Therianthropy

Therianthropy is the mythological ability or affliction of individuals to metamorphose into animals or hybrids by means of shapeshifting. It is possible that cave drawings found at Les Trois Frères, in France, depict ancient beliefs in the concept.

For people who identify as not entirely human, see Otherkin.
Valkyries, having shed their swan skins, appear as swan maidens.

The best-known form of therianthropy, called lycanthropy, is found in stories of werewolves.

Etymology

The term therianthropy comes from the Greek thēríon [θηρίον], meaning "wild animal" or "beast" (implicitly mammalian), and anthrōpos [ἄνθρωπος], meaning "human being". It was used to refer to animal transformation folklore of Europe as early as 1901.[1] Sometimes the term "zoanthropy" is used instead.[2]

Therianthropy was used to describe spiritual beliefs in animal transformation in a 1915 Japanese publication, A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era.[3] One source, The Human Predator, raises the possibility the term may have been used as early as the 16th century in criminal trials of suspected werewolves.[4]

History of therianthropy and theriocephaly

Therianthropy refers to the fantastical, or mythological, ability of some humans to change into animals.[5] Therianthropes are said to change forms via shapeshifting. Therianthropy has long existed in mythology, and seems to be depicted in ancient cave drawings[6] such as The Sorcerer, a pictograph executed at the Palaeolithic cave drawings found in the Pyrénées at the Les Trois Frères, France, archeological site.

Theriocephaly (Greek "animal headedness") refers to beings that have an animal head attached to an anthropomorphic, or human, body; for example, the animal-headed forms of gods depicted in ancient Egyptian religion (such as Ra, Sobek, Anubis).

Mythology of human shapeshifting
Main article: Shapeshifting
A frog changes into a princess in the painting "The Frog Princess" by Viktor Vasnetsov.

Shapeshifting in folklore, mythology and anthropology generally refers to the alteration of physical appearance from that of a human to that of another species. Lycanthropy, the transformation of a human into a wolf (or werewolf), is probably the best-known form of therianthropy, followed by cynanthropy (transformation into a canine) and ailuranthropy (transformation into a cat).[7] Werehyenas are present in the stories of several African and Eurasian cultures. Ancient Turkic legends from Asia talk of form-changing shamans known as kurtadams, which translates to "wolfman". Ancient Greeks wrote of kynanthropy, from κύων kyōn[8] (or "canine"), which applied to mythological beings able to alternate between animal form and human form, or who possessed combined animal and human anatomical features.

The term existed by at least 1901, when it was applied to stories from China about humans turning into dogs, dogs becoming people, and sexual relations between humans and canines.[9] Anthropologist David Gordon White called Central Asia the "vortex of cynanthropy" because races of dog-men were habitually placed there by ancient writers. The weredog or cynanthrope is also known in Timor. It is described as a human-canine shapeshifter who is capable of transforming other people into animals, even against their will.

European folklore features werecats, who can transform into panthers or domestic cats of an enlarged size.[10] African legends describe people who turn into lions or leopards, while Asian werecats are typically depicted as becoming tigers.

Skin-walkers and naguals
Main articles: Skin-walker and Nagual

Some Native American and First Nation legends talk about skin-walkers—people with the supernatural ability to turn into any animal they desire. To do so, however, they first must be wearing a pelt of the specific animal. In the folk religion of Mesoamerica, a nagual (or nahual) is a human being who has the power to magically turn themselves into animal forms—most commonly donkeys, turkeys, and dogs—but can also transform into more powerful jaguars and pumas.

Animal ancestors
In the Irish Mythological Cycle, the Children of Lir could transform into swans.

Stories of humans descending from animals are found in the oral traditions of many tribal and clan origins. Sometimes the original animals had assumed human form in order to ensure their descendants retained their human shapes; other times the origin story is of a human marrying a normal animal.

