“The Lord of the Rings” is widely regarded as one of the most influential intellectual properties of all time. The fantasy genre as we know it today was almost single-handedly inspired by Tolkien’s epic novels, and has generated many fans across the globe. But Kimberel Eventide of Illinois has taken her love of Tolkien’s fantasy world to a whole new level.

After reading and watching “The Lord of the Rings”, Kimberel began to identify as an elf. She is part of a growing community that describes themselves as “Otherkin”, or people who identify as something other than human. She also refers to herself as a Pleiadian Starseed. Not only does she believe she is an elf, but Kimberel also believes that she was sent to the earth to act as a “spiritual guide” for humans. Because she lacks elven features, Kimberel makes up for it with clothing and prosthetics:

Photo: Kimberley Kittaneh/Facebook

“I dress as a High Elf as much as I can in velvet, silk, ornate detailed, or nature inspired clothing,” she says. “I have about five different types of elf ears and cuffs I wear, plus my own ears have a slight point to them so I don’t always wear my ears.”

Kimberel is an a mission she has named “Projectelvenstar”, which involves helping humans transform into high elves by elevating their consciousnesses, just as she has. She works to achieve this goal by using social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. She even offers personal Skype sessions to help “individual souls” to reach a higher level of consciousness.

“I want humanity to grow up organically and move forwards into a brighter age of experience that lives peacefully with nature and has advanced technology for all to experience,” she says. “This is my major mission, to guide humanity into the higher dimensions of both perception and experience.”

In “The Lord of the Rings”, elves are known for their connection with nature. Kimberel lives in the city, but she seizes the opportunity to connect with the natural world whenever she can. To help facilitate this connection, she surrounds her home with plants and flowers.

Despite her esoteric beliefs, Kimberel says her friends and family are supportive. Her husband does not claim to be anything other than human, nor does he claim to fully understand her elven ideology, but she says that she “gets no resistance from him”.

Being an elf isn’t easy; Kimberel laments that her spiritual journey has been a difficult one, as she is often ridiculed online by “less open-minded types”. Often, her mission to help humans ascend weighs heavily on her:

“I feel as weary as the Elves of Lord of the Rings did in the Third Age when they were all leaving Middle Earth to sail to the Undying Lands. When my own time comes to leave this earth, I will be happy and at peace to rest. My soul feels weary from seeing humans slowly, very slowly, move towards the society I believe they can have where everyone behaves like the High Elves. I am both patient and impatient at the same time, and it often causes a deep sorrow and burden within me.”

The global Otherkin community seems to have been intrinsically linked with the emergence of the internet. The oldest Otherkin internet resource was the Elfinkind Digest mailing list, which dates back to 1990. In the past, anyone with such out of the ordinary views would have a hard time finding anyone else who was prepared to take them seriously. These days, it is easy to find like-minded individuals to connect with and share your passions, however strange they may be.

via Mirror.co.uk