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possibly-astraeus · 27 days

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Please explain therians

OKAY

So the definition of a therian is someone who spiritually identifies as an animal, but STILL PHYSICALLY IDENTIFIES AS A HUMAN!!!

This is not by choice. People who are therians feel connected to the animal in some way, whether that's because they had dreams or shifts of a past life, or they can can connect their behavior to an animal

Shifts are basically little episodes where they feel like and/or act like the animal in which their theriotype is.

There are two kinds of main shifts:

Voluntary Shift

A shift that occurs due to being consciously induced.

Involuntary Shift

A shift that occurs without will or conscious control.

Then, these are split into multiple other kinds of shifts, like the following

Mental Shift (MS or m-shift)

A change in mindset, thinking more like the theriotype.

Phantom Shift (Ph-shift)

Feeling supernumerary phantom limbs or a full phantom body of the theriotype.

Sensory Shift (SE or Se-Shift)

One's senses temporarily become more like that of the theriotype.

Perception Shift (PE-shift)

Perceiving things in a way which is more associated with the theriotype.

Auditory Shift

Experiencing a shift by sounds they notice around them. This can be linked to a sensory shift if oneself's theriotype has a strong hearing ability.

Emotional Shift

Shifting occurs during a certain emotional state, e.g. stress or anger; usually with another type of shift.

Dream Shift (DS or d-shift)

Becoming an animal within a dream, either partially or entirely.

Cameo Shift (C)

Feeling like an animal that is not a known theriotype.

These next ones are more rare ones? I'll be 100% honest. A few of these are new to me.

Aura Shift (A)

The shape or form of an auric field or life energy field changes to that of the theriotype.

Astral Shift (As)

The astral body separates from the physical body, travels to the astral plane, and shifts to the form of a nonhuman animal.

Berserker Shift

Strong emotions push away the human side, including empathy and logical decision-making; can be voluntary and involuntary

Bilocation Shift (Bi)

Therian appears in two locations simultaneously, with the double appearing in the form of the theriotype in the physical plane.

Shadow Shift (SW) / Ghost Shift

Therian sees the animal form around themself as a transparent apparition, or when the appearance seems to change.

Spiritual Shift (S or S-shift)

The spirit takes on the form or shape of the theriotype, while the physical body remains unchanged/

Physical Shift

Human body transforms into the physical shape of another creature; agreed to be impossible.

Envisage / Self-image Shift

Therian's mental image/awareness of themselves changes to closer reflect that of their kintype; similar to a phantom shift, but lacks actual phantom sensation.

Koita Shift

Therian experiences a cameo shift when they look at an animal. An example of this goes as followed: A therian would look at a deer(or other animal) and experiences a phantom shift, mental shift, etc shift, of that deer(or other animal) meaning they feel the appendages of that deer(or animal) like antlers, ears, tail, hooves, etc. This is similar to Cameo shifting.

I know this is a lot(?) Lol

Some therians experience little to no shifts, while some have some every day. Nobody can choose to be a therian, and nobody can choose what animal their theriotype is.

Some therians experience species dysphoria, where they hate what they are and they just want to be their theriotype. But it's different for everyone!

It's very important to research therians and what they are if you're curious, but please, PLEASE stay away from any "am I a therian" quizzes, they are always inaccurate. Everyone experiences being a therian differently, and it sometimes it takes longer for someone to find out if they are one(I've heard of a person that took 2 years to find their theriotype). A quiz will never help you, I learned that the hard way.

Some therians do something called quadrobics or quads for short. It's an actual sport, and here's a video as an example

youtube

It's good to keep in mind that a large majority of the people in this community are minors who discovered the term and really connected to it!

And, fun fact, the term "therianthropy" has been used since 1901! The term is first used in the book "The Religious Systems of China" by J.J.M De Groot.

The term has been really popular recently, especially in 2020! There are tons of therians over tiktok, youtube, and probably hundreds of other social media platforms.

I recommend the YouTube channel "Therian Territory" which is ran by an amazing person who goes by Thorn which basically explains what therianthropy is and other stuff!! They really helped me figure out what my theriotype was :).

Hope this helped! Make sure to do lots of research if you can, because I may have gotten some facts wrong. :3

Stay safe and drink water!

All information in bold and italics are copy and pasted from this page.

