This world is madder than Sheogorath

http://www.reddit.com/r/TumblrInAction/comments/24ftze/meta_otherkin_a_brief_history_and_analysis/

I’m pretty drunk right now tbh, and it seems like a few people are wondering where the fuck otherkin came from, so I figure that I’d give the five people who manage to read this post a little summary of the strange folks who think that they’re mythical creatures. I’ve been following[1] otherkin and other ‘magical thinking’ subcultures for a decade now, and I want to share my knowledge with the world. Believe it or not, otherkin didn’t originate on tumblr. In fact, it was a thriving community, connected to the neopagan and new age movements, long before tumblr became popular. Anyway, here we go. Hold on to your hats, folks.

SUMMARY

Otherkin believe that they have some connection to mythical creatures. Traditionally, they had the soul of a mythical creature, a mythical spirit guide, or lived mythical past lives. The distinction between those who were connected to mythical creatures and those who were connected to real creatures used to be great; before tumblr, the latter group labeled themselves therians. There was very little overlap between the two. In fact, they often had separate forums and bickered over which group was the most legitimate. Phantom limbs, like wings and horns, had a place in the original community, though they were more of a side effect of the core belief, rather than a main symptom of the condition. Otherkin are intertwined with the New Age movement and pagan magick, and most popular forums had a large section dedicated to rituals that would compliment their “kintypes”, help them discover their past lives, etc.

POPULAR KINTYPES

Elf, fairy/fae/seelie/sidhe, elemental, dragon, demon, angel, pheonix, troll, goblin

The popularity of these kintypes fluctuated as popular culture did. For example, when the LoTR films were released, a massive number of elves suddenly “awakened” (awakening is a term that refers to when you discover that you are non-human in some way). As you can imagine, the most popular kintypes were always ‘sexy’ or ‘powerful’ in some manner. Nobody ever wanted to be a goblin.

Like therians, those who believe that they are vampires were interconnected with the otherkin community, but the two groups tended to dislike and disbelieve one another. A self-professed ‘irl vampire’ created what was once the most popular forum for otherkin, otherkin.com and a separate forum for vampires, sanguinarius.org(?), further cementing the link between the two.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Otherkin never had a rigid social hierarchy, though there was some form of hierarchy pre-tumblr. As in most communities, forum owners and moderators, those who ran websites, and older members in the community tended to have more authority.

For about 6-8 years, there was a phenomenon in which ‘regular’ otherkin openly despised and ridiculed roleplayers (those who were just pretending to be otherkin on the internet for funsies) and people with elven princess syndrome (basically people who think that their kintype is a mile-long dragon who can spit a volcano’s worth of lava or something). Some forums had sections dedicated to mocking people like this. Right before the death of otherkin.com, tumblr was featured quite often upon their section for this. lol.

Otherkin sometimes met up in conventions called gatherings. These meetings were usually weekend-long camping events featuring meditation, pagan shit, and networking. I’m not really sure if they’re around anymore, but I imagine that they are to a much lesser degree than they were 6-10 years ago.

OTHERKIN HISTORY

Otherkin apparently began in the 70’s as a feminist new-age group called The Elf Queen’s Daughters. The subculture first appeared online in the 1990’s, when a group of elf enthusiasts from the University of Kentucky circulated an online newsletter called Elfkind Digest. Eventually this morphed into usenet groups, such as alt.fan.dragons, whose members claimed to be mythical creatures in some fashion.

By the early 2000’s, the usenet groups transformed into forums. Perhaps the first dedicated otherkin forum was an evolution of alt.fan.dragons, though eventually that forum shut down, and more general otherkin forums (those not only dedicated to dragons) gave way. By 2004, websites dedicated to information and articles about otherkin were sprinkled around the internet like little snowflakes.

Otherkin forums waxed and waned for the next decade, with many opening and closing depending upon what kintypes were popular and how strict the moderation was. Forums were often at complete odds with one another; the forums that harbored ‘realists’, such as otherkin.com, openly disliked forums that were more openly accepting of everybody, such as The Otherkin Community. However, there were rarely any clashes between the forums, as it was easy to just join one and ignore the others.

OTHERKIN AND TUMBLR

At around 2010-2012, a few of the louder-speaking otherkin made a migration to tumblr, and many of the older members followed. As you can expect, this had disastrous results on the community. Numerous, long-standing forums shut down due to inactivity, and an array of new people decided that they were otherkin due to the large amounts of attention that the crowd was receiving. Once a very elusive subculture, there were now many new otherkin willing to talk about the trials of the movement and how persecuted they are. In short, the otherkin subculture succumbed to tumblr. Such is life.

OTHERKIN AND MENTAL ILLNESS

As I mentioned earlier, my hypothesis is that otherkin tend to have fantasy-prone personalities that they haven’t been able to restrain. There is also a theory that many otherkin suffer from schizotypal personality disorder, which really makes sense, given that unusual spiritual beliefs is a piece of the diagnosis. The tumblr-age otherkin seem to be more attention-seeking than anything, which saddens me a little bit. For a strange, previously obscure subculture, it had a very rich history and set of beliefs. It’s a shame that they were hijacked as a means to seek attention, even if the subculture was never healthy to begin with.

BECOMING OTHERKIN

As I mentioned earlier, all self-proclaimed otherkin have to undergo an awakening in order to call themselves otherkin. In short, they have to realise that they are somehow connected to a mythical creature. Traditionally, awakening has come in many forms. The top three are probably mediation, dreams, and through the practice of magick. Pre-tumblr, new otherkin usually had to have a good excuse as to why they felt that they weren’t human in order to become accepted by the community.

OTHERKIN, MAGICK, AND RELIGION

As I’ve probably said quite a few times, otherkin are linked with the neopagan and New Age movements. That is, many of them make liberal use of spells and rituals in their daily lives. The type of magick that they harnessed really depended upon kintype, though, if I recall, there were quite a few spells and meditative exercises to determine which element one was most aligned to. Paganism is strange. Anyway, the focus of otherkin tended to be upon past-life regression, astral projection (OBEs), and various hoohaw that aligned to their favorite element. I’m sure that you can draw your own conclusions as to what sort of mythical creature would find themselves at home in a certain element. There were a lot of resources on meditation, which seemed to be a cornerstone of the subculture.

Although Otherkin never adopted an official religion, the subculture was based heavily upon pagan beliefs. However, self-proclaimed otherkin tended to assimilate these beliefs into their own spiritual practices. There were quite a few Christian otherkin. Likewise, there were many atheistic otherkin who believed that their experiences were completely psychological.

OTHERKIN AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Unfortunately, at the time there are very few academic studies upon otherkin, or any other internet subcultures. You can change this by begging the nearest internet anthropologist to become their grad student, then asking me to co-author a study. ;)

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

To be honest, I really enjoyed the otherkin subculture as it was prior to tumblr. I’ve always been a fantasy-prone person, but I’ve been self-aware enough to stop myself before I dive into a lifestyle driven by mythical creatures and spells. It’s a shame that the group was more or less untouched by anthropologists before it migrated to tumblr, as it’s changed irreparably since then. I’m sure that most of you equate otherkin with fanatical SJWs, as tumblr otherkin are indeed fanatical, but they used to be a very interesting New Age group with some ridiculous customs and values.

RESOURCES

Otherkin Timeline[2]

Otherkin.net[3]

Otherkin Wiki[4]