#thewerecommunity

[wxlfbites]

For at least as long as I’ve been involved in nonhuman communities, there’s always kind of been this emphasis on not just identifying as nonhuman but also being able to accurately label that identity under the massive amounts of terms that exist to describe every variation in personal experience one can have. Hearted identities were seemingly given the “middle child treatment” and experiences like flickers or links or even frequent cameo shifts were often harshly criticized. And while I’m glad to see much of that has changed now, there is still quite a bit of label pushing and a hierarchy of experiences.

Before I distanced myself from the therian community, I was a frantic mess trying to label everything and anything I experienced just to feel some validation among my peers. I lost sight of who I really was deep down because my focus was more on the labels and how to fit them than my actual lived experiences. Now though, I feel so much relief and confidence in my identities that I hardly ever question or doubt myself anymore. Not having a billion words to juggle around stresses you out a lot less, trust me.

All this is not to say I don’t sometimes like to have words to describe my experiences though! Specifically as of late, I’ve been questioning what the squirrel means to me. I sat with the possibility of being squirrelhearted for a bit, but that just doesn’t seem right; squirrels don’t feel anywhere near the same as bears, coyotes and Twilight for me. It occurred to me though that whenever I see squirrels, or objects and art depicting them, I immediately think of my daemon. Her tiny voice in the back of my mind squeaks with excitement at recognizing herself, the same way I do when I see a wolf. “It’s me”, she says, “it’s Philomena”, I say. I get this warm, aching feeling in my stomach like I just have to have the object, that I just have to be with my daemon in the physical.

So I wondered what I could call this feeling, an almost hearted adjacent experience. And I remembered the word I “coined” for such things as this - and many other types of feelings of being drawn to something -: Calling.

Squirrels call to me because of Philomena. I like them because they remind me of my squirrel-girl. I like watching their movements because it helps me visualize Philomena. I feel drawn to squirrels because they make me feel closer to her. They bring her to the front of my mind and briefly give us back some closeness to each other that we’ve lost recently. Without Philomena, squirrels don’t mean much to me. It’s only because she’s a red squirrel do I feel an affinity with them.

Calling definitely feels like a good fit

#alterhuman #nonhuman #otherkin #otherkinity #therian #therianthropy #werewolf #thewolfbites #wolf #werewolves #were #wolves #wolf therian #wolven #werewolfkin #real werewolf #the golden compass #thewerecommunity #otherkith #otherkind #otherhearted #plurality #wolf kin #hdm #his dark materials #species dysphoria #daemon #daemonism #animality #nonhumanity

[wxlfbites]

For those who identify as nonhuman but not therian/otherkin/alterhuman

if you feel comfortable, regardless of your choice, please explain your choice and your personal beliefs. I'm literally so curious as to how nonhumans (besides those who use therian, otherkin or alterhuman labels) view themselves and how they perceive their identities.

Nonhuman spaces are so heavily therian/'kin that it's hard to find others who don't perceive themselves that way.

#nonhuman #were #thewerecommunity #werebeing #werebeast #werecreature #clinical zoanthropy #clinical lycanthropy #physically nonhuman #nonhumanity #endelity #endel #plural #plurality

[wxlfbites]

| Do Not Repost |

#alterhumanity #alterhuman #nonhuman #werewolf #wolven #werewolf community #thewerecommunity #animality #animalhearted #thewolfbites #wolfcore #werewolf aesthetic #werewolfcore

[wxlfbites]

After a decade of identifying as a therian, it is with a heavy heart that I drop the label for myself. I simply no longer feel any connection to the word which has now been morphed into something unrecognizable to me. I first awakened in 2012 and became involved in the online community in 2014. I have watched the many struggles and phases of misinterpretation come and go around multiple platforms. I’ve helped spread education when there was much misinformation to be managed. Not that I was any kind of huge influence in the grand scheme of things, but I’ve seen the things the community has been through and we’ve always fought tooth and nail. Now though, it seems the war has been lost…

This community has held a special place in my heart for a very long time. But unfortunately, there’s nothing left of what was once my home. Somehow, kids wearing cat masks and doing quadrobics on TikTok did in months what the “tumblr kin” and “fluff” before them couldn’t in years, dismantling decades of work trying to uphold the original culture and definitions of our elders. The current shift in usage of therian terminology, having spread to other platforms now, has led many of us old-timers to abandon the label because not only does it no longer describe what we are in a community setting, we’d also like to avoid being associated with the “TikTok therians”. This community has become more like a giant roleplay group than anything.