#the god speaks #looong text post #text post #therian #therianthropy #therian things #video

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hapalopus · 2 years

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So are you going to address the fact that the current otherkin community lifts elements from the DID community for their own use, i.e kin "shifting", or the fact most sources seem to agree it spawned from 90's internet subcultures and has no real grounds as an actual occult practice? You can't harp on normal-horoscopes if you're gonna ignore the fact otherkin has had it's own issues with racism and ableism.

You picked the wrong person to send this ask to jshkdjk One of my special interests is literally otherkind history.

To start off, 'shifting,' the way it's used in the otherkind community today, actually doesn't stem from the "otherkin community" (and nor is it lifted from the plural community) – instead it has roots in the therian community.

Let me explain: There have always been folks out there who felt nonhuman or other-than-human, there have just never been that many of us. It's been hard for us to create a community because we're just so few and far between. The earliest nonhuman community we have records of is the Elf Queen's Daughters, a group of Tolkienesque elves who found each other in the 60s and officially created mailing lists (with snail mail! can you believe?? :D) in the 70s. The EQD and their offshoots never discussed shifting as far as I'm aware. Some of them probably experienced fluctuations in their species identity and the intensity of it, but they didn't discuss it as a shapeshifting phenomenon. Shapeshifting just wasn't part of the elven culture.

The only other nonhuman community I'm aware of from those early days is the starseed community which has... issues... but it's nonetheless a real community with real beliefs and it's nowhere near as horrible as people on tumblr have made it out to be in the past few years.

But then the internet was invented and it became unfathomably easy for nonhumans to find each other. Several communities sprung up independently of each other and with little to no overlap: Alfandra for the dragons, Always Believe for the unicorns, The Elfinkind Digest for various kinds of nonhumans, and Alt.Horror.Werewolves for the animals. It was on AHWw that the idea of shapeshifting first took off, probably because people visiting the newsgroup already had werewolves on their mind.

Where the elven communities had had a more spiritual approach to nonhumanity, the therian community (as it became known; 'therian' being a shortened form of 'therianthrope') on AHWw had a more analytic approach. Which is not to say that spirituality and analysis can't go hand in hand, they usually do, but what I'm getting at is just that the two communities had very different mindsets and ideas right from the get-go. The therians quickly realized that there were different kinds of shapeshifting that they could experience. Mental shifting is one of the most common forms, and probably the one you're thinking of, though it's origins can be found in werewolf media, and not plurality, like you assumed. You know in werewolf movies when the full moon approaches and the werewolf starts acting more like a wolf before they've even started transforming physically? That's what mental shifting is like. Taking on the mindset of your theriotype (or kintype, when the different communities later started melding together). Other types of shift include (but are not limited to) phantom shift, sensory shift, shadow shift, dream shift, bilocation shift, astral shift, berserker shift, envisage shift, and aura shift. Check out this glossary for more info :D

Also, I'm curious what you think counts as a "real" practice. Like, I'm Asatru, and proudly so. But Norse Paganism, as it's known today, is no older than the otherkind community. The only sources we have on the original Norse beliefs (which no doubt included many 'denominations' and disparate factions) were written down by Christians way after the Norse beliefs had begun dying out. Norse Paganism is an experiment at best. Would you claim, then, that seiðr "has no real grounds as an actual occult practice"? Of course not, that's ridiculous! No religious scholar would claim that. Age does not affect validity.

Try reading The Otherkin Timeline, A Field Guide to Otherkin, or perhaps even Werewolf Magick beforehand the next time you wanna tout misinformation about my community :)

#otherkin #putting it in the tag for sorting purposes:#normal-horoscopes #also because it's a great example of how... at least the *fans* of NH clearly don't know shit #you speak very confidently about a topic with which you have no experience

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nimdreams · 9 months

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Breeds

Originally posted on August 6, 2023 and edited on September 23, 2023

I've tried different breeds in the past, and I do not know if I will find that a different breed fits me better in the future, but this is my journey so far. As soon as I joined the community and learned it's different terms, I knew I was a dog in a way. Animalhearted was a term I felt very comfortable using and I have called myself either dog-hearted or a dog therian from the very beginning.

