Personally, I believe that naming my theriotype makes perfect sense. When I’m not shifted, I feel like my human self. But when I’m shifted I feel different, like I need to shake off my human identity.

dividing yourself us is never a good idea. however, is it possible that the idea of finding a name is mixed up with the spiritual and religious practice? taking a new name as you grow and develop. just an idea.

I am not against naming kintypes, because I cannot stop anyone from naming them and making them seperate from themselves. I disagree with naming kintypes or making them seperate in any way, it does not make a lot of sense to me. For me, naming a kintype and understanding that it is not seperate would be similar to saying that it is not seperate, but can talk to you. A kintype is something an individual identifies as, it isn't a lot more than that.

Naming kintypes for fun - I do not understand that, it is completely unnecessary. Naming, because you want to keep your theriotypes organized also doesn't make a lot of sense, because then you would still have to tell everybody what is "Herb" and what is "Wood", and why would you organize yourself, your own identites? Past lives, being domestic, I doubt that a lot of people can remember that, animals do not know letters and do not remember a lot of words. Even naming them, just because you were one in your past life still makes them sound seperate, you were one in your past, now you are a human, so why would you rename yourself and have 1+ name that is not yours. Leave your past life behind and don't make yourself seperate from yourself, but I cannot stop anyone from that. It is your life, your identity, decide what you want to do with it.

I'll always be looking out for the "dodgy people."

Your Theriotype is you. It's who you are. Naming your theriotype makes it seem like its separate from you. Therians naming there Theriotypes has always confused me.

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

It's good to know that everyone is looking out for each other. There are many sites and forums who don't care about their users, but I'm glad this one is the exception. I'll be sure to report anything suspicious as well. Have a safe and happy day everyone!

This post was a great idea and it's good to see. Internet safety, well, safety in general is very important. You just have to remind yourself to be careful and tread lightly when it comes to people you don't know. Don't fall for their tricks and don't feel guilty if you feel the need to block someone. Your personal safety is a top priority and you aren't obligated to keep in touch with someone who makes you uncomfortable and unsafe.
Just keep this in mind when you're interacting with others whether it's in person or online. Stay safe, everyone!

The nature of our physical reality is such that things are predictable, measurable, and subject to governing forces or "laws" that we may not yet fully comprehend, but which still enforce predictable outcomes. Massless particles travels at a certain speed, matter exerts a predictable gravitational field, chemicals react in expected manners, et cetera and so on. Yet there persists a vocal minority within the therian community which insists on pushing physical shifting as a reasonable possibility, despite being clearly unreasonable and without regard for the harm such an idea can cause.

Unreasonable
From a Scientific Point of View

While many of the scientific reasons physical shifting is impossible would normally get into a great deal of background information, much of that is excluded here for brevity's sake.

First, an individual's DNA is highly regulated by the body. While acquired mutations can develop in a person later in life, these instances are localized to relatively small groups of cells, though they can metastasize and spread throughout the body. A biological p-shift would first require every cell in a person's body to flawlessly mutate from human to some other species - even though our cellular structure keeps no record of what the DNA of other species actually looks like. If it did, therianthropy could be confirmed with simple blood testing.

Second, DNA is just a blueprint - After the body is built and grown, altering the blueprint does not alter someone's physical structure. This is the same concept as altering printed blueprints after a building has been constructed; writing new things on a piece of paper does not automatically make those changes to the 20 storey building the paper describes. This means that the shape, density, and composition of bones must be altered to match the new form, and muscles, organs, and tissues must undergo the same process. In some cases, these structures may be wholly lost, or must be be fabricated out of nothingness. Moreso, matter must be either created or drawn in from some source, or lost to somewhere, as there would be a difference in weight and mass before and after such a transformation.

Third, any such process like this would either take a devastatingly long time to be completed, so much so that eating and breathing would have to cease for such a length of time, the individual would die before the transition was complete, OR, any quick or instantaneous process would generate so much pain and heat as to be equally lethal. There is, in short, no way to survive such a process, even if the first two requirements above were somehow satisfied. The life cycle of moths, butterflies, and the like already take these structural changes into account - their DNA and their cellular structure prepare for these changes from the earliest point in those creatures' lives. The same is not true for humans.