This is why I have personally switched to using older “were” language. Maybe it’s because it’s from a time when the community was flourishing with people who truly connected with each other through their shared animality, but calling myself a “were” has given me a sense of peace that I don’t think I’ve felt with therian in quite a while. I have two pinned posts about the “were” language if you want to use it too. The Were Community can be your way to remove yourself from the therian community, or its terminology can be just a way to rephrase how you would typically describe yourself in therian terms. Either way, I’m never going back to using the word therian for myself. I like were much better.

#alterhumanity #alterhuman #otherkin #otherhearted #otherkinity #nonhuman #therian #therianthropy #werewolf #thewolfbites #were #thewerecommunity #werewolfkin #were community #werewolves #werewolf therian #wolf therian #otherkind

[wxlfbites]

🪶 — A Werewolf’s Guide to Terminology

Below is a developing glossary which will be used by a new, yet familiar, branch of the nonhuman community known as the were community. Its purpose is to provide new ways of describing one’s experiences and identities for those who wish to distance or no longer associate themselves with the current alterhuman, otherkin and therian communities, respectively.

• Animality - the experience or state of being an animal.

• Awereness - when one comes to understand their nonhumanity; they become “awere”.

• Calling - feeling drawn to something as part of ones nonhumanity; a “call” is the thing one is drawn to : “I feel the call of x” or “I’m having a strong calling”.

• Daemon - a thoughtform representation of someone’s subconscious, inner thoughts, or soul which is given a name, animal form, gender and, in most cases, sentience.

• Flicker - one who experiences a nebulous or temporary identity which is often brought on by the consumption of some source material; the thing one identifies as : “my x-flicker” or “I’m flickering”.

• Link - a nonhuman identity that is voluntarily chosen or created; the thing one voluntarily identifies as or with : “my x-link” or “I link to/as/with x”.

• Hearted - the strong connection one feels to something nonhuman which may include an affinity for, relation to, resonance or familiarity with; the thing one feels a connection with : “I am x-hearted”.

• Nonhuman - someone who identifies as something other than human.

• Shifting - when one feels more like their nonhuman identity at any given moment; refer to part two of this glossary.

• Astral shift - a shift where one takes on the form of a nonhuman creature within the astral plane.

• Aura shift - a shift where one’s aura changes to reflect their nonhumanity.

• Berserker shift - a shift where one's animality takes over, characterized by loss of control or an altered state of consciousness.

• Bilocation shift - a shift where one’s spirit leaves their body and takes on the form of a nonhuman creature.

• Cameo shift - a shift of any kind that is not representative of one’s established nonhuman identity.

• Dream shift - a shift experienced in an unconscious state or dream, where one takes on the form and/or mentality of a nonhuman creature.

• Mental shift - a shift where one experiences what they believe to resemble the mentality and cognitive processes of a specific nonhuman creature.

• Phantom shift - a shift where one experiences non-corporeal body parts associated with a nonhuman creature.

• Sensory shift - a shift where one experiences heightened or altered senses that they feel resembles that of a nonhuman creature.

• Transformation - a physical shift which is acknowledged by the individual experiencing it to be a hallucination.

• Species Dysphoria - a type of bodily dysphoria (i.e. anxiety, distress, dissatisfaction) arising from the perception that one’s body is of the wrong species.

• Were - one who identifies as nonhuman; “I am a were-x” or simply “I’m a were”.

• The Were Community - the overall population of those who identify themselves as were’s.

#alterhumanity #alterhuman #writings #otherkin #otherhearted #otherkinity #nonhuman #therian #therianthropy #thewolfbites #the were community #were #werewolf #werecreature #thewerecommunity #were community #werecommunity #animal people

[wxlfbites]

This is the final thing I will be saying regarding my opinions on therians.

