyone (including people who have been in the community for 10+ years who are prof-dxed!!) who disagrees with them or doesnt fit their worldview. They are just making it easier to erase them from existence because the solidarity is gone.

24. Is there anything you'd like to say to any singlets reading this post?

Go read this if you are confused about wtf this is https://morethanone.info/

Sysmeds should not get to write the narrative about us on this platform!

Scrolling through the tags, it seems like a great deal of what's said about us on tumblr is either sysmeds trying to make us look bad or all-encompassing plural blogs that just say everyone is valid (which is great! and these blogs should keep doing what they're doing! but it would be nice to have some more frequent endo (and other) representation on here too!)

Either my tumblr algorithm just sucks major balls, or most endos, tulpas, spiritual systems and other non-sysmed-approved systems get scared off of this platform because of how many loud hateful voices there are compared to how few people there are who we can relate to. (like most of the cool-looking accounts i can relate to that i find are dead and so is my blog for the same reason lol).

SO! Let's do a thing. If you are endogenic, parogenic, a tulpamancy system, a spiritual system, a daemien, or any other kind of system that sysmeds try to silence, reblog this post with answers to these questions to tell tumblr what our lived experiences as plurals are REALLY like!

(Feel free to pick and choose which questions you want to answer, or just come up with your own and tag them under #endovoices or substitute endo for whatever kind of system you are! Also, feel free to just reblog with one answer at a time, or to just answer the questions in a standalone post; no need to credit me, I just want more systems sharing their experiences!)

1. What kind of system are you? (Describe this in any way you like. No need to use -genic or popular terms if you don't want to)

2. How many of you are there?

3. How long have you known about your plurality?

4. What kind of spaces/communities do you/did you hang out in? (Both plural-relevant and non-plural-relevant spaces are valid answers, past and present)

5. Had you heard of DID/OSDD/DDNOS before you became plural/discovered your plurality?

6. Do you have a wonderland/innerworld? If so, what do you call it, and what are some things that you and your system members do there?

7. What do you call your system members?

8. If you're plural but don't use the word "system" to describe you&, what word do you use?

9. What are some of the best things about being plural?

10. What are some of the not-so-great things about being plural? (Any answer is valid- nothing is too minor or too major to be an answer to this question.)

11. Do you have a spiritual or psychological view of your plurality?

12. Do you ever experience "switching" or "posession" or any sort of change in who controls the body? If so, what do you call it, how easy/difficult is it, and what is it like? Were you always able to do this, or did you have to learn how over time?

13. How do you and your system mates relate to each other? (Are you friends, family, romantically involved, caretakers, etc.)

14. Have you come out to anybody in real life/in a singlet space about your plurality? How did it go?

15. What kinds of forms and appearances do your system members take on?

16. What are you and your system members interested in?

17. What is your life like in the meatworld?

18. What are your music tastes? Movies? Favorite colors? Animals? List any other favorites as well

19. Does your system have a host/original? If so, what do you call them? Explain what role they play in your system

20. Do any system members have notable relationships outside of the system? Explain them!

21. If you haven't been plural for your entire life/haven't known about your plurality until later in life: what was life like before plurality compared to life now?

22. If you chose to become plural: why? What has changed since then?

23. Is there anything you'd like to say to the plural community at large?

24. Is there anything you'd like to say to any singlets reading this post?

That is all I've got for now, but feel free to add any more you want to share! Please remember to be respectful to all system types if you post, I do not support bashing or invalidating of any system types. I will also reblog with my own answers soon.

(Note: these questions are not in order of priority or importance, I just wrote them down as I came up with them. Feel free to answer out of order and skip or add whatever you want!)

Also this should go without saying but making any rude sysmeddy responses to this will just result in being blocked and totally ignored, so don't even start, there's no point. The block button is right there.

Have fun everyone!

[everysea-everystar-blog]

Otherkin Challenge

I got this challenge from the blog @justanotherkin and thought it would be a good thing to fill out on my new tumblr! I’ve made very minor changes to some questions. 

