Otherkin

General registration for Shining Hearth is open! Register to attend here. If you are already a member of the server, you do not need to register again.

"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 27-29, 2026). The server and event are 18+ only. (If you are completely new to Discord, we have a newcomers' guide here. PDF, 3.37 MB) 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.

"Do I have to be Elf/Fae/Sidhe/Tuatha?" No; others are welcome. However, those kinds are our target audience, and we stick to that theme as much as possible.

"When will the schedule be posted?" We aim for mid-February. So far we've received proposals about fairy genealogy, alterhuman LARPing, fairy glamour, soundscapes for meditation and other 'kin-related purposes, intuitive faery art, and color magic. We will likely see the return of the perennially popular Realm of Refuge, and possibly have a ritual working on Bringing Home the Balefire.

We are still seeking Presenters! Currently there are a few slots open for the Americas block, three for Australasia, and the Europe block is still entirely open. 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 about two weeks into the sign-up period to present at Shining Hearth, and have already received four proposals. There's still plenty of timeslots available through the weekend for all three regions outlined in the schedule - Americas, Europe, and Australasia.

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 our past events, or see this compilation of workshop descriptions from various otherkin gathers.

Ready to sign up? Fill out the form here!

Announcing the sixth annual Shining Hearth, a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, Sidhe, and adjacent folk! It will be held on March 27-29, 2026, the fourth weekend in March, on our Discord server. (If you are unfamiliar with Discord, we have a guide for newcomers here. (PDF, 3.37 MB) As always, we plan to have workshops and discussions, games and watch parties, music, and of course plenty of time just to hang out and chat. You can get all the details and sign up for our newsletter on our website.

As with last year, we're starting out with an expanded schedule framework, hoping to have more offerings at times of the day that are more accessible to those attending from the eastern hemisphere. To do so we will need to have presenters willing to present at suitable times, staff to do presenter check-in duties and moderate chat, and streamers to host video watch parties or run games!
If you are a member of any otherkind spaces that are focused on those regions (or just have a high population of non-North-Americans) where you could assist with outreach, or have any other brainstorms, we welcome any suggestions and advice. If you're in Europe/Africa/Asia/Australia/wherever yourself, we encourage you to consider applying to present or be staff, or volunteering to stream a movie (or similar item) or host a game session.

Please note that the event and server are 18+ only. For more information about our policies, see the FAQ.

Important dates:
Presenter sign-ups: November 14, 2025 - January 16, 2025
General registration: January 1 - March 26, 2026
Staff sign-ups: January 31 - March 2, 2026
Schedule posted: mid-February 2026
The gathering: March 27-29, 2026

Feel free to ask any questions here or email staff (at) shininghearth.net. We hope to see ye elfae folk there!

Registration for Shining Hearth closes today! We're a free online gathering of Elves, Fae, Sidhe, and adjacent folk. 18+ only. Full information is available on our website. Register to attend here.

Staff sign-ups for Shining Hearth are closing today. We're pretty well supplied with staff this year, but if you wish to be considered as a backup in case someone drops out in the next couple of weeks, you can apply here.

There's now a little less than 3 weeks to go for general registration for the gathering -- closing March 20th! 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. See this year's schedule here!

Sign-ups to be Staff at Shining Hearth are now open! Our Staff moderators watch chat on the server to make sure everyone is abiding by our Code of Conduct, deal with any conflicts that may arise, and may be asked to assist with Presenter check-ins. Applications will be accepted through February 28th. Sign up to be staff here.

Late Presenter sign-ups will be accepted for one more week, through February 7th. There is still plenty of space in the Europe/UK and Australia/Asia blocks. The Americas block is tentatively full at this time, but we accept applications as backups in case someone has to cancel between now and March. Sign up to present here.

General registration is still open through March 20th. Register to attend here.

We are also seeking someone who can stream a movie (or similar content) or host a free-to-play game between approximately 10:00 and 22:00 UK/European time on Saturday 22 March and/or Sunday 23 March. If you have something you can offer, 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.

A quick preview of the workshops that have been submitted for Shining Hearth so far is now available at the top of the schedule page on our website.

Today (January 10th) is officially the last day for presenter signups, but we still have a couple of timeslots available in the Americas schedule block, plus plenty of slots in the Europe and Asia/Australia blocks. Therefore we will be accepting late Presenter sign-ups through February 7th or while space is available. Please note that timeslot selections may be limited depending on your region, and your proposal may not be added immediately, but kept on hand as a backup in case someone else has to drop out. Sign up to present here.

General registration to attend is open through March 20th.

Staff sign-ups will begin at the end of this month. To support potential presenters from Europe and Asia/Australia, we will be seeking staff from those regions as well!

We're now six weeks into the sign-up period to present at Shining Hearth. This has been a bit of a slow year and so far we have only two sign-ups plus a maybe, so we're looking for at least seven more presenters to fill out the timeslots aimed at the Americas, as well as still seeking anyone from Europe or east Asia/Australia regions to help us expand into those parts of the clock.

Timeslots are 1 hour long; you don't have to fill the whole time, but should use at least 30 minutes. Applications will be accepted for three more weeks, through January 10. Presenter application form

General registration will begin in a little less than two weeks, on January 1st!

"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.

eta: The link to the presenter sign-up form has been corrected! If you tried to sign up and were told that the form would not open until a date in November 2024, please try again.

We're two weeks into the sign-up period to present at Shining Hearth, and have received two sign-ups already. There's still plenty of 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!

"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 of 10 presentations, see our website.

Just one week left to go until Shining Hearth begins for 2024! So far this month we've been going through technical rehearsals with all our presenters and working on getting movies and/or games lined up for Friday and Saturday nights. Registration for the gathering will close in 5 days, on Wednesday, March 20th! Register here.