therian-guide

[therian-guide]

Official Therian Guide content

Hello everybody,

It’s come to our attention that there may be 3rd parties around impersonating us by creating fake Tumblr blogs and similar content.

To ensure you are getting genuine Therian Guide content, make sure you check our forums at: https://forums.therian-guide.com

There is a series of icons in the upper part of the page, where you can find relevant links to official Therian Guide material on other websites. Please note that the icons for the content only accessible to Therian Guide members only appear once you log in (and are an activated Therian Guide member).

Furthermore, as re-stated in our latest forum announcement, if you have any questions or concerns about Therian Guide or it’s staff, please don’t hesitate to contact us: https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-Open-door-policy

We will continue in our efforts to support the global Therian community as best we can.

Thanks everybody and stay safe.

LP, Dusty

[therian-guide]

Hey everyone,

TG and it's members have often lain claim to being a lot like a family and one of the roles of a family should be helping to support each other when the chips are down.

One of our members has selflessly devoted her life to giving everything she possibly can to those less fortunate. In this particular case, she's made a positive impact in the lives of thousands of dogs, wolf dog hybrids and coydogs that would otherwise have never known the joy or comfort of a loving home or a habitat that meets their needs. She's also offered other members here a free ride to wherever they may need to go and a place to stay for a night or two when they've found themselves displaced.

Because of the sacrifices she was willing to make, she placed herself at a disadvantage and in a circumstance where she couldn't enjoy sharing her life with a canine companion of her own until recently.

Just as quickly as Annie and Leica forged an inseparable bond with each other, tragedy struck and Leica has fallen very ill. Annie, being the hero that she is, absolutely refuses to give up on her best friend and TG is going to stand with her through the storm. As a thank you for being a great member, in recognition that she's devoted her life to helping the very animals that many of us identify as and last but not least, as family.

Leica's vet bill has already exceeded $2,700 and may likely approach $4,000 quickly so at this time, We'd like to humbly request that anyone with some spare change laying around or a couple of dollars, please consider helping out someone who has gone so far out of their way to help others, both canine and human alike.

#therian #dog therian #wolf therian #coyote therian #dogkin #wolfkin #otherkin #therian-guide

[therian-guide]

Hey guys, like we promised, here’s a copy of the material from Kinmunity, mirrored to our hosting in case the Google Drive copy gets deleted: http://forums.therian-guide.com/hosted/kinmunity%20library%20backup.pdf

Kinmunity has ceased operations

Kinmunity has ceased operations and to ensure the utmost security, all associated data has been destroyed. Thank you for your participation.

[therian-guide]

We hate to see another Therian community bite the dust. At the very least, it shouldn’t have all just been deleted. We’d be more than happy to host a read-only archive of the site, if one existed, free of charge. In any event, any former Kinmunity members are welcome on TG! http://www.therian-guide.com/index.php/6-community

Kinmunity has ceased operations

Kinmunity has ceased operations and to ensure the utmost security, all associated data has been destroyed. Thank you for your participation.

[therian-guide]

The way we select charities is our community members make nominations and the staff of Therian Guide select the top few in effort to maintain a diverse base from which to choose from.

Our members are then able to purchase donations with our forum shop points, which are backed in USD by the site's co-owners and a few other members who donate regularly.

While we do try and keep our charities free of outright evil organizations like PETA, there's a bit of a balance we must strike between our own careers, personal lives, maintaining a very large and thriving community and what research we are able to do when time affords us to.

You do, however bring up a valid point and perhaps we should include that members should do their own research on a potential charity before submitting a nomination.

For the animals

Hey everybody,

As therians we of course care about the welfare of the animals who are our theriotypes. But so often they are not treated the way we’d like in the world. Have you ever wondered what you could do about this?

There is of course so many things we could do for the animals on our own. We find the best thing we could do is join some group of people already fighting for animals. I am talking about organizations like the Dolphin project, Exotic animal rescue groups, the Great Bear Foundation, the WWF, the Defenders of Wildlife and many many other groups. These groups are already on the job protecting animals and what we can do to help them, is to support them financially.

