Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   For this second Siren Saturday of 2026, I have decided to share the second post in a series that I am calling The Incarnated Mermaid Diaries.   To recap from last week, this is a series of posts where I will discuss topics related to what it is like to be an Incarnated Mermaid, to have a soul with Watery origins, while living on Earth.   The topic for this week is Lessons from Feeling Like a Changeling.

So, I have discussed in the past how I always felt like I was not from here.   In particular, how, as a child, I literally thought I was a Faery Changeling.   I thought that my true mother was a Water Faery who had to give me up to live among humans, as I felt so different from everyone else.   This feeling of being othered is something that I have gathered most Incarnated Mermaids feel to some extent.   So, I want to discuss a bit about how I deal with this.

Firstly, studying folklore and Faerylore is actually quite helpful, as is reading and watching fantasy media.   This may seem a strange thing to bring up at the outset of a discussion about feeling like a Changeling, but hear me out.   If you feel so different and so othered from the people around you, there is this energy of feeling seen when you delve into the more magickal side of folklore and media!   Yes, I do often feel seen by the way that the Fae, especially Water Faery Women, are portrayed in media.   Not to mention, I certainly often feel a visceral sense of belonging when I read old folklore.   I should note that folklore surrounding Changelings was something that both fascinated and scared me as a child.   When I first heard what a Changeling was, a Faery swapped for a human baby, I was certain that I was a Changeling, that my true mother was a Water Faery who had to give me up for some reason.   I loved my family here, but felt so different from them, so this made sense to me.   In my mind, I thought that my Water Faery mother had to send me to live with humans, but she chose good parents for me.   Later on, I read actual folklore tales about Changelings, and that is when I got frightened, as in folklore, Changelings are portrayed as evil, and human families do terrible things to Changelings in the hopes of getting their real family member back.  However, I learned that feeling like a Changeling, or even being one, does not make you evil, as the folklore is often written from a place of fear and misunderstanding.   That being said, reading the folklore and gaining an understanding of how people think of the Fae across history, and how people often mistreat other people, can aid us in learning to be better to others.   It really is a complex and multi-layered thing to study folklore, and something I am so glad that I have made an important part of my life!   I want to finish this section by stating that it is almost as if this is what my Soul was calling me to dive into to discover my true path!

Secondly, I deal with this feeling of being different by openly discussing the way I see the world with my husband, my best friend, and other loved ones, as well as here in my writing.   The openness in sharing my viewpoint and lived experience helps bridge a gap that may be there.   While my experience is not the same as others, I am also opening up a place to have a dialogue about lived experiences and feeling othered or out of place!   This also is a great way to remind myself that while I may not feel like I fully belong in this realm, I have people who love me (and whom I love deeply) who accept me for who I am.   It builds community where we can be open and honest about ourselves, which aids in creating a sense of belonging!

Finally, I find that this openness I just discussed can be a great aid in developing a found family.   A found family is a great thing, as even if your birth family is not supportive, a found family can be one of the most beautiful groups.   These are people who love you for who you are, and this is great for people who feel like they do not belong in wider society, for various reasons.   A found family will allow you the space to be yourself without a filter, and you will do the same for them.   You will also see that even if your found family members are not exactly the same as you (for instance, my found family are not all Incarnated Mermaids), they are certainly likely to also not be from here, with Souls that cry out for another realm!   My own found family definitely includes people with Souls that do not originate as humans, even if they are not Incarnated Mermaids, or are unsure of their own soul origins.   In this way, the found family can become the sanctuary many are seeking in this increasingly isolated world.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about some of my experiences relating to having always felt like a Faery Changeling.   Do you have something that makes you feel different?   If so, remember that different is not bad, often it is what makes you uniquely you!   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is an Incarnated Mermaid Diaries Title Artwork that I created using the Waterhouse painting Hylas and the Nymphs.   I found the painting on https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Waterhouse_Hylas_and_the_Nymphs_Manchester_Art_Gallery_1896.15_n2.jpg.   

LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries