I'll be honest I've never really been asked this question before so I need some time to think about a proper response but for now I believe I am therian because I was born different and that my past lives helped influence who I am today. I also believe in the idea of reincarnation as well so I do believe that I will come back as a wolf or a lion one day after this current life.

Does that make sense?

So … perhaps I am in a minority here, but — I do not think there is any one explanation for therianthropy, just like I do not think there is any one explanation for sexuality, or gender identity, or any other such individual facet of one’s self. We experience and are influenced by so many different things, perspectives, & people throughout our lives; I find it reductive to attribute any one thing about yourself to any one other thing about your life. Reality, and personality, just doesn’t work like that.

That is not to say there’s no place for theory! There’s tons of space for theory. And I’d like to invite you all to tell me why you think you are therianthropic.

For me, I openly attribute isolation from, lack of socialization with, and trauma caused by humans from an early age to me identifying as & seeking community with other nonhumans. All of these things are related to my autism and PTSD, but I would not consider those the source of my therianthropy; rather, I consider them external factors that led me to discovering my therianthropy.

My therianthropy itself, I feel, is more psychological than spiritual, yes — but I also feel that it is innate. I can’t tell you why I feel, think, and do some of the things that I do; whether I was predisposed from birth to be this way, or if I would have been different had I been a happier child — but I’m inclined to think that, whatever it is, it was Always inside of me, inside of my brain, my heart, what many would call my ‘soul.’

My two-spirit identity also ties into this. Rather than a human male and human female spirit, I feel a vague, ambiguous animal spirit & an even vaguer and more ambiguous human spirit live inside of me.

That said — those are just my influences and self-interpretations!

What are yours?

First of all, welcome! You've got your paws, claws, and other appendages on a great resource for learning about therianthropy. If you haven't read the FAQs on the main Therian Guide site yet, I highly recommend starting over there.

It can be difficult to figure out if you identify with or identify as a given animal/being, and having doubts is a very common part of the therian experience. If you're uncertain or questioning, you're definitely not alone! Throughout this post I say animal, but otherkin are included as well - just replace "animal" with whatever term suits you best.

Personally, it took a lot of reflection, meditation, and journaling over a period of about six months to confirm that I am a therian and subsequently determine my theriotype. It can be a long process, or your type/species might hit you suddenly as you're researching, but don't worry either way. I'm sure you'll figure things out and we are happy to help too!

Now, let's move on to the tips...

(1) First, consider what overall animals feel "right" - canines? Felines? Birds? Reptiles? Don't be afraid to imagine yourself as several different animals! Taking notes can be very helpful during this stage since it can get a little overwhelming. It's also ideal to start with a broad category (also called a clade) and narrow things down from there.

(2) Once you have an overall animal family that feels right, next you can start to envision more specifics about yourself. Try to do so in as much detail as possible - what does your skin feel like - do you have fur? Scales? Feathers? How do you move? Are you looking for others like you, or do you prefer to be solitary? What climate do you feel at home in? What plants and/or animals say "food" to you? Often at this point, a set of characteristics will stand out and help you determine your type(s) and eventually, species and subspecies.

(3) Research can also help a lot during this time of uncertainty. Try to learn everything about your possible theriotype as you can! Again, I recommend doing some journaling about how each one makes you feel, what traits and characteristics hit home and what might not resonate as strongly. In my experience, after reading a lot of studies and articles about wolves, my inner monologue morphed into "oh yeah, we do that," or "they're right, we do like xyz" whenever wolves were mentioned. Of course, this isn't something every therian experiences, but it was a key factor in my awakening.

Ultimately, the decision whether or not to label yourself as a therian is up to you. Don't be afraid to claim the label even if you're still unsure - the beauty of it is that our labels are free to change as we learn more about ourselves. I hope this is helpful for those of you who are just starting on this journey, and for those who already know your theriotype, I'd love to hear how your journey began! Of course, my inbox is always open as well.

~ Rose

This gets complicated fast with physics, but seems interesting!

I mainly believe in alternate realities, even had dreams where I saw different ones. But for someone to be their therioside/kintype in a universe? Possibly, I mean anything is possible within the multiverse.

But yeah, I like that idea.

I believe in different dimensions and planes of existence, and I also believe in areas in which these planes intersect (which is a fairly popular theory).

I personally do not believe in complete parallel universes or having 'two' biological copies of you in different places at once running in full capacity. Soul bonding and soul sharding is one thing, but 'alternate timeline' theories never made any good sense to me in any aspect. This is just my opinion.

the multiverse thing really makes sense! i love the idea of it as well :3

(2019-01-25 23:15)DustWolf Wrote:  Hello everybody,

I am wrapping up and old issue that remained open on these forums. If there are people in the audience who believe p-shifting is possible and have visited this thread because they wish to see if anyone here has figured out how to unlock the secret on how to physically transform into an animal: Welcome! This thread is here for you!

As coffee so eloquently put it in this post, but perhaps lacking the due emphasis:

IF SOMEONE HAS TOLD YOU THAT YOU CAN PHYSICALLY TRANSFORM YOU HAVE BEEN DECEIVED.

People say those sorts of things out of a desire to feel special, better than other people and in order to control and manipulate people like you.

If you opt not to take our word for it, sure. What you believe is ultimately up to you. However given the amount of drama discussing this subject always entails, discussing p-shifting is no longer allowed on this forum.

I am therefore sealing off this thread as the last on this particular topic and adding the rule. This thread remains, as said, in the hopes that it may help bring those few who have been deceived, back into the real world.

LP,
Dusty

imma give my useless opinion on this here, cause ive just found out what it is and my thoughts on it are:
i feel as if...honestly...even if you COULD....you shouldnt really mess with p shifting because, honestly, imagine the mental AND PHYSICAL toll it could take on you..
Plus,spiritual wise? everyone believes in different things spiritual wise,and are different believing cultural and religious wise...
WOULD you really WANT to find out The spiritual repreccussions of this?
but i guess it would be interest spiritual wise too.

this is also how I would explain my theriotype, I don't know if you saw the movie "everything, everywhere, all at once" but I think you would really like it !

this is also the reason why I don't have a set depiction of my dragon self and it changes over time at key moments of my life, as if to match the reality I'm creating with my decisions. Maybe each time my dragon appearance changes, it's because I am in connection with a slighty different version of the dragon, like I'm in sync with myself and depending on which path I take it self actualize my theriotype, I don't know how to explain but because it's shifting between the different realities where i am a dragon, I call this "species" a shifter dragon for that reason.

and lord is it difficult to explain in English coming From French orz

In my opinion, therian names are fine as long as you understand that you are your theriotype. I do have a therian name, that name being Evergreen, and I do have a reason for said name:

Basically, I believe that in this life, my soul is part human and part lion. I also like to think that your name is a part of your soul, because it's a part of your identity and who you are. But, I have two parts to my soul. My human side of the soul has a human name, but since I also have a lion side to my soul, when I name that something different it's still MY name. For me personally, it would feel strange for both sides of my soul to have the same name.

There are also spiritual/symbolic reasons for it but that's kind of hard to put into words and it's also pretty personal.

But, I can definitely see where you are coming from, and it could certainly cause confusion for newer therians and make them think that your theriotype is a different entity.

At least in my experience, your therian name is also your name, and only when one does not go by their therian name, it generally may stray from the definition of therianthropy.

(Sorry if this is badly written, I just woke up )