“Shift” is by no means a kin exclusive term. Anyone who feels it describes them can use it. The only other term I know of is supernumerary phantom limb / SPL, which is a bit of a mouthful.
Acting like an animal could definitely be a ‘symptom’ of being a therian, but plenty of non-therians like acting like animals too. It’s definitely an “I identify, therefore I am” thing.
If the chimpiness ends up being a core trait of your character, and you didn’t really have a choice in the matter, then that would be a theriotype, even if it wasn’t always there.
The only criteria for being a therian are 1) on some level identifying as an animal, 2) without consciously choosing to do so.
You might also want to look into copinglinking and otherlinking, which is when you identify as nonhuman and did have a notable level of choice in the matter.
The most common awakening narratives are “I always knew” and “suddenly I just knew,” but oftentimes it’s more of a persistent nagging feeling and a lot of trial and error.
It can take months or years to figure out for sure if what you’re feeling is otherkinity, otherheartedness, or another alterhuman identity (or even alterhuman at all!). Narrowing down your species or ‘type can take even longer. So “have patience” is the most important piece of advice I can give, and one you’ll see me repeat a lot. Be patient and don’t rush yourself or feel like you have to pressure yourself.
Instead of externally looking for things you might be, take a step back and do some introspection. Keep a journal or all the nonhuman/alterhuman things you experience without outside influence.
Think about your shifts, memories, and feelings, either with meditation or by allowing your mind to wander when you have quiet moments in your day (i.e., instead of listening to music or podcasts while walking or cleaning or gardening, just let it be quiet and let your thoughts flow).
When you have a good grasp of all your alterhuman traits, then you can begin to look for your specific identity. But until you know yourself and what traits are inherent to you, figuring out a kintype or heartedtype or somesuch is near impossible.
It sounds like you’re thinking a bit too much about whether you meet arbitrary criteria, and less about what would make you happy. Instead of asking “am I trans?”, ask yourself “would I be happier if I did X or lived my life like Y?”
I can’t tell you what gender you are, but I can tell you that you don’t need to want a penis to be a man. There are many men who live happy and content lives with vaginas and have no desire to change it. That doesn’t make them less or more men. Likewise there are many nonbinary people who live the same way or who do want a penis.
Gender is complicated. The only criteria you need to meet to be a certain gender is to feel good identifying as said gender.
Gender dysphoria is a deep unhappiness or uncomfortableness from things related to your gender identity. Most commonly it’s centered around your body and physical traits that you have or that you lack. It can also be social, such as dysphoria from how other people perceive you or refer to you.
Body dysphoria and gender dysphoria can be hard to distinguish sometimes. For example, I’m not uncomfortable with having breasts, I’m just uncomfortable with their size - for me this is gender dysphoria because female gnolls only have very small mammaries. For other people it might be unrelated to gender, and just discomfort with their body type. No one can tell you if what you’re experiencing is gender related; that’s something you have to figure out for yourself.
It’s important to note that the trans/nonbinary experience isn’t about hating your own body. Gender euphoria is equally as (if not more) important as dysphoria. If it makes you happy or at peace to think of yourself as a different gender, with a different body, with different pronouns, or being perceived differently, then you’re probably trans/nonbinary. Wanting to be a different gender is usually the first sign that you are a different gender.
Oh boy, that’s the same problem I have with my gnoll kintype. It’s hard work to engage with a canon that’s only really known by yourself!
And sadly I think that’s the best advice I can give you - it’s work. You can’t just sit down and consume media and let the stuff come to you. You have to basically make up a whole world in your head!
So be kind to yourself and let it take time. Don’t overwork yourself and rush it. When you get memories or noemata, mull them over for a bit before committing to them, but make sure to write it down too so you don’t forget them. And work on accepting that you sadly have to make your own content and probably won’t ever find canonmates.
I always give ‘em an extra look just to be sure they’re not trolls, but they’re almost always just regular ‘kin who happen to have a lot of ‘types.
As the number of kintypes and fictotypes increases you’re much less likely to identify as “of their kind” with all of them. I.e., it’s less likely for each identity to be important enough that you identify as it when it has to ‘compete’ with others for your attention.
It’s definitely possible to identify as 10 species at the same time - it’s just unlikely. It’s not uncommon for people with even just three or four ‘types to feel that some are weaker or stronger (I know I do - my bison theriotype takes a backseat to my gnoll kintype), and I can only imagine that experience being amplified as the number of kintypes goes up.
