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m a k i n g t h e s c e n e
Email discussion lists | LiveJournal and Dreamwidth | Message boards | Tumblr | IRC and other chats | Meetups and other informal events | Gathers | Other events
Otherkin.net hosts a variety of community directories, including personal contacts and gathers. The "list of lists" is well out of date, though, so I suggest AnOtherWiki's Mailing Lists category page instead.
A remark on conversation trends on lists and boards as they were in 2006
Some thoughts on the state of the otherkin scene/community in 2002
General lists:
A Foot in Both Worlds: Sadly, this group has low population and therefore near-nil traffic. I say "sadly" because it's right up my alley and I wish there were more of us. If you're elven, sidhe, or faery, please join?
A haven for those of an other-wordly disposition. In particular this group is for the Elvish, Sidhe and Faerie 'Kin peoples to come together in a safe place and share stories, memories, language, or just have a good natter!Anderen Vereinigte ("Others" United):
For those of us who are 'other' and well-aware of it -- for the noble, the fallen, the chosen, the outcast, the longlost, the lone, the forgotten conscious ones of here and now. You're not alone after all. So whaddaya wanna make of it? This is a place for gathering and searching and reweaving together the past and its meanings, our lives and their purposes at hand, to confront what's there and make something more-than-the-ordinary. Because the stakes are higher and there's sometimes (despite all admonitions) a bit of drama in the air when you're dealing with delving into reality and truth itself.Elfinkind Digest: The oldest elven/otherkin list, where the word "otherkin" was coined in the early 1990s. Still assembled manually and sent in digest form, although the days of getting it in the mail on floppy disk are now in the distant past!
The Elfinkind Digest is a mailing list format discussion group for elves and interested others. The term 'otherkind' and 'otherkin' originated from this discussion list, when we advertised for elves and got all sorts of other sorts too. ... It is unlike a Yahoo! or Google Group discussion form in that there are no web archives, and no web interface. It is email only. It's an old format, but durable, and private. ... The list's primary purpose is to give those out there who know what they are, but don't necessarily have a name for it or understanding of it, someplace to go and talk with others of their kind, others who might understand. There wasn't any such place for me, so I made one, hoping I wasn't alone out here. As it turns out, I wasn't. I certainly didn't think there'd be so many people, much less a Google/dmog.org category, but I can deal with that.Elven Realities: As far as I know, the second oldest still-operating list, after Elfinkind Digest (see above). Despite the name and the description, other types besides elves are on the list as well, and it is a little bit of a general otherkin list since little else is so active these days.
Elven Realities is a list to explore ideas on what it is to be "Elven". It does not matter if one thinks one is an elf, or thinks of it as a paradigm that they want to study...This list is here for intelligent conversation and exploration.OlderKin:
This is a forum for those Otherkin who are in this life—and chronologically over the age of thirty. Awakening can be difficult at the best of times, imagine coming into the process later in life, when you think you’ve figured it all out! This is a place where the OlderKin can discuss things pertaining to being older—and Otherkin.Otherkin Theology:
The purpose of this list is to give Otherkin a place to discuss the effect Awakening has had on their religious beliefs.Sidhe List:
The Sidhe List is [...] for the discussion of the Real World of Faeries, Elves, and Otherkin of the Earth. If you are serious about wanting to discuss and learn about Earthenkind Faeries and Otherkin, you may want to join this list.TheWildwood:
The Wildwood is a list for the discussion of otherkin and occult topics.
Regional lists in the Western US:
Nor_Cal_Otherkin: Unfortunately it seems that the original owner of this list has abandoned it, but I'm trying to contact Yahoo to get a moderator appointed (not necessarily me, just someone, so the list can stay live).
An Otherkin list for those living from the San Fransisco Bay Area north to the Oregon border.Northwest-Kin:
Group for Otherkin located in the Pacific Northwest, centralized around Western Washington.Portland Elf Kin Gathering:
A group where those of the Portland, OR metro area or who plan to regularly be in the Portland area who identify as or feel like elves can gather and plan meetups and chats together. Those who think they might be elves but aren't sure and would like to get to know us better are also welcome.Southern California Otherkin:
This Yahoo Group is for discussion between Kin in the Southern California area.WestKin:
This list is for otherkin in the western US, mainly California, Oregon, and Washington (but also Nevada, Idaho, Utah and Arizona).
There are many other regional otherkin lists, but being a US westerner myself, that's what I'm familiar with.
I co-moderate the otherkin community on LiveJournal. Other potential communities for this kind of interest, although some are pretty inactive: _dark_otherkin_, humanfaeries, next_of_kin, once_winged, other_writings, otherkin_news, the_kindred.