1. What name do you go by? What is the significance of it to you? 

The name I go by usually isn't something I’m very comfortable with sharing here, but that has a lot of importance to me because I’m transgender and choosing my name has made me a lot happier. Online, I tend to go by Bumble, which is just a silly nickname but cheers me up. I believe my selkie-self is called Sìoda but I don’t call myself that. 

2. How old are you? What is the gender you identify as? (human) 

I’m 18 and I’m a nonbinary trans guy. 

3. What are your kintype(s)? 

Selkiekin, alienkin, spiritkin, felinekin, and I’m questioning monsterkin. 

4. How long have you known that you are otherkin? How old were you when you awakened? 

I think I’ve pretty much always seen myself as nonhuman and had connections to certain species and such, from a very young age. However, I didn’t know about the existence of otherkin or therians until much later, and was actually against the communities for many years. I think I was just in denial and wanted to join in with everyone else making fun of otherkin. I only started getting involved with the community about a week ago. 

5. How did you find the otherkin community? 

At first through tumblr, and then just searching around for forums and group chats. 

6. How does being otherkin affect your life? 

It doesn’t really affect me much daily, though I definitely feel a disconnect from humanity almost all the time. I do experience “species dysphoria” but I wouldn’t compare it to the level of discomfort that gender dysphoria brings me. I also have some paranoia about friends/family finding out about my identity. I’m homesick most of the time, too. 

7. Are you “out of the metaphysical closet”? If so, to whom? 

The only people I’m really “out” to are those on otherkin group chats or forums, and that’s very anonymous to be honest. I spoke briefly about my worries with my best friend a little while before joining the community, but didn’t want to press the issue further because she clearly doesn’t get it. She wasn’t mean about it though. 

8. How did/would your family react to you being otherkin? 

They would either laugh at me, ignore me, or think I’m crazy. Probably all three. (Sidenote: I am actually mentally ill, so I think my parents would believe that me being otherkin is a symptom of this. I know that isn’t the case, but there you go.) 

9. What does being otherkin mean to you? 

It simply means that I am aware of my nonhuman identity and my nonhuman selves, in whatever form that might take. It’s just a part of my daily life that I’ve recently come to terms with and makes me understand myself better. 

10. How do you believe you came to be otherkin? Is it a psychological connection? Were you reincarnated? Explain. 

This depends on which kintype we’re talking about, so I’ll give it a go: 

Selkie: I’m living a parallel life with my selkie self 

Alien: I was “reincarnated” into my human body from an alien life, and my soul is still alien 

Spirit: As a being, I’ve always been a guardian spirit 

Feline: I have a feline soul alongside mine 

11. What do you hope the otherkin community will be like in ten years? Are you for public awareness or against it? Why or why not? 

I hope that the community is even bigger in ten years time, and hopefully viewed with less contempt from the outside world. However, I’m not really for public awareness, because I think it will only bring us more hatred. Also, I don’t view us kin as an oppressed group, and would therefore like to focus more on the support of genuinely oppressed groups such as POC and LGBTQ+. 

12. Do you have phantom/astral limbs? What are they and how do you feel them? 

While not so much a phantom/astral limb, I often feel the texture of my seal’s tail as a selkie on my legs, as well as other sensory experiences like seaweed and cold ocean water around me. I also have nose and mouth twitches that I believe are related to my cat’s whiskers. 

13. Do you mental shift? Have you ever harmed yourself or someone else during one? 

I do mental shift sometimes, but it’s never been dangerous. The only possible danger is that I might try to do things that my human body can’t really do (e.g. swim in very dangerous waters, go on very long forest walks - I have a disability so this is impossible). 

14. Have you ever mental shifted at a time when it could be considered inappropriate? 

I think some of the times that I go nonverbal (I’m autistic) are triggered by mental shifts, and that’s always “inappropriate” or at least inconvenient. 

15. Do you astral project or practise any occult crafts? 

 I’m a witch currently trying to get back into his practise. 

