Otherkin-Related Non-Fiction
Otherkin and Our Culture | Spiritual Traditions and Magic | Psi and Energy Work | Divination | Folklore and Mythic Reference | Miscellaneous
Note that the body of non-fiction that is specifically about or otherwise directly relevant to otherkin still not very large. Some of these items are listed because they are about topics useful to otherkin, rather than about otherkin ourselves.
The Crisses (Rev. Criss Ittermann). The Crissing Link: Poetic License: A Poetic Journey Through the Labyrinth of Multiplicity. (2009) Plural people are not a kind of otherkin in and of themselves, but members of a system may be non-human. The Crisses are an Otherkin Host (meaning having walk-ins or channelled spirits) who have been around in the community since at least 1999, running lists like NewKin and KinFrontiers. This book is primarily about their multiplicity, but several of the chapters feature poems and discussion from non-human members of the Crisses, including a nymph, several elves, a dragon, and an ancient noncorporeal alien being.
The Elf Queen's Daughters with commentary by the Silver Elves. Elf Magic Mail: The Original Letters of The Elf Queen's Daughters, Book 1 and Book 2. (both 2014) "In 1974, a pair of sisters—Arwen and Elanor—calling thems’elves the Elf Queen’s Daughters (EQD) emerged upon the Pagan/Wiccan scene. They wrote fascinating esoteric letters of elven lore and philosophy that, when they really got going, were sent out in groups of three every week. ... This book is the first volume containing the original letters of the EQD —a Frasority of Elves and were contributed by the founders of the EQD, Arwen and Elanor, and the commentaries on each letter are written by the Silver Elves."
Lupa. A Field Guide to Otherkin. (2007) This was the first nonfiction book written entirely about otherkin and therians. It gives a general overview of the concept of otherkin, theories of how and why people feel this way, characteristics of various types of otherkin, some community history, and a sizable bibliography of both print and web resources. I submitted a survey response to Lupa when she was researching and have a brief quote in the book under the name Eshari. Note that although this book uses the word "otherkin" in the title, it was written by someone who identified as a therian rather than as otherkin in the stricter sense (mythic or fictional kind of being), and includes therianthropes as a subtype of otherkin. Because of its introductory nature, those who have already been members of the community for some time might not find it that valuable, except for general historical interest or to give to neutral-to-sympathetic outsiders (it's probably not going to convince someone who already has a negative opinion). Unfortunately, this book suffers from some layout and typography issues.
See also: A review by Daven (of Daven's Journal) and Orion Scribner's marginalia.
Rionagh na Ard. Awakening: Life Lessons from the Sidhe. (2014) A personal account of a sidhe's contact with an otherworldly sidhe guide. "As the author begins to awaken to who and what she is and reach toward peace, balance, and wholeness, she connects with and receives instruction from one of the Sidhe over a period of several years. This contact from the faery realm turns out to be much more than just a mentor and guide, but before the true nature of his relationship to the author is revealed, he gives her a treasure trove of advice on how to deal with many of the everyday challenges and frustrations that people encounter in their lives."
See also: The Silver Elves' review.
The Silver Elves. Eldafaryn: True Tales of Magic from the Lives of the Silver Elves. (2011) "Eldafaryn (Elf Haven) contains a series of vignettes from the lives of the Silver Elves starting in the present and going back and forth through time describing their lives, their magic, their philosophy and their unique view of the world. If you've ever wanted to see Elfland from the inside, as the elves view it, here's your chance."
The Silver Elves. Magical Elven Love Letters Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3. (all 2012) These are anthologies of the many Magical Elven Love Letters that the Silver Elves sent out between 1979 and ???. The books are not about otherkin or elves in a descriptive sense so much as collections of primary documents written by elves, showing their thoughts, values, and worldview.
The Silver Elves. Magic Talks: Being a Correspondence Between the Silver Elves and the Founders of the Elf Queen's Daughters and Sorcerers' Dialogues: A Further Correspondence Between the Silver Elves and the Founders of the Elf Queen's Daughters. (2012) These contain more recent correspondence between the Silver Elves and what remained of the Elf Queen's Daughters from late 2011 onward. Not strictly about otherkin or elves, but relevant topics are discussed at various points, including a discussion in the first volume of the acute seven-pointed star (septegram, elven star, faery star) now commonly used by otherkin.
Spiritual Traditions and Magic
Berg, Wendy. Red Tree, White Tree: Faeries and Humans in Partnership (2010) and Gwenevere and the Round Table (2012). These books take the interesting stance that the Arthurian figure of Queen Gwenevere was not human, but a Faery woman, and likewise some places mentioned are Faery kingdoms instead of Earthly ones. They explore the Arthurian stories and their applications to ritual magic and Otherworld visions from that perspective.
