theriannation

[theriannation]

Zine Submissions

My human life got crazy. I’m extending the submission deadline to the end of February. The zine will be quarterly if all goes well, and if I can manage that. 

[theriannation]

Really enjoyed the zine! Do you plan on making it a monthly thing?

Thank you! Therian Nation Zine will be every other month or quarterly. Depends on how many submissions I receive and how much time I have personally to devote to it. The first issue took a couple months to put together. Definitely can’t do monthly.

[theriannation]

Vol. 1 Issue 1 Now Available

Therian Nation Magazine, featuring the work of over a dozen contributors, is now available for download. https://gumroad.com/l/FKAEP

[theriannation]

I'm really excited to read the zine! Also, this is me being weird about stuff but the "Vol. 1, Issue 1 Jan 2020" bit on the zine cover is a really pleasing arrangement of words. Just! So many beginnings!

Thank you. Look for my forthcoming post. It will contain an important announcement. 

Ulfrvif

[theriannation]

Following that up. Here's the problem with non-kin people co-opting and appropriating our language and narratives and changing them to fit their needs: then those words have lost meaning completely.

They have become useless to us.

When people stretch and bend otherkind and therian to mean something outside the unique experiences we as otherkind and therianthropes (and other nonhumans) have: we no longer have a concise way to share and communicate those unique experiences. There are no longer words to represent those experiences, and feelings, concepts.

There is no point in our vocabulary continuing to exist at that point because it's not being used as intended.

We are forced into two positions.

1. We create new language to represent our unique experiences and wait for this to happen again.

2. We forsake shorthand language and write nothing but lengthy descriptions of what we mean everytime we want to say something, rather than being able to reference a common language. (Hope you're all articulate and enjoy essay writing! /s)

Except you're not all articulate! Many of us are not good at describing what we are and what we experience. Those people are helped immensely by and often rely on a common language.

Perhaps one of the most infuriating things about this appropriation is that our words aren't even being used to describe experiences and feelings that most people don't have. Instead they are describing common experiences that already have language available.

We do not have this.

We were never given this.

The privilege of having language to describe our nonhumanity, at least in the English language, doesn't exist. So instead we have either made our own words or taken the closest English language available to stand in.

The latter creates a nuanced situation. 'Therianthropy' is an English word anyone has a right to use in any way they desire, so is 'shift'. But when people co-opt and pervert the narratives of the modern therian community that is a problem. This is not solely about just words. Mental shift, phantom shift... this is a part of the nuance. Context is so important.

When (particularly nonhumans who have been in the community longer) get impatient and pissed off about this we're not trying to ruin someone's fun cause we think we're superior.

It's that we had no language. We had very limited ways to share before finding each other.

Most otherkind and therianthropes grow up thinking they are alone. Then, suddenly, we're not! We find each other. We find various communities and make friends.

And then people who don't care and don't know what it is like to be nonhuman or to be alone with no way to describe yourself, sometimes thinking you're fucking losing your mind, that you perhaps shouldn't even exist... those people who don't care and don't think try and take that from you, of course we'll bite.

We'll bite and refuse to let go.

Because we're being pushed into a place where we have nothing again.

And I'll die on this hill.

[theriannation]

Btw, if you make an account on www.academia.edu you can read some of their alterhuman papers and choose to have similar papers mailed to you as they’re published! Great resource for anyone interested in more academic alterhuman stuff.

[theriannation]

New Year’s Sneak Peek

I hope that everyone had enjoyable winter festivities and happy new year celebrations. I wanted to share what I and over a dozen contributors have been working on: a new zine for the Therian community! I hope to have it completed in a couple weeks if nothing unexpected takes up my time. When finished, it will be free to download. 

I do still want to finish my series meditative drumming videos by recording the longer sessions and the guided meditation. They are still on the to do list, but the magazine project idea took off and became my focus.

Here’s to another year! I wish everyone the best! 

- Ulfrvif

[theriannation]

Do you agree with TG's leader's actions, and do you recommend TG as a platform?