The otherkin and otherkin-haven communities on Dreamwidth are rather low-activity (not surprising, given the smaller userbase), but they do exist.
I'm more of a reader than a poster in many cases with message boards, but I can be found at the following: Otherkin Phenomena, Otherkin Alliance, Embracing Mystery, the Dreamhart forums, Otherkin Community, and The Faerie Channel.
I am also member of two sites on Ning, The Elfin Sisterhood (which is not just for women, despite the name) and Elven World.
I'm no longer active at Otherkin Retreat or Shadowlore, but they're there.
Unicorn Grove is a board oriented specifically towards unicorns.
Jarandhel Dreamsinger runs the #dreamhart channel on irc.mibbit.net (associated with his website Dreamhart and its forums). If you don't have an IRC client program, you can access the channel by web interface here. The official scheduled chat session is weekly on Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern time (and can run quite late), but people may be in the channel at any time.
Various of the message boards above have chat features attached to the boards; check individually for any scheduled chats.
The Motley House of Kin (a.k.a. Motley's House of Kin) is a web-based chat with two rooms.
Other miscellaneous IRC channels below. I haven't personally been in any of them, so cannot vouch for the likely behavior of the denizens nor their fitness for any purpose (as the software license language goes).
irc.dal.net #otherbeings, #othercreatures, #otherkin irc.therian.net #crossroads irc.furnet.org #otherkin irc.psionicinstitute.org #otherbeings irc.ethereal-forest.net #ethereal-forest, #otherkin irc.draconic.com #draconic irc.sorcery.net #afd
(This is presumably a dragon channel, as the name seems to refer to the alt.fan.dragons Usenet group.)irc.bondage.com #otherkin
Tumblr has huge shortcomings when it comes to community discussion, since "reblogging" is a weak replacement for direct replies and is hard for other people to follow without special effort; forget threaded or collocated conversation like in email or a message board or journal community. Also, it is frustrating to me as non-animal-kin that the "otherkin" tag there is dominated by animal-kin and therians. I agree that philosophically therians can be considered a kind of otherkin (in the broad sense of being a non-human in a human body), but it makes it hard to find the "mythic" types, because animal folks have always been more populous overall than us "mythicals". I would love to see more elves, faery, and sidhe over there. I don't have a problem with therians/weres/animal-kin, but I wish I could find more folk like me. (I begin to see the need for a more-specific term like "faeborn" to desginate exactly this category of mythical-magical folk...)
Anyway, all that said, what passes for following general community discussion is probably to watch the otherkin tag and jump in when you want to by reblogging - but don't assume that the original poster or indeed anyone will necessarily see your reply. I've never managed to get receiving email notifications for reblogs to work, and even if I am diligent about checking my dashboard for reblog notices, Tumblr doesn't always supply them in the first place.
Meetups and Other Informal Events
The general Otherkin meetup page at Meetup.com may help you find a local group for meetups.
I am the organizer for the San Francisco Bay Area Otherkin Meetup, which meets each month on alternating second Saturdays and second Sundays. The meetups have usually been in the east or south Bay, but can move around according to the needs of members. We have also twice hosted meetups at PantheaCon on President's Day weekend, in 2013 and 2012, and plan to do so in 2014 (pending getting a room at the con hotel).
Dan O'Dea organizes the North Houston Otherkin Meetup, which is pretty successful.
Faehaven in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has occasional potlucks, seasonal celebrations, and other otherkin-friendly events.
The Northern Virgina Otherkin Meetup meets on the first Monday of the month at Silver Diner in Vienna, Virginia. See also the AnOtherWiki page.
Saratoga Otherkin is a new meetup in Saratoga County, New York.
The House Kheperu Open House is not an otherkin gather per se, but a metaphysical/energy-work event with some workshops specific to House Kheperu and vampires. However, otherkin may find something of value there. It is held annually in Ohio in May or June. It will next be held on May 17-19, 2013.
Summer Gateways is held annually on Memorial Day weekend in the Houston, Texas area. It will next be held on May 24-27, 2013.
Walking the Thresholds is the oldest still operating otherkin gather, begun in 1998 and held annually in June at Four Quarters Farm in southwestern Pennsylvania. It will next be held on June 6-9, 2013.
Dreamhaven is a new gather in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that was last held on July 27-29, 2012.
A Gathering Echo is held in the Houston, Texas area, annually on Labor Day weekend. It is run by the same folks as Summer Gateways. It will next be held on August 31-Sept 3, 2013.
Crossing
the Thresholds, the autumnal cousin of Walking the Thresholds, is held annually in Pennsylvania in September. It was last held on September 27-30, 2012.
Otherkin can also sometimes be found at various other kinds of conventions, such as:
Back to the main otherkin page
last updated 4/23/2013