Blamires, Steve. The Chronicles of the Sidhe. (2012) Analyzes the writings of Fiona Macleod as to their content of Faery lore otherwise unknown in the Gaelic tradition, and discusses approaches for those who wish to know more of Faery or work with Faery beings. Curiously, I think he somewhat misses the point with the ritual of the "Invocation of Peace" towards the end of the book.
His The Little Book of the Great Enchantment may also be of some interest, but the bulk of it is a more straightforward biography of William Sharp and Fiona Macleod. The appendices offer some interesting magical material, but some of it is repeated from The Chronicles of the Sidhe, where it was discussed in more detail.
Foxwood, Orion. The Faery Teachings (2007) and The Tree of Enchantment. (2008) A little similar to R. J. Stewart in some respects, and in others very different. Blends Faery material with Appalachian and Southern folk magic. Unfortunately, the second edition of The Faery Teachings lacks the nine Tarot-sized cards depicting central Faery powers/beings that came with the first edition.
Gambling, Anne. Awakening to Home: A Partnership of Sidhe, Star and Stone. (2016)
Matthews, John. The Sidhe: Wisdom from the Celtic Otherworld. (2004) A partly fictionalized account of an encounter with a spiralling symbol called the "Great Glyph" in a passage grave, and the contact it engendered with one of the Sidhe folk. Besides its general spiritual-path usefulness, many things in the book will probably "ping" for those whose 'kin-type is of Sidhe or Faery persuasion. See also a review by Robert Moss and books about the Sidhe at Lorian Press.
Mynne, Hugh. The Faerie Way: A Healing Journey to Other Worlds. (1996) Interacting with the Faery realms and beings. Reading Steve Blamires' The Chronicles of the Sidhe (q.v.) has made me realize that imagery in this book was based on the writings of Fiona Macleod. "Hugh Mynne" seems likely to be a pseudonym since it is a pun on "human", but I don't know who's behind it.
The Silver Elves. The Book of Elven Magick: The Philosphy and Enchantments of the Seelie Elves Volume 1 and Volume 2. (both 2012) "This book explores the Elven viewpoint concerning magick and the world, and traditional spiritual and religious myths. It covers the tools of magic and gives magical ceremonies that may be adapted for use by modern elves. magicians. and faerie. ... [Volume 2] continues the progression of the color magics and proceeds on into the nature and establishment of the Elven Vortex/Coven, and our theories on calling the directions/dimensions."
The Silver Elves. An Elfin Book of Spirits: Evoking the Beneficient Powers of Faerie. (2011) "...contains 360 spirits with their sigils and descriptions that help one understand their powers and how they can best be magically evoked for one's positive use and benefit."
The Silver Elves. The Elven Way: The Magical Path of the Shining Ones. (2013) "...describes the Mystical, Magical, Spiritual Path of the Elf folk and their connection to the Shining Ones, those supra-dimensional beings who are our guides, guardians, ancient kindred and the source of our enlightenment. This is High Elven Spirituality and Magic and written for advanced elven adepts and magical folk of all kinds."
The Silver Elves. Through the Mists of Faerie: A Magical Guide to the Wisdom Teaching of the Ancient Elven. (2012) "...about High Elven Magic. Not the magic of chants and spells and ceremonies, of which we've already written quite a bit, but of the Quest to become like those kindred of ours who we, and others, call the Shining Ones."
Spangler, David. Conversations with the Sidhe (2014) and Engaging with the Sidhe: Conversations Continued. (2017) A Midsummer's Journey with the Sidhe (2011) may also be recommended, though the material is contained within the manual of the Card Deck of the Sidhe (q.v.).
Stewart, R. J. The Underworld Initiation (1985, rpt. 1998) ; Earth Light (1992, rpt. 1998) ; Power Within the Land (1992, rpt. 1998) ; The Living World of Faery (1995, rpt. 1999) ; The Well of Light (2007). Interacting with the Faery realms and beings. General Western mystical tradition grounded in balladry and folklore of Europe and the British Isles. The Underworld Initiation is rather dense material; some folks might do better to start with Earth Light as it is much more accessible. All of the books bear multiple re-readings and re-working with the material therein. The Living World of Faery is not strictly part of the series, but covers much of the same material, with some repeats from the other earlier books.