The first time I called myself a dog therian, I was still researching different breeds. Then in January 2020, I first felt a very strong pull and click with a breed, the Chinese Crested. This is the first breed I confirmed and identified as for a time. In this case, the click I felt came from my history of researching and learning about breeds and though I thought hairless dogs looked a bit funny, I did feel this pull to them. I thought this connection could be because they were my theriotype. I didn't get any shifts that felt particularly like a Crestie, but their size felt right to me and I thought I could be a toy breed as I don't have much of a hunting instinct nor interest in herding or pulling.

The second dog breed I confirmed was the Silken Windsprite in March 2023. I had had envisage shifts since October 2021 that lined up with this breed very well. The confirmation of this breed was largely based off these shifts and their personality fit me very well too. I had never seen or heard of this breed before and the day I found them is the day I confirmed them. They felt like a comfortable fit, but eventually I changed my label from therian to hearted and the Windsprite went to the back of my mind. I still felt like, if I were a dog I'd be a Windsprite, until I went back to the dog therian label and felt like I had to explore my breed more.

One breed I never fully confirmed but questioned most is the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. They made sense as a toy breed and their size was what felt right. I mostly questioned them because of my insanely strong connection to them, as my first dogson was a Cavie. I also have the same brain malformation that a lot of Cavies suffer from. However, their coloring never matched up with the coloring I saw myself being and I didn't feel like their personality was mine.

The third breed I have confirmed and also questioned the longest (from the very beginning in fact) is the Golden Retriever. They fit with my shifts, they are the right color and I have a history with Goldies as my imaginary pups. When I was young, I got myself a Golden puppy plushie and treated it like my own pup. I really bonded strongly with this plush, had picked him out specifically for being the plush that most felt like my own.

I never quite cared for Golden Retrievers more than other breeds. I grew up with Flat-Coated Retrievers instead and felt like Goldens were overrated. So possibly having the Goldie as my theriotype wasn't something I thought much of. However, I kept going back to this breed because of my plush and because whenever I imagined my own puppies, they were Golden puppies. There has also always been something about the color of their coat that resonated magically and deeply within me. And their size, even though I imagined myself as a smaller dog; the way my mental shifts had me react to other dogs actually made sense with a bigger breed, and as a bigger bodied person, the Goldie's size overlaps my self image better. I am not sure if my personality fits with the typical Golden Retriever, but I find that matters less because each dog has their individuality too.

That is where I am right now. For the first time really getting to stretch my Goldie paws and settling comfortably in my Goldie fur. This feels different because instead of labeling myself something I believe I identify as, it is based off something deeper. Something I have history and experiences with. It is not something I chose as the best fit, but something that makes sense, a logical conclusion.

Update: After settling as a Golden Retriever I went back to questioning a few dog breeds. I questioned the English Cocker Spaniel because friends see me as one and it feels so good to be seen as your theriotype. I also questioned the Kooikerhondje because this breed lined up perfectly with my identity as a witch's familiar. I have returned to calling myself a Golden Retriever therian however, as that breed just matches up too perfectly with how I see myself and my experiences.

#repost #dog therian #golden retriever therian #nim dreaming #dog hearted

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sleepingtimber · 2 years

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Hello there! 🐾 ⚙️

^Photo by Paul Nicklen

Icon photo by Ramiro Marquez, header photo by sleepingtimber

intro + about post

🐺🌲🐶

Timber/Jasper • He/They/It • 25yo • Queer • Neurodivergent

Theriotypes: Canidae cladotherian. Strongest theriotypes are the wolf, coyote, and domestic dog groups but I am all canidae species! 🐾

Kintypes: Robot/androidkin, Sony Aibo ERS1000 (robot dog)

Fictionkin and Constelic: A robot from fiction and a constellation of sillies. I'm nervous to about talk about these in detail. You can ask/talk about them with me (I sometimes post about them), I'm just not specific for my privacy

Hearttypes: Cats and hyenas

I'm a psychological alterhuman. Canidae is my main/central identity. I've identified as canine in various forms for most of my life, so I am the most in tune with my therianthropy. I'm always in a state of being both canine and human, which one is stronger is always fluidly changing. So I don't have traditional mental shifts, but I get similar shifts in my own ways. I also get phantom shifts and envisage shifts! My usual envisage shifts are grey wolf, coyote, tan mutt, black/brown shepard mix, white/grey Aibo ERS1000, black wolfdog, and my fictotype! My fictotype is a robot, which is why I'm also robotkin. I get various shifts relating to my kin/fictotype, mental/envis shifts mostly with the rare phantom shift.

