Prompt, or food for thought

[dragonwolf]

ysabetwordsmith mentioned in a previous post that she's doing a poetry fishbowl. The current one is about "DNA, genetic engineering, and evolution."

In that line of thinking, I thought I'd throw this out as sort of discussion fodder:

How do you think Otherkin came about? Don't be afraid to go into detail (I don't think DreamWidth has a word count limit to their comments, so go for it).

Comments

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

The prevailing explanation I have found is reincarnation. One soul may travel across many bodies over time, not necessarily the same species, sex, etc.

Another theory that seems applicable in some instances is crossover to magical creatures, such as faeries, which tends to run in family lines and can thus pop up otherkin who aren't reincarnated. Closely related, turning on genes that are usually dormant can bring up an affinity for animal species.

Coming from a different angle, a strong enough totem bond or other spirit connection can create a similar effect. This version pops up among some therians.

The otherkin community is strongly polygenetic, so there's not going to be "one true explanation" to cover everyone. This is fine. It's fun to discuss possibilities.