16. Do you feel you are any sort of danger to society? 

Not at all! I might have some “weird” beliefs and be nonhuman but I’m generally very peaceful. I wouldn’t hurt anyone unless they hurt me or someone I loved. 

17. Does your nonhuman identity complicate everyday life for you? If so, how? 

As aforementioned, the only real impact being nonhuman has on my daily life is feeling disconnected from humanity. This does cause a decent amount of social and emotional issues, as well as “species dysphoria” interfering with my moods. 

18. Why do you believe are here as a human? 

I’m not really sure about this one to be honest, but it could be linked to me being spiritkin: maybe I’ve been sent to specifically protect the nature on earth for the time being. Still unsure, though. 

19. Are you active among the otherkin community? 

Recently, yes! I’d love to be more active on the tumblr kin community too, but I’m scared about all the anti//kin things that I might end up seeing. 

20. Are you religious? What faith do you follow? Does it contradict your otherkin identity or do you feel that the two are synonymous somehow? 

I don’t follow any sort of organised religion; I like to think of myself as a semi-theistic Pagan. I believe in Mother Earth and have thoughts of a great Universal Spirit, but I don’t “worship” them as such. This does’t contradict with me being otherkin at all - in fact I think it might explain my spiritkin identity. 

21. Have you ever been emotionally, verbally, or physically harrassed simply for being otherkin? 

I haven’t experienced this directly, but the fear of it happening is why I���m very private and secretive about being otherkin. I’ve witnessed a lot of online bullying and mockery of us, and for a long time I was one of those people being mean to otherkin/therians because I just wanted to fit with what I saw people saying. 

22. Do you efel you are oppressed because you are otherkin? 

No, not really. Oppression is based in societal systems and ingrained belief, and to be honest it makes complete sense that humans wouldn’t understand people claiming to be nonhuman to any extent. I do think that the bullying and mockery is unnecessary and cruel, but I wouldn’t call it oppression. 

23. What is your take on fictionkin/mediakin/factkin? What about machinekin and appliancekin? 

I’m not sure I really understand fictionkin, but I’m not really against it. However, anyone who gets angry at a writer or other person involved with fiction because they aren’t adhering to their kin canon is just rude, and threatening to harm yourself over this is incredibly disturbing. I would consider myself fictionhearted with multiple characters, and have no problem interacting with fictionkin as long as they aren’t rude like I said before. I definitely have a problem with factkin, as I just see that as identity theft. I really can’t get my head around machinekin and anything else that isn’t living or spiritual, because I don’t believe that a non-living thing can exist in a human body, but I don’t think those people are inherently bad. 

24. Did the awakening process seem relatively easy or difficult to you? Why? 

If I refer to the process of accepting my nonhuman identity as my “awakening” then it was definitely difficult. Like I said, I spent years making fun of otherkin - not actively or online, but with friends, and I would sometimes look at the tags on tumblr - which I know realise was me trying to cope with being nonhuman. Making the transition to acceptance was scary. 

25. What do you think of the information provided online about otherkin - is it relevant or not? 

Most of the things I’ve found have been relevant, but a lot of articles written by non-kin just don’t have a very good understanding. 

26. How has your otherkin/therian identity defined you as a person? Do you feel as if it has given you morals that you didn’t have before? 

I think that coming to terms with my nonhuman identity has helped me be more accepting of other people’s identities as long as they don’t harm themselves or others. I think my general confusion surrounding vegetarians/vegans comes from me being selkiekin and felinekin, but I have nothing against those people. 

27. Have you learned any life-long lessons due to your otherkin identity? 

Nothing is what it seems. 

28. What do you want to do with your life? 

I’d like to go into animal care as a career (e.g. pet rehoming shelters, conservation, ethical farming, animal sanctuaries, etc.) as well as being a writer and musician on the side. I’m willing to do any job in the meantime that doesn’t involve too much social interaction. 