🔌⚙️🤖

On this blog, I curate posts about alt/nonhumanity, animal + canine stuff, nature photos, art, and more. I also make personal posts, and share my own posts/photography. This is a sideblog, so I can't reply/follow from here. I'm open to questions, asks, and mutuals! This blog is sfw.

Tag Navigation

- #animals, #nature, #plushies, specific topics (ex. #wolves, #mountains, etc..); animal and nature related posting

- #photography, #art, #text, #boards, #memes; types of posts

- #alterhuman stuff, #cladotherian; alterhuman and nonhuman related posts of many different kinds. I use it as an umbrella term in this case, and nonhuman stuff is included here too, if it's better for me to add a NH specific tag for it though plz lmk cause idk what would be best

- #timber posts; my personal photography, non-diary related posts, any other things I make/post here

-#timbers therian diary; journaling about my alterhumaity, ik it says 'therian' specifically but it encompasses all my identities

Dni: terf/radfem/gender critical, transmed/truscum, proship, map/nomap/pedo, zoos, racist, sexist, anti-lgbt, and other bigoted groups. I block liberally.

🐺🌲🐶

#timber posts #text #therian #canine therian #timbers therian diary #cladotherian

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thelightfluxtastic · 1 year

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🐾💪💐🧠

🐾: What are your kintype(s)?

Dog (specifically border collie) and faun (as in satyr).

💪: Do you experience phantom limbs?

Rarely and usually with some sort of stimulus (e.g. watching dog videos or talking about phantom shifts). I more often get envisage shifts.

💐: Do you experience any other shifts?

Envisage shifts, desire shifts, rare mental shifts

🧠: Do you have memories?

No. Neither of my kintypes are attributed to past, alternative or parallel lives. I have noemata (e.g. my dog fur color) but nothing that feels like a memory.

#ask game #otherkin #therian

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winged-folk · 3 years

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hi, could you explain what a shift is? i’m new to the therian community and i’ve seen that word used a lot, i’m just not sure what it means. thanks!

hi there!! there are several types of shifts:

1. Mental shifts

Mental shifts occur when one's thought patterns fall into those of their theriotype, e.g. a cat therian may begin to think less in words and more in images and feelings. they may feel inclined to nudge up against surfaces, and may become very alert when spotting a small animal that cats would usually hunt. These shifts can last anywhere from a few seconds to hours, and while your thoughts may become more animalistic, you are still capable of human speech and thought as well as logic (although it may be uncomfortable to speak and act like a human while experiencing a mental shift!) Being in a mental shift will never excuse behaviour that harms others. You are still at least 90% in control of your actions and behaviours. 2. Phantom shifts

Phantom shifts are a phenomenon many therians (but not all!!) experience, where you may feel phantom appearances of your theriotype's physique. This could be feeling wings for bird therians, a tail for gecko therians, or tusks for a boar therian. Phantom shifts can be felt in several ways, from just an awareness of the limbs to full on sensation. For example, when sitting on a bench, if I moved my tail to touch the corner when I was experiencing a phantom shift of my dromeosaurid theriotype, I could accurately touch the corner with my finger without looking first try. When I moved my tail away, more often than not I could not accurately touch the corner with my finger the first try. I've also heard stories of therians accurately knowing when someone was behind them as the person was touching their phantom tail without knowing. This phenomenon has also been observed (and is more well documented) in amputees, who experience similar things.

3. Envisage shifts

Envisage shifts occur when one's brain automatically pictures their theriotype performing the tasks they are doing, instead of their human self. People have an awareness of their physical form as they go about their day, and many therians picture not their human form but their creature form, mostly entirely subconciously (but the more aware you become of this the more vivid it becomes). It can feel very peculiar when your brain is convinced that you look like an alligator while on a bus chock full of human passengers paying you no mind lol

4. Physical shifts

Many therians shun the idea of being able to physically shift into your theriotype, becoming it physically and leaving your human form- and thats because its completely impossible. (gotcha haha, you really thought) Physical shifts are, quite frankly, unfeasible. There has never been a documented case of humans transforming into animals, as this would mean completely destroying and rebuilding your DNA which would, well, kill you. Shapeshifting is thus far undocumented and scientifically impossible, sadly. If someone is claiming to be a physical shifter... they're lying. (man i wish tho, if only...)

