Therians- why do you do it?

[Hellcat]

This is for research purposes, so I need honest answers please and they must be from genuine therians and not true weres. Why do you shape shift and what method do you prefer?

Personally I prefer to shape shift in meditation, I use it for self discovery, its also fun and because I can.

[walkingwondering]

This is for research purposes, so I need honest answers please and they must be from genuine therians and not true weres. Why do you shape shift and what method do you prefer?

Personally I prefer to shape shift in meditation, I use it for self discovery, its also fun and because I can.

You giving your opinion in the manner you have invalidates anything you may or may not gain from the said research.

[Hellcat]

You giving your opinion in the manner you have invalidates anything you may or may not gain from the said research.


I fail to see where I have imposed an opinion in my question. I have stated the method I use and why, this is a factual statement not an opinion. The fact that I have stated I prefer this method suggests that I also use other methods, however I have chosen not to list these other methods as I rarely use them. Please could you explain how my opinion invalidates the answers I may or may not recieve from the question I asked?

[Hellcat]

I think she was looking for more detailed answers from us. Writing an essay for a question certainly makes answering it that much harder.

HC, I will answer this, but let me get through tomorrow first....it's sleepy-time now.

Thanks Neon. My question probably isn't very clear. I am in the process of trying to analise my own spirituality. Self discovery is a long and arduos journey, and I've come to the conclusion that I can't do it completely on my own. At present I'm writing my own interpretation of my spiritual beliefs down, this is for my own benefit. Perhaps when I'm satisfied with it, I will feel more inclined to share it with others, but for now it is strictly for me. At the time of placing the question in the forum I had a head full of thoughts that I was trying to get down before I forgot what I was thinking about. Throwing the question on the board was purely a whim that I hadn't thought out very well, based on the concept that if I could understand how other people use therianthropy I might find it easier to understand myself. Now I have thought about it more clearly maybe I can make a point of making my question more clear.


basically I am working under the concept tthat there are two types of therian, those that shift in some way (be it dream shift, mental shift etc). Then there are those that don't. Of course there is the third type of therian which (my personal view) I liken more to lycanthropy- those who believe, or cliam they physically shift. The latter, is irrelevent to my personal research at the moment. At the moment my main concern is the first type of therian, those who do shift but don't claim to do so physically. It is my belief that these therians probably all have the ability to shift by more than one method be it a spiritual shift, mental shift, phantom shift or astral shift. Whta I want to find out is 1) Are all therians capable of shifting in more than one way 2) Do they have a preference to how they shift ie do some therians prefer to mental shift over phantom shift despite the fact they can do both. Finally I want to know why therians shift. It is my belief that therians shift for a purpose. It might be that they shift because it just happens. It might be that they shift because its fun. It might be that they shift for the purpose of doing a spiritual working. There could be lots of reasons why therians shift. I want to find out what those reasons might be. I feel that if I can understand other therians better, I might be able to analise and understand myself better. This is what I hope to get from this information. Hopefully I have made my motives and requirements a little more clear this time :D

[Xavious]

If I understood your question correctly hopefully this will help you.

The types of shifting I use are phantom and mental. Very rarely have I ever had an astral shift and I've never heard of a spiritual shift before. As you said, self discovery is a long journey. The orginal reason I used therianthropy was that when I was ten I had and intense love of wolves and a desire to be like them. At the time I didn't know but that was the first step on the path and two years later I first heard the term Therianthropy.

As time passed I began to have more reasons to use it. The most notable is that I found I could use it as a reprieve from humanity (not that I believe everything about humanity is bad). Many times I would spend the night at my grandparents house during the winter. Late at night I would sneak out and go behind their barn and listen to the sounds of the night. The feeling of being with nature was euphoric. On one of those nights I learned how to phantom shift.

When I was fourteen something happened that brought my study of therianthropy to a higher level. My parents gave me a wolf-dog. She was half wolf and half husky. When she was half a year old I began to watch her and replicate her movements as best as the human body could allow. Whenever nobody was around I would play with her and put what I had learned to use. Eventually I was even able to have mental shifts.

