First and Foremost I want to start of with saying that everything talked about below is purely taken from my own experiences and observed information from my surroundings and those that I've talked with. I do not claim to be an all knowing source of information on these topics, however I haven't seen any topics about these two subjects on this site.
If you have questions I will gladly answer them to the best of my abilities. First, lets get the definitions out of the way. Again this is what I have observed.
OtherKin: a sub culture of people who identify as partially or entirely non-human. ex: part angle, dragon, faeries, etc.
Therianthropy: mythological ability of humans to shape-shift into animals.
Therian: someone who has connected with previous past lives, usually those of animal form. ex: wolf, coyote, tiger, woolly mammoth, etc.
Reincarnation: the belief that a human, or any life form, can have its soul re-birthed into this world as another creature after death.
So lets start with an OtherKin. OtherKin, like described above, is a sub culture that exists online and in real time. Their believes usually lie within the realm of fantasy, and or role playing, etc. Though, I believe this site also would classify them as fluffs. Members that are new to the craft and aspects of the craft.
Those that have these views strongly believe they are what they are, and honestly I'm not going to tell them otherwise. However, I do believe in channeling aspects like angels, dragons, faeries etc into our practices. This I can see would make them feel a lot like they are connected to you, and or are a part of your being. That to me, makes sense. Yet, I'm skeptical or those that belief they are part or completely non-human in this life.
Moving on. I won't go over Therianthropy, because honestly, that is such a large topic that includes folk lore on werewolves, weretigers, etc that I just don't feel like going over it all. There are plenty of research out there on the internet and in libraries for you to look into that would go into it in much more detail then I ever could. Most of these explaining where these believes came from, how they can effect today's life, and how there is a bit of it that makes sense. Like channeling an animal's life force, aura, energy to help within everyday practices. Like picturing yourself as a bear, or your surrounding energy as a bear when faced with a fearful event or obstacle. Energy is all around us, and it's all about how you use it and channel it that makes a difference.
Now, to a Therian. A Therian, like described above, is basically someone that has made contact with an animal based previous life. It is really not all that different than meditating and looking within yourself for a past experience that this life wouldn't remember after being reincarnated. There are also some terms that Therian's like to use from time to time, and I have even used myself. Awakening, is a term used to describe the moment when connecting to one of these past lives. I can use my own experience when I connected with a past life. I call this life Areyia. It, or rather she, happens to be a Smilodon Fatalis. Now in common terms she, would be one of the classifications of a saber tooth cat, or saber tooth tiger. Connecting to one of these past lives, for me at least, was much like connecting to a guide, guardian animal spirit, and/or making contact with a part of Inner-Self. Another term often used by Therians, and OtherKin, is a phantom limb(s). Now this phenomenon also occurs rather regularly with amputees and people that have lost the ability to feel their limbs (through nerve damage, etc.). For Therians, and OtherKin, this often occurs as the feeling of having extra limbs (like a tail or wings) where non exists, or having the feeling of having paws, talons, claws, etc rather than having hands. I could go on with a list of what these phantom limb(s) can entail but I won't. These feelings are just as real as your ability to feel your own arms and legs, even if they don't exist in the physical realm.
(This is where it starts getting tricky because I don't actually know that much about astral projection, or the astral body). My hypothesis and thought process on this phenomenon is that these phantom limbs are indeed there; just only as part of your astral body. Or even just a part of your surrounding aura/life force. In the past lives aspect, it's your soul remembering what it feels like to have these limbs. What it felt like to have these muscles and attachments you don't have in this physical body. Just like how it is with amputees, where their mind remembers what it feels like to have that limb attached; it's still a part of the astral self, but not the physical.
And that is where I will end my little spew of information. Again, if you have any questions or wish for me to elaborate or explain more just ask. Thanks so much for reading, and I apologize if it doesn't seem all that put together. I was pretty late when I was writing and proof reading this.
Re: Otherkin, and Therians By: Freya.bloom / Beginner
Post # 2 Jan 15, 2018
The therian and therianthropy are the same thing. Therianthropy is the act of being a therian. Other kin are just therians who instead of spiritually identifying as an animal they identify as a mythological creature. Therians don’t have to be connected by their past lives. They can just be spiritually connected to that animal. And to stop people firing up in the comments, therians, other kin etc. all know that they can’t physically change. That is not what being a therian means. When someone is having a phantom shift it is a separate thing to astral projection. Astral projection is where you project you soul to the astral plane. Phantom limbs AKA phantom shifts are when the person feels like they have the ears or tail or wings of their therian self. I would highly suggest checking your facts before posting them on this site. I have been a part of the therian/otherkin community for 4 years and I strongly disagree with you saying therianthropy is fictional when it’s just a different tense of therian. It is not possible to physically shift and all true therians and other kin know that. Now if you have any questions mail me. I hope this cleared things up for you :)
Other than a couple of opinions I disagree with, the article is not bad. It's a little basic, a little incomplete, and has a couple misunderstandings that freya already covered, but it is a good start.