29. Do you have any tips or advice for young and/or newly awakened otherkin? 

Get the “tumblr savior” browser extension (or any alternative you prefer, I think xkit is quite popular, do your research) and blacklist any anti//kin tags you can think of. This will bring you a lot of mental peace, trust me. Surround yourself with positivity but remember to keep a critical eye. Find ways to live in balance with your kintype(s) as opposed to having a jarring double existence. You may have to accept the fact that “coming out” as kin in your public life will likely cause more harm than good. Make online friends. 

30. Anything else you’d like to share with us? 

I’m so glad I’ve finally joined this community - I’d been scared for years. 

[goddamnitlopori]

“I just know” my thoughts on feelings being an explanation for kintypes

Many years ago, before I entered the otherkin and therian communities the general consensus was that if you couldn’t take grilling and answer with essays on why your kintype is the one, then you weren’t legit. While on some sites nowadays there’s a growing trend of accepting everything and anything, no matter how farfetched (50 anime characters at once), residues of the old mindset are still around on facebok groups, older members of tumblr and forums. The question “why do you think you are x species in particular and not y species?” often crops up, like a maths test asking for your working. 

Some explanations or parts of the explanation for why you are otherkin are often disregarded or not deemed intelligent enough to count. This can include dreams, meditation, or the general vague feeling that you’ve always felt this way. It pays to come with pre-prepared explanations quantifying your claims, listing in-depth your shifts, behavioural urges, any possible spiritual beliefs, and you must question yourself at any given opportunity. I mean why not, it weeds out the posers and fluff right? If they feel uncomfortable with the questioning they’re obviously just in it for the lulz, we don’t need our waters muddying, to make us less legitimate. 

I used to think a little like this, or atleast, I presented myself in such a way when I entered the community to be accepted by the serious-therians. Being a slut for social acceptance I looked up as much terminology as I could, parroted the embellished language of those I looked up to. I had the whole nonsense script ready and it worked, I was accepted, and I feel I’ve been active long enough to admit something. I “just know”. My reasons behind identifying as a bonobo therian and mermaidkin simply boil down to the simple notion of feels. Sure I have shifts and whatnot, but any kind of introspection I force upon myself leads me to the same conclusion. I’m a bonobo at heart, fuck knows why but I shan’t sweat the small stuff.   

The correct definition for otherkin is “identifying as a nonhuman either wholly or partially” and a therian is the same but specifically animals or animalistic mythical beasts. Tumblrkin misinformation make my eyes roll to the back of my skull until they fall into my brain, of course. Assuming you still adhere to that same definition, who cares how you got here? You’re one of us. I really don’t see the point in grilling, of only accepting "intellectual” explanations that don’t mention dreams etc, you don’t owe us anything and we certainly can’t claim to know you better than you do. Your emotions and gut instincts can tell you just as much as any number of hours spent researching and compiling lists of qualifiers. It’s very telling when a subculture intimidates people into speaking a certain way to fit in, I’m not the only one who used a script either as others have confessed. I no longer look up to those who gate-keep, instead feeling utterly relieved that I didn’t find the community in the mid-2000s. I for one hope to cultivate a warm, welcoming atmosphere that also educates and offers resources for newcomers.

tl;dr You just know? That’s okay, so do I. 

[a-dragons-journal]

In my experience:

- The community does have high activity on Tumblr, but at the same time, Tumblr is largely regarded as one of the lowest-quality otherkin communities. This is in large part because of the format, which has kind of caused a lot of definitions to become fuzzy and allowed a lot of people to start calling themselves “otherkin” when what they really mean is “roleplayer.” (Ie, “kinning for fun.”) Forums are one of the most active and reliable places to find the otherkin community, with Discord servers probably coming in a distant second. Though I have no personal experience with them, I’ve heard only bad things about the otherkin communities on Amino and Instagram. As for overlapping with other subcultures, otherkinity tends to overlap and exchange information with a lot of other “fringe” subcultures, especially those with some nonhuman aspect to them (often pulled under the “alterhuman” umbrella) - for example, the real vampire community, the daemonism community, copinglinkers/otherlinkers (which came directly from otherkin), soulbonders, furries (probably the most well-known group on this list), Pagans, and the plural community (DID/OSDD and non-DID/OSDD systems alike). Some of these groups have direct connections, others just happen to overlap by dint of being “neighbors” in terms of fringe communities as far as the larger Internet is concerned. (There’s also a large overlap between the otherkin community and the LGBT+ community, but that’s almost an entire conversation on its own.)