My whole point was this:

I do not care if you wear a cat mask and do quadrobics, if that’s what you wanna do, then do it, but do not call your a therian if you do not identify as an animal. That’s the only way someone can be a therian is to identify as an animal, whether that’s something you were born with or something that has developed over time, you identify as an animal. However you decide to express that, however you decide to explain why you identify as an animal, all that matters is that you do identify as nonhuman in some way. And not like a “I’m super energetic so I’m a dog” kind of way, in a “I am a dog because of some spiritual or psychological reason that is deeper than relating myself to them on a surface level like having one single animal-like trait”. You know, the whole discussion about how apes and humans share certain traits naturally because of evolution so in order to know if you’re experiencing ape-like traits or human ones, you have to actually look into yourself further? Yeah…

Anyway.. the people that have been arguing with me have been twisting my words to make it sound like I’m saying that no one can do quadrobics or wear a mask if they’re a therian. That doing those things makes them a nontherian. That’s not what I’m saying and the people who have actually read what I’ve been saying without a victim complex know this. I’ve been saying that the only requirement for being a therian is to identify as nonhuman. Quadrobics is not a requirement. Masks and gear are not a requirement. What is a requirement though is to identify as nonhuman. If you do not meet this requirement, you are not a therian. There are other words to describe what you actually are, but you are not a therian if you do not identify as nonhuman. Again. One more time for the people in the back now. You are not a therian if you do not identify as nonhuman. But the TikTok Therians want you to think that being a therian is only about doing quadrobics, liking animals and wearing gear. They think therianthropy is not an identity, but rather something anyone can be if they want to have animalistic fun.

That. was my point. If you still misinterpret it, it only proves how much of a victim you want to be. Because I’ve literally just spelled it out letter by letter so there is no room for misunderstanding me. Any further questions? Good. Now leave me alone and go jump over a broom or something.

#alterhumanity #alterhuman #writings #otherkin #otherhearted #otherkinity #nonhuman #therian #therianthropy #werewolf #thewerecommunity #werecreature #thewolfbites #wolven

[wxlfbites]

Considering the vast majority of those who have interacted with my nonhuman poll are therians/otherkin when I specifically asked for nonhumans who are NOT those things to interact, I’ll probably have to toss out the whole thing.

I know you can’t really control who interacts with polls like that but its frustrating. I wanted that poll to highlight specifically that therianthropy and otherkinity were not the only ways to identify as nonhuman but unfortunately can’t do that now knowing the majority of interactions are from them.

#nonhuman #werewolf #real werewolf #werebeing #were #werebeast #werecreature #werefolk #thewerecommunity #wolf #nonhumanity #animality #animal person #wolfsoul #wolfblood #wolf person

[wxlfbites]

TheGreenWolf Review

As promised, this is my official review on the coyote tail I purchased from thegreenwolf (Lupa) on Etsy. Firstly, I'd like to rewrite my original review and then elaborate and add photos of the tails flaws so that others can see firsthand what I mean. Deeper review and photos below the cut.

In my honest opinion, thegreenwolf (Lupa) is way too overpriced for the quality of her work. The tail I bought came up to $46.44, making it the most expensive tail I've ever bought (and all my tails have come from Etsy shops) and it's the worst quality tail I have. There's a giant bald spot on one side that can't be covered, the sides of the tail are flattened in a way that makes it look like a sideways beaver tail no matter how much I fluff it and shake it out both rightside up and upside down, the hide where the loop (for tying or attaching a clip) is completely exposed a good inch or two and the loop itself is literally just stapled on. I paid $27 for Cash (my other coyote) and even though I was slightly disappointed in his size when he arrived, even he's better quality than this one. Obviously when it comes to taxidermy, there are things that are unavoidable, like the bald spot, but that also means you need to price accordingly to the flaws. I paid $65 for my entire gray fox pelt (paw pads and whiskers still intact) at a renaissance festival. If I'm paying almost $10 less than that for just a tail, it better be the best quality money can buy. So. In my opinion, she's price gouging the shit out of scrap quality taxidermy and only able to get away with it because of her claims of spiritualism.

After being called "petty and rude" and getting accused of doxxing Lupa (??????) for simply having a negative review and opinion, I just wanted to say a couple of things to kinda of clarify things?

In no way was my review meant to elicit hate or harassment toward Lupa. While I am aware of some controversial things regarding her views on nonhumanity, the intention of my review was simply to warn the nonhuman and vulture culture communities that this seller is, in my opinion, pricing items much higher than they are worth and doing so simply because she claims them to be more spiritually charged based on her spiritual practice and beliefs.

