Nonhumanism

Otherkin, Therian, Draconic - these and many more are categories of nonhuman identity. Overall, nonhumans are persons who identify in some way - spiritually, psychologically, and so on - as a nonhuman entity on a personal level. There are differences between the various types of nonhuman, and each type has its own community. There is overlap between each type of nonhuman, of course, and everyone experiences their nonhumanism differently.

 

As a psychological identity, being nonhuman may encapsulate mannerisms, thought patterns, and/or behaviors that seem nonhuman in nature. Some of these behaviors may be typical human behaviors, however, the way they are interpreted is the important part - should one interpret these as nonhuman behaviors, they become nonhuman behaviors to this person, even if they are human behaviors. The comfort of the interpreter and the way they interpret their own experiences is part of their identity, and so where one person may see a nonhuman describing their behaviors as nonhuman and think to themselves that there's nothing unusual about them, to the nonhuman-identified person, these behaviors are part of their identity. Behaviors are not the only way to identify psychologically as a nonhuman, as the identity may stem from personality, personal archetypes, and various other components of one's psyche and self.

 

As a spiritual identity, being nonhuman may involve a belief in souls, often that one has been reincarnated as a human from a past life wherein they were nonhuman or that one's soul exists as a nonhuman entity while their body is that of a human. Of course, much like spirituality can be incredibly varied, nonhuman spirituality is no different, and nearly every nonhuman whose identity is spiritual in nature experiences it differently. Some people experience being nonhuman as both a spiritual and psychological phenomenon, and others do not consider being nonhuman as being anything explicitly psychological or spiritual.

 

It is important to note that, while nonhumans identify as nonhuman entities, they also understand that they are physically human and hold a role in human society. Some nonhumans incorporate their identity into their lifestyle, while others simply accept their identity and do not care much or feel a need to focus on it when dealing with other aspects of their life.

 

Nonhumanism is also in no way indicative of mental illness or disability, though that is not to say those with mental illnesses or disabilities are incapable of being nonhuman. It is an identity, a form of categorizing one's experiences in being themselves, be it in order to understand themselves, to align themselves with a group of people with similar experiences, or simply to find a word to describe how they feel.

 

Some "nonhumans" are actually rather humanoid. Some elven and fae beings are rather humanlike, and some nonhumans identify as both human and something nonhuman.

 

While a lot of mythology and popular culture exists pertaining to the creatures nonhumans may identify as, not all nonhumans accept this mythology as their own, personal mythology. Some integrate popular culture and mythology as a way to connect with their identity, even if they themselves do not particularly experience that mythology. For example, in recent popular culture, dragons can be seen eating gemstones. Some dragon-identified persons may integrate this new mythology into their lives not out of a belief that they, as a dragon, would eat gems, but rather as a way to integrate the idea of the dragon into their lives, to connect with popular media about dragons, and out of personal preference and admiration for this new mythology.

 

Often nonhumans experience something called shifting, though shifting is not required to be nonhuman. During a mental shift, one might experience an altered mentality, and may pay attention to certain things such as their senses more than they would when not experiencing a shift. They may also slip into a more animalistic or nonhuman mindset and act in the way the being they identify as would act. Some nonhumans also experience phantom sensations and phantom shifts, wherein their bodies feel to be a different shape than their human body, such as feeling nonexistant limbs, body shapes unlike their human bodies, and so on.*

 

There are many different ways to experience a nonhuman identity, includng but not limited to:
(Please note that not all of these identity groups and subcultures consider themselves nonhuman, but are included here as many nonhumans participate in or overlap with these groups.)

 

Therianthropy

Therianthropes, often shortened to therians, are those whose identity is that of an existing animal which can be found or which once could be found on earth. (Extinct therians sometimes refer to themselves as paleo therians.) Examples include but are not limited to wolves, big cats, birds, deer, and pet species.