At Therian Guide we do this. Whenever anyone buys a donation token in our points store, Therian Guide sends the organization behind the token a donation of 15 €. These groups then thank us by sending us reports on the progress of their efforts. If you join us on our forums, you will earn points using which you too can direct, which organization gets a donation next, and how many donations they get. Don’t worry if you don’t have money, you don’t have to pay us to donate, you just have to join our forums and discuss therianthropy.

Join us!

LP, Dusty

[therian-guide]

For the animals

Hey everybody,

As therians we of course care about the welfare of the animals who are our theriotypes. But so often they are not treated the way we’d like in the world. Have you ever wondered what you could do about this?

There is of course so many things we could do for the animals on our own. We find the best thing we could do is join some group of people already fighting for animals. I am talking about organizations like the Dolphin project, Exotic animal rescue groups, the Great Bear Foundation, the WWF, the Defenders of Wildlife and many many other groups. These groups are already on the job protecting animals and what we can do to help them, is to support them financially.

At Therian Guide we do this. Whenever anyone buys a donation token in our points store, Therian Guide sends the organization behind the token a donation of 15 €. These groups then thank us by sending us reports on the progress of their efforts. If you join us on our forums, you will earn points using which you too can direct, which organization gets a donation next, and how many donations they get. Don’t worry if you don’t have money, you don’t have to pay us to donate, you just have to join our forums and discuss therianthropy.

Join us!

LP, Dusty

#therian #animal welfare #donate #bears #macaws #community

[therian-guide]

Hey everybody, I thought this was worth an update on our Tumblr page. Therian Guide now has a Patreon page: www.patreon.com/TherianGuide As you probably know, we're not really all that for-profit. We collect the contributions you provide to us and offer them to our members in the form of tokens that can be used to donate to non-profits. As therians, we care about the welfare of the animals we understand so well and we figure the best way for us to help them, is to help support the people already actively working towards this goal. Of course, how much we can give is limited by how much we have. If, like so many of us, you have the money but don't have the time, consider giving us a small monthly contribution and we will make sure it goes to support something where a real difference can be made, while also benefiting the greater Therian community. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. Thanks!

#therian #patreon #donations #animal welfare

[therian-guide]

Another letter

Therian Guide has received yet another thank you letter, for our donations, from another one of our affiliated charities, this time The Great Bear Foundation. Again, this wouldn't be possible without our members and our dedicated staff. TG is reaching out and making a positive difference in the world, for therians and their theriotype animals alike. Love for each other and love for the world around us. Kinship is kinship and we look out for ours. Thanks, to everyone who's made this possible. Lyc

#therian guide #therian-guide #therian #otherkin #therianthropy #therianthrope #kin

[therian-guide]

New Staff Member

Therian Guide is proud to introduce BearX as our newest addition to the staff team. A 24 year veteran in the therian community who joined AHWW in 1993, former owner of lycanthrope.org and with over 30 years in software development and technical experience we are more than pleased to have him on board!

#therian #therianthropy #kin #otherkin #non-human #therian guide #therian-guide

[therian-guide]

We've done something like this, at one point, on our site. Best of luck with your survey!

Otherkin, Sexuality and Gender Survey: Looking for Participants

Hello tumblr!

I’m looking for participants for a survey I’m doing on how gender and sexuality correlates with otherkin identity on this site.

I am primarily looking for otherkin participants, but even if you are not otherkin I still encourage you to take this survey.

All responses are completely anonymous and won’t be connected to you in any way, shape or form. However, some of the questions involve mature (sexual) content. If this makes you feel uncomfortable or distressed, please skip the question(s) or don’t take the survey.

This is a casual, non-academic survey to improve my own understanding of otherkin people. Despite this, I have plans to share the results of this survey on this blog once it’s complete.

I am not otherkin myself, but I think that it’s important to at least try and collect some data on topics where such data doesn’t yet exist.

You can take it here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Jdeox_EOWINERGWrJ2qzD7AwZ88343AOy_PiM0vRVjs/edit

If you run an otherkin blog or just a blog in general, please consider reblogging.