Oh man it’s been a while… I can’t find my convo with her from before she made the video but iirc I basically told her she could ask me any questions she might have, and told her to please run any posts she might find by me beforehand to verify that they were genuine because the tags were full of trolls back then.
Of course she didn’t listen, so when I the video came out I commented this:
If they’re coming after you personally, respond the way you would to any other harassment, by telling them off and explaining why they’re wrong if they seem reasonable, or by blocking them and filtering their posts if they seem unreasonable.
If they’re posting that nonsense in the tag, politely explain to them that it’s okay to not want to interact with doubles, but that blocking is so much more effective that yelling into the void, and that you can’t prevent people from having certain kintypes no matter how hard you try.
If you’re actively seeking out those people, don’t.
It’s no use getting angry over doubles discourse. I know it’s frustrating to hear but the best response is to just accept that some of those people will always exist and to move on with your life. It’s a waste of emotions to try to deal with every single kinnie and wishkin and tumblrkin you come across.
Never heard that term. There is the term ‘contherian’, meaning a therian who’s in a constant state of human/animal and doesn’t experience shifts. There isn’t a term like that in the fictionkin and otherkin communities as far as I know, though.
‘Permashift’ is a bit contradictory, considering a shift is something that’s… well… shifting. A shift isn’t permanent, it’s temporary.
Like just in general?? Find somewhere warm to cozy up, and remember to drink lots of water. Cats always forget to drink water because they’re desert animals
Sorry it took so long to get to this - here are a few tips on how to kill your fear:
Change the way you view your fear: Learning about your fear is the most basic way to do this - in your case this could involve looking up behind-the-scenes stuff and character analyses. Another way is to turn it into something silly. I was afraid of ghosts and scary clowns, and deliberately making fun of them, calling them dumb, imagining ways in which I could just make a fool of my fears really helped it. It might seem like overcompensation, but just flat-out refusing to accept that, say, Pennywise might be scary, and insisting that every potentially scary moment in the movies is just silly, has really helped. It’s been years since I’ve last been killed by a clown in my nightmares.
Increase exposure to your fear: Avoidance will make it worse. If a fear is really bad, looking at photos is a good start. After that, moving on to videos, and then imagining calm and positive interactions with the fear. It would usually culminate in directly exposing yourself to the fear, but since yours is a character, I’m not sure how that would work.
Reflect: When you feel fear, stop and think through it. Notice how your fear response might have been triggered. Is it a rational response? What’s another way you could react? How do you want to react?
Manage your stress response before it hits: If you find yourself fixating on your fear and making up terrible scenarios in your head, take a step back. Focus on something entirely unrelated and tangible, such as sounds, textures, temperatures, or sights (ideas could include watching birds or chewing ice). If your mind wanders back, just breathe and re-focus on the moment until you feel calm.
Manage your stress response after it hits: Managing a fear is an uphill battle, and you might still wake up in a cold sweat once in a while. Don’t feel like this devalues all your progress - it’s only a minor setback. Take deep, calm breaths. Acknowledge how you feel, but don’t judge yourself for feeling this way. Reflect on what you just experienced. Notice that your heart isn’t pounding anymore. Give yourself a pat on the back for managing to calm down.
I’m gonna give you some slightly cheeky answers here, so feel free to take it with a grain of salt: How do you know that time works the same across all multiverses? Just because something feels like a memory, that doesn’t mean it necessarily happened in the past.
It could be glimpses of a parallel life or a future life, relative to the one you’re living now. There’s no reason to assume that linear time exists on other planes, and there’s some reason to believe that cross-temporal reincarnation might be the norm - from what I’ve read, it’s one of the more common rebirth-related beliefs.
As for the other question: Does it feel real? Do you feel like you’re pretending or dressing up when you talk about it like a past (or future or parallel) life? Does it only feel strange because it’s a new idea? Do you feel like you’ve had enough time to think about it?
Oh definitely! It can come and go in waves. There’ll sometimes be days or even weeks where I can’t really connect with one of my ‘types and doubt sets in. But all the nonhuman feelings always return at some point
Focused meditation has never worked for me. I get most of my noemata through ‘casual meditation’ - when I’m in the shower or trying to fall asleep or tending to my pets and plants. It’s important to have moments like that where you can let your mind wander, and to not fill every quiet moment with podcasts, music, and youtube videos.
