A Few Questions

[Danielle]

I am quite curious about, well everything, and I have a few questions for anyone who cares to answer or share their oppinion.
My first question is, Do mermaids exist? Personally I think they do.
My second question is, Do dragons exist? I have had people tell me they do just not on this plane of existance. But personally I'm not sure.
My third and final question is, What do otherkin view themselves as? I ask this because I'm not so sure what they "are" persay. Like therians are animals and humans in the same body, vampires are debated between many things but theres a general idea of what they are, but I've never come across a general understanding of otherkin.

[The Sentinel]

The questions you ask mostly depend on what you're asking them in context of. Do you mean in the physical "real" world? Then the answer is unequivocally no. Now, do they exist on other "planes"? Then quite probably yes. I believe that dragons, at the very least, have existed in the past (on the physical level) since they are spread throughout many, many mythos. Now, they likely aren't quite what we expect them to be from a modern standpoint, they could've been dinosaurs that people remade into flying beasts, who knows.

From what I know of otherkin, they tend to believe themselves sharing the body or having the soul of some sort of mythical creatures (dragon, unicorn, faerie, etc.) and as such do not believe themselves to be human. I am not certain whether I actually believe otherkin or not, to be entirely honest. I have a similar view of therianthropy - though I will not directly discount them because that would be hypocritical of me.

[Danielle]

I was asking the questions in a general context, basically if, where, and or when they did or do exist. The whole thing that baffles me about the dragon is exactly that, that they exist in almost every culture world wide in some form or another and that couldnt just be a co-incidence, but the theory that they may have just been dinosaurs can't be dismissed because no one knows the truth.

Oh so that's what otherkin are supposed to be.......it seems a little odd really, but so does the whole therian thing lol. Well it's not impossible and who would I be to say it is? Hey if an animal and a human can share a body then why can't faeries exist? right?

[The Sentinel]

Well, faeries existing isn't something that I, personally, question since I have had a great deal of interaction with the pesky creatures. However, I hold a good deal of healthy skepticism for otherkin in general. Mostly because a good deal of them tend to be what is commonly called "fluffy." I do not mean that to insult anyone, but some people have trouble blurring the lines between reality and fantasy and since I went through that phase as a child it does not surprise me that others would go through such a thing also.

[Stiles Mornay]

Based on what I learned during my training with my former master, I believe that those who see themselves as otherkin are reincarnated souls of such. This led me to my conclusion that there was indeed a time that otherkin actually existed as what they are physically. But comes the problem: if they did existed physically, where are the fossils, ya know? That's when my former master pointed out that the otherkin were from the astral realm, reincarnating into this world. He then went on to say that this wasn't always so, since one time, the spirit realm and the physical world was one world instead of separated. To me, it made some sense, but ever since, I've been looking for any form of proof that the realms were once one.

In any case, based on my development and personal experiences, I see myself as one of the otherkin; to be more exact, an Angel/Demon hybrid. Still looking for proof on that one, more specifically, past life data that would confirm that.

[Danielle]

Thank you ever so much for taking the time and sharing your knowledge, I find it very intreaging.

[Moros_Will_Lore]

To give a little crazy talk, or personal theories, I think the spirit realm and real world were one- but not on this planet. I think Earth's spirits are divided up into Native's born here and Traveler's who've come here. I think a spirit merger with the material world can be very good, but very dangerous. Like splitting the atom.

In other words, Otherkin, in my own theories, are people who are:
1) Reincarnates of Traveller's or Spiritual Natives
2) People who want to be reincarnates and reshape their spirit through their own will

To be honest, spotting 'posers' can be very difficult, as a powerful human occultist who wants to be Otherkin will probably appear as such through alteration of their own spirit. It's a murky area, considering how much will, belief, and intent can muck with the spirit world.

[Stiles Mornay]

..Heh, Moros. For a long time, I was obsessed with the idea of the spirit and physical worlds back together. Eventually, I abandoned that idea over time and what I learned. While it can be good, its also bad at the same time. Why is that? Simply put, it's a very good chance the spirit world takes over the physical world because it has something to do with vibrations. The spirit world's at a much higher frequency than the physical world's, hence the physical being replaced by the spirit world which becomes "physical" in the end. It's weird, I know.

And yes, yer pretty much correct as to how much thoughts can influence the spirit world. Over there, thoughts can take form. It's sort of easier than ya think how one can alter his/her appearances spiritually. Its basically all in the focus. Pulling it off's way easier compared to holding it in the long-term.