Sincerely, fuzzball-does-surveys

#otherkin #kin #therian #therianthropy

[therian-guide]

Rant

Something that personally irritates me is the fact that the online therian/otherkin community has moved so far away from it’s origin of discussing and sharing experiences and seemingly evolved into an orgy of who’s right and who’s wrong and a swath of petty bickering instead of inclusion and consideration with an open, even if skeptical, mind.

Perhaps this is simply due to cultural differences with the exponential rate that the community has expanded or dare I say that it might be due to the generation gap and new patterns of thought but whatever the reasoning, it would seem that we are plunging into a state of regression instead of making progress as a community.

One thing I’d like to see happen is a new rennasance of learning from one another and opening up discussion about diverse experiences instead of casting judgement and chalking things up as “nothing to do with therianthropy”. From what I’m aware, there are no such institutions of higher learning that have ever issues a degree on the subject and therefore, no one can rightfully claim to be an expert or a professional.

Let’s move forward and make progress and leave the bickering on the elementary school playground.

Lyc

[therian-guide]

Changing the world

While other online therian/otherkin communities are stuck dealing with drama and bickering amongst one another over trivial disagreements, Therian Guide is getting off the internet, going out and making a difference in the real world, for the better. Thanks to our generous members and our drive to make the world a better place, we have received our first thank you letter from one of the many non-profits that we support! "Dear Therian Guide: On behalf of Wolf Sanctuary of PA, thank you for your generosity! Your donations enable us to continue to offer a forever home to wolves and wolf-hybrids.  It is only through your thoughtful contributions that we are able to continue to grow and offer our help to these mysterious and misunderstood animals. Thank you for helping to make that possible! As you know, the costs involved with the Wolf Sanctuary do not go away. We hope for your continued support in the coming year. Thank you for all of your help! Sincerely, Kim Auman Wolf Sanctuary of PA" Thanks to every member of TG who made this happen!!!

#therian #therianthropy #otherkin #kin #nonhuman #wolves #wolfkin #Therian Guide #Therian-Guide

[therian-guide]

Moving forward as a community

As we move forward as a community and evolve and grow together as therians and kin, I’d like to take a step back and look at everything in perspective. We’ve come a long way since the days of A.H.W.W. and I often wonder why there is no prominent voice or collective of voices amongst therians and otherkin. Why do good communities seem to just die off after a while, after so many have proclaimed a desire to further the concept or present us to the outside world as being a credible and very real minority group of people?

I think much of this lies within our tendancy to focus a little too heavily on things like validity and what makes us the way we are. While it’s perfectly healthy to ask these questions and converse with others to try and answer them, I think we should put more focus on the community as a whole perhaps? After all, the closer we become and the more united we feel by the common bond that we all have will clearly show anyone on the outside that we are serious.

Anyone with the proper knowledge and training can host a study, publish a research paper or author a book but to stand with one another, to learn and live and grow with each other is an experience that’s truly special and unique and I think we might need to take a few moments out of each day to remember that. I’m not saying that we should discard logic and fact in favor of sentiment and principle but I think the reason so many communities have failed or gone away is because the members of them are divided on what makes us unique…

We can be divided in ideology, that’s perfectly understandable. Ideology is subjective as per each individual because it’s rooted in perception but perhaps we should be placing our sense of unity above our own individual theories and ideas. I know it’s possible because I see it here. I’ve seen the staff go against their own personal beliefs in defense of others and I’ve seen other members surprise and astound me at how willing they are to accept someone who’s different, while maintaining their own respectful skepticism.

I know I’m an optimist and I know I place a lot of value in hope and ideas and dreams or goals. If I, personally, ever lost hope or if I began to view the world only considering likely outcomes instead of looking beyond the likely and aiming for the spectacular, I don’t think I’d be very please to to be around to be honest. Despite my optimisim, I’m also very prone to over-analyze things and look at the world from more of a realistic perspective.