- There have been and still are many, many controversies I can think of, some of which have historical basis and some of which really don’t. Off the top of my head: the voluntary vs involuntary argument (ie “at what point (if any) does a voluntarily chosen identity become a kintype rather than a copinglink”), the polykin argument (ie “can someone have multiple kintypes/what’s the limit on how many kintypes a person can reasonably have”), the fictionkin/otakukin argument (ie “is fictionkin a valid/real identity”), and the grilling/fluff argument (ie “how much grilling is too much/how far can we push the “question newcomers about their identities” mindset before it becomes toxic?”).

- This one’s simple! A therian, short for therianthrope, is someone who identifies nonphysically as an animal that exists or used to exist on this Earth. (As opposed to, say, a dragon, which has never physically existed on this Earth.) For bonus trivia: the therian and otherkin communities actually arose separately (as did the draconic community), and only merged fairly recently as far as community history goes.

- Otherkinity isn’t inherently religious or even spiritual by any means. However, for some individuals it can be tied to religion or spirituality. For instance, I (and the majority of otherkin) believe my kintype stems from a past life. This is partially because I already believed in reincarnation as part of my own spirituality and religion. However, not all otherkin believe in reincarnation or are spiritual/religious at all - psychological explanations also exist for otherkinity!

- I’m not quite sure what you mean by this last question, honestly - aspects of any community will always produce psychological, social, philosophical, and often religious phenomena and conversations. Could you clarify what you mean?

Core Questions

My first major questions as I start the project:

- How is the community active? Does it have significant overlap with specific other subcultures, or is it largely its own thing?

- What are the controversies present? Are there major minorites specific to the community, factions which are on largely equal footing with eachother, or a mostly coherent body?

- What is a therian?

- What are the religious aspects, if any? I've seen some talk of reincarnation, is it tied to any specific major cultures?

- Are aspects of the community itself religious? Philosophical? Rooted in biological or psycological phenomenon? Or Social?

[thelightfluxtastic]

Mages, Magicians, and Kin Identity

Below the cut, a long (almost 2000 word) essay exploring the differences between the historical therian/otherkin communities and the “tumblrkin”/”kinnie” community and subculture, through an extended metaphor about magic. At full disclosure, I am personally very much an “old school” therian. Nevertheless, the essay, to the best of my efforts, is not an attack and does not take sides, instead hoping for honest discussion. I know there are other communities I might not know about or be active in, I welcome people to share this there (with proper credit).

Say you have a Mage (think Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, and similar). In their experience, magic is an inextricable from their life: it affects how they perceive the world around them, how they interpret and understand things, and it can manifest effects (spells) through them, either voluntarily or reflexively. The visible, tangible acts of “magic” are a direct expression and consequence of the natural state “being a mage”. They don’t “do magic”, they “are a mage”, and magic happens as a result. A mage remains inherently a mage, even when they are asleep or having breakfast or otherwise not doing anything obviously magical.

Then, say you have a magician (Harry Houdini, David Copperfield, etc.). For them, “magic” is a thing you do. Some people may have more talent than others, and people may have different reasons for doing it (some make it a career, some put on performances, some just do it on their own out of personal interest or fun), but at the end of the day it’s an activity, a practice.

Then, say, these two completely different people meet, and start discussing “magic”. Here, a sudden conflict arises.

It would be very tempting for the mage, seeing the magician using scarves and cards and coins, to say “What I’m doing is real magic, what you’re doing is fake”. The mage might remember really struggling to understand and control their magic- early accidents and mishaps, unintended reflexive spells- and think “This is something I live with, good or bad. Something that, in certain situations, I have to work to manage, and it’s all just a game to you.” If the mage runs into someone who is only familiar with magicians, who, upon seeing them cast fireball, says “oh, neat trick with the flash paper!” the mage might get frustrated, angry, defensive. Insisting that no, they’re doing something very different. The mage might try to draw the line between identity an action, or even try to insist on differentiating terms (“I’m doing magic because that’s what magic means, you’re doing legerdemain”).

