to Therian, or not to Therian, that is the question

[Intrigued.Ishere]

Hello!

just curious to what your spiritual belief is towards the furdom? ... do you have a spirit of given animal, or just connected to animals as a whole, or is it a silly way to let off some steam for you... what are your thoughts?

:)

[RangerRivet]

It's just a fandom and community to belong to for me. I actually get offput by those that treat it way more seriously (I was an animal in a previous life / I'm an animal trapped in a human's body) but I'm okay for keepin' my trap shut in those situations x3

[lindel]

I have to thank you first off for making this topic.I have been trying to find the word Therian for..awhile now.. (long story short I was trying to explain the belief but couldn't remember the name of it)

For me there are layers to the fandom. Being as spiritual as I am I do believe in the possibility that we do share at least part of our souls with animals and given a one on one conversation am more then willing to discuss those beliefs further.

Am I a Therian or otherkin  myself? I don't particularly think so but perhaps I need to actually sit down with someone who is to say otherwise.

[Intrigued.Ishere]

It's just a fandom and community to belong to for me. I actually get offput by those that treat it way more seriously (I was an animal in a previous life / I'm an animal trapped in a human's body) but I'm okay for keepin' my trap shut in those situations x3

Thats good, Its all about dat respect  ;D ... the connection is huge

I have to thank you first off for making this topic.I have been trying to find the word Therian for..awhile now.. (long story short I was trying to explain the belief but couldn't remember the name of it)

For me there are layers to the fandom. Being as spiritual as I am I do believe in the possibility that we do share at least part of our souls with animals and given a one on one conversation am more then willing to discuss those beliefs further.

Am I a Therian or otherkin  myself? I don't particularly think so but perhaps I need to actually sit down with someone who is to say otherwise.

No worries, I heard the word be thrown around and upon investigation decided to post here because I heard people in BC are quite spiritual/hippy :p ... at least the further west you go haha (with the exception of nelson)

Thats fair, the point of it all is to have your own spiritual experience

[Sasha]

You might consider my otherkin connections more prevalent in my life, however I accept that on the outside I am only a human who may act like something here and there for my own needs. Inside I have had something come to me over time that felt very tangible and like a guide to my feelings (teaching me great courage and survival, not feeling alone when solitary when necessary) in a bad time and if that is my own spirit or a connection I share with beyond I believe it is real in my reality that is my own.

I haven't a clue whether the psychology of me feeling phantom limb of a tail, or things beyond is real or not, but it's certainly something I can never deny and it serves no purpose to throw it away or deny its existence. It has served me well that way. To each his own umwelt.

Sasha~

[Drake Wingfire]

In the fandom spirituality can get some very mixed results and reactions for sure. There are a lot of us who do identify as Therian or Otherkin, but even those are vague umbrella terms used by many of us to establish that we feel a deeper connection with what we identify as. Very simply put I do believe myself to be a reincarnated dragon soul that once lived. Its something that sticks with me in daily life and what serves as a driving force in my life to better myself. With many spiritual types in the fandom its not something we open up about too deeply since its just not a subject that people wanna get into aside the small, bite sized and easy to digest bits of what it all is. For myself I feel it can be tricky to talk about for that very reason. An identity and belief is hard to sum up in twitter-format without missing a ton of the details, and with such a thing, its the details that really matter as not that many otherkin are exactly alike, if any.

In terms of my own experiences I use to keep the Otherkin parts of me wrapped up rather tight because when I got into the furry fandom it didn't seem to be as widely known of a thing and tended to garner a lot of "shit man, that dude takes his furry stuff too far" reactions or other general comments that boiled down to more an implication of taking things too seriously and too far. From an outside perspective I sort of understand the slight off putting look of it, and its a bit of a mutual feeling at times since there are times I feel like some aspects of the fandom do cater a bit much to (for lack of better words) flakiness. On the furry scale you could call me a life-styler pretty easily and thats really because of my draconic spirituality. The furry fandom really is one of my larger outlets for my dragon self and I am glad for any moment that I get where I can unfurl the wings a bit.

If anything, over the years I do feel the fandom was a overall good influence on me, the better parts of it are what gave me my humor and general outlook on life and a far more social nature. This world has changed me for keeps, and you know, one day... Im gonna get them for that  :thumbs: *chuckles*

[RangerRivet]

I guess I'm also only 2 and a half years into the fandom, and only a month into exploring the fandom off the computer screen, so I'm still fairly new to this whole thing. That's probably a contributing factor to my ideas of otherkin and spirituality

[TimePages]

I wouldn't really lump furries and therianthropy together as a whole because I know tons of them that aren't furs, though they do often go hand in hand ^^" And I wouldn't really call spirituality a fandom because to me, that kind of feels like calling christiananity a fandom lol.

