Past Life Memories?

I call shenanigans on them.

 

Within the therianthrope and otherkin communities, speaking of past life memories seems rather common place.  More so in the otherkin community because people who identify as otherkin generally identify with creatures from myth and legend.  In more simple language, the creatures they identify with don’t exist.  Creatures like dragons, fairies, fae, and mermaids.  You’ll even find your fair share of angel and demon-kin as well.

 

Anyways, I said in a previous post that I don’t rule out the possibility of reincarnation.  Which by that definition means that I shouldn’t rule out the possibility of past life memories.  However, that doesn’t mean I can’t call shenanigans on them.  Even within the most scientifically minded otherkin community, stories of past lives run rampant.  And these stories are always very elaborate.  Very descriptive about different planets they come from.  They’re always different planets or different dimensions.  They have to be.  Fairies, fae, dragons, mermaids, sphinxes, etc. don’t exist on the earth.  These are beings that were created by humans through misinterpretation of reality.  For angel and demon-kin, the situation might be different.  I can’t prove that they don’t exist, however unlike these other beings, angels and demons are historically thought to be a real part of  this realm.

 

It can be difficult to discuss past life memories with otherkin (usually I’ll just say otherkin because I’ve seen far more otherkin claim past life memories over therians).  I’ll give an example of this (though this example comes from a therian forum).  There was a subject on a therianthropy related forum discussing whether or not otherkin take things too far sometimes.  This was basically a discussion on the claims of otherkin, specifically revolving around past life claims and spiritual claims.  You can’t have the soul of something that doesn’t exist.  One member chimed in that he had dealings with angels and angel-kin are nothing like angels.  Now this member is well known as a devout Christian so his experience of angels is coming from his faith and from what Christianity teaches angels are.  And I imagine that they also come from his exact experiences of angels (whatever they may be).  However the administrator of the board claimed that he could not tell someone they’re not angel-kin because his knowledge of angels “doesn’t count”.

 

This is the problem of otherkin.  There are things that are taught about each of these creatures that otherkin claim to be.  Otherkin however find ways to rewrite the history of what these creatures historically are.  In the case of dragons, I almost want to put them on the therian side of things because a dragon is more animalistic than some of these other creatures.  However they still don’t exist (excluding real animals that are labeled dragons such as komodos and bearded dragons).  In many beliefs, demons at typically evil.  Note I didn’t say deimons or daemons.  Just because the root of “demon” is “deimon” doesn’t mean I’m talking about deimons.  I’m talking specifically about demons.  Demons are malevolent spirits.  Angels are benevolent beings.  Not just in Christian tradition but in Judaism and Islam.  Even in Egyptian and Babylonian societies.  So when I hear a demon-kin say something that isn’t representative of what these beings historically are, I have to raise an eyebrow at it.  It seems that historic knowledge is being replaced by these “memories” of what they used to be, by what they feel is correct, or by what the terms used to mean without realizing that words can evolve or even mean two different things.  Not to mention that daemon and deimon are still words and they do mean something different than demon.

 

Now I hear many demon-kin describing themselves as mischievous.  Never evil though.  I suppose “mischievous” is part of a demonic nature.  I’m not very knowledgeable about demons as whole.  But this isn’t about demons.  However I will say that I often wonder what would happen if there were a demon-kin that appeared and described his demonic nature as evil.  Would they be written off as “fluffy”?  Or would they be told to seek mental help?

 

To get back on the subject of past life memories, why is it that these memories can’t just be an overactive imagination?  Perhaps desperately wanting to believe that there is a spiritual context behind something that might not be spiritual at all?  How can it be known that these “memories” are real and that they really happened?  And even if they did really happen, how do you know it was really you?

 

The real reason I have such a problem with past life claims in otherkin is because the majority of the time, these memories are of some distant world or dimension that cannot be seen in any way, shape, or form.  These people are absolutely certain that they know the name of the species that they were and what they looked like when they were in their “real” form.  And these descriptions are detailed.  Knowing that they were a blue western dragon with this many horns and that’s this big.  Or knowing that what their “planet” looked like.  What they did in their lives.  If they had “mates” or children.  It’s too much.  Where is the line drawn between what is believable in the otherkin community and what isn’t?  Apparently it’s okay to claim to know what your planet is and knowing that you had some sort of mate and/or children.  And it’s okay to know exactly what you looked like as your kin-form and what abilities you had.  And it’s okay to know what sort of diet you held.  But it’s wrong to claim to be a prince, princess, king, queen, or god of anything.  It’s equally as impossible to believe that you were a king or god in a past life (more so a god because gods typically don’t die) as it is to believe that you’re a dragon from planet x with gold horns and blue scales, had a mate and child, and so on and so forth.

 

I’ve focused more on the otherkin side of this.  However I will give more leniency to therians who believe they were reincarnated.  Why?  Because the animals that therians claim to be have existed or do exist.  That doesn’t mean I believe their past life claims more.  I don’t.  I don’t believe any past life claims.  However I won’t pretend that I don’t give more credence to the therian belief in reincarnation over the otherkin belief in reincarnation.  Therians believe they were creatures that have/had existed.  There’s no physical proof that the creatures that otherkin claim to be ever existed.

 

Am I saying that all otherkin are lying?  No.  Both otherkin and therianthropy are very similar constructs.  People believing themselves to be something else other than human or connecting strongly with a creature that it becomes a part of their personality, being, psyche, etc.  So along those lines, you could still be otherkin.  I just think that otherkin needs to be looked at more from a psychological standpoint as well.  I don’t claim psychology to be the end all be all for this subject, but before placing something in the “spiritual” category, try to figure it out from the “mundane” standpoints first.