No, otherkin don't think they're oppressed

Welcome to otherkindfaq. This is a gathering of resources for otherkin/d, therians, and related groups, and the successor to the otherkinfaq blog. Blog owner's pronouns are he/him. [mobile links] [help me out]

[otherkindfaq]

hi

[blackwoolncrown]

White people really do not understand the idea of cultural appropriation so I’m gonna explain it to you one y’alls level okay? Bc the absurdity of these counter-arguments I’m getting is out of hand, and I’m tired of arguing with people so far beneath my level on a subject that harms me more than them. You live in a little village where everyone is identified by the clothes they wear. Everyone in the village has a blue shirt. Your family has a blue shirt with polka dots on it. The people in your village eat lots of tasty yellow fruit with a special mixture of spices and pray to a fruit god every time you eat them. You also eat lots of nuts, but that’s not as important. This is your village’s culture. 

There is rumored to be a village to the west of you, where everyone is given a special toy shaped like an animal when they are born. It is very important to every individual, and means a lot to them. They keep it and polish it all their lives, and it is burned when they die. They eat special starchy balls full of meat, but also once a month,make a drink that honors their dead. This is their culture.

If…

The two villages have grown bigger and bigger over time, which makes them spread closer and closer to eaach other. There are no big territorial battles- the two villages like each other and sometimes share resources. If someone from the first village passes through the second, someone might give them some of their food for the trip and vice versa, so now some people in each village like and sometimes make the food of the other. A few people who have made close friends with people in the other village begin wearing colored shirts like them, or giving their children a special animal doll because someone from that village explained why that was special and invited them to do so. Things from each culture are shared with respect and friendship, and this happened naturally. This is CULTURAL INTEGRATION.

If….

The shirt-wearing village considers itself bigger and stronger. They have invented spears that help them hunt, but think maybe hunting would be even easier if they had more wood from the other villages territory, and less competition. So they decide to invade, fight and kill people in the animal-doll village. They kill some of their stronger warriors and subdue the rest of the villagers. When they are done, they let these villagers into their village as long as they agree to stop carving animal dolls, as long as they agree to learn their language, and as long as they agree to eat and dress like them, and leave their culture behind. This is CULTURAL ASSIMILATION. If….

People from the two villages see each other from time to time but aren’t all that friendly. The shirt-wearing village likes the look of the dolls from the animal-doll village, and decides to make their own just like them, without asking. They’ve heard the dolls have a complex ceremony and meaning, but they don’t care. To the animal-doll village’s dismay, they learn that the shirt-wearers have been making ‘soulless’ animal dolls that are not connected to a villager, are not prayed over the right way, and in their belief is a dead and cursed thing. They never asked, and they did not follow the rules. In the meantime, many shirt-wearers steal fish from the animal-doll village’s fishing cages, stomp on their crops for fun when they are drunk, and make rude faces at them when they see them in the fields. They learn how to make the special drink they commune with the dead with, but drink it all the time, carelessly, and still won’t talk nicely to the animal-doll village people. They are mostly disrespectful, but still take things from the other village without being nice to them, and without asking. They enjoy the things the animal-doll people make, but do not enjoy them, and cause them suffering. This is CULTURAL APPROPRIATION.

And lastly….

You, a shirt-wearer with a blue spotted shirt, are playing with a toy. Another child comes up to you and in a friendly manner, asks to play. You hand them your toy. This is sharing.

Another day, a different child with a red shirt points at your blue shirt, makes fun of it, and takes your toy. This is stealing. This is more like Cultural Appropriation.

You guys need to learn that there are more ways for a culture to spread than just Appropriation. Cultural Appropriation is not ‘the sharing of a culture’. Fighting Cultural Appropriation does not keep cultures from evolving. It is simply pointing out that consent matters with culture, too, and when you take something from a culture you still disrespect and oppress, it’s not consensual, and the people do not have to let you do it.

[spiritual-kincommunity]

Meditation Resources

Meditation is an important part of discovering, confirming, and exploring your kintype. Through meditation, you can get more in touch with your soul and mind, you can amplify your awareness of your kintype, you can astral travel and evoke astral limbs, and you can regain memories of past lives, and so, so much more.

Down below you can find some resources (videos, articles, apps, etc.) and tips for meditation! If you have more tips, or want to correct something I have said, feel free to reblog this post and add your commentary!

Meditation Videos:

“Inner Wild Podcast” - podcast with Otherkin information and some guided meditation exercises and tips (Itunes + Soundcloud)

Therian specific guided meditation videos (playlist, 20min total)

Guided past life regression meditation video (1h)

Guided past life regression meditation video (1h) 

Guided past life regression meditation video (30min)

Guided past life regression meditation + spirit guide video (30min)

Guided astral projection technique/meditation video (90min)

Binaural Beats & Other Meditative Music:

Binaural beats - clear tone with (8h)

Binaural beats - underwater deep buzz (2h)

Music for lucid dreaming + relaxation (8h)

Music for lucid dreaming (8h)

Nature sounds music (3h)

Space themed music for relaxation and hypnosis (2h)

Articles, Blog posts, and Other Information:

“Inner Wild Podcast” meditation briefing blog post

#Meditation tag on @seriousotherkin​‘s Tumblr blog

Otherkin meditation + visualization ideas - blog post

20 Meditation tips for beginners - blog post

Astral projection for beginners - pop-journalistic article

3 articles on how to create a mental sanctuary: [x] [y] [z]

Apps, etc.:

“Breathe” (app with short guided/unguided non-spiritual meditation, breathing, and yoga exercises + tips, articles, and mood logging)

“Calm” (app with longer guided/unguided non-spiritual meditation + breathing exercises + sleeping programmes and calming sounds)

“Insight Timer” (app with more customizable meditations, and a bigger guided meditation + music library than the other provided apps)

Other tips:

Meditate daily! Practise makes perfect, and consistently doing smaller, easier meditations will prepare you for the longer, more spiritually useful ones.

