Therian and Otherkin Explanation

[White Wolf Guardian]

Now while I know therian and otherkin are terms to describe a long ranging topic with several different views and opinions, you do not have to agree with me nor does any of what I say mean it's true, however from the general consensus of therian and otherkin groups online, the following links should provide an understanding of what a therian and othekin is. Information shall be backed up by online sources for credible purposes.


Otherkin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherkin
http://www.otherkin.net/articles/what.html

As the therian link suggests, there is a difference between therians and furries, therians are much more spiritually and/or mentally involved with the animal they are associated with. This however does not mean that furries cannot be therian or vice-versa, it's just perspectives. Otherkin on the otherhand can also be classified as therians to some degree, but often show different characteristics which is why they are considered another type of their own. Of course this means you can be both therian and otherkin.

Therianthropy Explained:

Other things to take into account are that the encyclopedia meaning of "therianthropy"
refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals.[1] from n. therianthrope and adj. therianthropic, part man and part beast, from the Greek theríon, meaning "wild animal" or "beast" (impliedly mammalian), and anthrōpos, meaning "human being") Therianthropes have long existed in mythology, appearing in ancient cave drawings[2] such as the Sorcerer at Les Trois Frères. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therianthropy

The modern day meaning while not incorrect should not be taken literally when considering
therians and/or otherkin beliefs, it is simply the word that derived their identifing label from. Generally never believed to be manifested physically, this means that online generally the accepted idea is that there are no physical associations to the animal that therians and/or otherkin represent. In example, a wolf therian cannot metamorph into a wolf nor a dragon otherkin transforming into a dragon. This does not mean though that therians will not show any signs of the animal they are like, Therians/Otherkin can show the thoughts, feelings, desires,and even actions between people around them from their animal characteristics. Again this should be noted that Therians and Otherkin should not be identified as furries, because as disrespectful as insults are to people, their beliefs prefer to be named properly in many cases. However if such people find it does not bother them, then it's okay.

Definition of Theriotype - Basically the "type" of animal a Therian is, for example a Siberian tiger would be a single theriotype. Therians can have more than one theriotype, but it is not as common as single types.

Shifting Defined and the Different Types:

Shifting is just as much a part of Therian as it is Otherkin, but Otherkin does not generally coin this term with different ideals towards the premise, Therians on the other hand will become more like the theriotype they represent in the form of a change also known as "shift". This shift causing psychological, spiritual, energy, and/or outward appearance to change more appropriately to fit their theriotype. Shifting is not necessarily a required trait to be Therian and should not be taken as such as not all Therians experience shifts.

The different types of shifts are: mental, phantom, astral, dream, physical, and cameo shifts.

More often than Otherkin in general, Therians experience moments of what is known as "shifting" where their psychological, spiritual, energy, and/or appearance will change to more appropriately fit the animal they represent.

Otherkin Explained:

Otherkin can more or less consider themselves not human in some manner, where it be physically/spiritually/energetically/mentally etc, the focus of Otherkin resides more on society deemed "mythological" creatures such as elves, angels, demons, werewolves, vampires, faeries, dragons, centaurs etcetera and not limited to these mentioned. Other such characteristics as the feeling of being in the wrong gender, body, or something of a lost nature in this world can be considered Otherkin. Other traits can be strange allergies to certain objects and/or materials, memories not your own *as in you don't remember them actually happening but remember them*, dreams of past lives and/or deaths, thoughts or sights awkward to yourself, and many more things. Source: http://kinhost.org/res/Otherfaq.php#1_2

Not always used or made for identifying Otherkin, the "Acute Heptagram" symbol also known as Faerie or Elven Star represents Otherkin in some places online and elsewhere. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Acute_heptagram.svg/615px-Acute_heptagram.svg.png

Feel free to add any more info to this as I am not 100% knowledgeable, as this was written just for the purpose of understanding, but please provide sources to your information to give it credibility. I will add more information later today as well.

[___]

This needs to be stickied.
Great information here.

[Self-sain]

I was always curious what would an elf count as (the mythological elf not not Santa Claus nonsense)

[White Wolf Guardian]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherkin?wasRedirected=true

"Common creatures otherkin identify as include angels, demons, dragons, elves, extra-[ 2][ 3] terrestrials, fairies, kitsune, and lycanthropes (werewolves).[ 2][ 3]"

I hope this helps for now, as you can tell I still have lots of information to add x.x

[Righteousbro]

I'm pretty sure this is correct.
A Therian is someone who feels like they are spiritually connected to an animal and an Otherkin feels like they are connected to something mythical.

There is a bunch of useless crap I can also put here about Theriotypes and different degrees of Therianthropy because it's something I studied for quite a bit. Do you just need to know the basic definition?
Then you've got it.