Anyways, with therianthropy and otherkins, each individual's experience could be different. Having a phantom shift while I meditated (which was to induce lucid dreams at the time lol) is how I found out about the whole thing in the first place. Do I identify as a cat and not a gender? No, and I find that whole idea sorta silly too. Do I think I'm a balinese cat reborn? Well, personally I don't but with others, it's a huge factor to how/who they are. I'm still human, I just kind of feel a spiritual connection towards a certain animal. I'm happy being human and being who I am.

Also tfw regular furs at meets sound more animalistic than therians. It's hard holding back mental shifts when people are literally meowing right in front of my face ;~; though I still haven't shifted in front of others lol

[Esshtrait]

I am a dragonkin ;3

[RangerRivet]

Generally when people start meowing at me I just say ok and then leave :P

[ppakky]

Humans are versatile creatures, so we can pretend and act to quite an extent of ourselves.

[8bitDRGN]

Some like it and fully immerse themselves in the sub-culture, others are only comfortable with a small taste of it and go no further.

Some acknowledge they are merely humans who like to act or play as another creature, others feel they either share or are the vessel for another being.

For me personally, considering I have identified as a dragon longer than a human over the course of my natural life to date, I have no trouble saying that every fabric of my being is dragon and I'm very proud/happy for that.

The fandom makes up a crucial and influential part of my life and I am better for it. Every person who chooses to share and contribute to it should be celebrated because without that, there would be no fandom. That would leave a huge void in my existence.

...with that said it's best not to take oneself too seriously, and try to enjoy life as much as possible. I have the most fun when I can just be myself.

~K

[Drake Wingfire]

For sure the level of investment varies a lot in this fandom, same for Otherkin and Therians as well since some will keep to a more simple notion/belief and be perfectly happy with that. Others might want to dig deeper and try and come to a fuller understanding of who and what they are. No real harm in being either aside the rare head-butting of opinions since that's kinda how life is with many things. With something like this it really is all about the personal journey and growth.

Funny enough I am in a similar boat, Kess. For me, this summer marks the official tipping point where I will have identified as a dragon in mind and soul for the majority of my life. Some of those years have been a lot more spiritually active and profound than others for sure, but who I am now.. I just couldn't see me any other way. My draconity plays a large role in my outlook on many things and also what direction I wish to point my life in.

[Samurai Kai]

In my opinion some otherkin out there are just ridiculous, and I think makes the rest of the really chillax ones look bad. I've met and had some friends (friends I've known online for over 5 years that are now ex friends) in the past use it as an excuse for things like drama and have "split" souls and so on and why they do certain things and just completely engulf their whole life with that belief. To me I think some just take it way way way waaaaay to far, I see it as a fantasy escape type thing. That's just my belief there's no need to think I'm bashing those who believe they are what they are it's just my opinion.

I feel like I may have a somewhat connection with the snow leopard but I know deep down that I am human. Just because I have some feline traits does not make me one. It's all part of character really.

[Drake Wingfire]

In my opinion some otherkin out there are just ridiculous, and I think makes the rest of the really chillax ones look bad. I've met and had some friends (friends I've known online for over 5 years that are now ex friends) in the past use it as an excuse for things like drama and have "split" souls and so on and why they do certain things and just completely engulf their whole life with that belief. To me I think some just take it way way way waaaaay to far, I see it as a fantasy escape type thing. That's just my belief there's no need to think I'm bashing those who believe they are what they are it's just my opinion.

I feel like I may have a somewhat connection with the snow leopard but I know deep down that I am human. Just because I have some feline traits does not make me one. It's all part of character really.

I can be respectful about the opinion there. For the sake of adding onto your post and the topic as a whole here. This is probably the most important reason why its better to get to know someone or at least see who they are and resist the temptation to make blind assumptions based on a label alone. (labels can be pretty poor guidelines to begin with) Too often in the fandom spiritual types get a bad rep due to a few bad apples with big mouths and complexes running about. Its the same kinda way that furries get looked at by the general populace. It only takes one fursuiter dry humping within the sight of a few normies to start a wildfire of "We gotta stop this furry thing, these are sexual deviants who are trying to corrupt our kids!"

Its all too easy for the worst cases to set the public image for everyone else, it just turns into one giant crap basket of a PR case after that with trying to prove things otherwise. Over all my years though I gotta say that the biggest irony is the fact that furries, therians and otherkin all share a significant bit in common, yet the amount of lines that get drawn in the sand and the finger pointing about who is the weird one is just well.... It would be funny if it wasn't so sad haha.