If you are looking for serious discussions of Therianthropy, I recommend that individuals try Werelist. It has been a source of information for Therianthropes for over ten years. There has been steady activity there recently, and it would be nice to see that trend continue. 

Therian Guide also has serious discussion along with more general topics. There is a connected Discord chat and other features. The activity is also steady, probably a little faster than on Werelist. 

There is also Kinmunity. It seems to mostly be for Otherkin and Fictionkin now. I do not spend any time on Kinmunity and therefore can’t say any more. 

I will not directly comment on the “TG’s leader’s actions” or the actions of Kinmunity’s owner. It’s up to individuals to visit these forums, participate, and make decisions for themselves. Each of these forums has a different feeling and look to it. The culture there is unique to each. And everyone will have their own impressions. 

My recommendation, and what matters most, is to find out for yourself which group of Therians/Otherkin at each of these forums makes you feel at home and connected to yourself and connected to the community. It’s okay to visit these places and find out that one or the other doesn’t work for you.

-Ulfrvif

[theriannation]

Links in all of my writing that previously went to werelibrary(dot)com and project-shift(dot)net will no longer work. I will try to update as I have time. 

- Ulfrvif

Project Shift Updates

Hello friends!

Numerous folks by now have noticed that Project Shift went down again. This is the same reason as last time, the domain expired and I did not renew it. I also botched backing up Wordpress but let’s ignore that detail.

This was an active choice because carrying multiple domain names was expensive. So, this should be the last domain change for the foreseeable future. 

We’re now at projectshift.therianthropy.info 

I was actually super lucky to get therianthropy.info because it’s so darn perfect.

therianthropy.info itself will just be a landing page directing to WereLibrary and PS. WL is going to take considerably longer to rebuild since it was 1. already being updated; 2. I am contemplating the format in which I want to do it and what software is most effective.

PS should for the most part be restored by tonight. There are also Spanish translations of the website that have not been reuploaded previously, but that will be this round at some point.

[theriannation]

Therianthropy Day 2019

This year, Therianthropy Day and the full moon of November occur on Tuesday the twelfth.

Online discussion of Therianthropy began in November of 1993 on Alt.horror.werewolves. There is also the importance of meeting other Therianthropes in person. In 1994, the November Harvest Howl was organized by Smash Greywolf, and many Therians from AHWW met for the first time.

I was thinking of how else to celebrate this day, and I realized that the Therian Wiki lacked a page about Lupa's book, "A Field Guide to Otherkin". It has now been added with an image of the cover and references.

For more information about Therianthropy Day and how it can be celebrated, see the related page of the Therian Wiki.

[theriannation]

This video can be used for quick meditation and relaxation. The length is probably not long enough for a Shamanic Journey. Beats per minute are about 220. At the end of the video, there is a more rapid set of beats to bring you back to a normal state of consciousness.

[theriannation]

Drumming Series Intro

This video briefly describes the purpose of the drumming sessions, how to use them, and what to expect. 

[theriannation]

Therian Wiki Update

Earlier today, the Therian Wiki was hit by vandalism. Over 40 pages were briefly affected. I don’t know if the Therian Wiki was the only target or if many Wikis were hit. Thankfully, a member of Fandom’s Volunteer Spam Task Force responded quickly, has reverted all of the pages, and blocked the vandal. Everything should be normal, but if you see something questionable on a Therian Wiki page, please contact me there. 

Thank you, 

Ulfrvif  

[theriannation]

New videos!?

Wait...What!? I have a couple videos ready to upload? Now, the real question is: can I record the other three videos of the series within a reasonable amount of time? Like maybe within a couple weeks instead of months? XD 

It’s 1 AM where I am. I will upload those two videos tomorrow. 

Thanks for the patience while I’ve been focusing on adult life, responsibilities, and other hobbies such as gardening during the summer months. 

