#fictotheism

[namelessweapons]

On Religion, Fictionkin, and the importance of 'Gatekeeping'

Long post. Under a cut. Herein when I say 'We' I mean the nebulous idea of a community, I will be using 'I' in this for us, for clarity.

I will be redacting the names of any people or events mentioned herein in passing. This is not a jab, a "Callout", or a focus on one person, event, situation, or otherwise, anything mentioned in passing as examples are just that, examples, and if you recognize any of the people, places, things, or events mentioned herein, you are invited to not name them, they are not individually important.

My last disclaimer is that this is an Essay, not a Debate, I will not be 'Engaging' anyone about it who disagrees. I will not be 'engaging' anyone about it who agrees either. Equality.

I state herein that I will be dropping the term 'Fictionkin', as it's been completely aided to ruin by people who aren't even Fictionkin, and that I place a new word down that I will be using, I will make another post just about this word as well, but do know I do that in this essay.

EDIT: Yes this is okay to reblog! No worries

When I say 'Spirit Animal' what do you think?

Your knee jerk reaction if you don't know me was probably to recoil, it's a term that's been appropriated to the point of near uselessness in conversations with people who aren't indigenous. My father is native, or rather, he's half native and half Salvadoran. But he has closer ties to his native roots, for this reason, I spent a lot of time with my indigenous nation on the reservation parts of my family lived on, and I've never been to El Salvador once.

Your next thought may be wondering why I don't drop what nation I'm from, it's because it's really easy to doxx people with that information, so I will not be doing so, it's not super important anyway, the only important part is that my people have a concept that has been appropriated into this nebulous concept of 'Spirit Animal', it's now a fundamentally useless word to me, and many other indigenous people as well, because people who don't believe the same things we do took a concept, and a word, and gave it their own meaning, and ran with it.

This post isn't about being native, and it's not about spirit animals, but it is about the idea of taking concepts and, more importantly, words that already exist and are attached to a belief system, and re-appropriating them into other meanings.

Where is this going? I'm getting there.

I've been out as 'Otherkin', specifically 'Deitykin' for around sixteen years now, and out as 'Fictionkin' for a large chunk of that. Before I continue I'd like to say that being Fictionkin is not 'A Delusion', it is not a medical condition, believe me I've seen therapists and psychologists, it's a keystone of my religious identity and spirituality, once upon a time I probably wouldn't have had to clarify that to my own community.

You see, it used to be that when you said you were 'Fictionkin' it mainly meant one of two things, either it was a religious belief, or you had caught on to the part of tumblr who began using it to mean 'I just really love and identify with this character, teehee!', and when that started happening, people for whom this was a religious belief, a deep an important part of their identity, pushed back, and said 'hey, we were here first, this is our religion, can you maybe get a new word for your roleplay?'

And that was the correct response, it is not only rude, but morally reprehensible to take something from people as important as a deeply set religious belief, and to say 'no, actually, you have to let us use it for this totally unrelated thing, that will make people assume the completely wrong thing of you'

It's this sort of colonizer mindset, this is why I started this off talking about the fact that I'm indigenous by the way, because I knew I was going to use this word as a comparison and I wanted people to know where I was coming from in regards to my relationship with it. But it is a very similar mindset, it's the mindset of 'I am going to use this, and you have to share, and if you aren't okay with that, you're an icky gatekeeper and the onus is on you to move'

No, it isn't, the onus is not on me, or anyone else for who this is a fundamental religious belief to 'move'.

Back then we were pretty good about setting boundaries, when someone would say 'I choose to identify as this character' or 'I just identify deeply with this character' the community was pretty good at standing its ground and going, no, that's not correct, there's no issue with that, but you need to get your own word, because this word exists, and we as a religious community are using it.

However I was recently made aware of the fact that apparently, somewhere along the way, some people decided that it was playground bullying to not allow people to appropriate spiritual beliefs and religion, now I'm not sure exactly when that started, I logged off the internet for a while to focus on my religion off the internet and also to deal with a fire and being homeless.

When I came back I still wasn't aware of it right away, in fact I wasn't aware of it until my spouse, who lives in the same home as me, attended an event and got to watch someone use the term 'Fictionkin' incorrectly.

Now I did not choose to attend this event, I work a very busy job, I also wasn't aware there was a discord for it or I may have joined to people-watch, but in the end knew it wouldn't matter, because my spouse and I live together, and I can community watch over their shoulder should I desire to.