Extra info!

- shifts of multiple theriotypes can be experienced at once (it can get really confusing, I once had the tail of a kaprosuchus and the beak of a kea. Sometimes you feel like a very strange frankensteins-moster-esque hybrid haha)

- multiple types of shifts can be experienced at once (full phantom, mental, and envisage shifts all experienced at once is a TRIP)

- Shifting can be a positive or negative experience

- Not all therians experience shifts and thats completely fine! You're still just as therian as the rest <333

- You can learn to control your shifts, however sometimes they are out of your control and you just gotta deal with them until they go away

- Everyone experiences shifts differently!! There is no one right way to experience a shift.

- There are many, many types of shifts, much more than I've covered here (exam month aaargh, busybusybusy) so research is recommended!!

I hope this helped! :D

#therian #therianthropy #otherkin #shifts #phantom shift #mental shift #envisage shift #physical shift #shifting #therian help #therian positivity #therian shift

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amr-alterhuman · 1 month

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Something that helps me feel more shifty is wearing my gear, of course, but then walking/running and seeing it in my shadow, blending the two into one being in my outline.

This helps with my envisage and phantom shifts.

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moved-to-darkplanets · 3 years

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On the subject of my shifts, to those who experience them, how long do your shifts tend to be on average? Does it depend on factors such as type of shift?

For me, when I'm clear headed mental shifts tend to be the longest, on a range from hours to days. Even when it's not a very strong shift there's always a low level ambient sense of "being" shifted during these.

The envisage shifts tend to be just as long, with the added wrinkle that they occur even when I'm experiencing a species state of a blank slate/nothingness. When shifted I'll try to call up a picture my physical form and the associated image of whatever I've mentally shifted into will come up, doing an analogue to whatever I'm doing physically at the moment.

During blank slate periods what comes up when I try to picture myself is filled in by whatever the last picture of some cool nonhuman I saw was, such as the tiger poster on my wall. It's another odd way my self-perception is influenced by my environment.

Phantom limbs that I can physically feel, however, are very transient. They usually only occur when I deliberately focus on the sensations in a limb, such as feeling claws and scales when I focus on my feet, and are gone as soon as I quit focusing there. While I was told that this is usually the most easy kind of shift to induce, this is not the case for me (for me that would be envisage shifts). When I try the result is usually quite brief, as well as a bit "odd" to the mental eye.

This has sometimes not been the case, however. During one very stressful day the wings, horns, fangs, and tail of my humanoid demon form were very solid-feeling, and were present for most of the day. I'm still not entirely sure why this was the case and I would very much like to experience it again under happier circumstances.

TL:DR: mental and envisage shifts are my most common type of shift, with phantom limb shifts a very distant second. What about you?

#Alterhuman #otherkin #question #therian #polymorphy #polymorph #mental shifts #envisage shifts

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short-horse · 1 year

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I sure do wish I had the physical horse ears on the top of my head that match the envisage ones I've got going on today. It would be nice to actually swivel em around to listen to conversations, pinpoint sounds, flatten them when I'm angry, ect

#therian #therianthropy #horse therian #horsekin #envisage shifts

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a-dragons-explanations · 3 years

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Do you know if there are different kinds of shifts? I think I found a list once, but the explanations weren't that clear for me

There are! Let's see what I can remember.

The most common of these: phantom shifts, mental shifts, astral shifts, dream shifts, cameo shifts. The rest are rarely talked about, but do happen often enough we have words for them. (A note: all of these say "kintype"; they can apply to linktypes, hearttypes, etc. as well, this is purely for the sake of having a word to use.)

I'll try to get a short, one-line definition and, below the cut, a longer, more detailed explanation for each of these, as best I understand them.

Astral shift: One's astral body changing to closer resemble that of one's kintype.

Aura shift/Aural shift: One's aura changing in either shape or composition to closer resemble that of one's kintype.

Berserker shift: An overpowering mental shift (see Mental Shift) that causes the individual to lose control of their actions, partially or wholly, or even black out completely and "wake up" later. Rare and sometimes dangerous, usually to the individual who shifts rather than to people around them.

Bi-location shift: The experience of existing in two locations at once as a type of out-of-body experience, with at least one of those "selves" having the body of one's kintype.

