Since I am the new one...

ChiOkami Wrote:I thought I would get the ball rolling on this new thread since I was the new therian on the block.

I dont know what to start with. Any ideas on what to start with...like that "kind" of therian you may be.

Linked to the old forum: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://okphenomena.netfreehost.com/viewtopic.php?t=66&mforum=okphenomena">http://okphenomena.netfreehost.com/view ... kphenomena</a><!-- m -->

daemonstryke Wrote:As for other kintypes, I think mental shifting might not occur so much since there are not nearly as many "triggers" as there are for therians.

Very good point and it made me think of something else. A lot of 'kin types are human-ish in appearance; angels, elves, a lot of fae, etc. They share a lot of similar characteristics to humans so perhaps it's harder to have a mental shift to something so physically similar to your human body that it doesn't happen often. And remember that phantom limbs are different than experiencing a mental shift.

ChiOkami Wrote:Well, I actually have been experiencing some new interesting aspects to this subject.

The moon's phases have the most to do with our shifts.

Also, in my case at least, our spirit sometimes reacts to our human form as a limiting cage and that the wolf in us needs to be released so that it remains healthy and strong and the human shell does not wear away from the immense build up of energies.

Divinitywolf Wrote:Yes! I'm sure the moon has a lot to do with the mental shifts.
Crime Rates go up when there is a full moon so it even affects humans.

I still remain convinced there may be a at least a bit of wolf in me although i am demon. I just have these images of seeing and being a wolf running through what seems to be the elysium fields.

I sometimes feel almost as though i am in a wolfs body with the ears, long snout and four legs, almost like phantom limbs.

I dunno i'm demon though but maybe there is something else besides demon in me.

This came as the question/topic given after the fist post

chaitea Wrote:I got one for you fuzzy types:

The idea of mental shifts always seem to occur most when concerning the therian gaggle at otherkin spots. Why might that be?

The therian gaggle? What does that mean? lol

I dunno, it's a good question why therians experience shifts while other kin types dont seem to experience them, or at least experience them to such an extent.

Honestly I have no idea.

In my case I believe I have human and wolfie traits that co-exist the majority of the time but I do experience mental, spiritual & phantom shifts.

Maybe other kin types are more the co-existing type, or maybe they dont have a split at all between kin/human (except in body) - maybe their soul or spirit or *whatever* is completely kin? Well, maybe therians souls are completely kin as well. I like what someone else mentioned, too, about it being more pronounced, a shift to a more non-human form (well, less "humanoid" form?) ....

Er, not sure! But it's definitely interesting. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->

ChiOkami Wrote:The therian gaggle? What does that mean? lol

I assume, like she offen does, chai is using a specific term and redifining it to suit her needs. In this case, gaggle, as in the traditional gaggle of geese, means a group. At least she didn't use murder (murder of crows) or ambush (an ambush of tigers), because even I'd be lost.

chaitea Wrote:This came as the question/topic given after the fist post

chaitea Wrote:I got one for you fuzzy types:

The idea of mental shifts always seem to occur most when concerning the therian gaggle at otherkin spots. Why might that be?

First of all, I'm a wolf therian. I'm almost 98% certain that the subspecies is Rocky Mountain Wolf (aka MacKenzie Valley Wolf, Alaskan Wolf).

Maybe this occurs because therians notice their shifts more. I mean, it has to be one thing to m-shift to angel, but a whole other kettle of fish to shift to a wolf. Or, maybe therians are in a different class, somehow, and more susceptible to mental shifting. I'm more inclined to go with the former, though.

Random emoticon: <!-- s:ugeek: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_ugeek.gif" alt=":ugeek:" title="Uber Geek" /><!-- s:ugeek: -->

Regarding the prevalence of shifting experiences among therians and not much among other types of otherkin, I think one of the reasons for that is a difference in communities. The otherkin and therian communities had separate origins and developed separately with eventual overlap. The therian community developed out of concepts of werewolves and shapeshifting (as shifting became a shortened word for shapeshifting in the community) and the otherkin community did not and thus had no real reason to emphasize shifting.

When I initially started looking for "others like me" in the partial-nonhuman-identity kind of way back in late '04, I didn't at all view my therianthropic experiences as "shifts" until I came across the therian community, educated myself on that community's terminology and norms, and automatically fell into viewing my therianthropic manifestations through the lens of shifting terminology because I felt that's how I could best describe it at the time. Since then, at this point I still view my therianthropy through shifts to some extents and talk about it with shifting terminology sometimes, yet I don't put near the emphasis on my "shifting" as I did in my first two or three years in the therian community. Had I taken to liking the otherkin community more and if there had also not been therians on otherkin boards talking in the shifting terminology, I would probably never had developed reason or tendency to describe my therianthropic experiences through shifting terms and concepts.

In some ways, I think it's like an example of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (also known as linguistic relativity)--people who join the therian community and identify with other therians being "like me", are prone to taking up usage of that community's language and thus also its way of describing therianthropic experiences, which leads to those people being rather apt to start viewing their therianthropy through shifting experiences. It's not that the shifting experiences themselves are not real or are just a social construct, but that shifting terminology has allowed the therian community its own way (yet different from that of the otherkin community) of describing manifestations and experiences associated with being non-human in part. It's not the only way that the therianthropy community could have done it (and it's possible some of that shifting terms normality may eventually be changed some), yet the reality is that it was the way the therian community developed and that 'tradition' of sorts in its language continues currently.

However, I do also think that there maybe some 'kintypes that are much less prone, if possibly incapable, of being manifested through "shifts" similar in concept to those of many therians, though I won't claim to know which 'kintypes those are or may be.

But what about multiples, when different "people" within front at different times? Isn't that a shift from one thing to another?