Back to the situation, someone used the term 'Fictionkin' incorrectly, or rather they used a term other than 'Fictionkin' and attached the meaning that already existed of the word 'Fictionkin' to it, because at some point when I wasn't looking, Fictionkin were pushed out of their own words and their own spaces in favor of this new meaning, which seems to range from anything from;

'I have medical delusions about being this character' 'I choose to ID as this character' 'I just identify very closely with this character'

to a myriad of other things. I'll circle back to this, the point is I was completely taken aback when I saw the people in charge of the group wrist slap not the person who was using the wrong definition and implying by extension that everyone using 'Fictionkin' was delusional, or choosing their identity, or similar, but the Fictionkin who were attempting to protect their words from being appropriated.

This is, to me, morally disgusting. I find it fundamentally abhorrent, and I recognized something in it, that tiny sliver of a moment where I was like, oh, this is exactly like how white people took things from my culture and ran with them to the point where they're fundamentally useless outside of spaces that have been carefully screened to only include the original users, because outside of that everyone will make wild assumptions. I get the same roiling feeling in my gut when someone goes 'Oh, fictionkin, like the people who have delusions!/Really like a character!' as I do when Britteneigh who works at Holister overhears me speaking about [REDACTED] and goes 'Oh my goshh you're talking about spirit animals! my spirit animal is-'

Before anyone gets into a huff, no, I am not 1:1 comparing being fictionkin to the oppression my people have faced, so take your hands off the keyboard, because I wouldn't have replied to your lack of reading comprehension anyway to be frank. One situation reminding me of another does not mean I am 1:1'ing the situations and the fact I have to explain this here before it even happens says a lot about my faith in tumblr's reading comprehension. I know.

Back to my essay, the feeling was very similar, this was a word I had used for a long time, a word I was around for when it was created, and a word I had watched be kept very carefully so as not to be watered down, so that an already small and spread out community would have a way of discussing our experiences, feelings, and needs, without becoming scattered, lost, and lonely.

Because that really is the point of having specific religious denominations, my father was a hobbyist theologist, I grew up with bookshelves popping up around me filled top to bottom with religious texts. There are Christian denominations you can't even get to share a room because their root beliefs are so different, so they have different words. Imagine for a moment that an 18 year old walks into your catholic church -- you're catholic in this scenario -- and tells you, someone who has been catholic since you yourself were a child, the following:

"I think your delusional dependence on the saints is really quirky and cute, I've been in touch with God himself for two years now, but you're cool too"

You would probably not be entirely happy, and I think most people would understand why. It's more complex than that of course, ironically I'm watering down a theological belief to make a point about not watering down theological beliefs, I can be a hypocrite, as a treat.

Allow me to loop back to my original point. I came back, feeling lonely and eager to re-engage with my religious community now that my life was more stable, only to find that at some point my religion had been bulldozed over in the name of (misguided, I'll get to that) "Inclusion". I had been, have been, left Spiritually Homeless so to speak, never knowing if a place I popped my head into would be for people like me, or for people so fundamentally different from me that we effectively have nothing in common.

I don't have anything against people with delusions, I have non-religious delusions when my OCD peaks. I don't have an issue with people who relate very closely with fictional characters. I don't even really have an issue with people who 'choose' to identify as a character other than the core idea of this essay. I don't mind sharing casual non kin or non religious spaces with these people, why would I?

I would say 'after all, they aren't hurting me'

Except like, here's the thing.

They Are.

I came back to what I considered my home, my religious community, and I found that while I had been gone, I and people like me had been forcibly removed from the spaces we had made, pushed out overwhelmingly by either people who had either appropriated our word outright, or worse still, by people who aren't fictionkin, have no right to speak on fictionkin (much less the words we use or how we defend our religious institutions), and who have bullied us out of our spaces on this unacceptable, fundamentally selfish, colonizer-minded idea of 'Not Gatekeeping', of 'Radical Inclusivity'.

They are hurting me by depriving me of spaces where I am comfortable, understood, don't need to constantly re-iterate my religion, and they are hurting me by depriving me of a word that historically has been the only real word to get into contact with the few other people I share a religion with, and by telling people I have a disorder that I do not have, as again, I do not have religious delusions, I simply partake in a niche religion. There is nothing wrong with having delusions, there is something wrong with force-diagnosing me by proxy.

And guess what. Sometimes things just aren't for everyone. Sometimes things just aren't for you. And you have to be okay with that. Or if you aren't okay with it, you're going to have to deal with it, because it's just the way things are.

