your blog and posts are beautiful. Thank you for making them.
I would like to ask about my heartype, ravens/crows. I crave wings. I crave for the feeling of the weight on my back, the freedom of flying and gliding over the world. I need to preen, I need to run my beak across my chest, getting rid of the loose feathers and cleaning the dirty ones.
But I cannot. I am stuck in this body. I can’t even feel my wings, as I do not shift, and meditation doesn’t do anything for me. I have even tried hypnosis, which has little to no effect on me.
I just ask for your advice. What can I do to feel like myself again?
I know. It is difficult being trapped in a human body. I understand your struggles.
I cannot promise the advice I give will help. I myself am not strongly connected to any winged creatures, though I have a few on my kin questioning list. Even then, I am not strongly connected with them. But here are some ideas I could come up with.
I'd recommend spending some time outside, maybe collect sticks and make a little nest for yourself in your yard. Or you could make a blanket nest indoors. For flight, maybe try looking up some flying videos. You could even have a fan blowing in your face as you do so. Listen to crow/raven calls. In doing some research, I've learned they have a good number of different ones and can even mimic sounds, including humans, apparently. Maybe try mimicking some of their sounds if you can.
They also seem to love to play around, so just have some fun. They've been known to play with snow, sticks, anything really. So go outside and mess around. Besides, that has the added fun of letting you preen. While you may not have feathers, you can pick sticks and leaves from your hair and clothes to try and simulate the feeling of preening.
As for wings, you could try to make yourself some since I know buying them might get expensive. There are probably many cosplayers who have tutorials on how to make wings. If you are unable to do that, try using a weighted blanket to simulate the feeling. Even just a regular blanket could work as well. Maybe a backpack could help imitate the weight.
While I may not have this problem with wings, I do have an extra pair of arms. For me, I barely get shifts with them, and they always are vague. When I get shifts, and even often when I don't, I like to imagine them on me. This may not work for most because it requires a lot of imagination and most crave a physical feeling, but for me, it brings a lot of comfort. I enjoy thinking about what my extra set of arms would be doing, how they would be posing, and how I would use them. Maybe my method might work for you, if you wish to try.
The main advice I could give is to do research on crows/ravens. Maybe you'll see something you can do as well.
Also, maybe reach out to others in the community. I don't know much about bird kin/heartypes. Maybe you can find another raven or crow otherhearted or therian, or winged otherkin in general, to give you advice and tips that have helped them.
Just remember, if you feel like you are a raven/crow. Then you are a raven/crow. In whatever way you feel like.
I wish I could help you more.
Have a blessed flight, little raven.
