(2025-01-18 22:06)Nyqeth Wrote:  If so, where could these genetic tests be disclosed? I would like to know.

There is consumer-grade genetic tests available in the services of companies like 23andMe.

LP,
Dusty

I would like to add on to the points that Cygnus made, and also state that some of us are species which are not from earth at all. I'm an alien species. My kind have no earthly origin to go off of, nor would be connected to any earth myths. So none of these theories hold up in light of that.

That's a bit hard to understand, honestly..and I'm at least somewhat familiar with the things you're referencing.
We do try to keep our analysis somewhat grounded in what we can know, especially at the beginning when things are more new and intense.

Some points of contention:

I'm unsure whether parallels can be drawn between Tiamat's children and the Nephilim.. Even if the cultures they came from arose in the same region, the similarity seems pretty tenuous.

(2025-01-17 16:27)Nyqeth Wrote:  The spiritual stories tie to psychological influences of therianthropy as a symbolic practice for proper survival states of mind (etc), these psychological versions are facts, the spiritual versions haven't been proven yet.

I will note that the idea of therianthropy being "a symbolic practice for proper survival states of mind" isn't actually considered a fact. The idea has been suggested in the past, and I believe it was discussed here on the forum some time ago as one possible explanation for the expression of animal behavior and instincts in therians, but it is far from proven. Generally speaking, there has been relatively little academic research published thus far about therianthropy, and even less settled theories for psychological origination....though many of us have ideas (One prevalent view in academia is to view it as neurodiversity; Clegg and Gerbasi's research groups concluded that, but I don't believe they gave specifics on why it would develop). We just don't know much about the phenomena with any real certainty.

If you take a look around our forum you'll find a lot of interesting debates over ideas from our older members further back.

For the things about common ancestry and heredity (at least, from what I remember learning years ago..):
The survival behaviors and features most animals display were developed and/or specialized by those species(within their local branches) in response to prolonged environmental pressures that promoted the genetic expression of most-beneficial (or least-hindering) traits. Lineages with those specific traits were more likely to survive, reproduce successfully, and outcompete other lineages. The traits that we often attribute to specific species weren't all just primordially-extant traits inherited from a single common ancestor..The further you branch away from that ancestor the less of their original traits are retained..or at the very least, the less recognizable they are to their original form.

Because of this dynamic adaptation and distancing over time, all of the species are individully specialized to survive in their (and often only their) specific environment...that's why giant pandas became endangered instead of just switching to another food source when their environment was disrupted. There are exceptions of course...coyotes and foxes are extremely adaptable across environment types and temperatures.

So, following this..while humans might share a lot of their genetic code with wolves, they diverged so far back from a common ancestor with what evolved into Canidae that they wouldn't share many traits and the way they have specialized into their environment is completely different from the path primates took to survive. Same with fish, avians, insects, etc. An alternative view of this could be that, for the aspects humans do share with wolves, both developed those independently because they were the most-likely endpoint in the development of cognitive features in many animals (i.e. why the ability to experience depression is often observed in many animals and why play behavior appears to be wide-spread across numerous species).

If so, where could these genetic tests be disclosed? I would like to know.

(2025-01-17 16:27)Nyqeth Wrote:  My theories revolve around spiritual, psychological & biological traces, they root to the biblical stories of fallen angels mating with human women to offspring nephelim giants; they also resemble & root to Babylonian teachings of Tiamat offspringing half man & half beastial creatures; that sounds like the stories of dark alchemical magicks being used to transform beasts into human form to serve in civilization & order, since they don't have freewill to disobey. The spiritual stories tie to psychological influences of therianthropy as a symbolic practice for proper survival states of mind (etc), these psychological versions are facts, the spiritual versions haven't been proven yet. The biological influence & theory of therianthropy is based on Charles Darwin's "theory of common descent" where all living beings descended from a common ancestor. It's not difficult to believe that both apes & mankind descended from a common therian (beast) ancestor, while apes evolved in one direction staying therian beasts as their own branch & humankind evolved in another direction into humanity as their own branch. If that would be true that could explain that humanity has therian genetics & that could explain the phenomena that I & orher people claimed. Also if apes & mankind descended from a common descent, it is not difficult to believe that there were/are other therian beasts that also descended from the same currents of the same or older common ancestors. Leading to multiple branches of therianthorpy with their theriotypes, not only one. Meaning, their genetics tie to therianthropes as half man & half beast.