Now, since I know someone is going to get into it, what I'm talking about here has nothing to do with the queer definition of Radical Inclusivity, not relevant, not related, not a religion, not the same, do not bother bringing it up.

When I say, 'I am Fictionkin', I want people to know right away two things.

I am a fictional character (or rather, I resemble a fictional character and can be considered a nonfictional version of them for all major purposes)

For spiritual reasons, this is a religion for me.

I do not want, at any point, for any reason, anyone to have to ask or wonder, if this is a self ID thing, a medical thing, a love of the media thing, I fucking hate half my media, shining resonance refrain is dogshit and here's why-

Different essay. Sorry.

This is getting quite long, so I will now turn around and backtrack to my original point.

Thanks to a lack of gatekeeping, partially from the community itself, and overwhelmingly by people who paint themselves as having authority who aren't even Fictionkin forcing Fictionkin out of their spaces to make way for unrelated people, the word no longer has meaning, and despite being there when it first began being used, it is no longer a label that fits or that I am comfortable with.

For this reason, I will be hereby using the term Fictotheism, Fictotheist, Fictotheological.

{Use: I practice Fictotheism, I am a Fictotheist, I am Fictotheological}

My fictionkin status is religious, it is spiritual, I will be using this word because that point is baked in, it will be difficult to appropriate by anyone else, I have created this word to be like a bra; it should feel uncomfortable to use for anyone whom it does not fit.

I do not care if other people use it, in fact, if it does fit you, please do. I am not demanding anyone use it, it was created for me, and for me alone, as someone who was pushed out of my original community, it is too late I believe to reclaim Fictionkin, which is unfortunate.

My hope is that a new word will primarily give people a clear immediate idea of what I am, and that if for some reason others should begin using it, that it will create a community that is once again not only in-contact, but at less risk of being pushed out of our own community.

My only request to anyone who uses it, is that you gatekeep it. I am not only asking you to gatekeep it. I am telling you to. It must be in order to keep the definition intact. 'I identify as a character perceived as fictional for religious reasons', this is the definition, there are no other definitions, so sayeth the lord. This is a joke by the way, I'm not that pompous.

Not the demand to gatekeep this word however, that was genuine.

In closing, the word Fictionkin has been stolen from the people who originally used it, and I think that's quite frankly disgusting, but there is no fixing it now, the only way we could have fixed it was to gatekeep it when we first started being pushed out. Regardless of which word picks up traction next, I hope that this time we, as a community, can come together to keep people; especially people who aren't even fictionkin, from forcing us out of our own churches.

I will end on this note, partially for humor, and partially to nip this in the bud.

Spouse: 'People will definitely try to force you to use Fictionkind or say it already exists for this reason (despite it also being watered down)'

Me: Good, they can get fucked, this is my word for me baybee!!

[allcolourssam]

Hi everyone! I'm currently working on a neocities project as a place to put one of my little current hyperfixations.

It's a website about a bunch of religions I made up (or am making information up about).

There's only a little bit of stuff on there at the moment but I'm teaching myself HTML and writing the info at the same time.

I'd love to follow more people on neocities as well so feel free to DM me your profile and I will check you out!

Come and be super normal about religion and process your religious trauma in a super normal way with me.

[moth-makes-flags]

Casfictothic

Definition: a gender connected to having Castiel as a fictional other - not exclusively romantic

Coined by: me!

Flag by: me!

[hypnosiacon-archived]

Genderfictothic / -fictothic: A gender / suffix connected to user's fictional other(s), not exclusive to romantic ones.

Can be modified to specify a type of attraction or F/O - romofictothic - Romantic - platofictothic - Platonic - qpfictothic - Queer-Platonic - altefictothic - Alterous - cedufictothic - Cedural - famifictothic - Familial - aesfictothic - Aesthetic - sensufictothic - Sensual - sexufictothic - Sexual - tutefictothic - Tutelary - cutefictothic - Cute And etc, etc.

First flag is the base flag, the second - template for fictothic genders.

[en8y]

creamunicornselfshic + creamunicornfictothic

[IMAGE ID: two rectangular flags with nine horizontal stripes each. the first flag's stripes are evenly-sized, but the middlemost stripe is about twice as large. the first flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: light purple, pastel pink, pastel blue, pastel yellow, and peach. the second flag's stripes are varied in size. the first, fifth, and ninth stripes are small, the second, third, seventh, and eighth stripes are medium-sized, and the fourth and sixth stripes are larger. the second flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: pastel pink, pastel blue, pastel yellow, peach, and light purple. END ID.]

creamunicornselfshic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to self-shipping with cream unicorn cookie from cookie run!

creamunicornfictothic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to cream unicorn cookie from cookie run being one's fictional other!