Anyhow, we’ve really got something special here on TG. I’ve never seen such a diverse and unique group of people, therians, kin, kith, or just those that are curious come together and find such strength in what unites us. We aren’t perfect, none of us are, and were bound to have controversial debates over things, we’re bound to disagree and if we are completely honest with each other and ourselves, we’re bound to be judgemental sometimes, if even it’s limited to a fleeting thought.

But we’re all TG. Despite our flaws and biases and quirks and habits. None of us is any more right about anything than the other, none of us any more credible or valid or true. We’re all on the same level even if our experiences and our perceptions may be polar opposite. Even if some of us tend to fall into certain roles, even if those that do are exceedingly good at it, no one is more important than anyone else and the experiences of someone who’s just learned about therianrhropy and joined yesterday should be considered just as equal to the experiences of someone such as myself.

There’s character, of course.. some people just aren’t genuine but I haven’t seen much of a problem with that, here. Those who are not genuine in their feelings or experiences don’t tend to hang around long, if at all.

My point is… If we stand together and never lose sight of the importance of our community, I whole-heartedly believe that TG can withstand what other online communities have not. I believe we can pass even the test of time. That belief isn’t rooted in Dust’s or my own ability to run and maintain the site, it isn’t even rooted in my faith in the best staff I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. That belief is rooted and survives in each and every one of you…

Thank you all for making this such a great community! 

Lycan

#therian #otherkin #therianthropy #therianthrope #therian guide #therian-guide #kin #we're number one

[therian-guide]

[therian-guide]

This and other essays like it can be found on our main site.

What Therianthropy Means to Me

Before I begin, I would like to clarify that I don’t typically like the use of labels, especially when discussing something that seems to vary as per individual experience such as therianthropy. I will, however use labeling here for the sole purpose of trying to convey my thoughts in somewhat of a universal fashion.

I have been a wolf suntherian for as long as I can remember, even though it took me 12 years to discover what I was and another 10 years or so to actually define being a wolf therian. My earliest memories are of wandering around in the wild, the forest and the bank of a river with a certain curiosity that felt non-human in nature. I’ve always loved chewing stuff up, rolling in grass or mud, running, playing outside in the sun or pouring rain. Since I can remember, I have had a shyness/distrust towards humans, only letting my guard down to a few select ones after approaching them with extreme caution. Growing up, I always knew that I was different from my peers but I could never quite put my finger on what made me so different. I looked the same as them, was surrounded by the same type of environment most of the time, influenced by the same sources often, yet, there was a stark difference between us. I knew that I didn’t feel as comfortable around humans as I did animals and that I far preferred to be alone in the wilderness than in a typical human social setting.

Going into my teenage years, I came to the realization that I was a wolf and I’ll elaborate on how I came to this conclusion a bit more here than I did in my journal. I was in 7th grade, middle school, having a rough time coping with everyday life and my social environment. Every minute of every day that I was not alone in the wild felt to me like I was trapped or being held captive in a hostile environment. I spent many of my waking hours in fight or flight mode, always anxious, always ready to snarl and fight to defend myself. It was around this time that I began reading immensely to escape from reality. I got pretty heavy into ancient mythology, science and physics and biology. Any book I could find on those topics was opened inside my textbooks and I was often lost in a story or a theory or thinking about how things worked. My favorite escape from reality, however, came in the form of reading about wildlife that suffered dramatically due to human impact and how such wildlife was still able to adapt and survive despite human development. When I first started reading about wolves and their behaviors, history, the theories of how they befriended early humans, I got a strange feeling of pride that I can only compare to someone reading about one’s family history or some such. The more I learned and explored into the world of wolves the more I began to realize similarities between wolves and myself. At this point, had that point in my life been in modern times, I would have probably googled “I feel like a wolf” or something similar but the internet was still in it’s infancy to a large extent and there were no therian communities to turn to.