I have bought tails from Etsy shops since 2012, not only have I never encountered a taxidermy tail that wasn't altered (meaning: not sewn together with other tails to make them longer) for more than $25, I've never purchased a tail that I felt needed to be reviewed poorly; let along a tail that was purchased from a seller who very proudly and confidently talks about her decades of work with taxidermy and her skills in the field. I guess I just expected more from her based on the "experience" and "skill" she says she has. I've also personally started to work with taxidermy myself, though I'm not nearly as skilled as many in the field, and I really only end up working with bones after I let the animals I find naturally decompose. I did try my hand at preserving a rabbits foot, which I am happy with, but even so... I am far from "skilled". Even if I were, I wouldn't be selling my work for more than I believe it's worth. If I sold my rabbits foot right now, I'd only want $15 max (including shipping) for him which includes the leather wrap around the top, money spent on Borax, the overall time I spent working on him (severing the foot, cleaning, waiting for preservation, cleaning again, wrapping the leather) and then the shipping costs if I had to ship him. From what Lupa says in her listings, her tails are secondhand, to quote her:

"" The majority of what I work with is secondhand or reclaimed in some manner, whether its old fur and leather coats, [...]

meaning she doesn't even actually tan/preserve them, they come to her already tanned and she just adds the loop and spiritual ritual. If she were working with these tails from the death stage, doing her own taxidermy, then maybe I could understand the price. The fact that she's basically charging for a stapled on leather loop and a spiritual ritual that not everyone subscribes to is frankly asinine. I've seen taxidermists who tan their own hides charge way less than Lupa is. So yeah, I definitely think people are getting ripped off.

Now for the photos. (some of the flaws I talked about don't translate well through a camera so totally feel free to use your own discretion when it comes to whether or not you think I'm over exaggerating or just bullshitting. This post isn't meant to be an "evidence of". Explanations of what the photos are depicting will be given in the alt text.

And there ya have it, folks. My review on Lupa Greenwolf. Feel free to take it or leave it. I’m not here to tell you not to buy from her. I’m just here telling you that I personally don’t think her stuff is worth what she charges and that you can definitely find better. While I’m disappointed in what I spent my money on, I won’t be returning my tail simply because for one, I’d have to pay return shipping so I’d still be wasting money even if I got a refund, and secondly, in the grand scheme of things, spiritually speaking, the way a tail looks is unimportant to me. None of the flaws I’ve mentioned make me love or respect the tail as a once living being any less. It’s just the principle of price gouging and inflated ego’s that I have an issue with.

#alterhumanity #alterhuman #writings #otherkin #otherhearted #otherkinity #nonhuman #therian #therianthropy #werewolf #thewerecommunity #wolven #taxidermy #thegreenwolf #thewolfbites #wolf #vulture culture

[wxlfbites]

Feeling the small twinges of the beginnings of a transformation after months of not having any physical sensations is really nice.

#nonhuman #werewolf #thewolfbites #thewerecommunity #endel #animal people #wolven #wolf #wolfsoul #nonhumanity #werecreature #transspecies #zoanthropy #wolf person #wolfblood #animality #werebeing #species dysphoria

[wxlfbites]

Something in the way I perceive myself as nonhuman has changed. The wolf within me has seemingly taken over completely; the human part of me only existing in the physical now. And even then… it feels as if my body is more wolf too. This is such a complicated experience to explain so bare with me here.

Everything I do, I do as a wolf. It’s not even so much that my self image is wolven, or that I am more mentally shifted, but rather I am simply… wolf. I feel dysphoria, but not in the way I normally do - the sharp ache that rips my soul apart - more like my brain acknowledges that my human body but knows it’s not really… like it’s a illusion that just makes me look that way to everyone else. Internally, I feel my core, my spirit, has completely morphed and taken on the total essence of a wolf. I feel the heartbeat of it, it’s vibrations, more loudly and deeply.

I’m not even necessarily seeing myself in my minds eye as a physical wolf most of the time - though I still do sometimes. I just… move differently, more in step with the wolf, see differently, closer, hear differently, smell differently… but it’s not a sensory shift. The only way I can possibly describe it in any simple way is to compare it to the feeling you get when you listen to Native American, Celtic or Pandoran music full blast and just… let it in. Letting every beat hit, every rhythm flow. Finding your home, your entire self, in that music. It’s like that… but with the wolf. The wolf is the music and it’s coursing through me like lifeblood.