[its-me-renmimi]

OCfictothic

[Image ID: A flag with 9 horizontal stripes of varying widths. From top to bottom the stripes are thing, medium, medium, thick, thin, medium, medium, thin. From top to bottom the colours are dark blue, blue-cyan, green-cyan, pale cyan, off-white, pale cyan, green-cyan, blue-cyan, dark blue. /End ID] OCfictothic - A gender subterm under the fictothic umbrella related to having one's own original character(s) as their fictional other(s) / their relationships with their fictional other original character(s). Inclusive of any types of attraction and/or relationship.

Day 9 of the Blorbo Coining Event - A gender related to your blorbo's source | @mousesquared

Tagging: @hypnosiacon

ID moved to alt text

[namelessweapons]

'What is that weird word in your bio'

Fictotheism, a definition.

I discussed at length the appropriation of the word Fictionkin Here

This is a definition post for the words I use at the end. I have purposefully dropped the word Fictionkin because it's less than useless to me and people like me now.

Fictotheism, Fictotheology, and Fictotheist.

'My religion is Fictotheism', 'I practice Fictotheology', 'I am a Fictotheist'

'I identify as a fictional character due specifically to religious reasons. I do not identify as a fictional character as a form of delusion, because I like the character, or because I choose to. I exist because I was reincarnated from that life, into this life, my identity is spiritual and I do not have a choice in the matter.'

[namelessweapons]

@8luelight [Sorry I didn't wanna just hit reply on my cringemain failblog]

Under a cut bc I cannot shut up. And I want to make it clear that I am actually pissed on behalf of Psychkin too, but I can't talk about it, because I cannot relate to it, and I did not want to speak on something that is not my experience to speak on.

Honestly, and I mean this in the kindest way possible, because I do respect psychkin, they were not mentioned in the essay because, well, it has nothing to do with them, I had no thoughts on them because I wasn't thinking about them, because I am not one!

To go further indepth as to what I mean, I have a friend who I adore, they've got psych roots and spiritual roots, I will gladly listen to their psych stuff, but I cannot engage with it the way I can with spirituality because I am 0% psychological kin and ergo not only have no desire, but have no right to intrude on their spaces. I would be, and am, fine with them using the word Fictotheist, because they do also have spiritual roots. System stuff, to be clear.

If you're wondering what that means for the term 'Fictotheism', I have no issue with sharing it with people who are partially psych and partially spiritual, their experiences are still religious, however, it was not made with psychkin in mind, and if asked I would say;

'If your experiences aren't religious, if your existence isn't spiritual, why do you feel the need to use my word made exclusively to name a religion?'

I do consider the use of 'Fictionkin' for psych kin and spiritual kin alike part of the early 'muddying the waters' of the original word and I do wish that right out of the gate there had been another word, however, I also think 'Fictionkin' was always a word that was going to be muddied, it's ethereal, it has a thin sheetlike qualia too capable of covering too many things.

Again, I do believe they're valid, 100% so, those experiences are very real, but I have as much in common with psychological kin as a Catholic has with someone who likes the way communion wafers taste, {we're both freaks} no, that was a joke, but the actual answer is 'we have nothing in common, other than eating communion wafers' which does not a religion make, the communion-wafer eater doesn't care what church their communion wafers come from, nor their relationship to the Body of Christ, it is not a Religious Experience, I will gladly be friends with someone who's favorite snack is Communion Wafers, but I would also politely recommend they get their Communion Wafers off amazon instead of showing up to Friday Mass to interrupt the preacher to ask for more Communion Wafers.

So I suppose the short version of my opinion is, I respect Psychkin, I think it's very real, it's a real experience, who the fuck am I to tell someone what's real? I think they should be defended, I even think they deserve a new word too because honestly I feel like 'fictionkin' has been muddied for them too, and I hate that, like I hate it as much as I hate having my original word taken from me, it isn't fair, if someone makes a word just for them, I will signal boost the fuck out of it immediately.

But the word I created was not made to include them, and it was on purpose.

[en8y]

birthcakookiselfshic + birthcakookifictothic

[IMAGE ID: two rectangular flags with nine horizontal stripes each. the first flag's stripes are evenly-sized, but the middlemost stripe is about twice as large. the first flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: hot pink, pastel pink, bright blue, pastel yellow, and golden yellow. the second flag's stripes are varied in size. the first, fifth, and ninth stripes are small, the second, third, seventh, and eighth stripes are medium-sized, and the fourth and sixth stripes are larger. the second flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: hot pink, pastel pink, golden yellow, pastel yellow, and bright blue. END ID.]

birthcakookiselfshic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to self-shipping with birthday cake cookie from cookie run!

birthcakookifictothic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to birthday cake cookie from cookie run being one's fictional other!