[theriannation]

Ever since I was very young I would have a reoccurring dream that I would transform into a white dragon. I'm not sure if I'm asking the right place but I have never been fully comfortable in my own skin except in my dream. Does this make me a therian?

No one can give that answer except you. Learning about Therianthropy/Otherkinity is really self-discovery, introspection, and learning about yourself. However, it usually takes many experiences to help you decide if you identify as nonhuman. One reoccurring dream is probably only a reoccurring dream. Dragons and flight have a lot of symbolism. It could be related to situations or changes that are happening in your life that are normal and nothing to do with having an alternative identity.

There are really a lot of questions that you could ask yourself.

What exactly do you mean by “never been fully comfortable in my own skin”? You don’t feel human? Or you don’t feel that your gender is right? 

What you have described could be considered a dream shift. Have you had any other therianthropic shifts? Maybe phantom wings, tail, scales or fur? 

Other than the dream, do you have any behaviors, reactions, feelings, thoughts, etc. that you might attribute to being more dragon than human? Sometimes these might only occur during mental shifts. In other words, do you feel like a dragon outside of the dream or only in the dream?

What kind of dragon? Is this dragon more animalistic or like magical? 

Is it a mythological dragon or more like a recent fictional character dragon from a movie or anime?

When you say reoccurring, like how long - couple weeks, months, or years? Does the dream occur after seeing imagery of dragons or more randomly? Or does something like trigger it? 

There are a lot of resources here: https://theriannation.tumblr.com/resources 

I recommend learning more about Therianthrope and Otherkin identities. Research more about various kinds of dragons. Good luck on your journey of self-discovery. 

Ulfrvif

[theriannation]

All of these experiences can be real, significant, and deeply meaningful to the individual having the experience. None is lesser than another. However, they are all unique and different. They are not the same things. For example, a daemon isn’t a therioside. A lot of these concepts do have similarities though. It’s a lot to learn and take in for younger people exploring the world, their minds, and their identities. It can take time to figure out the differences. These experiences are often confused for one another, and we (as in all of these groups of people) can get overly defensive sometimes. Maybe a little aggressive in how information is presented and misinformation is corrected? We just need more patience, more education and more available resources that explain the differences.

We could try to word sentences and question better. But maybe “just” doesn’t imply that an experience is unimportant. It’s only emphasizing that there is a difference in the experiences. I have probably asked questions in a similar format, but I never purposefully, intentionally meant it to cause someone to feel less of their experience. I often agonize over sentence structure and how my words can come across, but someone could always find offense at something. Writing stuff for the Therian community takes me a very long time. Especially if I’m responding to something here on Tumblr. It’s part of the reason why I haven’t participated or contributed in months. 

Ulfrvif

Alterhuman Pryamid

| 08.09.19 |

It’s very disheartening to know that the alterhuman community is so tier oriented. I see many people insinuating that otherkinity is top tier, the highest level of alterhuman you can be, but this creates an unnecessary hierarchy and diminishes the importance of experiences people have with being otherhearted, a furry, a coping link, a system, a daemian, etc. It essentially paints the picture that to be otherkin is to be better than other alterhuman identities. And I’ve seen this in the way we speak. “Are your otherkin or just otherhearted”, “Do you identify as an animal or just like them”, “is it just a connection?” The word “just” heavily implies that those experiences aren’t actually that important or influential to who we are compared to otherkin experiences.

Our heartedtypes, daemons, tulpas, headmates, fursonas, coping links, our what have you, are not lesser versions of your kintypes. They are not weaker in experience, or insignificant in influence. They are not superficial, or dull, or meaningless compared to your kintypes. They are equal to them. Neither one better or worse than the others. The pyramid we’ve all built needs to crumble. It needs to be demolished. We can not continue to feed the superiority complex that is being bred through the tier mindset. It will, and has, destroy us as a community. We are already separate. We already see the damage in the lack of discussion of heartedtypes, daemons, tulpas, headmates, coping links and fursonas in the alterhuman community. If we don’t start stitches together this community, we’ll never be whole again.