Otherkin

This year's Shining Hearth wrapped up two weeks ago, so it's time for our post-event summary.

This was a bit of a crazy year! 86 people attended, which is over 1.5x last year, and closing on triple our first year (2021). Most surprising to us was that many new registrations said they had heard about the event on Tumblr, despite the fact that we have never made outreach posts there, so word must have gotten around in a more organic way. Other than the Opening Ceremonies, the most-attended presentation reached 45 people, which is also more than 1.5x the largest from last year, and a big enough leap that we need to start thinking about how to accomodate larger crowds in the future!

We will put up some more detailed information from our anonymous demographic survey on the website eventually, but briefly:

• We had mostly fae and elves, but there were also significant numbers of therians and dragons.


• Median age of those attending was about 30.


• Most were from North America, but about a fifth were from Europe, and a few of us were from Australia/Aotearoa and South or Central America.

This year we tried to expand our schedule for the benefit of those in Europe and Australasia. We had limited success, but did manage to have two movie/game sessions and one workshop placed in the afternoon European time. The schedule is entirely dependent on who volunteers to present or stream, so hopefully we will get some more takers from those areas of the world next year!

Our event dates next year will be Friday, March 27th through Sunday, March 29th, 2026. If you joined the server this year and would like to attend next year, you won't need to register again; just stay a member, and you'll be able to check in again next March. Announcements about next year's event will begin in October.

Be well, everyone, and you will hear from us again in about six months!

https://www.shininghearth.net

General registration for Shining Hearth will close in just 5 days, on March 20th. "What's Shining Hearth?" It's a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, Sidhe, and adjacent folk, held on Discord on the fourth weekend in March (March 21-23, 2025). The server and event are 18+ only. There are workshops and discussions, games and watch parties, music, and plenty of time just to hang out and chat. For more information including our policies and this year's schedule, check out our website.

Register here to attend the gathering!

The schedule for this year's Shining Hearth has been posted to the website! This page now shows dates and times in your local time, so hopefully there will not be much confusion over when something is taking place.

Staff moderator signups are still open through February 28th. Because we are using one of the UK/Europe timeslots (Saturday 15:30-16:30 CET/UTC+1), although we think we can handle it if necessary with our staff based in the US, it would be nice to get a staff member who is based in that part of the world. Sign up here.

General registration continues to be open through March 20. Register to attend here.

We are still also seeking someone who would be able to stream a movie or similar content at some point on Saturday or Sunday between 10:00 and 22:00 CET, since our other movie slots are not accessible for people in that area. If you're interested in doing that, email staff (at) shininghearth (dot) net.

There's a couple of presentation timeslots still available in the Americas block and plenty still available in the Europe and Asia/Australia blocks. We also like to have several backups on hand in case of last-minute cancellations. Late presenter signups will close on February 7th. (Please note that the later you sign up, the sooner you will be asked to complete reading the Presenter documents, have your final workshop title and description prepared, and give final confirmation your timeslot!) Presenter signup form

Also, there has been a request to have an officially scheduled game or movie slot in a timeframe that would be more accessible to European members. We'd love to do this, but much of the desired time is late at night or very early in the morning for the current staff who are all in the US, and the other half of it overlaps the workshops we are helping run (or in some cases presenting). If you would be available to stream a video or host a free-to-play game between approximately 10:00 and 22:00 UK or European time on Saturday 22 March and/or Sunday 23 March, please fill out the Presenter form and indicate this is what you are interested in doing in the place where it asks you to describe your presentation; or email staff@shininghearth.net.

General registration is open here through March 20th.

"What's Shining Hearth?" It's a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, Sidhe, and adjacent folk, held on Discord on the fourth weekend in March (March 21-23, 2025). The server and event are 18+ only. There are workshops and discussions, games and watch parties, music, and plenty of time just to hang out and chat. For more information, see our website.

General registration for Shining Hearth is now open! Register to attend here.

"What's Shining Hearth?" It's a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, Sidhe, and adjacent folk, held on Discord on the fourth weekend in March (March 21-23, 2025). The server and event are 18+ only. There are workshops and discussions, games and watch parties, music, and plenty of time just to hang out and chat. For full information, see our website.