I began daydreaming heavily about being a wolf, to the point where I could sort of lost all concept of reality and picture myself as a wolf, running through the grass, through the woods. It became so real to me that I could “feel” mud on my paws and I could feel my ears move on top of my head when I was lost in this alternate reality inside my mind. Today, I would consider these early sensory phenomenon to be the beginning of phantom shifting. Back then I didn’t know what to make of it other than a feeling of euphoria because it just felt so much like what I should be feeling and not what I was feeling (if that makes any sense). Being the stubborn and strong willed animal that I am, I couldn’t accept not acting on my impulse to do what a wolf would do so I began reading books about wilderness survival and would often go “camping” on the weekends with little more than some form of blade and a source of fire. The allure of feeling the woods beneath my bare feet would teach me many lessons, including the very important fact that, while I knew I felt like a wolf, I still had a human body. When I got my first dog I was extremely excited because, while she was not a wolf, she seemed to be a bridge between the human and canine world. I spent a lot of time with her and learned much about why I had some of the reactions that I did to certain things. Not only did she teach me so much about how to canine but we developed an unbreakable bond with each other to the point where I felt that she was the only living thing that I could trust. The more I plunged into feeling like a wolf, the more I withdrew from society and the more trouble it caused me but, at the same time, the less I cared about what trouble arose.

Let me stop here and reflect on a few things regarding how I feel they pertain to therianthropy.

1. My first indicator that something was different about me was a pretty stark difference between the traits, behaviors, emotions, reactions of myself and my peers.

2. When I began educating myself about my theriotype animal, it felt almost as if I was studying my own heritage or something. The feeling of pride and understanding seemed to resonate with me on a level that it shouldn’t have if I were “typical” or “normal”

3. I found that animal reactions, instincts, traits, behaviors made much more sense to me than did human ones.

4. I had experienced some sensations of phantom shifting while daydreaming about being my theriotype animal.

5. I found it easier to bond with and relate to canines than humans

Now while I’m not, in any way, attempting to establish guidelines for being therian. If one were to notice similar aspects as those aforementioned, I believe that therianthropy should at least be considered on the path of self-exploration, even if one were to only exhibit two or three aspects of themselves that could indicate therianthropy. Moving forward in my personal experience, I found that I eventually developed an urge to forge bonds with humans as well. The first real friends that I ever made were in high school, it took some time before I trusted them completely but once I did I quickly developed an urge to provide for and protect them where it was needed. I would say that this turned into more than just friendship because I stood with them, without regard for myself, through good times and through the worst days anyone could imagine. While I don’t necessarily know if this could be considered a pack mentality or not, it gave me a great deal of comfort and pride to think of it as such. Despite having a few very close friends, I still had the urge to find a different type of relationship and this urge was about to become overpowering and, strangely enough, would lead me to disconnect with my theriotype and teach me a very hard lesson.

I won’t go into great detail about the first girl I was involved with in a relationship because it’s not really relevant to therianthropy but.will say that I had some very intense feelings for her that wound up not being quite mutual and it ended in heartbreak for me. The depression and dissatisfaction with myself that I experienced following this lead me to want a “normal” life even though I had come to the conclusion long ago that I was anything but “normal”. I did the best I could to ignore my canine impulses, cover up all of my traits, repress all of my urges to act like a wolf or anything other than a “typical” human. I basically lied to myself every day about who and what I was in an attempt to be accepted for something that I was not. This constant battle and inner turmoil turned me into one of the most miserable and hateful individuals that one might imagine. In the end, I did manage to somewhat force a disconnect which lead me to feeling empty and hollow inside, like I was no longer anything but a shell of a being with no purpose, no defenition, nobody surrounded me anymore because I had turnedinto something that was not me. It wasn’t long before the void that I had created within became filled with darkness. Pain, sorrow, fear and endless doubt and hopelessness became my life. With nothing positive left to carry on for I came to a crossroads. I could put an end to it all or embrace who and what I knew, deep inside, I still was. Well, I’m still here and I’m still a wolf. 