[en8y]

pastrycookiselfshic + pastrycookifictothic

[IMAGE ID: two rectangular flags with nine horizontal stripes each. the first flag's stripes are evenly-sized, but the middlemost stripe is about twice as large. the first flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: navy blue, dull blue-purple, pastel blue-purple, light golden yellow, and pastel yellow. the second flag's stripes are varied in size. the first, fifth, and ninth stripes are small, the second, third, seventh, and eighth stripes are medium-sized, and the fourth and sixth stripes are larger. the second flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: navy blue, dull blue-purple, pastel blue-purple, pastel yellow, and light blue. END ID.]

pastrycookiselfshic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to self-shipping with pastry cookie from cookie run!

pastrycookifictothic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to pastry cookie from cookie run being one's fictional other!

[en8y]

pastelmeringueselfshic + pastelmeringuefictothic

[IMAGE ID: two rectangular flags with nine horizontal stripes each. the first flag's stripes are evenly-sized, but the middlemost stripe is about twice as large. the first flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: warm pink, pastel pink, warm pastel orange, off-white, and pastel yellow. the second flag's stripes are varied in size. the first, fifth, and ninth stripes are small, the second, third, seventh, and eighth stripes are medium-sized, and the fourth and sixth stripes are larger. the second flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: warm pink, pastel pink, off-white, pastel yellow, and teal. END ID.]

pastelmeringueselfshic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to self-shipping with pastel meringue cookie from cookie run!

pastelmeringuefictothic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to pastel meringue cookie from cookie run being one's fictional other!

[en8y]

blemonadeselfshic + blemonadefictothic

[IMAGE ID: two rectangular flags with nine horizontal stripes each. the first flag's stripes are evenly-sized, but the middlemost stripe is about twice as large. the first flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: nearly-black purple, medium warm purple, medium cool purple, bright yellow, and off-white. the second flag's stripes are varied in size. the first, fifth, and ninth stripes are small, the second, third, seventh, and eighth stripes are medium-sized, and the fourth and sixth stripes are larger. the second flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: nearly-black purple, medium warm purple, medium cool purple, off-white and bright yellow. END ID.]

blemonadeselfshic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to self-shipping with black lemonade cookie from cookie run!

blemonadefictothic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to black lemonade cookie from cookie run being one's fictional other!

[en8y]

almondcookiselfshic + almondcookifictothic

[IMAGE ID: two rectangular flags with nine horizontal stripes each. the first flag's stripes are evenly-sized, but the middlemost stripe is about twice as large. the first flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: dark brown, medium brown, light brown, beige, and cream. the second flag's stripes are varied in size. the first, fifth, and ninth stripes are small, the second, third, seventh, and eighth stripes are medium-sized, and the fourth and sixth stripes are larger. the second flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: dark brown, medium brown, light brown, beige, and dull warm blue. END ID.]

almondcookiselfshic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to self-shipping with almond cookie from cookie run!

almondcookifictothic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to almond cookie from cookie run being one's fictional other!

[hypnosiacon-archived]

Playfictothic: A fictothic subterm. A gender connected to ones playful fictional other(s) / fictional other(s) to which one feels playful attraction.

[hypnosiacon-archived]

Altaffictothic: A fictothic subterm. A gender connected to ones fictional other(s) to which one feels alteraffectis attraction.

✖ Requested by Anon!

[en8y]

carrowselfshic + carrowfictothic

[IMAGE ID: two rectangular flags with nine horizontal stripes each. the first flag's stripes are evenly-sized, but the middlemost stripe is about twice as large. the first flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: black, dark brown, medium cool brown, medium warm brown, and white. the second flag's stripes are varied in size. the first, fifth, and ninth stripes are small, the second, third, seventh, and eighth stripes are medium-sized, and the fourth and sixth stripes are larger. the second flag's colors, from outside to inside, are as follows: dark brown, medium cool brown, medium warm brown, black, and white. END ID.]

carrowselfshic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to self-shipping with caramel arrow cookie from cookie run!

carrowfictothic: a gender connected to, affected by, or otherwise related to caramel arrow cookie from cookie run being one's fictional other!