zseike
Newbie
A Wanderer on the Moonlit Path
Posts: 5 
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Post by zseike on Sept 18, 2015 12:19:45 GMT -6
I've been aware of my Therianthropy for about 15 years now. When I first started out, the Wolf manifested itself similarly to how Werewolves are portrayed in popular media. I would have black outs that would leave me wondering what happened. I didn't actually become aware of the Wolf until I got in my first fist fight. This was the first time I shifted. A neighborhood boy and his cronies tried to jump me in a hallway and I managed to fend them all off and get away unscathed. This started a process of learning to control my shifts along a spectrum between Human and Wolf. Since then I've always shifted this way. I would choose a point along that spectrum that was the most optimal state for whatever I was doing. Over the years I've also been practicing shamanism. A recent spirit journey (I won't bother with the details here) involved me shifting and when my concsiousness came back from the Otherworld, something was very different. The Wolf had evolved into its own consciousness. Instead of shifting on a spectrum between the two energies of Humanity and Wolf, I now perceive two simultaneous consciousnesses. There is the normal human consciousness, which thinks with words and conceptualizes everything it sees, and has a constant chatter going on in my head. Then there's the Wolf, which is silent, and aware of what's happening around me. When the two are focused on the same thing, my perception of the world is amplified well beyond any shift I've experienced before and I'm able to accomplish things I wouldn't before. But now I also have the added challenge of the two sometimes focused on different things, which leaves me distracted, dissociated and struggling to keep my focus. It's quite complicated to explain in much better detail than that but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this type of integration?
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Post by wolfvanzandt on Sept 18, 2015 17:30:20 GMT -6
Shamanism seems to be a core principle in therianthropy. Some Weres have shamanistic experiences (experiences similar to those that shamans have such as phantom bodies and sensitivity to other entities) without becoming shamans. Many have shamanic experiences so that they function like shamans. Most of the Weres I've known have grown in their therianthropy outside of shamanic "spirit journeys". It would be really interesting to know the proportion. Other thinks the lead to heightening of awereness in access to other Weres and traumatic or otherwise highly charged life events.
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zseike
Newbie
A Wanderer on the Moonlit Path
Posts: 5
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Post by zseike on Sept 23, 2015 13:14:03 GMT -6
The correlations between Shamanism and Therianthropy are indeed interesting. The Tungus people of Siberia believe that a Shaman is chosen at birth when they are given an extra soul. This extra soul is the soul that will awaken within the person the extra senses and abilities that will make them a Shaman. Some in the Therianthropy community describe having their animal side as having a second soul, and are able to do extraordinary things with the senses and abilities that come with being Therian. For the Tungus people, their Shamanic Spirit is not separate from them, or an Archetype, but something born into their bodies. I identify with this correlation deeply. It would be nice to know the exact proportion of Therians who share such experiences with me, since I've met very few Therians over the years. I would also love to compare the consciousnesses or those who, like me, have a Shamanistic perspective of their Therianthropy versus those who do not.
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Post by wolfvanzandt on Sept 24, 2015 20:05:04 GMT -6
I've been active as a shaman and it seems very much to me that the phantom body that we have by nature is equivalent to the power body of a shaman.
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Post by wolfdaughter on Sept 24, 2015 20:53:18 GMT -6
I'm not sure if I have experienced exactly what you have, zseike, but it was something similar. Back when I had severe depression and often thought about ending my life, the wolf inside always stopped me. In moments of intense emotion or stress, I saw that wolf looking back at me. It was like my mind's eye was creating a mirror in front of me. In that mirror I saw a wolf face instead of a human face as I spoke to myself, asked questions, and tried to find answers. It was how I could split the human and wolf parts of me. The human mind was filled with fear and doubt. But I could separate those thoughts and feelings and then the wolf could objectively provide a more positive way to handle the situation. It really just came down to the instinct to survive, but the wolf could use the knowledge stored in my human brain to 'speak' to me with words too. But the wolf always speaks with "silent knowledge" without physically moving the mouth. The words are more like shared thoughts or telepathy.
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zseike
Newbie
A Wanderer on the Moonlit Path
Posts: 5
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Post by zseike on Sept 25, 2015 12:33:33 GMT -6
Your experience, while not exactly the same, makes a lot of sense to me. There are a few correlations between your experience and mine. Thank you so much for your input.
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Post by wolfvanzandt on Sept 25, 2015 15:09:31 GMT -6
Hmmm...that's a point WolfDaughter. I've noticed that levels of depression that would cause a human to suicide, many Weres just take in stride. I wonder if the answer is their wereside just stopping them. I've never been suicidal so I haven't been able to see how it works inside myself.