"Do I have to be Elf/Fae/etc.?" No, but it is our target audience, and we try to stick to that theme.

"When will the schedule be posted?" We aim for mid-February. So far we've received proposals for tips on glamour; fae identity and human gender; fae "traps"; maintaining a connection with the otherworld in times of toil; the return of the perennially popular Realm of Refuge; and possibly the Divination Salon.

We are still seeking Presenters! Currently the schedule for the Americas is still about half open, and we have not received any sign-ups from elsewhere in the world, so all those extra slots are still available as well. Presentations can be on any topic that would be of interest to elfae folk and can be in any format: lecture, panel, group discussion, demonstration, ritual, meditation, performance, etc. Timeslots are 1 hour long, but you don't have to fill up the whole time. Sign up to present here.

We're now four weeks into the sign-up period to present at Shining Hearth, and are still sitting at two presenter applications. That means there's many timeslots available through the weekend for all three regions outlined in the schedule - Americas, Europe, and Australia/Asia.

"What's Shining Hearth?" It's a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, Sidhe, and adjacent folk, held on Discord on the fourth weekend in March (March 21-23, 2025). The server and event are 18+ only. There are workshops and discussions, games and watch parties, music, and plenty of time just to hang out and chat. For more information, see our website.

Presentations can be on any topic that would be of interest to elfae folk and can be in any format: lecture, panel, group discussion, demonstration, ritual, meditation, performance, etc. Timeslots are 1 hour long; you don't have to fill the whole time, but should use at least 30 minutes. Solo and group presentations are both accepted. (If you want to sign up as a group, choose one person to be the contact and only fill out the form once. All members of the group must be over 18.)

Interested in presenting, but need inspiration for a topic? Check out the schedules from past events, or see this compilation of workshop descriptions from various otherkin gathers.

Ready to sign up? Fill out the form here!

Registration for Shining Hearth closes today, March 20th! Register here.

"What's Shining Hearth?" It's a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, and adjacent folk, beginning this Friday, March 22. 18+ only. For full information, see our website.

"What's Shining Hearth?" It's a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, Sidhe, and adjacent folk, held on Discord on the fourth weekend in March (March 22-24, 2024). The server is 18+ only. There are workshops and discussions, games and watch parties, music, and time just to hang out and chat. For full information, including this year's schedule, see our website.

There's just 3 weeks left to go until the event, and that means registration closes in less than 3 weeks! Register here through Wednesday, March 20th.

"What's Shining Hearth?" It's a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, Sidhe, and adjacent folk, held on Discord on the fourth weekend in March (March 22-24, 2024). The server and event are 18+ only. There are workshops and discussions, games and watch parties, music, and plenty of time just to hang out and chat. For more information, see our website.

Presenter sign-ups close today! The schedule is tentatively filled, but we are still accepting applications through the end of today (February 9) to be a backup presenter in case someone needs to withdraw. Presentations can be on any topic that would be of interest to elfae folk and can be in any format: lecture, panel, group discussion, demonstration, ritual, meditation, performance, etc. Presenter signup form

Staff signups will close next week on February 16th. If you would like to apply to be a staff chat moderator, fill out the form here.

General registration is open here through March 20th.

"What's Shining Hearth?" It's a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, Sidhe, and adjacent folk, held on Discord on the fourth weekend in March (March 22-24, 2024). The server and event are 18+ only. There are workshops and discussions, games and watch parties, music, and plenty of time just to hang out and chat. For more information, see our website.

Presenter sign-ups for Shining Hearth have been extended through February 6th! We still have two timeslots available and prefer to also have a few backup presenters on hand. Presentations can be on any topic that would be of interest to elfae folk and can be in any format: lecture, panel, group discussion, demonstration, ritual, meditation, performance, etc. Presenter signup form

Sign-ups to be a staff moderator are ongoing. If you would like to apply to be a chat mod, fill out the form here.

General registration is open here.

Lastly, we have begun working on the schedule and you can see a preview of the workshops submitted so far here.