who-is-page:

who-is-page:

haibakun:

i hope otherkin realise they’re taking a part of an actual religion their “spirit animal”

or, u know, the “cultural appropriation” everyone preaches about.

Ah yes. Being part of an open religion and having beliefs which classify me as otherkin even WITHOUT said religious affiliation is definitely cultural appropriation. And me having a kintype–which is not a spirit animal, and which I would never claim to be a spirit animal–is somehow me totally having a spirit animal. Yep. Seems completely legit.

This actually annoyed me so much I went out and hunted down something a friend of mine–who happens to be Native American–has said on the issue of otherkin and spirit animals. 

“Spirit Animals are a very complicated subject that’s more often than not, considered taboo to speak about with “Outsiders” (which could be non relatives, non Natives, depending on the person/group). You are and you aren’t your Spirit Animal. Often they are you in your purest form, they can be guides as infinitedraconity mentioned, most importantly of all they are protectors. In the case of the Native American variant of SA:  If you are Native, your SA will come to you somehow. To my knowledge there is no/little meditation, training, nothing you can do to rush or make it happen and to quote my favorite movie, “anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.” We have SA as a part of our religion and spiritualities being so tied to the nature. 

It’s hard to explain how our SA are and aren’t a part of us. The best way I can think to describe it is the daemons from The Golden Compass. Most people have one, and if they don’t (but ought to) something may be unwell with them. But that’s not quite it. They’re messengers, they’re representative of us, we draw a kind of power of them and many of us are very reverent of our SA. If I found a mangled body of my or a relatives SA, I would become extremely unnerved and consider it an omen for lack of a better word. 

Coming from the east coast of North America we do not believe that everyone has a SA. Especially if you are not Native. In fact, the minute you tell us that you bought a book/tape/etc to help you channel whatever to find your SA or you went to a retreat with a Smoke Tent most of us are already internally rolling our eyes at you. These are things that are not yours (and in the case of the latter, a dangerous thing not to be taken lightly) and in this regard, is appropriation/disrespectful to us and our beliefs. We have no goal of spreading our religion and spirituality for anyone but our descendants. There are Natives that don’t have SA because it was never revealed to them, and there are Natives who don’t have SA because they have other religious affiliations beyond what is traditional. 

BUT OTHERKINS ARE NOT APPROPRIATING ANYTHING. 

As someone with an SA, I don’t feel attacked or offended by otherkin. I don’t identify with them either, as it is a concept entirely separate from belief of SA. To my knowledge, most otherkin do not keep medicine bags filled with parts of their SA. To my knowledge, they do not give tribute or thanks to their kintype. They do not pray or rely on their kintype for guidance and protection. But people with SA do and we feel comforted by the presence of our SA or by a relatives. Maybe otherkin feel comforted by their kintype idk. Also, SA are exclusively animals that are alive during your lifetime and tangible to you (unlike certain kintypes). People with SA don’t experience shifts unless I guess they identified as otherkin too. Otherkin as a whole do not rely on their kintype for protection or guidance nor do they draw upon their kintype for what is needed. 

MY POINT IS: It’s two very different belief systems. SA are highly spiritual (hence the name) and being otherkin isn’t necessarily. But when you’re not present and say your SA is, many will consider your SA to be you in that situation. Your SA is not separate from you, it can be your soul/spirit/essence’s incarnate.”

Kintypes and spirit animals are not one and the same, this has been a PSA, thank you all very much.