[diss]

for your first two questions, if you're asking whether mermaids and dragons exist as physical creatures on this planet, i would say very probably not. i certainly see no evidence pointing towards their existence. if you're talking about their existence on a spiritual/astral/what-have-you level, and/or as physical beings elsewhere in this truly vast universe we live in, then i don't see how they could not exist.

as to otherkin, i do not know what we are, nor do i believe that anybody today can say with any certitude that they know.

my own observations of and experience with otherkin lead me to believe that we are many different things. at the very least i'd differentiate between fae (who generally seem to have a relatively coherent background and history, and often claim a physical lineage leading back to what is now ireland), therians (who of course many don't even group with otherkin), and other otherkin (angel-/demon-kin, dragons, a whole host of others, who are an incredibly diverse bunch).

the only ones of this final group which i can properly speak for are dragons, and even i am sure that i can't speak for all, and perhaps not even for the majority of dragons. this is also my personal understanding of what i am as a dragon. i believe that we are, as moros suggests, foreign souls currently incarnating as human. most of us do not have a common origin, indeed i have not encountered any single two dragons with a shared phenotype. our memory and history of being dragons vary widely (for those of us who recall our history), our experience of being dragons in this life is very diverse, and the personal meaning we derive from our draconicity is completely individual.

if we accept the "foreign souls" and the "many species" hypothesis, that would also allow us to account for many of the less common (and possibly unique) otherkin. however, i do not expect these hypothesis to account for all otherkin, or even for all dragons, and fully expect others to have other experiences or hypothesis.

for myself, i have some (very few) memories of physically being a dragon. i remember flying, and ache to feel the wind under my wings. i experience phantom limbs. i shift into my dragonform on the astral level. at this time, i have no idea what it all means, but that is okay with me.

just my two cents.

[Danielle]

wow, that all seems very interesting, thanks for sharing that.  So you said that you remembered physically being a dragon, can you recall your surroundings from those memories?

[diss]

i can recall some of my environment. it was mountainous, rocky, cold and windy. i would have said northerly, the sun was often low on the horizon. very little vegetation, in particular at altitude. others might describe it as desolate, to me it was and is beautiful. there were also hot springs, though i get the impression that not everybody had that luxury.

(if you've been to iceland, then you might have encountered my kind of surroundings).

there's also (shallow) caves which we lived in, we used fire and simple tools. we lived individually or in very small groups, but had networks of associations, of other dragons we knew and would recognise/meet.

i remember going to war, which brings many confusing emotions. there was a lot of excitement, there was a lot of fear too, and desperation. the sight of us all in the sky as we flew into battle was glorious and terrifying. more dragons than i had ever seen (but compared to human crowds, tiny. we weren't more than a hundred, probably far fewer). many of us died, far too many.

[Stiles Mornay]

... Hm. Okay, I'll go out on a limb here, Diss. In any of yer past lives as a Dragon, do ya know of one called Asherah?

I know that name belongs to a goddess, but ya know what I mean.

[diss]

Stiles, i am afraid i must disappoint. i have very little memory of individuals, and can't remember any names at all, not even my own.

since i re-awakened to my draconicity last year i have been learning more about who and what i am, and there is hope that i might remember more as time goes on. but for now that's all i'm comfortable sharing.

[Stiles Mornay]

Gotcha. I understand.

[paindancer]

Well.....

Im going to ruffle a lot of feathers and fangs here...

Otherkin describe themselves all sorts of ways.  They get very caught up with a specific type and identity.  Ultimately however it comes down to a single unifying trait:  A human being who correctly feels the soul housed in that physical body is not human.

Thats going to piss off a lot of people to hear that, but when you get down to the foundation of what everyone is saying, and get past the 'breed' fighting thats what it is, and in many cases that includes vampires, as vampiric tendencies tend to be a common side effect of many otherkin.  (makes sense when you are running around in a body you are not designed for).

And yes, I am on a vampire board, stating that many vampires are just otherkin.  They simply haven't gotten past the energy issues.

That said, its a big universe out there and just about everything you can imagine probably exists somewhere.  Some souls certainly travel from host to host, and in the case of otherkin, there is an echo, or set of echos from other existences that they are, at some level, aware of.  Therians, for example have an affinity for wolves, although I fully disbelieve that anyone can verify a true shift.  Feeling like you can shift, however isnt at all uncommon, as 'feeling' limbs or body orientations from other existences happens.  (Ghost limb wings or tails for example, really no fun at all).

In general, the fatty structure we call a brain, dosnt deal too well with any existence but the immediate physical one it is  involved in.  Therefore, many 'kin-type' souls, who retain multiple awareness of past or parralel lives, can often supply the organic brain with more information than it can handle.  Its like a second image you could see on the old analog televisions of a separate show coming over to the first.

Biologically, and socially, we are not set up to deal with this or support it, which leaves the individual in a desperate struggle to make some sort of sanity out of this data, which does not apply to the current situation.  Not everyone manages, and I am sure there are more than a few otherkin locked up in varying mental institutions.  However, we have a fairly rich media, which provides all sorts of imaginative templates and concepts for other beings.  Some of this 'extra data' fits in quite nicely with some of these concepts, be it demon, or angel, therian, or fae.. the list goes on.

Quite a few people put a lot of stake into these templates, with that persona becoming even more important than the current physical one.  The personal mythology becomes more intricate and often times more fiercely guarded as well.  There is good reason for this in many cases, because its a place to put data that dosnt fit in this world.  Kin very often have a very elaborate, and fixed personal mythology that literally keeps them sane.  They fiercely defend threats to that.

So.. there you go... a very pragmatic, and probably too close to home for some synopsis of what a otherkin is.

Im sure there are other answers out there.  Keep asking if you dont like mine.