North American indigenous traditions mingle the ideas of bear ancestors and ursine shapeshifters, with bears often being able to shed their skins to assume human form, marrying human women in this guise. The offspring may be creatures with combined anatomy, they may be very beautiful children with uncanny strength, or they may be shapeshifters themselves.[11]

P'an Hu is represented in various Chinese legends as a supernatural dog, a dog-headed man, or a canine shapeshifter that married an emperor's daughter and founded at least one race. When he is depicted as a shapeshifter, all of him can become human except for his head. The race(s) descended from P'an Hu were often characterized by Chinese writers as monsters who combined human and dog anatomy.[12]

In Turkic mythology, the wolf is a revered animal. The Turkic legends say the people were descendants of wolves. The legend of Asena is an old Turkic myth that tells of how the Turkic people were created. In the legend, a small Turkic village in northern China is raided by Chinese soldiers, with one baby left behind. An old she-wolf with a sky-blue mane named Asena finds the baby and nurses him. She later gives birth to half-wolf, half-human cubs who are the ancestors of the Turkic people.[13][14]

Shamanism

Ethnologist Ivar Lissner theorized that cave paintings of beings with human and non-human animal features were not physical representations of mythical shapeshifters, but were instead attempts to depict shamans in the process of acquiring the mental and spiritual attributes of various beasts.[15] Religious historian Mircea Eliade has observed that beliefs regarding animal identity and transformation into animals are widespread.[16]

Animal spirits
A water spirit takes on a human form in The Kelpie, a painting by Herbert James Draper.

In Melanesian cultures there exists the belief in the tamaniu or atai, which describes the animal counterpart to a person.[17] Specifically among the Solomon Islands in Melanesia, the term atai means "soul" in the Mota language and is closely related to the term ata, meaning a "reflected image" in Maori and "shadow" in Samoan. Terms relating to the "spirit" in these islands such as figona and vigona convey a being that has not been in human form[18] The animal counterpart depicted may take the form of an eel, shark, lizard, or some other creature. This creature is considered to be corporeal and can understand human speech. It shares the same soul as its master. This concept is found in similar legends which have many characteristics typical of shapeshifter tales. Among these characteristics is the theory that death or injury would affect both the human and animal form at once.[17]

Fiction

In literary criticism, the ability of a fictional character to transform into an animal or human–animal hybrid is called animorphism. It is a common trope in the fantasy genre. In some cases, the transformation is involuntary, caused by magic, a curse, or some other supernatural force,[19] while in other cases, the transformation is voluntary and controllable. Animorphism may be used to explore themes of identity[20] and belonging. It has also be used to examine the relationship between humans and animals,[21] and to drive considerations about wider issues relating to animal rights.[22][23]

Psychiatric aspects

Among a sampled set of psychiatric patients, the belief of being part animal, or clinical lycanthropy, is generally associated with severe psychosis but not always with any specific psychiatric diagnosis or neurological findings.[24] Others regard clinical lycanthropy as a delusion in the sense of the self-disorder found in affective and schizophrenic disorders, or as a symptom of other psychiatric disorders.[25]

Therianthropy

Therians are individuals who experience therianthropy, an involuntary identity as a non-human animal on a non-physical level. Some may experience involuntary animalistic behaviors/urges, but this is not required to be a therian. While therians mainly attribute their experiences of therianthropy to either spirituality or psychology, the way in which they consider their therian identity is not a defining characteristic of therianthropy; as long as a person identifies their sense of self as being that of a non-human animal, they can be considered a therian.[26][27] The animal which a therian identifies as is known by the community as a "theriotype", and this can refer to either the animal they identify as or, more specifically their own non-human animal identity. For example, a therian who believes in reincarnation may use the word "theriotype" to refer specifically to their past life or, more generally, to indicate that they are speaking about the animal species they identify as. Therians often use the term "species dysphoria" to describe their feelings of disconnect from their human bodies and their underlying desire to live as their theriotype. Species dysphoria is common but not present in all therians.[28] The concept of species dysphoria has often been compared to gender dysphoria, in that there is a similar sense of incongruence between the person's physical body and their internal sense of self. Some non-human identifying people oppose this comparison, stating that "they are separate ... identities". Others intentionally parallel the two, highlighting the similarities.[29] Species dysphoria, or species identity disorder, has been proposed as a mental disorder.[30] A now-defunct therian website suggested a criterion for a diagnosis, based on the diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Gerbasi et al. noted the "striking" similarities between species and gender dysphoria, leading them to tentatively suggest a medical diagnosis of species identity disorder, however being a therian is not a disorder. [30] Others have compared species dysphoria with body dysmorphic disorder, terming it "species dysmorphia" instead.[31] A participant in Proctor's paper stated that they would consider it a form of neurodiversity, rather than a medical diagnosis, "unless it had major and negative impact on someone's life".[32] The identity "transspecies" is used by some, furthering the similarities between identifying as a different species and a different gender.[33]

