#kin posts

Greetings, and welcome to the Otherkin Community! As that is what we are, Otherkin, not kinnies. You may have seen that word tossed around a lot on this website, but is generally only in use by trolls and anti-kin. 

Now, there is quite a difference between being Otherkin or a Copinglink(Or a subset group of Otherkin you may want to consider: Fictionkin) I can help by breaking down these different experiences as well as provide you some links to resources. Keep in mind, this all will come down to figuring out on your own, as no one can tell you whether you are these things or not. It is important though, to not misuse these terms. 

Otherkin  A subculture of people who identify in mind or in spirit as something other than human. This experience is described by Otherkin as involuntary and not chosen. An Otherkin can not turn their identity on or off, existing inseparably from the species they identify as.         

Examples 

(Spiritual Otherkin) - A dragonkin who spiritually believes to have the soul of a dragon lives as a dragon spirit in a human body.

( Psychological Otherkin) -  A Gryphonkin who psychologically believes to have the mind or brain of a Gryphon, lives as a Gryphon in a human body.

Fictionkin An Otherkin-adjacent experience. Fictionkin are people who identify in mind or in spirit as characters, species, or beings from fictional media. Just as Otherkin, this identity phenomenon is involuntary and not chosen.      

Examples 

( Spiritual Fictionkin ) - A pokemonkin who spiritually believes to have been a pokemon in a past life, currently lives as a pokemon spirit in a human body. 

( Psychological Fictionkin ) - A pokemonkin who psychologically believes themselves to have the mind of a pokemon, lives as a pokemon in a human body. 

Copinglink A chosen identity, where a person emulates an identity as a coping method. A copinglink can be chosen to fit a variety of reason to aid in coping with a mental illness, trauma, or other factors in an individual’s life. A copinglink can be turned on or off, or when needed.          

Examples

 ( Creature Coping) - A phoenixlinker, identifies as a phoenix to cope with life after experiencing abuse. They feel safe and comforted in this choice of identity and identify with being reborn from the flames of their trauma. 

( Fictional Coping) - A fictionlinker, identifies as a character they love and relate strongly to from a cartoon. They relate to the struggles and strength of the character, taking on the identity to cope with their own. 

The separation of Otherkin and Copinglink boils down to one being an inherent identity that is not chosen(Otherkin), or an identity that is chosen or taken on with a purpose(Copinglink).

I hope that I have explained the basics of these two well enough, but here are some more sources you can check out about them. You can as well ask me any further questions, if you should like me to clarify anything more! 

- Azaphaer

Resources

A little guide on how to find, what sort of kin am I?

  What am I?

A common question in the community, if not the most common, usually comes down to: “what am I?” And is pretty much followed by “how do I confirm what my kintype is?”

Now, before I get into this, right at the door we are going to toss the word “confirm” into the bin. It’s just not possible. No ‘kin new or old can ever confirm this for anyone or even themselves. Since our identifies as non-human have no basis of validity in science currently, we have to accept this. Instead let’s use the word “conclude”. Ah yes, that’s much better. 

Great. So now that we unfortunately have established we can not in fact confirm this 100% as a fact, we can rather, come to a conclusion of what our kintype is. That, my otherly friends, is what I am going to talk about in this post. 

  Introspection!

From the start, being Otherkin always begins with one’s self reflection. Whether you are spiritual or psychological, your kintype is a reflection of you. It is you.  This is something that has always been integral to the core meaning of Otherkinity. A deep feeling within you has brought you to this, and now its time to find out what. Within this introspection, you are gonna want to ask yourself questions. This is probably the most important and one of my most recommended ways to start this journey actually. If you skip this, you’re gonna have a harder time figuring yourself out, cause odds are, you most likely have a thousand thoughts rushing through your head. You have awakened to a part of yourself that completes you, makes up who you are! Making sense of those thoughts will be easier to process by asking yourself questions and taking note of your answers. Of course, joining community spaces can be helpful, as it is also common practice to receive questions from your fellow kinfolk. They are just as curious to know how you’ve come to discover this about yourself, and even help you with figuring this out. So don’t fret! We all went through this stage. :)

While introspecting and asking yourself questions, it’s definitely important to A.) Ask the right questions, and B.) Write it down somewhere or record it somehow. There really is no such thing as a wrong question per say(or likewise a wrong answer), but rather questions more suitable for the answer we are seeking. 

There are 3 key questions I’ve listed, that break down into more in depth thoughts you want to consider: 

What are you feeling? 

- what is your body like?, your limbs?, what kind of posture?

What are you doing? 

- what are your behaviors?, what are your senses like?

What are you seeing? 

- how do you see your environment, what is your home like? Those 3 starting points break down into the things you should be questioning about yourself, that once narrowed down can help lead you to a more refined conclusion. Odds are, if you answer these questions, it will eliminate a lot of potential creatures, but also open you up to ones you could consider. 

If you’re having difficulty with answering them, worry not. Finding out your kintype is not an easy road and can take time. You should take your time. Never let it be a rushed conclusion. Sometimes you may end up trying to make yourself out to be something you are not, and we want to avoid that as much as we can. BUT, if you do discover something you thought was a kintype, truly wasn’t, there is nothing wrong with that! 

  Research and Learning 

So, we’ve laid out the kind of questions you should ask yourself, but what should you do with that information? Well, now it’s time for some good old fashioned research and learning! If you’ve written down the answers to your questions, or are rather pulling them from memory, you can now apply that to searching for things that match your newfound criteria. 

Whether this will be through the internet, books, or even taking a trip to the zoo, it should be easier to pinpoint what your being is. There is no limit to the sources you can use to find information, and this is in my opinion, the fun part of personal discovery! You are not only going to learn more about yourself, but also about many other creatures that you may have never even heard of! 

No matter how you do it, take the information you’ve gathered and compile it into a place you can access it. A notebook, a computer file, a blog, whatever works for you! You now have a knowledge base of information you can go to when comparing your thoughts against the different creature(s) you are questioning! 

Aka: If you are “kinning for fun” you are not Otherkin

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It is always disheartening to see how many people still appropriate being Otherkin to something no more than “for fun”...

I want to start this post as a reminder to everyone that it is okay to realize if you are not Otherkin. This is something I strongly think you should consider before taking the label.

That it’s okay to enjoy role play without it being kin. It’s okay to have a faceclaim and not be kin. It’s okay to strongly relate to something and not be kin.

You don’t need to call something kin to make it special to you. Those things are great ways to express your joy and fun in something, but it’s just not the same as being Otherkin. And that’s alright!

You don’t have to be kin to be unique.

You don’t have to be kin to fit in with others.

You don’t have to be kin to enjoy a thing.

You don’t have to change yourself to feel valid.

If you enjoy a character or animal or being, have fun relating to it and find joy in it, you don’t need to take our terms to feel “valid” in that. Using the term kin doesn’t validate you at all actually. You are already perfectly fine to enjoy what you do and feel good about yourself. However, when you try and take our word that has meaning that doesn’t apply to you, it is not okay to steal it and wear it like a badge.

Otherkin are a subculture of people who experience the /involuntary/ phenomenon of identifying /AS/ something other than human. If you are not also experiencing this and using our terminology, you are /appropriating/ us.

Otherkin is not just for “fun”.

One can not “choose” to be kin.

You can not “pick up” or “drop kintypes”.

You are Otherkin or you are not.

The experience of being Otherkin is one that most of us are born with, even if we don’t “awaken” to it until later. We did not choose to be this way, as it’s something we don’t have control over. It’s not something we actively make ourselves feel or do, we simply are. It’s an integral identity to ourselves that we quite literally can’t go anywhere without. Just as you can’t turn off being human, we can’t turn off our kintype(s).

It’s important to be open minded to the possibiltiy that what you read on tumblr regarding kin is not the truth to our community. There is a whole lot of misinformation on this site, and I urge you to dig a little deeper than the forefront of social media, or to feel pressured into this hive mind of kinning to feel like you belong to something.

Being otherkin is not special.

It’s not about belonging.

Being otherkin is about being who you are.

If you have a hunch you are otherkin, find some sources and read about us! Ask around some reputable community members for any advise or to be put in the right direction for information. Most of us are always happy to help others learn about us.(I am always open for any questions) Be prepared to find that otherkinity is more than what you may have seen on the surface and it’s okay to not relate to it and it’s okay to accept this about yourself.