Part of the problem is that a large portion of the Otherkin/therian process involves a reliance on Self-realization. Or in other words, it relies on the individual to figure out their interpretations and experiences. So though the community can have some pretty wide differences in not only how they define themselves, but also in applying that personal definition towards others. While the broad ideas and general opinions tend to be commonly agreed on, the more finely you look into the small details the more varied the opinion becomes.
Because the focus is so heavy on the individual's gnosis it also is affected greatly by each individual's learning, background, experience, attitude, etc. (sociologists call it one's 'frame of reference') When people encounter new ideas or things even the simple task of naming it becomes a minefield. What do you call something that hasn't been propefly named? How do you describe a theory that uses processes with little or no vocabulary to choose from? The practical answer is to use terminology from places that are already understood that also have the strongest conceptual/descriptive paralells.
While effective on a personal level, using terminology in this way is heavily reliant on individual frame of reference. If two people see the same word in a different way, confusion happens. (And in the communities sometimes an hour or two of either friendly debate, or juvenile bickering.) And this confusion becomes even greater when people outside of the community are involved because even simple terms can require a lot of explaining, caveats, and referencing to make sure not only the definition but also the perspective and application of that definition are understood.
In all honesty this is where the communities tend to encounter the most problems with misunderstandings. A combination of a lack of individual ability (usually through lack of experience) to be able to express their frame of reference, or an unwillingness of the other party to spend the time and effort to explore what is being presented with the idea of alternate frames of reference in mind.
Mind you this sort of thing is a difficult skill to develop and it can rarely (if ever) be considered mastered. All a person can do is use discussions like this one to try and foster an attitude that welcomes comparison of ideas and healthy debate. I think articles like this one help that happen. ^_^
I have to say though, that I have to correct Freya.bloom on their use of Therianthropy. Therianthropy is older than the Therian community of today. I was using the older version of the word. Which is also why I created the definition aspect of my writing so there was less confusion. I have a feeling you should possibly re-read the post as well because I never compared phantom limbs to astral projection. I compared it to being part of the astral body, and or being a part of the soul/aura. Thus explaining phantom limbs both in the Therian sense of the word, and for those that have lost a limb(s).
Also, I never stated that therianthropy was fictional. However, I did use the older definition that defined it as being mythological and I apologize for not making that clear enough. I never once brought up the possibility of being able to physically shift either, but I am glad you made the impossibility of being able to do so clear for others.
My writing here is an attempt at explaining how Therians work for those that know very little on the topic and or are skeptical about it. On the note of you bringing out how long you have been a part of the Therian and OtherKin community, I can assure you that I am too part of that community. As being SaberKin for many years now, I would also say that there is no right or wrong answer to describe what we are discussing.
For those other that want some short information as well as in edition to having there questions answered by anyone in this topic I would suggest this site (https://noctalium.wordpress.com/pagina-15/therianthropy-faq/) and others like it that cover the topic in broad terms so that you can draw your opinion/conclusion.
"The term "therianthropy" comes from the Greek theríon [] , meaning "wild animal" or "beast" (implicitly mammalian); and anthrpos [] , meaning "human being". It was used to refer to animal transformation folklore of Europe as early as 1901."
Information Cited from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therianthropy which also has a list of the information used to make the article listed at the bottom.
So I'd like to say the post itself wasn't bad and everyone has made good points. I'd also like so say I personally identify as a therian/otherkin, and have known this for 7 plus years. I'll leave my type secret but if anyone is curious, just message me directly. There's a lot to cover when it comes to therianthropy and otherkin, and honestly, there's simply just too much for one post haha. I will say out of all the places I did research, I found one site in particular to be the most helpful and that covered pretty much every aspect, explaining everything perfectly for the most part. It covers all the different aspects of therians and otherkin, spirit guides, spirit names, fiction kin, all the different types of shifts, connections, etc. the website is
http://therian-guide.com/
Anyone who wants to check it out, feel free. It covers pretty much everything. It has its own forums and discussions so you can also ask anyone there about whatever it is you may have questions about! Anyway, for anyone seeking information from more than the post there you go! Good job with the post for the most part though! ^-^