But the magician might argue back that the magic he does is what magic means to him, what it has meant for as long as he’s known it, and what it means to his community. There’s no deception, trickery, or malicious intent involved. When he meets with other magicians, they’re all discussing magic as a practice, their tools and skills, not pretending or claiming to be supernatural. And even the audience to magic performances ultimately understands and expects that it’s all illusion and a demonstration of clever talent. It’s just as ‘real’ in that sense. Furthermore, the magician might argue that, just because magic is an activity, that doesn’t mean it’s shallow or meaningless. There are magicians that take their craft very seriously, and for whom it’s a really significant part of their life. Furthermore, it’s not so easy to distinguish action from identity: nobody is born a “writer” or an “artist”, but these can be as much core identities for a person as their inborn traits. Some magicians might accept ‘legerdemain’ as a term, but it would be very difficult to convince all magicians to suddenly stop using the term “magic”, especially if that is coming as an external pressure and not a natural linguistic shift within their own community.

If the magician assumes that the mage is using stage magic whenever they make grass grow or call down a lightning bolt, then the mage will seem to be too authoritarian- why are they so angry? Why are they so insistent on using different terminology? Why do they pop up with “No, that’s not how it works” every time someone mentions doing magic for fun? How rude! The magician would see that mages see magic as an identity- which, yes, some magicians do- but might think “why can’t they accept that that’s not how everyone does magic?”.

What the magician fails to see, in this case, is that this is not a shared identity with different perspectives, but a fundamentally different experience. The magician sees their difference in the use of the term “Magic” as a difference in connotation and interpretation. Really, what’s happening is more like a homograph: two words with different meanings and origins that look or sound the same (e.g. “dove” the bird vs. “dove”, past tense of “dive”). And in discussion, mixing up “lead” as in the metal and “lead” as in “leader”, or using them interchangeably, isn’t an alternate definition or linguistic drift, it’s misinformation and misunderstanding.

The above extended metaphor is the closest I have come to explaining the difference between the “old school” therian/otherkin community, and the subculture commonly referred to as “tumblrkin” (which I use as a point of reference here, not derogatorily). For the sake of clarity, I will be referring to these as “mage kin” and “magician kin” from this point forward. My observations and direct experience in this come from Therian Guide, Werelist, Youtube, Therian Wilderness, a few therian Telegram groups, and, yes, Tumblr. As you can see there will still be gaps in my knowledge (especially as I am far less familiar with non-therian, otherkin communities).

Mage kin see therianthropy/otherkinity as an inherent identity. Language reflects that- one has a kintype or is __kin/a ___ therian, and might be discouraged from saying “my wolf” or “my dragon”. A lot of emphasis is placed on distinguishing kintypes from ‘external’ forces, whether personality traits, likes/dislikes or distinct spiritual entities. A kintype in this community is (almost) always discovered, not created and definitely not chosen. It is found the same way a new continent is found- it was always there, and simply needed to be mapped. Mage kin communities are, broadly speaking, older and more interconnected. The various forums tend to share some members, and this is usually where you will find the community elders that have been around since the Elf Queen’s Daughters and alt.horror.werewolves. While terminology has shifted slightly with time (from elvenkind and weres to otherkin and therians), and broadened to include things like fictionkin, this has been natural drift, and mage kin have a shared definition/understanding of kin identity, whether on Tumblr or TG: an inherent, internal, nonhuman identity. A mage kin is always kin, whatever their shifts or self-expression.

