Howdy y'all

Hello all.

I'm here to look more closely at the possibility that I might be a therian (I think I might be a bear.) I'm a musician, a student, and engaged to someone on this forum; I'll tell you who later ( :: insert mysterious sounding music here :: )

I'm a 23 year old lover of cats and snakes, who stays up into the whee hours of the morning composing because that seems to be the only time my creative side is accessible. YAY INSOMNIA!!!...sigh...

I'm also into anime, nerdy games, karaoke, and world domination. Okay maybe not that last one....maybe...

yo and welcome.
Never met a (potential) bear therian before, any specific reason that comes to mind?

Welcome and I second Miniar <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->

Well for one thing I'm a fairly solitary person. I can play nice and even be sociable when I have to, but I'm mostly a loner (not in that fake, loser-y sort of way,) save for a few people. I have very little (or not) pack mentality; though this will probably change when I have children. I enjoy being outdoors (not in the woods though) and swimming (in clean/clear water). I'm not really territorial, but I do like my personal space and will lash out if that's being invaded; especially as far as food is concerned. You want to try my steak? You better ask first, or you'll lose a finger. I'm also not always conscious of what's going on around me. I'm not dense, I just don't always pay attention. As far as my research indicates these are bear characteristics (for the most part).

On top of that, I keep dreaming that I'm running on all fours; but it isn't a swift run like a wolf or fox might have...more of a lumber. And in those dreams I spend a decent amount of time standing up like a person too. The funny thing is I've always been good at moving on all fours; back when I played football I could bear crawl 100 yards in under 35 seconds; but I never thought anything of it back then.

I don't know, what do y'all think?

(Forgive my y'all spelling NAZIs but I'm a Texas native, and anything else just feels weird to us.)

2XMammal Wrote:Well for one thing I'm a fairly solitary person. I can play nice and even be sociable when I have to, but I'm mostly a loner (not in that fake, loser-y sort of way,) save for a few people. I have very little (or not) pack mentality; though this will probably change when I have children. I enjoy being outdoors (not in the woods though) and swimming (in clean/clear water). I'm not really territorial, but I do like my personal space and will lash out if that's being invaded; especially as far as food is concerned. You want to try my steak? You better ask first, or you'll lose a finger. I'm also not always conscious of what's going on around me. I'm not dense, I just don't always pay attention. As far as my research indicates these are bear characteristics (for the most part).

They're also human characteristics, too - everything you've listed there is well within the bounds of normal human behaviour.

It almost looks, from that list, like you've examined your personality/behaviour and then tried to find out what animal it most resembles . . . in other words making an assumption, whether consciously or not, that you're otherkin and then trying to fit a type around yourself. I notice you have "hoping to find out" listed as your kin type . . . but why do you think you have any kin type at all?

Quote:On top of that, I keep dreaming that I'm running on all fours; but it isn't a swift run like a wolf or fox might have...more of a lumber. And in those dreams I spend a decent amount of time standing up like a person too. The funny thing is I've always been good at moving on all fours; back when I played football I could bear crawl 100 yards in under 35 seconds; but I never thought anything of it back then.

In my experience, dreams are generally metaphorical and dream "characters" tend to represent a part of yourself. If you dreamed you were flying, would you think you were a bird or would you just think it was a dream in which you could fly?

Quote:I don't know, what do y'all think?

From your other thread, it seems that you only started to notice things you associated with therians after your girlfriend explained the idea, and after you had read up on it a lot. Have you ever looked through a medical dictionary and then spent ages convinced you had the symptoms of every serious illness in the book? The same thing can happen with any subject - get interested in it, read up on it in detail, look for the signs, and see them . . . whether they exist or not.

I can't tell you whether you're otherkin or not, and anyone who says they can is probably lying. Here's what I can suggest, though. Rather than thinking "Hmm, something than runs on all fours and is big but doesn't have a tail, what could that be?" start in the other direction. "I'm otherkin" is an answer, not a question. The question is usually something along the lines of "Why have I had these various strange experiences?" - those experiences ranging from past life memories, to visions, to inherent knowledge, to phantom limbs, etc etc etc.

So, what are your strange experiences? What are the things you've felt that need to be explained? It could be that "I'm a therian" is a good explanation, or it could be that "my gf identifies as therian and I've read a lot about it, and can empathise with her" is a better one. But until you actually know what those experiences are, there's no way to know which explanation fits best.

In other words: collect evidence first, then find a theory to fit it. Don't find a theory, then look for evidence that supports it.

I'm going to go ahead and speak up. When 2XMammal told me he had gotten onto these forums tonight, I was just going to leave him mostly alone. I think that doing it himself is probably the best thing for him and would prevent me from leading him in any direction. Obviously from this you can assume that I'm the fiance.

I just wanted to mention a few things about him to lend to his explaination. Alot of people seem to get on here after becoming fascinated with the concept of otherkin/etc, convincing themselves that they must also be one. When I told him about therianthropy 2 years ago...he only seemed "politely" interested. He's not the kind of person to research things, isn't really into animals or fantastical concepts, and really didn't take a huge interest in what I told him, aside being interested in what I had to say. I couldn't get him to check out any of the links I find interesting, including this forum. He participated in martial arts and has a decent handle on energy manip, and when I mentioned phantom shifts, he said he understood what that was like- but otherwise, left the concept of otherkin alone.