I have only begun to experience my therian side when awakening to see our reality through another point of view. Seeing through the illusionary veils is what caused me to realize the hidden reality that most cannot see behind optical illusions. My awakening continues & I seek to collaborate with the therian world to prove more facts in the spiritual & biological aspects of therianthorpy. I offer service & a supportive hand to assist the therian communities how I can & where I'm needed.

X. Nyqeth Qirata

There are many spiritual traditions associated with therianthropy, not all of them directly tied to Biblical constructs. Your example of Tiamat was a reflection of the source of many such beliefs that spread worldwide, some remain reverential to their followers.

Consider Eshu, a trickster horned god of the Yoruba tradition who lays misfortunes on those who do not respect him and one who is alternately benevolent and mischievous. Eshu is also considered the keeper of the crossroads (often referring to the world of the living and the dead), to which those in Biblical tradition in the Deep South ascribed to "making a deal with the Devil at the crossroads." However, in this context, the attribution of good or evil qualities is ultimately subjective to the audience.

You mention spiritual traditions not being proven yet, aren't spiritual beliefs by their very nature unproveable? My own path starts having met a spirit guide when I was six, and having grown and found further enlightenment through focus, patience, and self-effacing discipline. To the extent I can prove it to anyone -- I can't, but it's a sincere personal journey and I find it to be one of those endlessly rewarding mysteries of the cosmos.

I've very much considered the role of states of consciousness as a psychological basis for therianthropy, I do think there is a strong connection to Flow state psychology
and different states of consciousness, atleast in the experiences of some therians I have talked with and my own, we do see to be able to filter at differing levels of the emotional and intellectual mind. For instance, I used to ride a bike downtown in a major city as a daily commute, I could 'pull back' on sensory information and reflect on philosophy during the quieter moments and engage at a higher level when I was in more dangerous spots where I needed my wits.

Lastly, I guess I don't understand your genetic basis for therianthropy deriving from separate common ancestors. Wouldn't genetic testing have discovered all of these separate genetic ancestors by now?

My theories revolve around spiritual, psychological & biological traces, they root to the biblical stories of fallen angels mating with human women to offspring nephelim giants; they also resemble & root to Babylonian teachings of Tiamat offspringing half man & half beastial creatures; that sounds like the stories of dark alchemical magicks being used to transform beasts into human form to serve in civilization & order, since they don't have freewill to disobey. The spiritual stories tie to psychological influences of therianthropy as a symbolic practice for proper survival states of mind (etc), these psychological versions are facts, the spiritual versions haven't been proven yet. The biological influence & theory of therianthropy is based on Charles Darwin's "theory of common descent" where all living beings descended from a common ancestor. It's not difficult to believe that both apes & mankind descended from a common therian (beast) ancestor, while apes evolved in one direction staying therian beasts as their own branch & humankind evolved in another direction into humanity as their own branch. If that would be true that could explain that humanity has therian genetics & that could explain the phenomena that I & orher people claimed. Also if apes & mankind descended from a common descent, it is not difficult to believe that there were/are other therian beasts that also descended from the same currents of the same or older common ancestors. Leading to multiple branches of therianthorpy with their theriotypes, not only one. Meaning, their genetics tie to therianthropes as half man & half beast.

I have only begun to experience my therian side when awakening to see our reality through another point of view. Seeing through the illusionary veils is what caused me to realize the hidden reality that most cannot see behind optical illusions. My awakening continues & I seek to collaborate with the therian world to prove more facts in the spiritual & biological aspects of therianthorpy. I offer service & a supportive hand to assist the therian communities how I can & where I'm needed.