In magician kin communities, “kinning” is a verb. It is a thing someone does. “X kins Y” or “I’m kinning ___” are common statements. This is how it was expressed by someone who identified as kin, and was earnest as far as I could tell (not trolling)- that people can “kin” for various reasons, including mental health or for fun. Because of this action aspect in the general understanding, the magician kin community is much more open to the idea of choosing a kintype- both in picking what to “kin”, and in being able to say things like “don’t kin outside of your race/culture”. It also broadens the umbrella of what a kintype can be, with people further subdividing into things like “ID’s”. The magician community is more insular- as far as I can tell it is fairly localized to tumblr (and personal discords/aminos) but has little to no overlap with other therian/otherkin websites and forums. This leads to a lack of exposure to terminology and history (I’ve had someone ask me, in earnest, that wasn’t fictionkin different from otherkin?). And much like on islands in biology/ecology, being insulated in that way leads to very sharp, extreme differentiation. Magicians rarely meet mages (and when they do, often assume them to just be belligerent magicians) and have branched off to the point of being nigh-unrecognizable from the mage perspective.

Hence, conflict. Notice how often discourse boils down to whether kin is a noun or a verb. Mages see magicians as disconnected from the community history and terminology, and thus misinformed- and put time, effort and energy into ‘educating’ and ‘correcting’ (whether politely or angrily). They blame magicians for muddying the water of what ‘magic’ means, causing confusion, and for making a mockery (in their perspective) of magic- making a game of what was often serious and sometimes even painful for them. Magicians have their fellow magicians and are perfectly happy with their magic, and don’t see why some other ‘magicians’ feel they have any authority to barge in and tell them they aren’t doing real magic and should start using words like “legerdemain”. From a complete outsider’s perspective, it’s all chaos. Because the two groups aren’t using neatly distinct terms like mage and magician, they are all just using “magic” and arguing with each other (and of course, the worst extremes will always be the most visible). And, as tempting as it is to think so, magicians aren’t responsible for trolls and aggressors attacking the ‘magic’ community as a whole; and strictly enforcing only mage terms wouldn’t stop willful misunderstanding and attacks. People that want to be jerks and bullies would be jerks and bullies, even to the most respectable.

So…what do we do? I’m solidly in the mage kin camp. I found the tumblr kin community first, and felt alienated and out of place in it. Finding fellow mages is where I have found community and shared understanding that matches my experiences. And, like many of my peers, I’ve spent time and energy being angry at tumblrkin, and aggressively defensive of terminology. But here’s the thing- that’s wasted effort. However the linguistic divergence came about, it happened. There’s no point closing the barn door after the cows get out. Contranyms (words that are their own opposite) are a known linguistic fact. In some cases, it’s a matter of a specific word broadening until it contains its own opposite. In other cases (which I think are closest to what’s happening with “otherkin”), a word with a broad meaning splits into more specific sub-definitions, which relate to the original meaning but develop separately in parallel until they ultimately contradict one another. And, well, as to how that will end in the long term: how well is the fight to get people to stop using “literally” figuratively going? Does “sanction” mean to permit or penalize?

I don’t know what the answer is. As someone who likes labels, terminology, and clarity, I’m tempted to hope that labels (maybe even ‘magician’ and ‘mage’) can help clean up the overlap between these two very different camps. But I’m doubtful adding more words into the mix will really help this terminological clusterfuck. From the perspective of mental and emotional health, I’m tempted to let the island be an island, and just stick with the community that I’ve found, that fits my needs and experiences, and clarify on an individual level if someone asks me about my identity and what it means to me. It matters for people just starting to question their identity- there is a lot of contradictory information they would be blasted with. And I know there is a fear among mage kin that fellow ‘true mages’ would get lost in the weeds. But I found my way, and I’m going to continue presenting as the kind of therian I am, so I can act as that example to others. I don’t know what else can be done.

So I guess my final thoughts would be: To any magicians reading this- please try to understand and respect that there really is a fundamental difference in experience here, not just a parallel perspective. To my fellow mages- is it really worthwhile to mount a crusade, or more important to lead by example and be a beacon?

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Requested edit: Reminder that all of the above is an extended metaphor. I am talking about otherkin/therians using the idea of “magic” to illustrate my perspective. Which, again, is my own and based on my own experiences, with the intent of being fair, but is neither universal nor perfect.