Recently he's begun mentioning these dreams, more frequent "phantom shifts," etc. I'm still going to leave him be for the most part, but I thought it was worth mentioning that he wouldn't be on this forum unless he was seriously having a different experience than he did in the first 2 years of knowing about therians. I don't know if its just some other energy stuff going on, an awakening, or some other experience- but he's not the type to be on a forum when he could be doing other things, so I'm completely convinced that something different is going on, for what its worth.

As far as the "kin type" question goes, I honestly thought that meant something else. Despite what research I've done I'm very new to all of this (I've never blogged or forumed before in my life). I thought the question meant animal-orientation, hence the "hoping to find out."

I also want to say that I'm all too aware of this forum's decided (and justifiably so) stance on people just looking to pretend; and if that was what I wanted I'm sure there's a forum somewhere that would fill that need. Everyone wants to be special, but people who start threads with :: in goofy voice :: "There was a full moon last night and now I have to lent-roller my bed and sofa to get all of my fur off of it!" are rightfully looked at with a degree of (for the sake of being polite) "skepticism." If I wanted to pretend to be a superhero I'd go somewhere else; and anyone who really believes they are should probably seek professional help in recovering from the dark events in their past that lead up to their self-delusion (my guess would be molestation.)

The fact of matter is that I'm fairly convinced (by my own thoughts, feelings, and experiences) that I am, at least on some level, other; and from what I've read here and abroad it seems like my experiences aren't terribly different from many others. Such a statement is a double-edged sword, I know. I put that I thought I might be a bear because it seemed to fit well, but I'm not heart-set on it. In truth I think I'd rather be a penguin, but such is not the card I've been dealt.

I've meditated in the past but always with a different goal, so I ask: how does one meditate with this goal in mind? And how does one tell the difference between what is effectively a "vision" and what is a fantasy/daydream? I really am trying to go about this legitimately, and if I find that this is not the true answer I'm looking for then I will seek other options. Maybe I'm angel, maybe I'm just delusional, maybe I have restless leg syndrome; I don't know what it is that makes me feel so different and out of place in the "human world," but I deserve an answer as much as anyone.

Sorry, not sure when I stepped up on the soap box. :: gets back down off the box :: Does what I'm saying make sense? And, for the record, I'm doing this for me; nobody else.

Thank you.

p.s. - Kahoku, I'm allergic to walnuts and pecans. Please keep this in mind while distributing cookies.

p.p.s. - Forgive me if my writing style is hard to understand. I tend to get a little comma-happy.

2XMammal Wrote:I've meditated in the past but always with a different goal, so I ask: how does one meditate with this goal in mind? And how does one tell the difference between what is effectively a "vision" and what is a fantasy/daydream? I really am trying to go about this legitimately, and if I find that this is not the true answer I'm looking for then I will seek other options. Maybe I'm angel, maybe I'm just delusional, maybe I have restless leg syndrome; I don't know what it is that makes me feel so different and out of place in the "human world," but I deserve an answer as much as anyone.

We (in my system) don't and we don't endorse it. It's far too easy to incorporate information from dreams, visions, meditation, others' opinion, the media, [insert ongoing list here] into full and convincing false memories. Instead, I personally would recommend taking notes on what you've experienced, dating them (with approximate backdating for what you already know now), and making similar notes on your general behavior and thought patterns. When you feel you have a good amount of data, go ahead and start researching animals you think might fit. If something agrees with your personal list to a spooky degree and contains information you didn't know before you started researching, you may be on to something.

No, this isn't what my system did when we started out; we didn't have training in or knowledge of research methodology back then. It is what I'd do if I were starting from scratch, though, and we do take dated notes on past life memory (including information that we withhold from others who may have been there and then, another verification measure you can take if you consult an energy worker about the possibility of phantom limbs - get several people saying the same thing about your energy body before anyone compares notes, and it's a lot more credible).

2XMammal Wrote:p.s. - Kahoku, I'm allergic to walnuts and pecans. Please keep this in mind while distributing cookies.

Bahahahaha...Kahoku will eat your cookies, not the other way round!

Welcome, good luck on your search, and have some delicious pie!

-Val

Thanks everyone. You've certainly given me a great deal to think about.

Welcome to the board, and I hope you get things worked out over time regarding your potential therianthropy/being otherkin.

I'm suggesting some resources to check out for figuring out yourself as a therian/otherkin and your therio-/'kin-type(s). Akhila's "Soulsearch...and keep walking" essay is a wonderful read and very insightful. There's Bewylderbeast's "It's Okay Not to be a Therianthrope" essay. I also have some writings on my site that go over an in depth explanation of me figuring out two of my theriotypes: my three-part series (on my mongoose theriotype) called "Musings of an Unknown Theriotype", and my "Designing a Theriotype" plus "Thoughts on my Fourth Theriotype" writings. The "Designing a Theriotype" essay is particularly interesting in that I detail a technique I've used in figuring out my theropod theriotype because it's an extinct animal, and one that I've had to basically figure out what it "looks like", how it acts/behaves, etc. without having an extant animal I can point to and say "yes, that's the animal; that one correlates just right to it". I've also never been the type of person to use past-life memories, meditation (especially not the visualization kind), and dreams to determine any of my theriotypes, because, quite honestly, I live being these animals in part every day, and thus there's plenty of evidence for me to support and confirm them as theriotypes (and identifying what types of animals they are); I just had to seriously look in depth enough and slowly put together the pieces and correlations I found along the way over the course of years.

Project Shift and Werelibrary are also great resources to check out that you might find helpful.