ignislupus

[ignislupus]

I think it’s unfortunate that this community, for whatever reason, often equates “seriousness” with validity. I this is where a lot of the “more therian than thou” misinterpretation stems from, and also how you get folks saying “just otherhearted” and etc in a somewhat demeaning fashion.

I think it is ridiculous to expect everyone to be “as serious” about their therianthropy/nonhumanity. On some level, this will simply not be a lifelong identification for some, but that does not mean that they were incorrect (or “invalid”) in calling themselves a therian when they did. There will be some who dip their toes into therianthropy before deciding, actually, this is not for them, or perhaps a different community serves their needs better. For some, therianthropy might be a small facet of their identity. None of these individuals have forfeited their claim to the space.

There’s the added complexity that often more physical/embodied experiences are shorthanded as more “serious” by default. The perception of validity, of “realness,” becomes: spiritual < psychological < biological < physical (or similar). Hopefully this is ridiculous on its face, but for clarification, none of these frameworks is more or less real than the other. The same goes for involuntary vs voluntary identities. The assumption that one is, at its base, more serious (and, following the “seriousness equals reality” paradigm, more real) than the other is just a mischaracterization at its heart.

I think both of these conflations are obviously unfair and not productive to the long term health of the community. Those with physical experiences should be able to talk about said experiences without being lambasted for “trying to make their experiences seem more serious [read: more valid].” And there should not be pressure for other folks in the community to justify their existence as oppositional to “less serious” (whether that is a true characterization or not) identities. Fundamentally, individuals will come to this community with a variety of frameworks. Some will view their nonhumanity more lightheartedly than others, some will be here for longer than others, some will have permanent shifts, some will have no shifts at all. No one is “less therian” than anyone else for these reasons.

[ignislupus]

i dont think the queer community fully understands how isolating it is to be a queer slav and seeing the fucking hammer and sickle fucking everywhere

not only did our families live through the horror that was the ussr but now we gotta be reminded of that shit constantly in the community that we're supposed to share as queer people

not to mention that the ussr wasnt even communist it was just fascist. why are u communists using the symbols of fascists. it just looks like ur idolizing a fascist state.

i just inherently do not trust anyone using the hammer and sickle nor the ussr flag as symbols of their communist ideologies

[ignislupus]

look at me young nonhuman. you can use whatever labels you want to describe your nonhumanity, you don't have to label yourself as apart of the otherkin or therian community. nonhumanity comes in many shapes and sizes and you can label it however you want. however, you must stop believing you have a level of superiority over others bc you choose not to use or identify with these labels. folks who use otherkin or therian labels are also actually what they say they are, and are equally as real & valid as you. you can say you do not use these labels/are not these labels while not putting those who use them down. ok? do not say "i'm not [blank] therian/otherkin, i'm ACTUALLY [blank]" or "i dont identify as [blank], i AM [blank]," those are the same things and is just blatantly disrespectful to your fellow nonhumans because you are admitting you dont see them as nonhuman due to the labels they use. let's be kind to each other. it's hard enough out here.

[ignislupus]

I've seen one of my mutuals here post about this but i wanna say this too.

I sincerely do not reccomend new beginner pagans to ask other pagans on Tumblr for begginers help.

I assure you, it doesn't matter if a person who made that Aphrodite worship guide or Hermes resources post on Tumblr (just random examples) has 1000 or 500 followers. It doesn't matter if they are your favorite blogger on here. Or if they seem super knowledgeable. They can be, but they might have bad intentions, they might want to mislead you (un) intentionally.

Wise and knowledgeable doesn't equal good person.

This doesn't mean to stop asking questions in general... But do not blindly follow the tips and tricks, resources, advice, or "deity cheat sheets" someone gives you. Question things. Do cross research. Practice internet safety while doing so.

You are not immune to internet misinformation in spiritual communities. And beginners can be especially vulnerable when it comes to that, as they are in a stage where they are full of excitement but also fear.

Instead of looking for "beginners guides" and resources from Tumblr my advice is to do this:

On tumblr and social media:

1️⃣Engage with likeminded people about your experiences with the gods and spirits:

-share UPG AND SPG

-share altar ideas

-share hymns and poems.

(do not stray away from discussions! Not the point of this post)

2️⃣Organize cool online events and post chains.

-make tag games about your gods

-make a blog chain about sharing your favorite pagan blogs and what you love about them.

3️⃣Engage with people who think differently from you.

-voice your opinions , and hear others' opinions.

-listen to different viewpoints and pagan paths that you might not know much on

-research practices from the other sides of the world, appreciate them! Example: Shinto is a faith i find really beautiful! I will research it once i have time. Also baltic paganism and mesopotamian!

