Ebook: Fantasy and Belief : Alternative Religions, Popular Narratives, and Digital Cultures

Recent years have seen an increase in alternative forms of religiosity and spirituality. In particular, a variety of alternative metaphysics and spiritualities are developing that explicitly integrate fiction, most often fantasy and science fiction, within their various paradigms. Such worldviews are notable in that they are not limited to the traditional realms of religious and spiritual engagement, but rather they extend comfortably into the worlds of contemporary popular and digital cultures. Fantasy and Belief explores the context and implications of these types of beliefs through the example of the Otherkin community, a loosely affiliated group of individuals who believe themselves to be in some way non-human. Tracking a path through fiction and mythology, fan cultures and world creation, occulture and the Internet, Fantasy and Belief investigates some of the ways in which the popular and the sacred can imbricate to form personally meaningful spiritualities and metaphysics.