Usually I’ll just get a brief image or a vague hunch, that I’ll then ruminate on. I’m not afraid of accidentally making stuff up. Since my kintype is psychological, I accept most made-up canon, as long as it feels right. I’ve discarded a lot of ideas in the past because they just didn’t feel right, however much I might’ve wanted them (like, digitigrade legs are so much more aesthetically pleasing, but I know my people are plantigrade. I love yurts, but they never felt right, and a few days ago I found out about bell tents which feel near perfect).
I usually let the ideas take shape for a few days before I write them down. Like the last post about cannibalism - I first had that thought months ago! I also tend to research related subjects. Again, with cannibalism, I could never quite figure out how I felt about it, because I know we would never eat the entire body and I know we would never bury our dead or let other creatures eat them. It took a while to figure out which combination of traditions felt right to me and didn’t just feel made-up or artificial or lifted from a real life closed culture.
It takes time.
My opinion is really unpopular in the community but in short - I think it’s real and I believe factkin when they talk about their experiences. The human brain is weird, and you can latch onto pretty much anything via imprinting. Or, alternatively, parallel/past lives are weird, and you don’t control them.
With that said…
Factkin are a community of their own, unrelated to the nonhuman and fictional communities. Otherkin are specifically nonhuman. Fictionkin are specifically fictional. Factkin don’t belong in these spaces by virtue of being factkin. Likewise, ‘past life factkin’ is just plain old reincarnation. That’s not an alterhuman experience in and of itself. Being Cleopatra in a past life does not make you alterhuman. I’d argue being factkin due to parallel lives or psychological reasons is not an alterhuman experience either.
Factkin don’t know the actual lived experiences of the people they’re kin with. No matter how clear their memories are they will never know what it’s actually like to live as the person they’re kin with. Anyone who does not have first-hand experience with things like racism or fame or war or abuse, but still claims to know what it’s like, should be shut down. It does not matter how vivid your memories or mental images are - you have not actually experienced these things in living memory.
Factkin should leave the person they’re kin with alone. Ideally they should only talk about their experiences where they know the person won’t see it. They should never try to contact the person or anyone in the person’s life.
Overall, factkin should be really careful with how they talk about their experiences, so as not to make the real people with whom they’re kin feel uncomfortable. They should especially be careful when talking about their experiences as factkin and never pretend to know what it’s actually like to be said person.
Thanks for asking!
Otherkin are people who believe they are nonhuman on a nonphysical level - so we don’t believe that we have the bodies of animals or that we can shapeshift. The most common belief is that we have the souls of nonhuman creatures. Another common belief is that we had a tough time relating to humans while growing up and ended up imprinting on nonhuman creatures instead. There are many many more beliefs about why we feel this way, but those are the two most common.
The reasons we believe we’re nonhuman are numerous and varied, but some common experiences are:
- Species dysphoria - A deep sense of dissatisfaction with being human, being referred to as human, having a human body, etc.
- Species euphoria - A deep sense of satisfaction from being referred to as nonhuman, of appearing nonhuman (such as wearing a fake tail or getting scale tattoos), thinking of ourselves as nonhuman, etc.
- Homesickness - Feeling like we belong in places and situations that we have never actually been in or feeling like our current place isn’t our actual home
- Problems understanding humans - Such as problems reading facial expressions or body language, or having an easier time understanding other species
- Intrusive thoughts - Strong urges or mental images, like an urge to roll in grass when walking by a lawn or an urge to fly when standing some high-up place.
- Nonhuman impulses - Such as growling, hoarding, whimpering, curling up, etc.
- Memories and ideas - Feeling like we remember events from our nonhuman life, or ‘just knowing’ what it’s like to, for example, have hooves or wings.
- Shifting - Really simplified, shifts are changes in behavior and perception that make us feel more like our kintypes (the creatures we identify as). It requires a deeper explanation, so please check out this post: https://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/164797991209/
It’s definitely something we take seriously! We can have fun with it, but it is a genuine and important part of our identities.
Definitely! The only requirements to be ‘kin is to identify as something nonhuman/fictional on a non-physical level, and for the identity to have arisen on its own (i.e. you didn’t force it or actively work towards it, wanting the identity - that would be otherlinking).
I mean, I guess I’m glad I make it look easy? But truth be told it’s always been terrifying, especially in the beginning. I’ve just seen other people do it with few problems and figured I might as well follow their example and dive in head first. If others can do it, why not me?