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Post by Lunar Flare on Sept 28, 2015 14:25:17 GMT -6
This is a topic that I have had an evolving understanding of for a long time. There seems to be 3 main schools of thought on this: 1. I am a wolf soul born into a human body. 2. I have a second soul as a wolf. 3. Due to reincarnation, my soul is a hybrid combination of various things. The thought on the last one is that there is still "residue" from from the past lives that influences us. More schools of thoughts branch out here too, but I will just say that there is the belief that the soul isnt human, its just energy, and takes whatever shape of the body that it is currently born into, and thus could have a plethora of different aspects due to how many lives it has gone through.
For me personally, while I do believe in reincarnation, I am not convinced that it is the soul reason that someone is born a therianthrope. I don't want to rule out the possibilities of DNA/genealogy. On the other hand, I have personally have experienced what I can best describe as "spiritual memories" of being a couple of non-human beings, as well as past life regression as a human.
When I first started, I have experienced the shifting of minds from human to animal, but I have never experienced my human mind focused on something completely different than my wolf mind. Not saying this might not be true for others by the way, just saying that I personally have yet to experience this. I have, though, experienced a tug of war from human to wolf where I am talking or doing something and then something triggers my wolf side and I shift and then change focus (like maybe if I saw a live rabbit) and then struggling to calm myself down and get back on track with what I was just doing.
My personal theory on the subject is that our minds, when born, have a perfect balance between our animal mind and our human mind. However, through social domestication, we quickly learn that certain beastial behaviours are highly frowned upon, and we learn to suppress our animal nature in order to fit in. Some of us suppress it harder than others, and the more you suppress it, the stronger the splitting of the 2 selves, and more intense the shifts. Further more on domestication is some people learn to wear a mask to the world in order to fit in without changing their core being (not completely of course) while others start believing the masks they were are truly who they are (like the lack of a wolf personality for example). The ones who domestication does not hit as hard would be the ones who call them selves "contherian", those that do not shift, but are in a constant state of human and animal mind, balanced out. For the rest of us, the things that we have suppressed eventually come out, but usually in negative ways at first, such as "berserker shifts" and even "blackouts". I believe this is due to the fact that we have created an almost split personality with our animal nature because the domestication lead us to ultimately surpress this side of our selves, and our human minds are now having a hard time reconciling with it at this point. Further "evidence" that supports this theory to me is it seems the older a therianthrope gets, the less and less he shifts, and the more and more he becomes contherian, being that perfect balance of both human and animal mind. What this says to me is, Contherian is what we are meant to be, and the shifts are just a product of domestication and self suppression.
Now on the topic of being able to communicate with your wolf on a conversation level, there is a concept of your higher self and being able to communicate with it. Much like how Wolf Daughter described how the communication delivery works, is how it is also described in the books I have read. I personally have not been able to have a conversation with my higher self, nor my wolf, so I can't really relate unfortunately. However, I have communicated with other entities, the main one being Pan, and for me, the communication is wordless, but conveyed through emotions and images in my mind that my mind then translates into words. This seems to be how Zseike explained if I understood it correctly.
At the end of the day, while this is a personal hot topic for me and I would love to put it all together one day, I try not to get TOO attached to any of my beliefs or theories, and take into consideration others as well.
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Post by wolfvanzandt on Sept 28, 2015 17:29:04 GMT -6
Hey! You forgot my school of thought!  A Werewolf is a Werewolf because they're a Werewolf. I don't believe I'm a combination of anything and anything. I'm not part human and wolf. Actually, my best guess is that I'm a particular subset of Neanderthal. |
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Post by Lunar Flare on Sept 30, 2015 10:03:49 GMT -6
Hey! You forgot my school of thought! A Werewolf is a Werewolf because they're a Werewolf. I don't believe I'm a combination of anything and anything. I'm not part human and wolf. Actually, my best guess is that I'm a particular subset of Neanderthal. I didnt forget about that WVZ, I frequently mention your origin theory to others. But, no offense, when I said 3 main schools of thought, I just meant the general consensus. I personally do not fall into the 3 main schools of thought on this, just like you do not. But I really like yours as well. |
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Post by wolfvanzandt on Sept 30, 2015 16:05:24 GMT -6
I was being somewhat jocular, but on a more sober basis, I think people are too ready to see the "schools of thought" on the Internet as the "main schools of thought". There is a lot of thought being developed out here in the nether-regions of OffLine.
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