Cameo shift: Any type of shift that is not of a kintype/linktype/hearttype/other consistent piece of one's identity, but is instead a temporary shift of another creature/character.

Dream shift: One's body in a dream changing to that of their kintype.

Envisage shift/Self-image shift: One's mental image/awareness of oneself changing to closer reflect that of their kintype, similar to a phantom shift but lacking actual phantom sensation.

Mental shift: One's mental state/thought process changing to closer reflect that of their kintype.

Phantom shift/Supernumerary phantom limbs: The sensation of having body parts that do not and never have physically existed, typically matching the body of one's kintype in the context of the 'kin and therian communities.

Physical shift/P-shift: One's physical body changing to become that of their kintype. P-shifting is not real, and those who claim to p-shift are generally shunned in the otherkin and therian communities, due largely to a long history of manipulation and cult-like behavior from p-shifters with young therians especially, dangling the impossible carrot of p-shifting to manipulate them into dangerous situations.

If you're in the audience reading this and are protesting that you are, in fact, a p-shifter - please feel free to send me clear video proof of this, and I will happily change my stance and celebrate that you're able to do what no one else has been able to figure out. If you're in the audience and have friends or "friends" that insist they are p-shifters, make the same request of them. They will almost certainly come up with endless excuses why they can't provide actual proof of what they claim to be able to do.

Shadow shift: One's shadow changing to match the body of their kintype instead of their physical body.

Sensory shift: One's senses/perception of their senses changing to closer match that of their kintype.

Hopefully that's not an overload of information ^^; Longer explanations below the cut for anything that's unclear.

Astral shift: One's astral body changing to closer resemble that of one's kintype.

Prerequisite: belief in astral bodies/the astral plane in general. Astral shifts can occur while astral traveling (an out-of-body experience practiced by many witches and other magic practitioners), or while in one's physical body (where the astral body is believed to "overlay" the physical body).

Disclaimer: "astral shift" has been suggested at various times as a replacement for "phantom shift/phantom limbs" due to concern for "appropriating" language from amputees. This is not an appropriate usage, as 1) an astral shift requires belief in an astral body in the first place, 2) someone can experience astral and phantom shifts separately, as they are different phenomena, and 3) "phantom shift"/"phantom limbs" as short for "supernumerary phantom limbs" is an appropriate usage of medical terminology in the first place, as SPLs are a known (if understudied) phenomenon.

Aura shift/Aural shift: One's aura changing in either shape or composition to closer resemble that of one's kintype.

This type of shift may be "visible" to those who practice perceiving auras, sometimes including those who don't know that the shift is happening or that the individual they're looking at is nonhuman until they "see" the shift.

While not necessarily violent, berserker shifts can often result in the individual "waking up" to find some amount of havoc wreaked by their animal-minded self, purely by dint of an often-wild animal not mixing well with a human world. Several methods exist to discourage berserker shifts from happening, or to lessen their impact to something closer to a "normal" mental shift.

Bi-location shift: The experience of existing in two locations at once as a type of out-of-body experience, with at least one of those "selves" having the body of one's kintype.

Bi-location shifts, sometimes spelled bilocation, can be believed to be on the physical plane, or on the astral plane or similar. Different accounts report the "double" being able or unable to interact with the physical world. (I honestly don't understand bi-location very well, with or without shift, so I'll leave any further research on the subject to you.)

Cameo shift: Any type of shift that is not of a kintype/linktype/hearttype/other consistent piece of one's identity, but is instead a temporary shift of another creature/character.

Cameo shifts typically occur upon exposure to the creature/character in question, but can be triggered by other things - for instance, my brain spent so long misinterpreting movements of my phantom crest as ears (because child me was obsessed with cats and horses, and the feelings are similar when my crest is weak enough) that it often manifests as phantom canine/feline ears regardless in the right contexts, even though my dragon form doesn't have such ears as far as I know. See also: fictionflicker.

Dream shift: One's body in a dream changing to that of their kintype.

Pretty self-explanatory.

Envisage shift/Self-image shift: One's mental image/awareness of oneself changing to closer reflect that of their kintype, similar to a phantom shift but lacking actual phantom sensation.

