I'm going to try posting my online journal at Live Journal after today. Nobody reads this Blogger one, and Rune, Michelle Belanger and this other woman I'd like to corespond with are all on Live Journal. I killed my Facebook account and dropped off the True Blood forums too. I'm trying to get rid of online sites that don't serve me. My Live Journal page is here, in case anyone wants to read it or friend me.http://persephonetoo.livejournal.com/
I've been thinking lately that the kind of otherkin I might be is a naga. The term comes from Hindu mythology, meaning a spirit (sometimes seen as a deity) who is associated with and guards springs, rivers, subteranian waters and such. They can take the form of snakes, humans or snake-human hybrids. They seem to have been water elementals originally, but then became either minor deities or just spirit beings that inhabit that particular body of water. The following is my interpretation of how they may have developed.
When the universe formed from the Big Bang, it spiraled outward in a serpentine form. Later, when plant and animal life began to develop on our own planet, our DNA also took a dual serpent form, the double helix. Later still, when the first shamans tried to envision what created our world and all the life-forms on it, they often envisioned a great, dark, Primal Sea from which sprang a Primal Serpent. This Primal Serpent then either created all Life out of itself or created a male consort, mated with it, and birthed all life from this union.
Our ancient ancestors probably didn't know about the Big Bang, atomic theory, or DNA, so how did they get so close in their descriptions of these things? Some people suggest aliens told them, but I prefer to think spirits beings that we often label as deities told them in their dreams, meditations and astral travels. I also think spirit beings have existed far longer than our physical world has, and that when our world was formed, many of them decided to come here and hang out. Many of them were and are what we might call elementals, spirits that resided in fire, water, earth, air or whatever. I think nagas were a type of water elemental that decided to associate with springs, rivers, lakes, seas, subteranian waters and etc. I think they decided to take a serpentine form either in imitation of the Cosmic Spiral (aka Primal Serpent) or because the form of a snake suited their fluid, changable nature.
Humans would then find springs and rivers and wonder what sort of divine being could have created this wonderful fresh water. Since there were often snakes nearby, they envisioned the spirits of these waters must be serpentine as well. They could have just as easily envisioned some other animal or humanoid form for the spirits protecting these sacred waters, but they almost universally saw them as serpentine. Why? Maybe because the elemental spirits associated with such waters really were serpentine. As people worshiped such spirits as deities, they then became deities. When they were seen as helpful to humans, they became helpful deities. When they were seen as vengeful or tricksters, they became vengeful or trickster deities.
Such serpentine water-spirits have been thought to exist all over the world, from the Middle East and Aisa to Europe and the Americas. Their natures and behavior in myth and legend are often similar, as well. In India and parts of Asia they're called nagas or nagini (a female naga). In other lands, they have other names. The Greek lamia can be seen as a type of naga, as can the Basque lamiak and the Slavic rusalka. They're water-spirits who are usually feminine and serpentine. Sometimes they help people. Sometimes they seduce and drown unwary men. They're usually attractive, with stunning eyes. But they can also be ugly and fearsome.