X. Nyqeth Qirata

I reckon I probably got weirdly attached to a particular animal during my horrendous teen years as some sort of comfort thing. Developed species dysphoria and then it stuck and irriversibly changed how I saw myself. That's my best guess.

I believe I am a therian mainly because I feel such a strong sense of belonging with the experiences and people in the community. I feel I relate on such a deeply emotional and psychological level with everything I see people talk about here, all the talk of shifting and feeling othered and having an animal brain seems like exactly me any time I read about it.
Now, to get into the specifics, I have felt like an avian for the longest of times. I knew since I was young that I was meant to have wings and claws and fly freely. But I haven't had the language to express that intuition until the last couple of years.
And that's really all I know lol

Hello,

It has come to my attention that this statement has had some unintended consequences:

(2025-01-07 20:12)DustWolf Wrote:  The main challenge we've had to deal with is the massive influx of new members, primarily young people who access TG through their school chromebooks. Therian Guide is classed as an educational website in content filters, because that's what it actually is. We are a community dedicated to learning to live with therianthropy. However, this has also made us a bit of a target of these young people who don't really have any other online communities to choose from, because of content filtering.

If there are any educators out there reading this and have some kind of an opinion, PLEASE CONTACT US. There are a number of ways you could do this, there's a contact email address on the website or you can just get in touch by creating an account like everyone else.

We recognize the right of parents and educators to monitor the usage of internet media by the kids under their care and in fact we applaud it. If you think the kids shouldn't be on our site during class, believe me the adults using this site certainly agree and we'd be willing to work with you to arrive at solutions that would work for you and wouldn't stress out the younger users of our site.

I understand the concern that identity politics presents to the younger people here, however please try to understand that this is the Internet. Even if I outlaw identity politics discussion on this site, they just will just talk about it somewhere else. I've done everything I reasonably can to not draw attention to it in our community.

In addition, prejudice towards therians is very common and so I understand if you feel some kind of knee jerk reaction regarding what we are telling people here. This is why the younger users of this site haven't told you about it. I would like to invite you to read our FAQ for parents of therians, which also nicely works for educators:
https://www.therian-guide.com/index.php/8-Parents

In short, we are not asking anyone to believe this stuff. We are not making it fun and pleasant to do so. Therian Guide is not a commercial entity and we don't have any agenda. This site is dedicated to encouraging people to explore their actual feelings and deciding how to deal with them. We do what we can to discourage people from creating fictional identities and advertising them to their peers, as all this may seem to be at first glance (considering this is also what you have done yourself trying to emulate them). Naturally young teens (people under 13 years old are not allowed on this site) are prone to exploring these topics with play. I have found that allowing them to try things out and see if they fit works with them very nicely and in fact all of them eventually grow out of their pretend phase. We keep a strong emphasis on being honest with themselves and others, to make sure that they are not led astray by something that only exists in their heads.

I am sorry to other people reading this if this sounds condescending, but I have been in this community for over 25 years and I've formed my opinions based on what I've seen. Therian Guide is a family and I feel the same responsibility that drives parents and educators to express concerns about this place.

For educators, please consider again that we are not asking anyone to accept anything we are saying and that we try to encourage the younger ones to decide for themselves based on what is genuine and to have healthy skepticism about what their peers or people in general claim. What people learn about on this site is for their own personal use and what people believe in the privacy of their own thoughts is a danger to nobody.

LP,
Dusty

For me it's a general disconnect with humanity along with various types of shifts starting from a young age
I've always felt much calmer and more like myself around animals. It's true that a variety of animals don't get along (for example, I've always felt particularly comfortable around cats, when they'd have no problem hunting my theriotype(s)), but I feel like I'm on much more equal standing to them compared to humans. Not to mention a deep yearning for wings and the life of a bird as a whole for as long as I can remember
I've experienced phantom wings on and off for years, and for the same amount of time, have felt like a quadrupedal gait would suit me far better while I lack the light weight and hollow bones of a bird (which probably points to another theriotype I'm still not sure of)
At the core of it, it's a sense of just *knowing* there's some animal part of me