I feel no connection to my humanity even when I’m doing human things. Even when I’m telling myself how human my body is. I can’t say that I am feral or a beast. But I am not human in any way that counts.

#writings #nonhuman #werewolf #were #werewolf community #were community #thewerecommunity #thewolfbites #wolf #nonhumanity #animality #bearhearted #coyotehearted #wolven #real werewolf #werefolk #werecreature

[wxlfbites]

Without the use of the majority of alterhuman terminology, I’ve had the chance to really reflect on how to define my experiences as… other…. especially the ones that aren’t exactly animal. Since my own dictionary of “other” terms is pretty basic now, I focus more on the details of my experiences and can identify what they mean to me easier than before.

As you may well know, The Twilight series has been more troublesome for me to label than anything else. I started to feel things connected to it all the way back in 2009, long before I even had internet access, and still, finding the word that described it perfectly was impossible. I feel this series in my bones, it’s a deeply integral part of me in ways I’m still discovering everyday. The entire essence of this series lives within the fibers of my being, existing through me as a living, breathing thing. From the words on the pages, to the music within the films, the small errors and awful moments that make me cringe, the characters and the aesthetics of every scene, I feel myself in the Twilight series.

I’ve tried to label this identity many times but I’ve never felt any confidence in it until now. I know that these specific experiences are ambiguous and difficult to define, but I have learned to accept one certain label for being just the same. A label I’ve come to understand as being a vast, complex thing that can include so many interpretations of an identity that it opens the gates for more discussion about what it means from one person to another, which is what I’m striving for.

Finally, it’s time to settle down with this experience and give it it’s name. After almost 15 years… I’m officially calling myself Twilight-hearted… and I couldn’t be happier.

#werewolf #were #thewerecommunity #nonhuman #thewolfbites #wolf #wolven #werecreature #nonhumanity #animality #bearhearted #coyotehearted #the twilight saga #twilighthearted #twilight

[wxlfbites]

Today has just shown me exactly why I love Were language more than therian language. Because no one is sitting here doing mental gymnastics about what Were- means. Literally everyone agrees on what Were- means in all its contexts whether we’re talking about mythology, film, identity, whatever, we see the word Were- and go, yeah that’s a creature that’s part human and part animal. It doesn’t matter whether the Were was bitten or born, cursed or blessed, whether it’s a good Were or a bad Were, whether it’s a more man-beast or feral Were. A Were is a Were is a Were.

Therians just over complicate everything with their millions of terms, constant shifting back and forth between what they really want therianthropy to mean and include, again the mental gymnastics you have to do to hold a fucking conversation with one, the victim mentality when you try to educate any of them. It’s all just so exhausting and unnecessary to deal with in a community.

So I’m 100% completely removed from the therian community at this point. Do not call me a therian, don’t lump me in with them. I don’t even care to be associated at all with the alterhuman community and shit. Like the alterhuman community gets the same way with fucking syscourse and radical acceptance and all the hundreds of words to describe the same exact things just with one little detail difference. Alterhumanity doesn’t seem much better than therianthropy to me anymore. So yeah, count me out of that one too.

I’m not doing this crazy shit with these people again. I’ve peaced the fuck out on ya’ll. I’m a fucking werewolf and that’s that.

#nonhuman #werewolf #thewerecommunity #werecommunity #werecreature #animality #hearted #wolf #wolven #thewolfbites

[wxlfbites]

Winter is soon coming to an end, and I’ve begun to feel the call of the wild once again. “Come back to me, my child”, it whispers softly through rays of sunshine, “sweet wolf, return to your home”. My bones ache for the release of a transformation not felt for months, my muscles are cramped from not climbing, walking, swimming for far too long.

I’m slowly emerging from my hibernation and that usually comes with increasing shifts, overwhelming longing for nature, restored energy and an abundance of youthful curiosity, like a pup coming out of the den for the first time. New adventures await in just the next few weeks if the warmer weather sticks around and the wolf in me is growing rather impatient.

What kinds of adventures are you looking forward to having this year?