 

Otherkinity

Otherkin are those who identify as creatures that are not found on this earth, such as mythical creatures. This includes but is not limited to dragons, phoenixes, kitsune, unicorns, vampires, and fair folk/faeries. Many groups of otherkin have specific groups amongst themselves, such as the draconic, vampire, and elven communities. "Otherkin" is also at times used as an umbrella term to describe all nonhumans, but the specific group of otherkin is distinctly non-earth creatures.

 

Theriomythicy

Theriomythics are those who identify as mythological or non-earth creatures with very animalistic qualities, such as werewolves, dragons, and so on. A sort of "middle ground" between therianthropy and otherkinity, theriomythicy is a small but specific group which finds itself often uncomfortable with the labels of "therian" or "otherkin."

 

Draconity

Draconics are what their name implies - dragons. Draconity has its own community outside of the otherkin community as a whole, and overlaps with the therian community as well. Dragons come in all shapes in sizes, from traditional European and Oriental dragons to other, more unconventional dragons - the definition of what exactly constitutes as a dragon is fairly undefined and blurry, so there are many beings which consider themselves draconic without appearing to be a traditional form of mythological dragon.

 

Angelics, Demonics, and Reincarnated Gods

Angelic and demonic nonhumans may believe that they are a vessel for an angelic or demonic entity, or that they are a demonic or angelic entity themselves, through their identity. They may identify as existing entities from various religious mythos, such as named angels in Biblical lore or demons mentioned in the Lesser Key of Solomon, and/or as entities from no particular religious canon nor particular spirituality, though being angelic/demonic is not limited to these types of experiences. Reincarnated gods, as the name suggests, identify as deities, be they ones that are present in mythology/religious canons or otherwise. Some people identify as being a fraction or a shard of a deity, as well. Though these identities tend to be spiritual, they are of course not limited to being spiritual and may not be.

 

Celestials and Starseeds

Celestials are those who identify as space or entities within space, such as nebulas, stars, or constellations. Some may identify as the spirit of these interstellar objects incarnated on Earth, some may consider themselves to be the human counterpart of these celestial bodies, and so forth - as with any other type of belief or identity, no one person will experience being a celestial the same way. Starseeds are similar, often identifying as a star, as a planet, as a being from an alternate plane of reality, or as an alien. The starseed community tends to lean to a more spiritual side of their identity, though of course, not all starseeds are spiritual.

 

Multiplicity

Not to be confused with Diassociative Identity Disorder (DID,) multiples are those who consider thesmelves to be many beings in one body. There are various beliefs and ways that multiples identify as such, from being born that way, having atypical neurology, having experienced trauma, as well as spiritual reasons, but no multiple experiences their multiplicity in the same way. Multiples tend to consider each entity in their system - the group of beings that share their body - to be their own person with their own likes, dislikes, opinions, and emotions, and even if one's beleifs are incongruent with their own, it is considered polite to treat each of the beings in a multiple system as their own person. There is some overlap with the multiple community and the community of those with DID, but multiplicity and DID are not typically considered to be the same thing.

 

Vampyres

The vampyre community overlaps quite a bit with the vampirekin (vampire otherkin) community, but vampyres are those who consider themselves to require energy from various sources to remain healthy. This may be emotional energy, sexual energy, and so on, and some vampyres consider blood necessary to remain healthy, be it due to nutrition, as a way of transferring energy, or due to spiritual reasons.

 

*It should be noted that some people do not like the term phantom limbs and may use something else, as this term is also used by amputees. However, it is also argued that the term phantom limbs in a nonhuman sense refers not to the medical syndrome of phantom limbs, but rather supernumerary phantom limbs, or limbs which have not been and are not part of a person's body. Please understand that "phantom sensations" is the term that will be used on this website, rather than "phantom limbs," as a way to differentiate it from phantom limb syndrome but in order to remain congruent to the most widely used and accepted terminology within the community, so that unfamiliar readers will not be confused, and so foreign readers may translate this term into the correct term equivalent in their language.