[Self-sain]

OK thanks

[White Wolf Guardian]

I've added much more information tonight, I hope those of you that read my post understand the Therian and Otherkin culture better

I plan to update the information again tonight with two more sections on "Awakening" and "Spirit Guides and Totems"

[Ookami Kokoro]

So an otherwise average human, but with a tail and ears and fangs and an animal like personality would be?

[White Wolf Guardian]

Well not literally speaking, it's a spiritual and/or mental sensation, feeling and often it can be felt physically in the form of phantom limbs. But again that is not something every therian or otherkin experiences.

[Thagrahn]

Phantom tail, ears, and fur are very common. Also, some report that other observe them acting more animal like when they are sleepy.

[White Wolf Guardian]

Oh really? I haven't heard about that before, but it sounds possible.

[Ookami Kokoro]

So my fursona is a fox


But i feel EXTREMELY spiritually attached to wolves.
I dream about running with other wolves, as a wolf.
And I feel like my guiding spirit is a wolf.
Also... it runs in our family

See my great grandmother was in a tribe of Native Americans who were associated with wolf spirits. And my family always passes down these traits to one female child. bright blue eyes, pale skin, and deep dreams about wolves.

My great grandmother had 10 brothers and sister, none of which had blue eyes or pale skin but her
Then ther was my grand mother, who had brown eyes and darker skin as well as 5 brothers and 2 sisters. One of her sisters had pale skin and blue eyes. My mom has pale skin and blue eyes and weird wolf dreams, and had one sister and 2 brothers, none of which had blue eyes or pale skin. Then there is me. I have blue eyes and pale skin and these dreams. I have two brothers and one sister, all of which have brown or green eyes, and only my little brother has pale skin.

Is this a coincidence?

I feel very very attached to wolves, and I have wolf-like personality traits, like protecting those close to me, or my "pack"

maybe I'm over-exaggerating...

Anyways... just thought I'd share that


Also... can one be a furry... and a therian? seeing as how furry is only a hobby.

[White Wolf Guardian]

Yes as my intro post says, you can be both. Sounds like you're quite lucky to have such a family history, I'm not here to decide if you're a therian though. Mostly because there's no way to know, it's entirely up to what you think and feel.

[Grey_Wulf]

Otherkin also covers Empaths/Mediums and as mentioned, vampires...since my sources have been reliable and trustworthy I'm gonna add some stuff on them based off my knowledge


Vampires...well where to begin? there are many subcategories of vampire but they generally fall into two main types, Sanguarian or Psi . We'll get into those in a bit but first things first there are a few general points, to name a few...

-They aren't all goths, in fact a vampire may be walking around never to be noticed.
-Drinking blood WILL effect them just as well as anyone else, no special immunities. AIDS anyone?
-They live a lifespan no different to everyone else
-They aren't pale with big canines, yes, it is possible to have this trait but in genetics. A vampire can be pale with the typical big canines as a matter of coincidence, as anyone else could.
-And no, they don't sparkle.

Now we get into these two main types I mentioned

Sanguarian
A sang...well, to simply put this, they crave blood. When they need to "feed" they are hit by these blood cravings, perhaps having disturbing thought patterns such as wanting to attack someone for their blood, seeing just a little could set their mouth watering etc. you get the idea, though it's a very rare case that they will actually go through with harming someone for their blood though there is increased agression, being edgy, snappy, the thought of the stuff in their mind throughout the day, all day until they feed. Mentioning feeding you can forget the typical image of climbing through a window and biting into someones neck in the dead of night, the sang generally finds a donor, someone willing to cut or be cut for the sang to drink from them (not much however is needed, again, forget the myth), it takes part in a controlled environment with sterile equipment and knowing how to perform it (so no going for the neck people) and blood tests have been taken to ensure that nothing like AIDS can be transferred to the unfortuneate sang, of course this isn't always the case so the smart vampire will take the extra precautions to avoid harming the donor or themself, or they of course just Psi feed

Psi
A Psi is different in the ways of the sang as you can tell them apart pretty easily - a Psi doesn't have blood cravings yet they still have the need to feed. A psi feeds, well. they don't even need to touch a person, more of taking the energy remotely (this includes over the internet - long story but a connection is involved) they take energy from a persons aura and as they have been feeding they typically feel energised or stronger, some report a complete and utter lack of being able to concentrate and this is generally a sign to feed. In turn this can be done by taking from someone willing to donate, from a group of people to take as little as possible from a person yet still be satisfied. Though of course you get the bad kind...the kind that attack people for their energy, draining them leaving them in pain and pretty much...well, drained. I assure you though, someone attacking you might be able to hurt you but you can't be killed, your body would need to build up your energy levels again is all. Though if you know the protection methods such as closing chakras and shielding you should be good to go

I'll go more into some of the subject if anyone has anything else they wish to know about this or anyone having questions, I'll try to answer them ^^

[Righteousbro]

I was going to post that but I wasn't sure if I knew enough about sanguarians or psis.