#thewolfbites #werewolf #nonhuman #wolf #thewerecommunity #werecreature #wolven #nonhumanity #animality #animalhearted #animal person #bearhearted #coyotehearted #real werewolf #wolf soul #wolfsoul #wolfblood #wolf person #werebeing #species dysphoria #wolfcore #werewolves #were #werewolf community

[wxlfbites]

Greetings!

The best of respect is meant here. I have watched the therian community from the perspective of an outsider for about a decade now, but never ended up joining for a variety of reasons.

I consider myself a werewolf after I feel I was initiated in a sense in an especially vivid dream I had about a decade ago, and have included lycanthropy as part of my pagan practice. While I have never felt like an animal trapped in the body of a human, I certainly have felt that there was something deeply feral, if not inhuman to me.

I was wondering, where do I belong? Is there a place for me in the were community? What is the difference between my experience, and the experiences of others in this community?

I do apologize for the bombardment of questions. I am finally in a space and state of mind to finally explore this side of myself.

Best,

Moss

Moss,

No worries about bombarding me with questions. Honestly, I’d rather there be that than no questions at all; that’s how discussions happen!

The Were Community, before it slowly evolved into the otherkin and therian communities, respectively, was a place for all those who felt themselves to be nonhuman in some way. Whether that be identifying that way for whatever reason, believing themselves to have been nonhuman in a past life, or living their daily lives in a nonhuman way (whatever that meant for them), among other things.

Around the early 2000’s there was discussion about feeling connected to animals but not identifying as one, which led to the creation of terms like animal-hearted. The Were Community always included those people, even after they had their own word.

I have a whole list of terms that can be used by people in The Were Community, which I plan to expand and make an official website for. If you use the hashtag #thewolfbites on my blog, it should pop up. It includes (and will include) all kinds of ways to describe ones animality or nonhumanity that are welcomed in The Were Community.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions you have.

#thewolfbites #thewerecommunity

[wxlfbites]

The term “were” has officially been added to the Beyond Humanity alterhuman dictionary 😊

#werebeing #werewolves #werefolk #real werewolf #were #werecreature #werebeast #werewolf #thewerecommunity #thewolfbites #nonhuman #nonhumanity #animality #werewolf community #wolf #wolven #wolves #wolfsoul #wolfblood #wolf person #animal person

[wxlfbites]

Growing up, my family never really cared much for cultural traditions or practices. Without the use of historical references, all I know from what my maternal grandparents have told me, is that my family has roots in Germany, France and Ireland and that only within the last hundred years have we been in America. But even so, I don’t remember a time in my life when my family ever displayed specific cultural customs outside of typical white American family things… and for some reason, that’s always bothered me.

My lack of any significant kinship with the cultures I come from has always made me feel incomplete, almost wrong in a way. It’s part of the reason I think I’ve spent most of my life seeking out a community. I believe I am meant to express pride and honor in my heritage, to participate in traditions my ancestors were meant to pass down to me. I even feel this deeply through my Twilight experiences as I identify with the Quileute wolves.

At this point, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with being nonhuman. Besides my delusions of werewolf ancestry, I suppose it also relates back to my spiritual faith in animism. The belief that all things possess an essence or spirit which can not be destroyed, but is transferred after death; a largely held belief in places like Ireland before the Christian Invasion. This fundamental belief is what fuels a good portion of my identity as a wolf. I’ve explained this in another post, so I wont reiterate, but essentially, my essence, my spirit was once that of the wolf, and because they’ve retained the knowledge and memories of what the wolf feels like, I identify as one now. Don’t worry, the dots are connecting, I promise. See… I’m the only one in my family who believes in animism, I’m the only one in my family who identifies as nonhuman and I’m the only one in my family who feels the pull toward or heritage. I think all of this must be connected somehow, even if I don’t have the answers quite yet. Maybe it’s all connected to my werewolf ancestry? Wolves are family oriented creatures, maybe there is something about my wolf spirit that calls me to reignite my family’s culture? Who knows…

#werewolf community #thewerecommunity #werewolf #real werewolf #werebeing #werebeast #wolf #thewolfbites #werecreature #nonhuman #nonhumanity #animal person #animality #animalhearted #were #wolven #bearhearted #coyotehearted #twilighthearted #wildproudfree #feral #wolfsoul #wolfblood #wolf person #species dysphoria #animism