Similar to a phantom shift, but the individual "doesn’t feel the “physical” sensation of phantom limbs. Instead one has a mental imagery and/or a mental awareness of non-existant body parts. Or, having unintentional or unusual mental images doing things AS their theriotype/kintype. Like a phantom body shift but within the mind’s eye." (Source)

Mental shift: One's mental state/thought process changing to closer reflect that of their kintype.

Mental shifts may manifest in a variety of ways, from nonhuman instincts/urges becoming stronger, to partial or total loss of language capability, to alteration of worldview/morality/perception of events, to demeanor/personality/behavioral changes.

Phantom shifts, or SPLs as they are referred to in the medical community, are probably the most common shift we see talked about. They may include the brain mimicking tactile sensation when the limb "touches" physical objects (ie discomfort when something passes through the phantom limb), or the phantom limb may simply "phase through" physical objects and be purely proprioceptive sense.

A note: Unlike phantom limb syndrome amputees experience, phantom shifts are rarely painful, and pain "caused" by a phantom limb should always be checked by a medical professional for a potential physical cause.

Shadow shift: One's shadow changing to match the body of their kintype instead of their physical body.

Has only been reported a few times that I'm aware of, always in poor lighting, and is most likely a psychological phenomenon rather than a physical one.

Sensory shift: One's senses/perception of their senses changing to closer match that of their kintype.

Generally considered to be a perception thing, rather than an actual physical change - becoming more aware of one's sense of smell than a human typically is, for instance, and noticing things that they normally wouldn't.

#otherkin #therian #fictionkin #shifting #asked and answered #anonymous #dragon chatter

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spiritus-sonne · 3 years

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Term Coining: Body-Thought

This is a term I might take to using more rather than the long version of it: body-oriented thought, which I initially used back in about 2008. Technically, it's the same kind of thing that envisage shifts are about, but I don't use that terminology because my experiences of it are rarely in the form of shifts. Body-thought is a mental image of performing some kind of physical action that is not actually performed physically, in which this can be experienced by otherkin, therians, fictionkin, or alterhumans, or just regular humans, too. It can even be in the form of intrusive thoughts of picturing oneself doing something the individual doesn't want to physically do for whatever reason.

#otherkin #therian #alterhuman #fictionkin #sonne speaks

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therianimal · 3 years

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What it's like to be a dog AND a wolf

I have heard some therians claim that wolves and domestic dogs are "too similar", and if you think you're a wolf AND a dog then you're probably confused and deep down are only one or the other.

This post is not at all an apology or excuse directed towards those who say this - I have no desire to prove myself to people who invalidate other's experiences based on assumptions and biases. But I would imagine that some well-meaning folks might be interested in hearing about my experiences, so I genuinely want to share them.

When it comes down to it, I don't experience my wolf and dog types as being similar at all. I don't experience phantom sensations, and my types mainly express themselves as instincts and emotions. For me, my wolf type and its associated mental shifts feel feral and wild. I long for the outdoors, for hunting. I want to bare my teeth, to rend flesh and bone, to run light-footed through dense forests with trees arching overhead. In contrast, my border collie type and it's associated mental shifts feel so incredibly domestic. I long to lie in a dog bed, comfortably situated in a human home. I crave pets and scritches, chew toys, and praise from the humans in my life. In my most dog-like moments I come across as hyperactive and affectionate rather than wild.

It's hard to explain what it feels like to be wild. Maybe it's the aggression, a sense of fierceness. Maybe it's viewing the forest as home, longing to run effortlessly through the trees rather than stomping clumsily in the human way. Maybe it's imagining eating a deer carcass, and experiencing hunger rather than disgust. It's similarly hard to define how it feels to be domestic. Maybe it's affection, playfulness, and cuddliness. Maybe it's feeling like I belong in a human's home. Maybe it's feeling more desire to catch a frisbee than to hunt, to sleep in a soft dog bed rather than on hard earth, the enthusiasm and comfort that comes with subconsciously knowing I can live freely without needing to fight for survival. But for me, the two feelings are distinct enough that being wolf and being dog don't feel very similar at all.

I think my envisage shifts (internal visualization of my body without the physical sensations involved in a phantom shift) and noema (deep subconscious knowledge that isn't technically or entirely a memory) have also helped me pinpoint and understand my types. When I look at black wolves and border collies, my brain says "That's you!". When I imagine how I look, I think of a petite canine with long silky black and white fur, and a much larger canine with short black fur. These perceptions are another way that I perceive my dog and wolf types differently.