Fourth, the quantity and species of bacteria and fungi in our bodies do not match those qualities of other species - so even if the human body could somehow {1: accomplish} and {2: survive} the transformation, the microbiome of the body would have to undergo the same sort of species-transformation, mass gain/loss, and energy expenditures as the host. If it's impossible once, it's even more impossible that such an event might happen thousands of billions of times at a single, localized point in the universe.

Consider the time, effort, and calories required of someone starting a training routine to become a bodybuilder or a marathon runner. The relatively minute changes their bodies go through, when compared to something as drastic as a transition from one species to another, are incredible enough as to be impossible to instantly accomplish. How much more impossible a physical shift would be is staggering.

From a Magical Point of View

First, if it could happen, it would happen. Psychic powers, telekenesis, astral travel, remote viewing... these so-called "supernatural phenomena" have been thoroughly debunked time and time again. James Randi and his Educational Foundation is a notable skeptic who has made a career out of proving such absurd claims to be false. There are 27 active prizes and 14 defunct ones currently listed on Wikipedia - all unclaimed - for proof of the paranormal. While the abilities I list here obviously don't include physical shifting, we must admit that therianthropy and our own related group of paranormal believers are not nearly as mainstream or recognizable as ESP, astral travel, out of body experiences, or the like. Extrapolating from the lack of mainstream supernatural abilities, the notable absence of any proof of physical shifting abilities, and it becomes obvious that such metaphysical abilities are equally non-existent.

Second, historic claims or stories about shapeshifters serve the same purpose as those claims in a more modern setting - to convince the gullible of an individual's inherent powers, with the end goal of controlling, manipulating, or defrauding the audience. These claims arise primarily from ego and narcissism, and there are always reasons that proof can never be provided - the audience is required to take the claims on faith and trust alone. Either the "disbelief" of the audience is interfering with an in-person demonstration, the alignment of ethereal energies is unfavorable, or the batteries in the camera died, there is always some convenient excuse as to why claims of shapeshifting or physical transformation can never be legitimately verified. There is no legitimate reason why magic or the supernatural would have worked centuries ago, but not now. Claims of "lost knowledge" or mistranslations of ancient texts leading to the loss of the correct methods or reagents is again claimed in order to lead along a gullible audience.

Third, there is no consensus regarding which supreme being or belief system would be responsible for these sorts of abilities. Rather, the claims all tend to follow a familiar pattern back to pagan roots, but specifics are obviously unavailable, or they conflict with other descriptions provided by various claimants. Again, the goal here has always been to prey on the gullibility of an audience by exploiting the lack of certainty in claims surrounding the mysterious nature of the paranormal. It stands to reason that if one entity could facilitate a physical transformation, another could hinder it, and so again, because of differences in the pantheon of service providers, proof is predictably unattainable.


Potential Harm

As I touched on above, those who claim to have the ability or to be in possession of such secret knowledge almost always have ulterior motives. "Packs" are formed in which one or a few "elite" members claim to have the ability to physically transform, and newer members are controlled and manipulated as they seek to obtain these abilities as well. Personal gain is another motive, as funding is required for "research," but the control and manipulation of others seems to be the primary goal.

People prey on the desire for power, the desire to be in a physical form we (as therians) might find more appealing or comfortable, or simply the desire to have followers. Such paranormal abilities would allow the select few to exercise such power over others, and by stringing along those desperate enough to believe and pursue, can lead people into cult-like social structures, extreme debt, or merely the abandonment of self in service to an out of control ego.

As the hope of being able to physically transform is always just out of reach, hope is kept alive, to an obsessive degree, and the victim slides into despair over the inability to obtain this power that is touted as real. Thus, the cycle of hope, despair, and depression carries on, preventing the individual from moving on with their life into reality and a more promising future.

Entertaining "research" or "potential methods" of attaining physical transformation only serve to bolster claims of those would exploit others. For the reasons mentioned above, belief in the ability to physically transform is extremely unreasonable and for all intents and purposes, entirely impossible. Fostering these beliefs in others does them no service, and furthermore, if we ever want therianthropy to be taken seriously in the larger framework of human society, such beliefs need to be kept in check, or we all risk being taken as seriously as a late night 1-900 psycic hotline.

bumping this one for new members too