Sevenfold Silence

I had a long conversation with my unicorn friend (the night she left--sigh) about what to do with the fact that you're otherkin.

A lot of people, I think, fixate on identity as it relates to otherkin, and stop there. (Lupa wrote a very nice article on this. Here's a Theri There comic, too.) I think it's easy for us to fixate on identity. Our psyches, our abilities, our energy flow, our memories are all deep and interesting to explore, and while this is true for plain vanilla humans, too, we're interesting in new and novel ways. It's very easy to twig into the potentially masturbatory nature of being otherkin, coddling the identity-phase, fixating on it, digging out every personal quirk and every lost memory.

But eventually I think this becomes kind of passe. It's boring--or, rather, ultimately it turns up nothing new beyond a very few superficial things. The identity's established and known. The peculiar otherkin current runs in you. Time to move on from there. (This isn't condemnation of the identity-development phase; I think it's very important. But it's just that--a phase--and you can only stay in it so long.)

The current runs, yes--what can you do with it? I'm not necessarily talking about "why are we here", callings, or divine mandates or anything, although it can manifest as that. The fact is, that some (not all) 'kin have peculiar 'kin-related talents. Some sense and move energy like it ain't no thang. Some commune easily with spirits. Some walk between the worlds. Some make beautiful art. Some spread love.

Once you have your identity, once you know what's going on with yourself, how can you use what you've gleaned from the depths of your soul to its best ability? "Otherkin" shouldn't be an excuse to stop personal development, or "accept yourself as what you are"--it should be a challenge, I think, to use what you've got and reach for something amazing.