It’s still scary, and I still don’t talk about it as much as my gnoll kintype (especially with my nonkin friends), because I am embarassed and ashamed. I still have a tendency to just say “my fictotype” instead of spelling out “ben 10”. But every time I mention something related to it, and I’m met with support, I get a little more confident. I figure, eventually, if I just keep going, the shame will go too, and I’ll feel free to be myself.
The most important piece of advice I can give is: Have patience, and keep and open mind.
This stuff can take time. It took in total about 5 years for me to figure out my bison and gnoll kintypes. On the other hand it took me 5 days to confirm my Ben 1O fictotype. You can’t predict how long it will take.
It’s very important to not totally rule out anything that could be your kintype. A lot of people have been dead set on being wolves or dragons and only realized much later and after much struggle to try and fit into that box, that they were actually dogs or lizards. Don’t stress yourself out with constant questioning, just be open to anything.
More specific advice:
- Keep a journal. Or at least have some way to keep track of everything you experience that might point you towards your kintype: Shifts, memories, noemata, dreams, anything.
- Look into subcommunities like conceptkin and objectkin and see if you relate to those experiences. And don’t be afraid of the possibility that you might be fictionkin.
- Don’t be afraid to reach out - when you find some concrete info about yourself, a good idea is to post it online and ask other people what it reminds them of. They might know about things you don’t, or they mmight inspire you to look in entirely different directions than you’ve previously considered
- Don’t stress yourself out, but also, don’t give up the search!
I can certainly try, but I’m having a hard time with it myself. It’s very abstract and philosophical compared to other theories. I’m gonna try to make it as simple as possible, but I haven’t had a philosophy class in 5 years so bear with me.
The basic idea is that all things have an archetype. An archetype is sort of like the ideal version of the thing that all other versions are modeled after. Say you have created the first cup. Everyone else who has seen your cup, and who then wants to make their own cups, will base their own cups on the one you created. That would make your cup the archetypal cup.
The archetype of something doesn’t necessarily exist physically. It can be a mental construct or a spiritual being or something else entirely. It doesn’t really matter how the archetype exists, it just does. Whether we’re actively thinking about it or not, we all have an idea of what the archetypal wolf or dragon or elf would be - we all have an idea in our mind of what an elf is, that we base all our future ideas of elves on.
The philosopher Carl Jung wrote a lot about archetypes (and basically invented the modern philosophical idea of the archetype). He believed that all humans share a “collective unconscious” in which these archetypes live. According to him all humans have roughly the same idea of the archetypal mother and the archetypal hero and the archetypal wise man and so on, and that these archetypes are just innate to all human minds.
However, he also insisted that these archetypes could blend together and that they were supposed to be fluid in nature. And he insisted that attempts at rigidly defining the archetypes (trying to draw them or describe their exact traits) would give you an “archetypal image” rather than the actual subconscious archetype that all people share. Jung was insistent on archetypes being “spontaneous outpourings of the unconscious“ that should not be rigidly defined.
So archetypal otherkinity is the idea that your kintype is based on this archetype. And whether you interpret the archetype as some spiritual entity or a psychological phenomenon or as a part of the Collective Unconscious (or something else entirely) is largely irrelevant and 100% up to your own interpretation.
I know it’s still a mouthful, so please don’t be afraid to send another ask if you need more clarification! Every time I try to explain it I get a slightly better grasp of it
Definitely! One doesn’t exclude the other. You can also have mixed-cause kintypes (like vague memories of a past life that are strengthened by psychological stuff) or kintypes where the cause is irrelevant (I know systems with irrelevant causes call themselves ‘quoiogenic’ but I don’t think we have an equivalent term in the ‘kin community).
I won’t say it’s normal per se, but it’s definitely not unheard of - I think most other-/fictionkin have squicks and triggers that are in some way connected to their kintype(s). I know I do.
There are various ideas around this. When it comes to spiritual explanations, it’s commonly thought that trauma can carry over from past lives (or, more rarely, that current triggers can be a preparation for future lives).
For psychological explanations, very strong experience-taking and maladaptive daydreaming can cause one to feel like they’ve gone through the same thing a character has, which can cause nightmares, ‘flashbacks’, and other post-trauma-like experiences. I experience this mildly (too mild to call it exotrauma, though it does feel. bad.) and regularly, so if you have any questions specifically about it, you’re more than welcome to ask!
