Theories of Causes of Otherkin
Because people have been asking about non-metaphysical theories behind otherkin, and I’m additionally seeing lots of people with the misconception that “otherkin” means “caused by past lives”…
I’ve spent several years collecting theories about the causes of an otherkin identity/nature from the community. This is by no means a complete list, but it’s what I’ve managed to gather. (I would love to hear any theories that aren’t on this list!) You can find an earlier, more formatted version (though a therianthropy-centric version, because that’s where I spent the first several years of my time in the community) of this list at Project Shift.
- Archetypal: Otherkin are connecting on a deep personal level to archetypes and mythic symbols, and embodying those archetypes.
- Biological: Being otherkin is a biological phenomenon, rooted in the hindbrain and showing up in physical characteristics and changes, like elongated eyeteeth and shifting eye color. Or there’s an abnormality of the brain, a genetic mutation. (Can be said to go along with the “genetic” theory.)
- Dissociation: Being otherkin is related to or due to a dissociative disorder, whether it be full dissociative identity disorder or a lesser form of dissociation. Shifting is dissociation from higher thought processes and emotion, the “human side”.
- Dual Souls/Walk-In: Two souls occupy the otherkin’s body, one human and one non-human, or his soul is part non-human and part human.
- Energetic Resonance: The otherkin’s energy resonates at the same frequency or on the same wavelength as that of their kintype, leading to some similarities and identification.
- Everyone’s Otherkin: Everyone’s an otherkin, everyone has a non-human aspect. But very few people become aware of or accepting of this fact, and so there aren’t a lot of awakened otherkin. Anyone can awaken, though, and become otherkin.
- Genetic: Otherness is passed from generation to generation, like body type or some mental disorders.
- Imprinting (from Winged Wolf’s site): When young, the human imprinted on an animal of a different species, and thus grew to believe (at some level) that she was that animal, imitating the behavior and mannerisms of that animal.
- Links to Gaia: Therians are links to nature and the primal side of humanity, an attempt by nature or deities or some other power to return balance to the world. Therians are to fight for this and protect the environment.
- Links to Magic: Otherkin are links to magic and the otherworlds, an attempt by deities or Faerie or some other power to return magic to the world. The duty of otherkin is to bring magic into mundane life and introduce wonder into the world around them; this was one of the original purposes behind glamourbombing. (This theory is most often seen with fae-kin.)
- Mental: Otherkin identity is a mental fabrication, where the person desires so much to be something other that sie tricks hir mind into experiencing shifts of perception, phantom limbs, etc. It’s an elaborate game of ‘let’s pretend” taken to a new, more vibrant, more serious level. (Similar to the “dissociation” theory.)
- Neurological: Otherkin identity and the experience of being other-than-human results from atypical neurology. An article by Liesk explores this at greater length.
- Primal Association (from Winged Wolf’s site): “Everyone has a primal side–this is the part of the brain and personality which is instinct-driven. It may be that in some persons, the primal side is very well-developed. On top of that, the person may identify their primal nature with an animal or animals, similar to the way a dissociative has separated different personalities in their mind.”
- Psychic Connection (from Winged Wolf’s site): “If a person, when very young, developed a very deep psychic link with a certain animal, then they may take on–or take in–the mind of that animal to such a degree that it becomes a part of them, and remains so even after the link is severed.”
- Reincarnation: The otherkin was hir kintype in a past life, and shifts are past life memories. Or hir soul is non-human, but instead of being reincarnated into the corresponded body, something happened to reincarnate hir as a human. Or sie spent enough lifetimes as a certain species (or had a lifetime as that species that heavily impacted her soul) that the energetic nature of hir soul (or something of the like) is that of a certain non-human species.
- Shamanic/Totemic: Therianthropes are people with a natural affinity for shamanic practices, astral shape-shifting, etc, and their theriotype is their power animal, not who they are. Or the totem animal of the therianthrope has more influence over the therianthrope’s behavior and mannerisms, or they’re more in touch with their totem.
- Soul Parts: The soul has many parts (such as with the Egyptian concept of the soul or the Norse concept of the self) and one or more of those parts resonates with, has the nature/shape of, or in some other way is non-human. This can also explain people with multiple kintypes, if each part is, in some way, a different “species”.
- Soul Splitting/Shattering: Souls can split, break, fission, or shatter into more than one piece, and often do. Soul-pieces sometimes/often fuse onto other soul-pieces, and sometimes a nonhuman soul-piece fuses to a human soul, resulting in an otherkin.
- Spiritual Link: The otherkin is linked to an animal or non-human spirit (similar to the concept of daemon in the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman). This link provides hir with some non-human behaviors and instincts.
ooooo oh no i’m SO UPSET that the neurological link is broken 8(((
this was posted 12/6/11, and doesn’t have a “psychological” category which is so interesting
Also just reblogging for the neat info.
“Shamanic/Totemic: Therianthropes are people with a natural affinity for shamanic practices, astral shape-shifting, etc, and their theriotype is their power animal, not who they are. Or the totem animal of the therianthrope has more influence over the therianthrope’s behavior and mannerisms, or they’re more in touch with their totem.”
Out-dated language used here. It needs a substitute that does not imply any association with closed cultures. Also, in terms of the bolding, this is not otherkin. Otherkin ARE their kintype on a deep internal level. (Still physically human, still with a functional human intelligence.) See otherhearted instead.
Otherkin who often pursue astral or journey work will very likely see themselves AS their kintype. Astral shapeshifting as a mental or spiritual exercise is also possible and might not mean that you’re otherkin, or otherkin who shift into something other than their usual kintype shouldn’t automatically assume they have a new kintype. Temporary or cameo shifts are possible.
For example, there is a difference between having a dragon soul and hanging out with a dragon in the unseen and shifting your astral form to learn about dragons.
Otherwise, this seems like a well thought out list of some of the most often heard theories.
