Excerpt
from:
A Field Guide to Otherkin
by
Lupa
Available From Immanion Press in
April 2007
Personal
Mythology, Imagination and Metaphor
"Most people think that Elfin is a place that exists
outside of the elfin, in the same way that Ireland exists.
And while there is some truth to this it is equally true to
say that Elfin lives and breathes within the elfin. Elfin
is a state of being. Not merely a place nor a consciousness
(although it is both of these). To enter Elfin one must be
able to 'shift their assemblage point', to alter their consciousness
at will, to melt the synaptic pathways and create new neural
templates imprinted with the reality of Elfin. (1)"
As I discussed in the first chapter, the suspension of disbelief
inherent to play is also that which is found in rituals worldwide
and throughout time. Mythology is not merely some made-up
stories that people told before science explained how the
Cosmos really works. Rather, if we follow the paths laid by
Jung, Campbell, and others, we find the symbols that are not
limited to our psychology, but have a life of their very own.
And, in the words of Campbell, "One is linked to
one's adult role, that is to say, by being identified with
a myth'participating actually, physically, oneself, in a manifestation
of mythological forms, these being visibly supplied by the
roles and patterns of the rite, and the rite, in extension,
supporting the form of the society."(2)
In this passage he is referring to everyday rites of passage,
costumery and other items associated with modern manifestations
of ancient archetypes. He explains that everything from the
black robes worn by judges to the military uniform of a soldier'in
fact, any trappings that belong to a particular profession
or social role'invoke that role and its associated mythos
and symbolism.
With the advent of science as the primary tool for explaining
the whys and hows of the physical world, mythology became
mere stories, removed from the 'real' world by the veil of
the five senses in ordinary consciousness. Once we found out
that the sun was a huge burning ball of gas millions of miles
away, we supposedly no longer needed the myths of Apollo,
Amaterasu, and other solar deities to explain anything beyond
ancient cultural storytelling. The moon, as well, was no longer
a huntress, or a rabbit, or an incestuous lover with his sister's
fingerprints on his back, just a huge lump of cold rock with
not a bit of life on its surface. Even Robert Graves, in the
foreword of his revision of The Greek Myths, explained away
the joy of the Bacchanalia:
"The evidence...suggests that Satyrs (goat-totem
tribesmen), Centaurs (horse-totem tribesmen), and their Maenad
women folk, used these brews [wine and ivy ale] to wash down...amanita
muscaria [a mushroom] which induces hallucinations, senseless
rioting, prophetic sight, erotic energy, and remarkable muscular
strength...followed by complete inertia, a phenomenon that
would account for the story of how Lycurgus, armed only with
an ox-goad, routed Dionysus' drunken army of Maenads and Satyrs
after its victorious return from India." (3)
Does this then mean that all those who claim to be satyrs,
centaurs, and, indeed, any mythological being that can be
'explained away' in such a manner are then automatically delusional?
Not necessarily. Perhaps all the evidence we have points away
from literal satyrs, centaurs and their ilk ever having physically
inhabited this plane of existence. That doesn't exclude their
potential lives on other planes.
The Collective Unconscious of C.G. Jung, is a good starting
place. It is theorized that in this place, which is not physical
but exists nonetheless, we have access to all concepts of
reality, our own and those of others. Many do not consider
this to be an actual place, as it can't be attained through
physical means. However, the imagination and dreams are the
vehicles by which we are able to travel to these alternate
realities.
Belief is also an active tool for accessing realities rather
than just an emotional pacifier. As Jung, Campbell and others
have stressed, mythology exists on many levels. Most of us
are familiar with the words on paper, or the pixels on the
television or computer screen, that convey the stories told
for millennia in many tongues and with many names. However,
the power behind those myths is in the reactions that we have
to them and the effects they have on our world-as well as
our ability to capture that power and use it to create our
own reality. Campbell argues that while yes, we are to an
extent influenced by our responses to external stimuli, we
do create our interpretation of our environment, both physically
and otherwise.(4) This supports the idea
that 'reality' is not just an objective environment to which
we automatically react, but something that we have an active
hand in shaping.
This idea is reflected in the mind-bending works of Robert
Anton Wilson who, inspired by Leonard Orr, touts the saying
"Whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves."