Trauma that has not been experienced by the current body in the current life is also fairly common in systems, where an introject may have had traumatic experiences in their canon. There are both spiritual, psychological, and mixed-cause explanations for it.
The catch-all term for this feeling is exotrauma, but since I don’t really experience this, I suggest doing your own research on it and reading what others have described.
And I cannot stress this enough: If you or your friend feel like it’s interfering with your daily life, please seek professional help and counseling. Don’t go around feeling bad when there’s help out there.
I don’t understand conceptkin, and so far I haven’t really gotten an explanation that makes sense to me. The way people have explained it to me makes it sound more like they’re concepthearted or ‘linking or would fit better in the voidkin community.
But my lack of understanding does not mean that conceptkin aren’t real, or that they shouldn’t be respected. Unwanted grilling has no place in this community, and relentlessly questioning people about their kintypes is so rude and othering (no pun intended). If people say they’re kin with a song or a color or the concept of the void, who am I to demand some kind of proof or to say that’s impossible, ya know?
In other words, conceptkin are welcome in the community and I support them, I’m just confused.
It’s not that uncommon from what I’ve seen! Among the people who know the sex of their theriotype/whose theriotype’s sex is important to their identity (which is by no means all), it’s more or less a 50/50 split from what I’ve seen. I’m genderfluid (but AFAB, so I can’t escape my female socialization or passing). My theriotype is a bull bison.
I know trans guys with female theriotypes, cis girls with male theriotypes, nb people where the theriotype’s binary sex still plays an important role, and many more combinations, other than the theriotype gender and human gender being a match.
It can take a while to figure out just how your theriotype’s gender influences your current gender identity, and it might fluctuate a lot how (or even whether) it does. You might realize that the theriotype’s gender influences you a lot more than you first thought (it was certainly a part of my years-long journey to accepting that I’m genderfluid). Or you might realize that it doesn’t really matter, beyond the odd ph-shift or m-shift. It’s all very individual, and it’s certainly nothing to be embarassed about!
I wish I could say no, but I’ve found myself drawn to those things too. I’ve really wanted to make a canon call post and a ‘kin server, and I’ve met a person with whom I only started talking because his’er is also questioning a kintype from Ben 10. And I do enjoy talking to his’er, don’t get me wrong! But it feels really strange that that’s the sole reason we started talking - I’ve never really done that with my other kintypes, aside from the occasional “same hat” messages.
It probably has something to do with fandom culture. With fictionkin you’ve got a source material that, most of the time, you’re already a fan of, and have already been engaging with as a fan. You’ve got a source material that anyone can be exposed to and thus awaken to. It’s less in your head and more public. It’s already out in the open, you don’t have to explain the world building to everyone, so it’s so much easier to engage with.
I think if my gnoll canon was a well-known piece of media with an already built-up world and characters and plot, and not something I’m forced to discover on my own, I’d be a lot more inclined to seek out ‘kinnie’ things - canon calls, aesthetic posts, playlists, etc (but not pendulum readings, those are bad).
If I were an animal from a piece of media (like Air Bud or Black Beauty) instead of just a generic bison, I know for sure I’d be more interested in those things. ‘Just a bison’ isn’t very interesting. It’s just phantom limbs, mental shifts, and the odd hiraeth or noema here and there. Fictional kintypes are usually people with relationships and episodic lives and personalities. There’s a lot more stuff to engage with, both on your own and with other people. I bison doesn’t care about a playlist or and aesthetic post and it can’t bond over shared experiences, but a person can and does.
Yeah, tumblr blogs aren’t great as a resource because if the blog format. Even with tags it’s still eehh, which is a shame, cause there aren’t really any specific websites focused on either of those things. A good place to start is a glossary. You can keep it open in another tab while reading articles, in case you get confused about terminology. [This one’s] good, and I also recommend the [Therian Wiki’s site map]. For fictionkin stuff I can only recommend [fromfiction] and [their FAQ]. They can answer pretty much any question you might have. There’s also [fictionkin.org] - sometimes the website is down, if that’s the case just visit it at a later time. A general “am I otherkin?” article like one of these, would also work if you’re questioning fictionkin. The experience isn’t exactly the same, but similar enough. [This one] is pretty good, though it only mentions spiritual beliefs. [This thread] of people sharing how they figured out they were fictionkin could also help. [otherkin.com] has several articles about awakening. As for otherhearted stuff, this is a good article: https://www.kinmunity.com/library/alterhuman/kith/other-hearted-vs-otherkin-r17/