Entry 1 - A Brief Overview of Therians
In this modern digital era, there has been an explosion of individuals who have come forward experiencing body or gender dysphoria. But what if an individual instead suffers from species dysphoria, believing themselves to be either partially, or even entirely nonhuman? It's rare, but these individuals are known as Therianthropes or simply “Therian”.
If you look up "Therianthropy" on Wikipedia, you are redirected to "Shapeshifting". Indeed, the classic use of the term therianthropy in myths and archaeological artifacts indicates actual physical changes to a human-animal hybrid. However, in the Therian community today, it is clear that physical transformation is an impossibility. A more modern definition of therianthropy is the experience of feeling or believing that one is partly or wholly non-human; mentally, spiritually, or biologically (Clegg, 2). Therianthropes believe that they possess the spirit/soul or mentality of an animal or other species either through reincarnation or other means (Robertson, 7).
Welcome to this informational blog about Therianthropy.
My name is Lune, rather Welun Efkan’jarili in Illsyndran Drautch. As a Therian, the topic of Therianthropy has fascinated me and has been a constant theme throughout my life. From early on I knew I was different. I don’t act, think, move, or even use my hands the same as most people. Doctors and counselors both have tried to explain “me” to me, claiming it’s somehow defective or abnormal, but never finding anything definitively wrong with the way I exist. It simply is who I am, as it is for most Therians.
Most Therians associate with real animals, this is called one's "therioside."; wolves, big cats, horses, rabbits, deer, etc; but a subset of individuals identify with fantasy or mythological races and creatures. These individuals are known as “Otherkin,” as while related to, do not fit within classical definitions of Therianthropic identity. These include, but are not limited to dragons, unicorns, griffins, elves, angels, demons, vampires, and kitsune (Lupa, 25). I fit into this category of Otherkin; I have identified myself as a Wyvern/Western Dragon mix from an early age. This made fitting into social groups increasingly difficult growing up, as I shared nothing in common with the “people” around me. I was told to wear a mask to blend in with those around me. To try to be more “normal”, or even change or deny who I am entirely.
We Therians have a deep spiritual or instinctual connection to our identity. This can go as far as manifesting animalistic personality traits, phantom limb sensations, physical manifestations, and past-life experiences (Robertson, 22; Plante, 116).
This can draw attention to possible mental disorders from therapists and outside communities, often with researchers looking for connections with autism, schizotypy, and anhedonia (Clegg, 13). While there has shown to be some correlation, mainly due to the Therian’s difficulty with integrating with social groups and challenges presented by their differences, these same studies have also shown that being allowed to manifest Therianthropic differences tends to have a positive balancing effect on the Therian’s mental well-being (Clegg, 19).
As far as religious/spiritual beliefs, Theriantropy is often broadly, and somewhat incorrectly, designated as neo or techno-paganism due to parallels in how one discovers or describes their "theioside" (Robertson, 18). But in my own personal experience, I share very little in the way of Paganism. Therians themselves are usually completely non-religious, with Therianthropy conflicting with most established religious stereotypes.
However, Therians are usually intensely spiritual. They will often score very high when asked how strong of a connection they have with their identified animal (Plante, 115). Therians can sometimes be viewed as “liminal beings,” a threshold between the romantic animal and rational human. “One who defies the boundaries of sacred and profane” (Robertson, 22).
Culturally, knowledge within the Therian community isn’t intentionally hidden away but has fallen into obscurity and disrepair. Collections of knowledge usually conglomerate within message boards, or invite-only online communities. This is due to the stigma and negative attention Therians receive for their differences, often being labeled mentally ill (Clegg, 3). One of the largest collections of knowledge, Otherkin.net silently shut down in the mid-2010s. This site was considered the de-facto community hub for Therianthropy and Otherkin groups. Upon its closure, it was discovered to have failed to be archived by the Internet Archive.
With the attention of Therianthropy dying down from its height in the early 2000s, most groups have faded from public view and retreated into more modern variants of their message boards, often keeping tight-knit groups on services such as Discord. However, there seems to be a small spark of rekindled interest, as several new sites for Therian and Otherkin communities have come online, and through a collective effort and interest contributions from the community have almost completely restored Otherkin.net on the Archive, and a less advanced mirror of the site was put back up just this year. Similarly, sites such as Reddit have their own Otherkin and Therian subreddits devoted to these topics but are more informal.
Clegg, Helen, et al. “Therianthropy: Wellbeing, Schizotypy, and autism in individuals who self-identify as non-human.” Society & Animals, vol. 27, no. 4, 28 Aug. 2019, pp. 403–426, https://doi.org/10.1163/15685306-12341540
Lupa. A Field Guide to Otherkin. Megalithica Books, 2007.
Plante, Courtney N., et al. FurScience! A Summary of Five Years of Research from the
International Anthropomorphic Research Project, 2016.
Robertson, Venetia Laura. “The Beast Within: Anthrozoomorphic Identity and Alternative Spirituality in the Online Therianthropy Movement” Nova Religio, vol. 16, no. 3, 1 Feb. 2013, pp. 7–30, https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2013.16.3.7
Additional Video Sourcing:
Additional Resources:
https://www.beyondhumanity.net/home
https://www.otherkin.net/
