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Therianthropy is a generic term for any transformation of a human into an animal form, either as a part of mythology or as a spiritual concept. The word is derived from Greek theros, meaning "wild animal," and anthrōpos, meaning "man".
Scholarly use of the term
In folklore, mythology and anthropology, therianthropy can be used to describe a character that shares some traits of humans and some of animals. The most commonly known form is lycanthropy, from the Greek word lycos ("wolf"), the technical term for werewolves. Although lycanthropy specifically refers to man-wolf transformations, many people use that term loosely to refer to shape changing to any animal form. For further information on this concept, see the article on Lycanthropy
In cases where someone actually believes to personally change into an animal form, or to possess supernatural animal traits, the term clinical lycanthropy is often used. This is a form of mental illness. People who call themselves shapechangers as a form of social identification are generally not considered ill by mental health professionals unless they have delusionary beliefs or take damaging actions as a result of their beliefs.
Modern subculture use of the term
Beliefs In recent times, members of a subculture have adapted the word therianthropy to describe a spiritual or psychological concept in which the individual believes they have the spirit or soul, in whole or in part, of a non-human animal, or an animal side to their nature. This can be partial, or complete (human and animal, or animal in human body), it may be spiritual or corporeal, it may even not be a "known" animal (e.g. a dragon). Such people may call themselves therianthropes or therians.
Therianthropes may describe their nature manifesting in terms of their cognitive processes, their outlook on life, their inner reactions and instincts, or through their physical body. The parts may co-operate or conflict, leading to happiness or unhappy dysfunction, and may take much self-discovery to begin to understand or accept. Since this is a personal self-perception, the manner in which a person describes it, and the manner of self-identification as a therianthrope, varies considerably.
A controversial aspect of therianthropy is the subject of shifting, which generally refers to any manner by which a therianthrope's nature may become evidenced internally (to themselves) or externally to others. Whilst few people would doubt that shifts of mental and emotional perception, and to alternative ways of thinking, may occur, some therianthropes also claim to experience a physical change to their appearance, a subject known as physical shifting, which is more controversial and many other therianthropes view with doubt.
Therianthropes are sometimes also called "weres", a reference to other dual-nature creatures of legend such as werewolves, weretigers and the like. Therianthropy is also related to the more general concept of otherkin.
Subculture Therianthropy as a subculture does not have any central dogma or tenets, nor any recognized authority. However, those who have been around for a long time are generally listened to, though less out of any perceived spiritual authority than simple acknowledgement of experience.
While there is no offline social organization, there exist online communities of therians with many diverse outlooks on the concept, including Christians, Pagans, and atheists. As could be expected, disagreements are frequent, and the many online forums and chatrooms of the community each have their own "atmosphere", ranging from total acceptance to scornful cynicism. There have been intermittent "real-world" gatherings, referred to as howls, but their purpose is primarily social.
Comparison with lycanthropy and furry fandom
Therianthropy vs. clinical lycanthropy Spiritual therianthropy is not the same as clinical lycanthropy, a mental illness in which an individual believes they are physically of another species. While some therianthropes believe they can take on the mindset of their "other side" in what is referred to as a mental shift, they retain control and are no danger to themselves or others. Some therianthropes do not shift at all: these people are called contherianthropes and always feel themselves to be partly animal and partly human. Most therianthropes claim physical shapeshifting is impossible, mostly on scientific grounds, though there are therianthropes who claim differently and some who even claim to have done so.
Therianthropy vs. furry fandom Therianthropy should not be confused with the furry fandom, though some intermixing of the groups does occur. As a general rule, to an extent therianthropes are more focused on the sense of an animal within, an animal side to their nature, or spiritual concepts, by contrast furries are more commonly focused on furry art and/or role-playing related to anthropomorphic animals. There is some overlap with those who identify themselves with each group or view the other positively, as well as those in each group who view the other negatively.
Related articles
See also
External links - Shifters.org (http://www.shifters.org)
- The Werelist (http://www.werelist.com)
- The WereLibrary (http://snowspine.com/therian)
- The Therianthropy Resource (http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/1927/greenspiral/resource.html)
- The specialized Therian Wikipedia (http://wikitherian.werehost.org)
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