And as a side note... My fox type isn't the main point of this post, but I'll add some perspective about it since it is also a canine. Aside from noema and other emotional factors, size is the clearest and most obvious thing that differentiates my fox type. Before realizing I was a fox I mistook the mental and sensory shifts for cat shifts, because my perception of "my" size was more similar to a domestic cat than a wolf. My fox type is wild and involves strong hunting instincts in a way that is more similar to my wolf type than border collie type; however the size difference is undeniable.

I hope this rather disorganized ramble about my experiences resonates with some nonhumans, or satiates some folks' curiosity. I love the nonhuman and alterhuman community on here and really enjoy sharing bits of my not-so-human life with you all.

#otherkin #otherkind #therian #therianthropy #alterhuman #wolf therian #dog therian #blue speaks

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myriadeyed · 3 years

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Bird therian traits

I realized recently that despite having had this blog for a while, I’ve never actually sat down and wrote about my experiences as a raven and an osprey, which you’d think would be the most obvious thing to write about on this blog. So here’s this, a list of ways birdness manifests for me, both as a record and as a possible resource for those questioning bird.

Birds require less energy to cool themselves down than mammals and are generally better at it. So heat is a big issue for me, as I feel like I should be able to handle heat better than my human body can. (Doubly so as a desert mammal.) I often find myself holding my mouth open and lightly panting the way a bird might in the dead heat of summer trying to cool myself down, unconsciously before I realize what I’m doing and that it won’t actually do anything.

Obviously flight urges are a thing. This is something that’s very real that mammal therians often dismiss as a quirk. When I’m startled I have an overpowering urge to literally get off the ground and a burst of anxiety when my avian brain realizes I’m grounded. This also manifests as melancholic dysphoria on days when all I want is to be soaring to look for prey or playing in the wind like a raven.

Phantom shifts. I feel my wings not on my back, but over, or “replacing,” my arms. This often gives me dysphoria over my hands and how obstructive they are when I feel like I should only have wings. I don’t feel my tail feathers, I only feel the base of the tail, so it’s always hard to tell which avian species the phantom shift is coming from. Most of my phantom and envisage shifts in general are focused around the head and face area, so my beak shifts are the strongest, and I can tell the difference between raven and osprey beak. When I get a raven beak shift, it often accompanies a weak mental shift, and it causes dysphoria when I’m unable to manipulate objects with my beak. I also get feather shifts, to quote something I said in my server: “I mostly feel feathers on my chest and stomach similarly to fur shifts, as a kind of fluff where my clothes would be interacting with my feathers if they were real. Like how your hair feels when you wear a hoodie with the hood up.” I experience digitigrade leg and talon shifts very rarely, almost always raven. I believe this is because ravens walk more than ospreys and use their beak more than their talons to hold and manipulate objects and food, while ospreys’ primary way to grasp is with their talons (we are raptors, after all), which causes a disconnect on my mental body map.

I experience dysphoria over being unable to whistle like an osprey (and boy have I tried). However, when it comes to raven noises, I experience more euphoria than anything, as I’m actually able to replicate most raven calls with ease because my voice is fairly deep. This is my biggest source of species euphoria, even beyond being recognized as a raven by my therian friends.

I do have nesting urges. I usually satiate these by gathering blankets from around the house and arranging them in a nest shape.

Of my two avian theriotypes, ospreys have more visible sex dimorphism. I consider myself a male osprey. This means that I am smaller than a female, that I have lighter plumage and little to no chest barring, and I would have taken the male role in a pair, i.e., bringing food to the female during the breeding season.

Ravens’ eyes are on the side of their head, and like most perching birds, they turn their heads to the side to see things straight-on. I often have weak mental shifts where this is the only trait I take on; I keep trying to see things in front of me by turning my head to the side.

There are aspects of my birdness I have had long before I even knew I was a therian. Some, like my desire to hunt exactly the way an osprey might (soaring over a body of water to look for a fish, hovering when I spot one, then diving into the water and flaring to hit the fish with my talons), I do attribute to my kintype; I believe I have this urge because I am an osprey, because I imprinted on ospreys. Others, like my desire to fly or my love for fish, I believe are simply human traits that combined to become a part of my animality.

#birdkin #bird therian #musings #alterhuman #therian

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