As otherkin individuals believe themselves to not be completely human, almost but not quite. There is a wide variety of otherkin types, trust me it’s a long list. Kin types vary from animal, mythology, fantasy and even religious. Each individual has come to their own type through their own personal journey and has come to the conclusion as to ‘what’ they feel themselves to be. You cant be told or forced or coerced – it’s who/what you are.
Now by this point you are looking at the title and thinking ok… wings ?
Yeah, like I pointed out, there are many types of otherkin, some even polykin (more than one – talk about multiple personalities) out there, and yes a lot of them have phantom limbs. As a individual identifies with a specific otherkin type, so each have certain attributes of that species are vested onto the individual in a spiritual/astral level. From tails to claws, snouts to fangs. What we going to be focusing on in this article is wings.
Now we aren’t talking the hot wing variety that you get at your local Hooters nor are we talking about physical feathery wings. As a otherkin most of what we experience is on a spiritual/astral level, so too are our wings. Considered as phantom limbs, we at times ‘feel’ them but cannot see or physically touch them, doesn’t make them any less real to us.
The wings can come in all shapes and sizes. From angelic bird type wings, bat like wings, dinosaur wings (feather and fur) and even insect-like wings. Same even have more than one set of them. Their position also varies from person to person with the most indicating that they can be felt on the shoulder blades, although some say their arms feel like wings, or that the wings sit lower down on the back.
There are also different ways the wings can manifest – as a essential part of your specific otherkin type, as a energy construct manifested by the creator or as a cameo shift and or experiences of a shamanic type in ritual or dream walking. Although it more commonly linked to the specific otherkin type.
As most otherkin with wings are aware of them and are very self conscience of their wings, although they cannot be perceived by mundane individuals, the wings do pose a problem at times.
Here is a exercise to get to know your wings.
The basis of this exercise is meditation and concentration.
Some basic understanding of your flow of energy will help, but the exercise might help you become more aware of it. Be mindful that enough concentration can create a phantom limb even if you don’t come with one. This will end up being a construct and not your actual limb so be aware of what you are hoping to achieve. The mind is a powerful thing.
Firstly we work on the limb itself, as a separate part of your body. Just start with something simple. From whichever standpoint feels comfortable to you (meditation/concentration/energy) just concentrate on the limb itself. Feel it, how it’s shaped, the weight and such. (Don’t touch, just feel at this point.)
Once you are comfortable with this, move the limb. Feel how it moves, every joint and muscle and how the skin on top (if you have these biological components as part of your make up) is moving and pulling by the movements. Study these sensations and just play around for a while, become comfortable with every little feel of the limb.
The next thing is to link the physical and the limb. This is for the sake of physical comfort as well as for the sake of future interaction with the limb. Again, move the limb but this time let your physical body react naturally to the motions. While we don’t have the muscles of the wing joint the physical muscles we do have that would surround it would be affected by the motions a little bit. This step is to allow this motion. Line up your body with the phantom limbs to create and align “connecting points” (the phenomenon sometimes referred to as wing-spots) in the places where the limb would be protruding from your physical body if they were a part of it. Open your wings and spread them wide, let them hang out, without restriction
When you feel like your physical and metaphysical body are set in their places, reach out and touch the connecting point(s) if you can reach them and feel the limb with your hand. See how far you can move your hand from the actual physical connection point and still feel the limb with it. And also how long you feel the hand with the limb.
This takes practice and some degree of concentration although you will get the hang of it over time. The more you get used to your wings and interact with them the more they will feel like a natural part of your body. The self-consciousness and awkwardness will dissipate over time. Also the more comfortable you become with your wings, the more likely you are to be relaxed with them and it should help with that nagging shoulder and upper back pain we get from trying to hide them from ourselves and the world.
A short exercise for the sake of phantom-limb interaction between two people.
You’ll need a partner for this exercise. Someone who is as comfortable with his/her phantom limbs as you are with yours and knows what phantom limbs you have. It helps if this is also a person you trust and knows “something” about energy work.
Concentrate on a specific phantom limb and become fully aware of it. Then have your partner touch the connecting point gently, preferably just with fingertips. Concentrate on the feel of the person’s fingers and hand and flex the limb. See if they feel the change in energy or quite simply the limb itself. The sensations to have a limb touched by another person (a limb that you may not have physically possessed in a very long time) can be great/strange/nice.
Heightened emotions can affect the ability to be felt, not always to a reduced effect. Know thyself. Take the time and just zen to figure out what it is you are and the rest will begin to fall into place.
Okay, so I hope that has helped a few winged kin out there who have tried winging it.
D.Kay
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