On the internet and real world:

1️⃣Look into books! Reading books on paganism doesn't have to be expensive. Libraries, pdfs, and ofc ��‍☠️😵‍💫

2️⃣ Look into articles online. Back to internet misinformation! Cross research. Learning how to research is a good skill lol.

3️⃣ Real world. If you live in a larger area, go to meetups or events! Still, safety again. But if you do not have any pagan celebration events near you, celebrate with open minded , supportive friends and family. Tell them new things you've learned.

The possibilities are limited by your own creativity!

Please, be safe. Question everything. Research. Learn. Grow.

Even question me lol i am not a know it all 😵‍💫😵‍💫

[ignislupus]

sick desire

[ignislupus]

Don't tell me I'm wrong.

[ignislupus]

If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.

-Vincent Van Gogh-

[ignislupus]

I believe that every therian is valid, no matter their experiences. Even if I don't believe the same things that they believe (including things about past lives and spiritual therianthropy).

But, as someone who is very scientifically oriented, I don't believe that a therian can actually have the DNA of something other than human, or physically shift into their theriotype. That's not possible, it can be genuinely disproven, and I've never seen any real proof of it.

I'm not calling anyone insane, but I believe it's a bit different to someone having a past life or anything like that. It goes against the fundamental laws of science.

- 👑🐆

🐾

[ignislupus]

[ignislupus]

This is exactly the reason why I chose to identify as a "canislupus-kin."

For a while, I labelled myself as solely a eurasian wolf, but the more I thought about it, the less sense it made to me. I mean, sure, I always knew I was a wolf, or at the very least a canine, and the eurasian wolf, with its habit, diet, and coat, simply felt the most familiar.

I used to feel really guilty for not being able to easily identify the eurasian wolves among the other subspecies or even for sometimes relating to behaviour shown by sea wolves and such.

When I eventually figured out that I may not be a completely wild wolf, I first assumed I must have a separate dog theriotype and spent weeks considering different breeds.

But what always kept throwing me off was that my dog identify didn't feel separate from the wolf one the way my other identities do. This made it especially difficult to try to pinpoint which breed I was because, well, none of them covered all the behaviours and the behaviours themselves kept getting tangled up in my mind any time I tried to make any sense of them. (By that time, I was questioning my eurasian wolf identity as well.)

When I finally accepted that this identity was not two separate ones, I considered the term "cladotherian" - identifying as all subspecies of the grey wolf (including canis lupus familiaris - dogs), but when interacting with other cladotherians, most of them described identifying with each of the different species separately in a way, always leaning towards one of them in shifts and even having "main" theriotypes within this identity, which didn't fit my experiences at all.

I am not sometimes a eurasian wolf, sometimes a German shepherd, sometimes a sea wolf, etc. etc. .. I am ALWAYS a member of the canis lupus species. Though sometimes I feel more domesticated than other times, my overall behaviours and "physical" attributes such as the size of shape of my ears during shifts are always the same.

Sometimes , I question the possibility of me being a wolf species from the time when wolves and humans were first begging to make contact, therefore being an ancestor to today's wolf and dog species/breeds, explaining both the wild and kind of domesticated feelings... but that is a story for another time....

((So sorry, rant is over... ))

It's weird to me when nonhumans post images or gifs with a caption like "wolves playing in grass!!!" and it's two huskies, when they claim to be a wolf themself. I feel like you should be able to recognize when a canid isn't a wolf if you are one. Same applies to mistaking other species, such as being a jaguar and going "This jaguar is me!!!" then posting a pic of a leopard.

[ignislupus]

Południca (Noonwraith, Lady Midday), a demon in Slavic mythology.

Art by me.

[ignislupus]

It will get cold again eventually. The summer will not last forever. I’m not doomed to live in this unbearable heat for all eternity. <- said while gripping the countertop so hard that the tile is starting to crack

[ignislupus]

ok this is sick as fuck

[ignislupus]

I really want a pair of shoes or boots that have reindeer hoof-shaped parts on the bottom and leave hoofprints when I walk on my toes. I think it would be neat to recreate the feeling of having hooves, and leave deer tracks while doing it!

Here's a drawing of the sort of thing I'm thinking of. They're subtle and more suited to daily wear than those realistic cosplay hoof shoes, while still giving the feeling of hooves.

[ignislupus]

could i perchance have a board with coastal sea wolves and gray/black wolves too? also with fire and a dark theme idk

:D

perchance

here you go, i hope this is okay :3

[ignislupus]

sometimes you just gotta go

“(enter deity) I trust you to help me get out of this horrible scenario and make me stronger”

tbh one of the most comforting prayers ever

[ignislupus]

Black-rumped Flameback (Dinopium benghalense), male, family Picidae, order Piciformes, India

photograph by Vishesh Kamboj