Current mood:

amused

I'm A Dragon!
I recently came upon an internet sub-culture I'd previously been unaware of.

"Otherkin" are a group of people who SERIOUSLY believe themselves to not be fully human, or even human at all. Either through reincarnation or some other mystical explanation, otherkin believe that their soul or their spirit- or even their physical form is that of either a mythical creature, such as a unicorn, fairy, mermaid, elf, dragon, griffin, vampire, or angel, or a real animal, such as a fox, a lion, a wolf, or a dolphin. There are even some who believe that they are aliens. Those that believe they are physically not human explain their human appearance by some sort of "glamour" or shapeshifting ability.


Many Otherkin feel that they are much older than their human years, and often believe they have special powers such as psychic ability, healing ability, empathic ability, and whatnot. Some feel they are "superior" to humans and complain about humans a lot. They refer to the process of realizing that they are not human as "Awakening" and many believe that they are more than ONE mystical creature, such as dragon/cat hybrids and whatnot. Many get very offended if their beliefs/abilities are questioned, and there's often a lot of dissent within the community, like when a fox otherkin might claim that the angel otherkin are full of shit, because they don't actually serve God or something.

Here's a few links that describe this phenomenon better:
Otherkin Abilities
Otherkin.net
You Might Be Otherkin If...
otherkin


For debate: Although I do try to respect people's spiritual and religious beliefs, to put it bluntly, I think anyone who believes themselves to physically be a fairy/wolf hybrid is either self-delusional or quite possibly psychotic. Most of these people tend to share some traits- social ineptness, serious depression or other psychological problems, a love of fantasy/sci-fi novels and RPGs, and not feeling like they "fit in" in society. It's understandable that an overweight, pimply, 16 year-old nerd would want to escape into fantasy by daydreaming about life as a majestic winged dragon, but I think it negatively affects the person's life when they take the fantasy and act as if it's reality. It gives them an excuse to continue in their anti-social ways because now they feel they're "better" than the mean humans who teased them in high school. Instead of growing up and facing reality, they find online communities that become their only link to other people, and they all reinforce each other's delusions.

But does this vary from typical religious beliefs? Is considering yourself "otherkin" any less delusional than being a Wiccan? A Christian?

Side debate: Is it cruel and intolerant to mock these people, or is it good, clean, fun?