In closing, I don’t attribute the hardships I have endured to being therian but I do attribute some of my ability to adapt and overcome them to it. I see therianthropy as a phenomenon that is as beautiful as it is perplexing. I don’t consider myself ane less of a human because I am a therian, nor do I consider myself and less of a wolf because I exist as a human in a human society. The human side of me is intellectual and has great capacity but it is weak in several aspects. The wolf side of me is powerful and driven by instinct, yet it lacks the ability to manuver through complex human social situations and it’s guard is always up to the point of keeping me somewhat paranoid. Each side of me is flanked by the other and both human and wolf work as a very close team to the same goals. I believe that from years of this, my human side has become more canine in nature and I believe that my wolf side has adapted to existing in a human world to some extent. I’m very proud of who and what I am, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

A few final words for anyone who reads this… Be proud of yourself, never stop learning about who and what you are. I can’t explain why we are the way we are but I do know that we are something very unique and that in itself is a wonderful thing…

#Therian-Guide #therian #otherkin #kin #nonhuman #therianthropy

[therian-guide]

Well said.

i'm new to the community (i guess you could call therians a community?) and i'm fairly young. i'm still researching the topic, but i've begun feeling... unhuman. like i was meant to be something else all along. even if i am young, am i still allowed in the community? i've seen negative things towards young therians so-

It’s great to hear that you are researching Modern Therianthropy. While we have feelings and experiences that seem non-human, just remember that physically you are still human. The Therianthrope community has a wide range of ages. Most Therians become aware of their non-human tendencies as teenagers, and there are Therians well into their 60′s and 70′s. 

The community has become more skeptical of younger individuals because many young people will come across the terminology in a random place on the internet and apply it to themselves without any research at all. They are ignoring the very definition that the community has set for Modern Therianthropy and also refusing to accept the guide lines set in place by previous generations of Therians.

Therianthropy has a definition and there are kind of like guide lines to help you decide for yourself whether or not you are a Therianthrope based on what is currently considered acceptable by the community. Of course, that shouldn’t keep you from having a unique Therian experience. We all experience it slightly differently, as it’s a personal journey of self-discovery and introspection, while fitting within the criteria. The same is true for discovering your inner animal-self or theriotype. If after research, your experiences are similar to those of other Therianthopes, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be welcome in the community.

Depending on the restrictions of various forums, you may find that you are too young to create an account, but that’s for legal reasons. It doesn’t mean you are not welcome. If you do join Therian/Otherkin forums, be prepared to answer some questions about yourself and your Therianthropic experiences, but if you don’t know or don’t feel comfortable, just be honest. We think that a lot of younger people react to questions in negative ways which makes older Therians wary and less likely to be helpful. However, we also see a lot of older Therians being too aggressive with questioning or becoming impatient. It’s a two-way street. 

While we do have people using our terminology incorrectly, we see too many people having a bad encounter with the community when we get too aggressive about correcting it. These issues are not really new though. We’ve been trying to approach this from many angles for many years. Most importantly, even if you later decide that are not a Therianthrope, we hope that you’ve still learned something about yourself and had a positive experience interacting with Therianthropes. This should be our goal as a community.

[therian-guide]

#theranthropy, #therian, #otherkin, #kin, #nonhuman, #therianthrope

And, respectfully..

Otherkin, I’m always gonna give you a ton of crap. Yeah, I think you guy’s are all either delusional or faking it, and your all in need some serious therapy. But really? I don’t think you’re bad people. A lot of you seem really nice, I’m just not gonna beat around the bush about my views just because of that. Yeah, I think you guys are really cringy a lot of the time, but eh we’re all cringy to someone. And I may have a bone to pick with some fictionkin, the very toxic ones, but that doesn’t mean I think they or any of you deserved to have your life threatened. Hell man, most of you are just kids, you shouldn’t be being told that kind of shit.

Still, I think it would be rather two faced of me to not be honest about my views on otherkin just because you guys aren’t evil.

And finally, don’t be afraid to challenge me. I actually enjoy hearing different points of view. And fuck man, if you can prove me wrong or convince me otherkin isn’t just a delusion, then I’ll thank you. Because otherkin being real would be cool as fuck, but I won’t believe in it just because it’s cool.  

-Mod Amethyst