Belanger, Michelle. The Psychic Vampire Codex: A Manual of Magick and Energy Work. (2004) Michelle Belanger is the head of House Kheperu. Discusses the nature of one kind of psychic vampires and energy techniques related to them. Very instructive even for a general audience, as pretty much everything besides feeding is applicable to and usable by non-vampires. See also The Psychic Energy Codex (2007), which has some similar material but isn't presented in a vampiric context.
Matthews, John, illustrations by Wil Kinghan. The Moon Oracle of the Sidhe (2017) and The Sidhe Oracle of the Fleeting Hare. (2018) "The Sidhe Oracle of the Fleeting Hare is based upon the Celtic practice of capturing a hare and then releasing it again, so as to observe its path. Twenty beautiful card images of wild hares evoke the lore of this ancient divinatory practice. ... This deck stands alone or works well with the earlier Moon Oracle of the Sidhe." See the Lorian Press page of books and decks dealing with the Sidhe.
The Silver Elves. The Book of Elven Runes: A Passage into Faerie. (2012) "This is not the Norse Runes but our own elven rune divination system. It consists of 40 runes. The book ... explain[s] the rune system, how to make your own set of runes (runestones not included), and the interpretation for each of the runes."
The Silver Elves. The Elven Book of Changes: A Magical Interpretation of the I Ching. (2012) "A magical interpretation of the I Ching or Book of Changes ... for magicians, elves, and magic wielders of all kinds."
The Silver Elves. The Elven Book of Dreams: A Magical Oracle of Faerie. (2012) "This book contains 360 magical dream symbols that are interpreted for use as an oracle for elfin magicians, witches, and other magic folk. There are also over 300 poetic rhyming spells contained in the book to be used for magical enchantments, incantations, and rituals."
The Silver Elves. The Elven Star Oracle: A System of Divination for Star Enchanters. (2013) "This book is an original divinatory system created by the Silver Elves invoking the 88 major constellations and the blessings of the Shining Ones for guiding one through the world and ever closer to the realization of Faerie."
Spangler, David, illustrations by Jeremy Berg. The Card Deck of the Sidhe. (2016) Although I list this here under divination, I would point out that in Conversations with the Sidhe (q.v.) David's contact Mariel says that the deck's primary intent is attunement and communication, not divination as such. "In 2011, both David Spangler and Jeremy Berg experienced independent but related contacts with a group of Sidhe. These Sidhe were interested in promoting closer contact and collaboration with humanity. Led by a Sidhe named Mariel, this contact resulted in the creation of the Card Deck of the Sidhe. This deck is a part of the ongoing exploration and collaboration with the Sidhe, as they seek to have a greater partnership with humanity in the twenty-first century." See the Lorian Press page of books and cards dealing with the Sidhe.
Briggs, Katharine. The Vanishing People: Fairy Lore and Legends. A classic work on faery folklore.
Cavallo, Adolfo. The Unicorn Tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (recommended by 
duskenpath)
Lavers, Chris. The Natural History of Unicorns. (recommended by duskenpath)
Froud, Brian. Faeries ; Good Faeries/Bad Faeries ; Brian Froud's World of Faerie. One of the best and best-known modern Faerie artists.
Kirk, Robert (Reverend). The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies. (1691) The 1893 edition, edited and introduced by Andrew Lang, can be read online at Sacred Texts. I also recommend R. J. Stewart's edition with his own commentary, titled Robert Kirk: Walker Between Worlds. (2007)
John Matthews' The Secret Lives of Elves & Faeries: From the Private Journal of the Rev. Robert Kirk (2005) may also be of some interest, but it's important to remember that it's a fictionalized version of The Secret Commonwealth that mixes in some of Matthews' own material from The Sidhe: Wisdom of the Celtic Otherworld (q.v.), and not a discovery of new material written by Kirk himself, as it's fictionally presented to be.
Shepard, Odell. Lore of the Unicorn. (recommended by duskenpath)
Vess, Charles, et al. The Book of Ballads. Traditional ballads set as sequential comic art, each followed by a traditional text version of the ballad. These often contain much faery lore, such as in "Tam Lin" and "Thomas the Rhymer."
D'Aigle, Charlotte. The Unicorn Dialogues. Recommended with some reservations. It's fluffy, but... in a good way? This was recommended to me by a unicorn otherkin, and I can see why it could be of value to such folk. The "love and light", new-agey vibe might put some off, but I guess that's kind of par for the course for a lot of unicorns. It does kind of go along with what little unicorn energy I feel in my own makeup. I was a bit peeved, however, by a quote in the appendix that says basically it is the "job" of "imaginal creatures", including unicorns and elves, to help and support humans, as if we didn't really have an independent existence aside from that.
Last updated: 5/11/2021