(5) The background to this idea is based
off of the division of the mind into the Thinker, which comes
up with ideas, and the Prover, whose sole purpose is to hunt
down whatever evidence there is to support the Thinker's claims.
This works for everyone, even people who hold opposing viewpoints
from each other,---the Prover is so good at what it does,
and the Universe is so obliging in its offerings of proof
for everything. This is why we end up with so much contradictory
evidence for just about every argument you can think of. The
end result is that there is no objective reality except for
a close call arrived at by the thinking and proving of multitudes
who end up, more or less, in the same ball park, albeit with
disagreements in the details.
So let us assume that reality is much more flexible than
our own tunnel vision generally supposes, and that we have
an active hand in creating our reality, as well as access
to numerous, if not infinite, versions of reality created
by ourselves and by others. The theme of accessing these realities
via magic and ritual runs through Taylor Ellwood's works,
hearkening back to Campbell's assertion that ritual is the
key to the altered states of consciousness that lead us to
corresponding altered states of reality. "Consider,
for instance, that many magicians believe in other planes
or universes of existence. Obviously, these universes don't
exist in our universe, but to access them we manipulate space/time,
and though we may not physically go to these other planes
of existence (as far as we know), we nonetheless interact
with them, because of the warping of space/time."(6)
Ellwood, however, in later works applies this concept microcosmically
as well as macrocosmically:
"Nothing in Inner Alchemy occurs solely on any one
level. The major theme of this book is interconnectedness.
A lot of my work on the energetic level has happened as a
result of work I've done on the physiological and even genetic
level, with the goal being to shape the body even as my energy
is shaped. By learning to work with your DNA and also apply
your understanding of DNA to a level beyond just the physical
existence of it you can do a lot of inner alchemy. In turn
you can achieve an appreciation of not just your own genetic
heritage, but how that heritage interacts with everything
else. You can fine tune that heritage as well, making changes
in your body that allow you to maximize your physical, mental,
emotional, and spiritual potentials. You just need to be open
to the idea that the body can be controlled on a variety of
levels despite what western science and medical health would
have you believe." (7)
And here we have a new way of seeing the old alchemical maxim,
'As above, so below'. For if we can access the emotional,
spiritual, and mental personal universe through the physical
vehicle of our flesh, what is to say we can't also access
the macrocosmic universe as well, using ritual as a way to
expand our awareness beyond the limitations of our own physical
reality and into the reality of every other living being that
exists?
What, you may be wondering, does all this reality-bending
have to do with Otherkin?
If we accept the theory that reality is more than just what
our own five physical senses can access, and that reality
is more subjective than is often assumed, and that we can
access reality beyond our own limitations, then we have the
possibility of being connected to any reality we wish, in
conjunction with the physical reality that we are native to.
For, with ritual as the vehicle for access these different
realities, we exist in more than one reality simultaneously.
The shaman who travels out of hir body to retrieve the soul
of an ill patient may be physically existent on the reality
of everyday life and the rest of humanity; however, hir consciousness
travels through an entirely different plane of existence.
The two come together dependent upon the success of the journey-if
the soul is brought back, the patient recovers, whereas if
the soul is lost, the patient will die.
The effect that this acting out of ritual-the 'make believe'
discussed in the first chapter-ultimately has is to change
our everyday lives. Rites of passage found worldwide serve
not only to induct the initiate into a particular level of
mundane society, but they also trigger changes on the psychological
and spiritual levels. This cannot be done entirely within
physical reality. Rather, the suspension of disbelief that
allows us to access other realities must be achieved, or the
ritual doesn't work. The other realities must be made imminent
in this one, with permanent effects.
Perhaps for some Otherkin, the very acknowledgement of being
Other and bringing that into everyday life is an ongoing ritual.
It may not be acknowledged as such; however, it is an action
that allows the person to access a reality other than the
physical, human one on a permanent basis. This is particularly
noteworthy, given that in a lot of modern postindustrial cultures
there are no formal rites of passage outside of certain religions-and
they are much tamer than those of Paleolithic cultures, in
which initiates were often terrified half to death, physically
mutilated in some way, or otherwise drastically shaken up
to change them in a desired manner for good.
