What do you think about therianthropy?

I guess I just have the good luck to attract strange people! A lot of my friends have something not-normal spiritually or physically about them, which some would say is a case of like-attracts-like. It's interesting that one person would tell you someone else made a claim, but then that person didn't make the claim themselves. Maybe they are afraid of being embarrassed if they can't live up to what they've claimed.

lecanis, my friend, I think that everybody has interesting and strange things. Whenever, I set myself to think about anyone, I notice, mentally, how strange they are, physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, socially and psychologically. There is nothing normal as such, if you want to define one! I have expressed it before somewhere and I would say it again that in my personal belief, every human, except for the ones with extreme disabilities, perhaps, has the capability to become god! though we would never cross the difference between Creator and created. I know some strange people, who won't respect the boundaries established by material world, the boundaries of time and space, not as in disrespectful terms but for some other purposes. When I say that they were given ample opportunities, I meant it, and it's about giving them the best environment and stimulus to prove themselves. extreme of anything can be seen by putting them on defence and it's true not only about animals but humans too. After meeting them alone, I also accompanied those who said they claimed and they never claimed again even in front of those people and in my absence. It doesn't mean that I am fully denying it. It does, however, mean that even those who claimed, didn't prove beyond MPS limits!:-)

Lordy, dear, didn't you know I'm pretty much always serious? I haven't seen anyone in full wolf form, no. However, I have seen parts of a person's body change shape, including some pretty impressive changes in weight and height, and some very unnatural healing. Definitely not a costume party thing. You can think I'm crazy if you like, I'm used to it!

Geez... it is not that I doubt you but it just sounds so incredible to me! I am those who can only believe something if I witness it myself... yet I am not so sure I want to run into one if I am gonna end up eaten or something!

Nah, it's fine, I figured this discussion would make me look like a bit of a crazy. I tend to need to see things myself too actually, but I seem to have a bit of luck when it comes to running into the supernatural, the unnexplained, and the just plain weird.

The person I know best started to know because of some wolf dreams he had, and found out further by actually accidentally changing parts of his body. There's a huge rift in the therianthrope community about whether physical shifting is possible or it is just a mental/spiritual thing, so it's a complicated issue. I see shamanic shifting as being a separate thing (seeing from an animal perspective or letting an animal spirit possess you.) I see it that way because I do shamanism, so I see that as just part of shamanism.

As I said, I have never seen people physically shift (well not from one form to another, I have seen their headmates come out before, which can be pretty scary). I can easily envision people spiritually shifting. Still not sure I can buy physical shifters though.

Heh, I'm glad I caught your interest! There are tons of online resources out there, so I'm sure you can find some things.

Heh, over your head, huh? Me and my weirdness! Oh my gosh, I was actually going to ask you about that, because it never came! I was so sad, I thought it got lost! Glad to hear you got it back... how much is it costing to send?

Not much about 10.00- it's heavy. :) I boo booed my checking account though so I have to wait a couple of days...:(

The "why" of it is a very good question. Most of the ones I know say it's a hereditary thing, so it's not so much like it's exactly something they choose and do on purpose, though training the ability would be "on purpose" I guess. I think the most usefulness it would have is in a fight, or when you're physically injured. The one I know heals very fast, at least. *shrugs* Those are some interesting questions! I wish I knew what would happen in those cases.

Heh, before I say too much, I'm not an expert, okay? I have seen my friend change his physical form while neither of us were under any influence. He say it's painful, to be honest, and it's not a fast process. Like I said, he's never gotten a full change that I've seen, but he does get some very wolf-like attributes, including hair, snout, teeth, etc. He doesn't really have full control over it, thus hasn't been able to get a complete change to an entire wolf form, but I have read about and talked to other people who say they can do this. I'll have to ask him about some of his online groups and such... maybe I can call him tonight and see.

Hi, Ravenladyj! It is interesting how you suddenly find out information and it shifts your whole perspective of the world. The vampire thing is another one that surprised me when I was younger... I dated to a guy who claimed to be one was really just weird, but I've known people since then who were otherwise very level-headed people who made such claims, so I'm starting to buy into it. We make jokes I'm a vampire too though, because of my light sensitivity issues, and I hope no one really thinks I mean them! I wasn't sure on the werewolves and other shapeshifters, until I met someone who could actually prove it to me, but I've always been curious about it.

*nods* I think it's pretty rare to encounter a lot of the more strange paranormal stuff. I tend to have some kind of good luck to do so all the time, though it seems more like bad luck some days when I'm thinking "If I talk about this to anyway, they'll put it down to me being crazy!"

P.s. I always thought it would be AWESOME to be able to shapeshift, to be in the body of an animal. Maybe I should do a little more studying on this subject myself. Maybe starting with shamans! Hmmm.

Hi! It's definitely not just a Hollywood thing. Not only are there the "scary" European werewolf stories, but Native Americans, Africans, and a few other cultures I've heard of all have stories about shapeshifters of some types. That doesn't prove it's true, but it's interesting. The physical shift isn't something that's easy to learn to control, from what I understand. It takes a lot of practice to get it right.

Just like with the abominable snowman and bigfoot and yeti, it is amazing when so many cultures have similar stories from centuries ago, when they were least likely to have visited each other's lands.

Lycanthrope just means werewolf. It's just a more technical term I guess. It comes from the greek for "wolf" and "man". I'm glad you're finding my discussion interesting. It's funny how a lot of people think of lycanthropy as just being a horror movie thing, but there have actually been legends about it for centuries. As for being real or not, I only know what I've seen, but based on that I believe it is.