Today I use these shifts to be at one with nature. Which is another main reason I use therianthropy. I hope this has helped you some. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

[Hellcat]

Thanks Xavious, this exactly the kind of answers I'm looking for. Out of interest was it nature that induced your feeling of euphoria, or the lateness of the night, or a combination of the two? Also is their any relationship between this feeling of euphoria and your ability to shift?

[Xavious]

It was the feeling of being with nature. I'm more active at night (and also it's usually cooler outside as well). Come to think of it I'm more active when it's cold too.

The relationship isn't so much as the ability to shift but where I shift. Shifting does give me those feelings but they're usually stronger if I'm close to the natural world when compared to shifting inside my house or other man made structures.

[iertsughiuoergth]

This is for research purposes, so I need honest answers please and they must be from genuine therians and not true weres. Why do you shape shift and what method do you prefer?

Personally I prefer to shape shift in meditation, I use it for self discovery, its also fun and because I can.

Well, I would tell u, But I Don't Know How To Shift :( Can Someone Tell Me How? :confused:

[Nosevencityname]

I usually use mental shifts, but I also use astral shifts...

whatever...

I started using mental shifts when I was 8 or 9 years old, when for the first time in my life I saw a real life fox. I soon discovered that I wanted to be like them, so silent, so fast, so discrete, so I started practicing my methods of trying to mentally be a fox, then I started shifting for the first time.

Then astral shifts usually came to me after heavy meditation.

Why I shift? Probably to escape from humanity. I feel as if at the same time as I shape shift a man (probably myself) were trying to knock senses into me...

Astral shifting is a different matter, I usually shape shift after heavy meditation... but sometimes it happens really fast...like a dream...

[Zelanicatt]

As a therian who doesn't shift, I may not be qualified to answer your question. However, I'm so full of myself that I'm going to talk about my therianthropy anyway.

I am a cougar therian, which means that I believe I possess an intricate connection with the cougar that defines my existence. I do not shift--as in mental or emotional shifts--as I am in a constant state of both feline and human, which is, I think, termed contherianthropy. That makes me a contherian, but the terminology is debatable. Regardless, I do not go into emotional or mental shifts so I have no idea what they are like.

Instead, I feel constantly feline and human, but feline tends to dictate my personality. In attitude, perceptions, actions, reactions, etc. Like cougar, I'm a home-body and limit my travels. Maintaining friendships is quite difficult for me as I prefer to be alone; since I do have a friendly personality, people tend to want me to call them back. I don't think I'll ever get it through their heads that when I'm home (my territory), don't bug me! It's nothing personal, just "bugger off" and leave me to my own doings. Gods, adjusting to married life nearly killed my husband, to put it mildly. At least the only lasting damage was to a door frame, metal door, side of 2 cars, and some broken glass. *WEG* But I think we've gotten a lot better at understanding each other...I think.

Those are the strongest examples I can provide regarding my feline connection, though I'll happily provide more if you'd like. *struts*

I do not include phantom-shifts with "shifting" per se, so take it or leave it. I feel ph-ears *constantly*. What's really annoying and entertaining is when I move my ph-ears accidentally as a way to convey my meanings. For example, a simple ear twitch could immediatetly tell one of my students to shutup because you're annoying me. I say annoying because *grrr* the ears aren't really there. And entertaining for 2 reasons: I absolutely adore that I am constantly moving ears that I don't have, and sometimes my younger students do react. In fact, there's quite a bit of therians who have experiences in which children have recognized their theriotype. So, that's pretty cool, imo. Oh, occasionally I'll feel my tail, but it's not anywhere near as common as the ears.

I hope this helps; I've quite enjoyed talking about myself.

EDIT: the damage to my home, etc., was *not* a result of my therianthropy. Therianthropy is *never* the reason for poor behavior, temper tantrums, etc.