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I thought this informational article would be helpful to those of this site who are either new or delusion...and us poor peoples who are subjected to it. Werewolves, super hottie creatures of modern reinvention of monstrous beasts that killed, maimed, and destroyed. Modern Werewolves: In modern times, the werewolf is a being of romance fantasies that do not include what it truly meant to be a werewolf in the old days. They, like vampires, have been mainly romanticized to create quite lovely (and some horrid) movies about these creatures that turn into wolves or into a half-form between a wolf and a human. In rare instances, horror movies bring back the fear and the true wild animalism of the werewolf as was put down by our ancestors long ago. Movies like Gingersnaps, Teen Wolf, the Twilight series, The Wolfman, the Underworld series, and many others portray these creatures either accurately or inaccurately. Books have also taken up portraying these creatures in more modern ways, throwing in feelings of love between either each other, or between vampires and werewolves, or humans and werewolves. Ancient Werewolves: Several times in the ancient world, important individuals were, for a time, raised by a wolf. It was considered that due to the odd circumstances that they were raised under, that they imbued part of the wolf's spirit into themselves and in some ways became and behaved wolf-like. Romulus and Remus are the most famous individuals (in our Western society) that underwent this unusual childhood. More recently in the times past, werewolves were considered to be people by day, people as ordinary as you or I, who would, by the light of the moon, turn into raging beasts that would kill, main and destroy. Quite often a family would be interrupted by finding out one of the members is a werewolf, in the unfortunate circumstances of the wife being caught handless after the husband removed a paw from the beast. Werewolves and Lycan(thrope)s: Werewolves and lycanthropes (or lycans as they have been dubbed as of late) are both creatures that have been confused with one another. The big reason behind this would be the Underworld series, as a difference was never clearly made between the two. Lycans are not cursed, raging beasts, and do not turn only at the full moon. Lycanthropes are intelligent beings that hold more of the human in them than the animal. Werewolves are cursed, raging beasts that only turn at the full moon. Werewolves are dumb beings that hold more of the animal in them than the human. Actual "Werewolves": Actual werewolves by that definition are not truly possible. At least, in the physical aspect. If you wished to, you could try to mentally confuse someone one way or another, thereby cursing them into a existence different from the one they normally show. Much like hypnotism, you could mentally confuse the person to believe that every full moon they would go out and ravage the countryside, stirring up all kinds of trouble for the individual. However, they will never physically become a wolf nor a werewolf, they will only believe they are. For another matter, your will would have to be particularly greater than the individual in question, and you would have to bring this perception into light in one way or another. I think that most people with the means to do so, will never feel the want or need to do so. But I, perhaps, think too highly of humanity. Actual "Lycanthropes": Alright, actual "lycanthropes" is a yes and a no on the impossibility scale. No, it is not possible to physically transform into a wolf or a half-wolf being. Yes, it is possible to astrally or mentally transform into a wolf or half-wolf form. Astral projection allows us to take a part of what makes up us, and move it onto and through one of the astral planes. On these astral planes, the normal physical limitations of the body are thrown out the window, and allow us to do things we normally couldn't do. For instance, a person who is crippled from the waist down could walk while astral projecting, even though they cannot physical move their foot. For a separate matter, a person could grow wings, gain a fish tail, or go furry if they so chose to do while astral projecting. Astral projection is often a playground for people because it allows us to do what we couldn't do otherwise. Mental shifting is another practice that could, technically speaking, allow for an individual to retain wolf-like qualities. Mental shifting is simply shifting our mental viewpoint into another mental viewpoint, whether this be to deal with your boss, or to become more animal like during a fight or a ritual or spell. Mental shifting allows for a behavioral change on the physical level, but in no way will you start to grow fur on your face randomly or anything else silly like that. This simply will allow you to take on more wolf-like qualities for a period of time. Diseases: Two diseases exist that are deemed or linked to werewolves; hypertrichosis and lycanthropy. Hypertrichosis is the unusual growth of hair disease, and lycanthropy is a mental disorder in which the person thinks they are a wolf or a werewolf. Lycanthropy:
"mental disorder in which the patient believes that he is a wolf or some other nonhuman animal. Undoubtedly stimulated by the once widespread superstition that lycanthropy is a supernatural condition in which men actually assume the physical form of werewolves or other animals, the delusion has been most likely to occur among people who believe in reincarnation and the transmigration of souls. Usually, a person is deemed to take the form of the most dangerous beast of prey of the region: the wolf or bear in Europe and northern Asia, the hyena or leopard in Africa, and the tiger in India, China, Japan, and elsewhere in Asia; but other animals are mentioned too. Both the superstition and the psychiatric disorder are linked with belief in animal guardian spirits, vampires, totemism, witches, and werewolves. The folklore, fairy tales, and legends of many nations and peoples show evidence of lycanthropic belief.''
~http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lycanthropy
Hypertrichosis:"excessive, abnormal hairiness that may be localized or cover the entire body. It is thought that hypertrichosis results either from persistence of the lanugo-vellus hairs covering the body of the fetus or from augmented development of hair follicles. Generalized hirsutism is a common side effect of hyperadrenal corticoidism (Cushing's disease) and has also been observed in hexachlorobenzene poisoning.''
~http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hypertrichosis
Wrap Up: The wrap up of this whole post would be that while it is possible to non-physically take on wolf-like characteristics, that it is impossible to actually become or to be a werewolf. We are a coven of rational beings, and so we should act that way.