Make sure you’re relaxed! Take breathers throughout the day, and when meditating, try visualising a warm light or a cleansing energy wash through every part of your body to the rhythm of your breath.

Daydream during the day! Conscious day dreaming is an incredible tool for visualisation practise, and most guided meditations build on good visualisation capabilities.

Create a mental sanctuary! Having a mental space in which you can place different parts of your mind and soul for you to easily visit can have a profound effect on the control you have over your own spirituality. The visual, in-your-mind-physical manifestations of your past lives and soul will make it easier to regain memories and get in tune with your kintype. In your mental sanctuary, you can have the physical body of your kintype as well. (But don’t tell anyone what your sanctuary looks like! It’s a superstitious belief, but if you at all believe in spirits, do not tell anyone the details of your sanctuary!)

Only do what you’re comfortable with! Don’t push yourself too hard, see to your mental health first, and don’t force yourself to do anything that you’re not comfortable with. Meditation can feel weird or unpleasant for everyone in the beginning, but remember that meditation isn’t for everyone and that that is okay!

But don’t limit youself to these resources! How your mind works is very personal, and you might get the best results from tailoring your own meditation. These resources are simply suggestions of what you can do, as well as guides and tips on how to tailor your own meditations!

[mulberrie]

I was searching but I couldn't find any so forgive me if you already made these and i didn't see but could you make a vampirekin badge and also maybe a batkin badge (if you only take one request at a time vampirekin would be rad) thank you ; w ;

why not both!!

(and i appreciate you checking, thats very considerate!)

[kindredarts-deactivated20180506]

Drew my theriotype in cartoon-y style. I identify as a brown medium/long hair tabby. 

art by me

[thatkinfeelwhen]

Tkfw you have a shift at the most INAPPROPRIATE FUCKING TIME

[space-strider]

hot take: ‘kinning’ isn’t a word bc being otherkin is something you are, not something you do

[azaphaer]

‘Nother drawing of yours truly~ As well as example for commissions if anyone is interested! $20 Lineart - $30 Color USD

[jeffery-draws]

I may not fly, but I’ll always be a dragon - Poem by Rupi Kaur

[therianomalocaris]

I got a fire breathing memory !

Do not tag as kin or me please, this is supposed to represent me and it would be hella weird. You know the drill.

[therianomalocaris]

Hey ! You ! Here’s a message for you !

Your kintypes are awesome. Your gender identity is valid. Everyone really likes you, and those who don’t are really missing out. Basically : you’re cool. 

Take it from me. I’m a big shrimp.

[aestherians]

Phytanthropy by Darahagh at House of Chimeras

“This is a general overview of how my identity is for me and some insight what is like for me as a phytanthrope. This is just how I personally feel. I am a southern live oak phytanthrope. A southern live oak in a human body. I identify as an oak tree on the inside. It might be strange, so be it, but that is how I feel. How I’ve always felt since I can remember. I cannot stop it. I can simply live with it. This article was my attempt at writing down some of my experience I relate to my phytanthropy. How well I succeed in explaining it, well, that I cannot be the judge of it.”

To read the rest of the article, follow the link at the top of this post.

House of Chimeras is a highly informative website with articles ranging from therianthropy to muliplicity, including almost everything alterhuman inbetween. Their systems hosts Darahagh, an oak tree, and one of the only phytanthropes I know of. I very much recommend both their blog and their tumblr account, @liongoatsnake

[chrispineofficial]

not to be fake deep but admitting you fucked up and saying you’re sorry is 100000000x more rewarding than defending flawed views or thoughtless if unintentionally so actions, 10/10 would recommend, it’s not losing face it’s earning respect

[queen-of-carrion-2-deactivated2]

Got my personal therianthropy symbol lasercut! Bigger one is to use as a badge at furry events, smaller one is for a necklace :)

Symbol was made using Nøkken’s therian/otherkin symbol system (still a work in progress)

[liongoatsnake]

If You Want to Read A Novel With An Otherkin Character...

… read The Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Our multiple system just finished reading it and it was soo good. Hard to find a copy (first published in 1970), we had to interlibrary loan one in, but the wait to read it was worth it. This young adult novel is a sort of coming-of- age story of a shy girl named Martha Abbott as well as a story of friendship between her and an imaginative girl named Ivy Carson. The novel follows their adventures throughout their childhood and into early teenage years. Ivy comes from a large family that is looked down upon by the rest of the town; however, Ivy does not consider herself truly a Carson. Instead, Ivy considers herself a Changeling, a supernatural being who has been placed among human parents to replace the real Ivy at birth. Martha, due to her shy and timid nature does not have many true friends and neither does Ivy due to recently being sent back to her parents and due to being a Carson. However, after meeting the soon become inseparable.  Snyder’s novel comes off to us as a realistic tale of a young otherkin growing up. The novel is not about Ivy being a changeling but her identification as one is a recurring topic throughout the book. Early on in the novel, Ivy confides in Martha about her feeling different from not only other people but also the rest of the large Carson family. Ivy’s feeling of otherness is further spurred on do to being raised away from the rest of the Carson family by her Aunt Evaline for the earliest years of her life as well as how her imaginative and fearless personality sets her apart from others. (Ivy’s identification could also perhaps be read into as copinglinking as well because the details given on why Ivy considers herself a changeling could go either way, but being otherkin we read it more as otherkin.)

[wizardcookie]

[wizardcookie]

everytime i see a mutual of mine reblog this i lose 50 more years of life

[otherkinthings]