This doesn't mean that we should assume that all identification
as Other should be taken purely metaphorically. However, it
is one level of possibility that shouldn't be ignored. Nicholas
Graham, author of The Four Powers, wrote an essay in his blog
that captures the idea of the Collective Unconscious-part
of that which is attained by all forms of ritual, formal or
informal-flowing into our own 'solid' reality. He makes the
point that it is entirely possible that because of the lack
of a cohesive cultural mythology in many postindustrial societies,
that the archetypes and motifs of mythology are making themselves
known via certain people who are able to channel them on a
day to day basis. This reflects the observation that anything
in our psyche-collective as well as personal-which is repressed
for too long will eventually find its own means of expression,
whether we like it or not. Graham goes on to mention that
it is quite possible that those Otherkin who have fallen into
pure delusion have lost their connection to the archetypes
they were initially channeling, perhaps unable to sustain
such a long term shift in 'normal' reality. He concludes with
this thought:
"The most important factor to remember when examining
the possibility of delusive behavior in Otherkin is that humans,
by their very natures, desire personal mythology. From time
immemorial, humans have sought ways of more fully interacting
with the spirits and energized archetypes with whom they interacted.
Often, this is done by self-mythologizing or, in other words,
living out a personalized version of the mythology of an archetype.
Jung suggested (also in An Answer to Job) that this is a natural
process in the lives of most people. He went on to suggest
that it forms the foundation of the almost universal (culturally,
not individually) belief in fate or destiny; as we live in
a manner congruent with the chosen archetype (god, goddess,
spirit), not only do our psychic lives change in accordance
but so too do our material lives through the efforts of these
spirits and gods. I cannot overstress the importance of this
factor in the psycho-spiritual study of Otherkin." (8)
While the idea of accessing alternate realities is ancient,
there is a specific modern manifestation of it known as Soulbonding.
Soulbonding appears to be a hybridation of imagination and
the belief in alternate/parallel realities. It has been theorized
that fiction is nothing less than a channeling of an existing
alternate reality. Taylor Ellwood, for example, mentions this
in Space/Time Magic:
"[W]hen a writer writes about a fantasy world, sie
is either creating that world in alternate reality, or, more
likely, tapping into that alternate reality-It's my thought
that writing, being a very intuitive practice (when done creatively)
leads people to tap into other realities, other versions of
the self' Some writers also note that characters seem to be
alive and have their own personalities, which consequently
affect their writing. Perhaps this is because they have actually
connected with an alternate self, and are transcribing that
self's experiences into writing that we consider fantasy or
SF [science fiction]. In contacting this self, the author
becomes a medium for a polyphony of other characters, transcribing
the voices of many into the reality of the word."(9)
First defined by writer Amanda Flowers, Soulbonding most
often occurs between a writer and a character sie is writing
about, though that character may not necessarily be of hir
own creation.(10) Soulbonders consciously
allow their Soulbonds (characters)-whether they believe them
to be independent entities or not-to interact with them and
become a part of them on a daily basis; in some cases, in
the same way a multiples, the original soul of the body may
front less than the Soulbond.(11) Whether
the Soulbonds originate with the Soulbonder or not, there
is often a created environment in which all parties involved
interact, often known as a Soulscape.(12)
This manner of being/becoming Otherkin is of particular interest
when discussing mediakin, found in Chapter (number TBA).
While personal mythology and alternate realities do not necessarily
represent the experiences of all Otherkin, they are intriguing
possibilities, particularly for those who don't necessarily
believe in literal reincarnation, but who don't believe that
reality is singular.
1. Silver Elves, The Magical Elven Love
Letters, p. 187-188
2. (2)Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God:
Primitive Mythology, p. 117
3. (3)Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths, p.
8
4. (4)Campbell, Primitive Mythology, p. 76.
5. (5)Wilson, Robert Anton. Prometheus Rising,
p. 25. (This book, I might add, is one that I recommend as
a must-read for anyone reading this book.)
6. (6)Ellwood, Taylor. Space/Time Magic, p.
30.
7. (7)Ellwood, Taylor. Inner Alchemy (forthcoming),
p. TBA
8. (8)Graham, Nicholas. http://fraterachdae.livejournal.com/237357.html
accessed 13 August, 2006.
9. (9)Ellwood, Space/Time Magic, p. 94-95
10. (10)Wainwright, Corin. Soulbonding FAQ
accessed 12 May 2006
11. (11)Wainwright, personal communication,
14 May 2006
12. (12)Wainwright, , accessed 12 May 2006
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