Prevalence

In an online community survey of 523 non-human identifying people, 75.1% said they experienced species dysphoria, and 8.2% were unsure.[34] In four surveys of furries (n = 4338/1761/951/1065), depending on the sample, between 25% and 44% responded that they consider themselves to be "less than 100% human", compared to 7% of a sample (n = 802) of the general American population.[35]

Shifting

Many but not all therians describe experiences of temporarily feeling more in touch with their animal/creature-self than they do at other times, and this phenomenon is known by the community as "shifting", with the experiences being known as "shifts". Shifts can vary indefinitely in the length of time for which they are experienced, and the intensity with which they are felt. They can also be triggered intentionally, or unintentionally, usually by stimuli relating to a person's theriotype. While shifting is often regarded as a positive experience, the disruption caused by unintentional triggers, and heightened feelings of species-dysphoria, can also lead to therians experiencing shifts as negative experiences too. Shifts are normally experienced in a state of consciousness, although dream shifts (in which a therian has the body of their theriotype) are an exception to this. Some therians attribute their knowledge of their own therianthropic identities to their experiences of shifting. For example, a coyote therian most likely will begin to identify as a coyote after experiencing dreams in which their body takes the form of a coyote. Types of shifts include:

- Mental shift: A shift in the thought pattern of a Therian/Otherkin individual from human to one more of a therio/kintype.

- Phantom shift: The feeling of having or expecting to have a specific body part of your therio/kintype that your human body does not have, or the feeling of body part being formed differently than physical part. The sensation can fluctuate from a tingling feeling to a well defined body part that interacts with the physical world, depending on the person and moment.

- Sensory shift: A shift in the focus of your sensory input to the generally more important or used senses of your therio-/kintype. This, to some, can make a Therian/Otherkin feel as if their senses are heightened and therefore working better than usual.

- Perception shift: A shift in one's perception about outside world factors or self-image. The therian perceives things in a way which is more associated with their animal side and this perception occurs (at least initially) on a subconscious level. The human logic is often replaced by the theriotype's logic, and it's often experienced as a sudden and jarring (de)realization.

- Astral shift: Mainly seen in meditation and disassociation, this shift is the experience of leaving your human body as your therio-/kintype and entering the Astral Plane. This is a spiritual related shift that requires to believe in the Astral Plane.

- Aura shift: This occurs when your shape or form of an auric field or life energy field changes to that of the theriotype. This is a spiritual related shift that it requires the belief in auras which are considered paranormal.

- Dream shift: The experience of being your therio-/kintype, or experiencing any other shift, in your dreams, whether this be first or third person (not second).

- Bi-locational shift: The feeling of being at two places at the same time, often being the natural habitat of your therio/kintype. It's often experienced as an overlap of sensory input or a vivid daydream.

- Cameo shift: Experiencing any kind of shift that does not align with your own therio-/kintype. (Recently the unofficial term 'cameotype' was created for those who have frequently returning cameoshifts from a certain species, but they don't identify with/as this animal/creature in any way). This often happens to kithtypes (See: Otherhearted).

- Emotional shift: Any undefined shift that stems from a peak of any emotion.

- Spiritual shift: Any undefined shift that requires you to believe your alterhumanity is inherently spiritual, such as the Astral shift and the Aura shift.

- Shift trigger: Any form of trigger that can cause a shift. Common examples of a shift trigger are listening to certain music, being in a specific habitat or feeling a certain emotion, causing them to react how their therio/kin type would react.

- Grounding: A term used to describe the conscious effort to go back to a more human state, often by the use of reversing triggers.

- Self-induced shift: A shift that has been consciously triggered by choice. These types of shifts are not reliable when looking for a therio/kintype.

The therian community is generally considered to be connected with the otherkin community, which consists of individuals who non-physically exist as any particular non-human creature on a non-physical level, often associated with but not limited to non-earthen beings. However, unlike otherkin, therians psychologically or spiritually identify as animals, or the being that is themselves in their whole being, and the two movements are culturally and historically distinct. People often mistake therians and furries, but they are completely different.[28]

See also

References
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