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What is Therianthropy?

What is therianthropy? The word combines the Greek therion (or therios), which means ‘beast’ or ‘animal’ with anthropos, which means ‘man’. Put short therianthropy is basically the idea that a person (the therianthrope or therian for short) identifies in some way as an animal (their theriotype) to the degree that they are that animal. As discussion about therianthropy ages the term is becoming more diverse, but the one thing to remember is that a therian is both a human and non-human animal, whether it is linked to spirituality, reincarnation, or psychology (etc). Some people believe they have the soul of an animal or that they were once that animal in a past life. While still others believe they possess atypical psychology or imprinted an animal when they were young, much the way a baby chick imprints the first animal it sees as its mother. The list of roots and causes is rather endless and incredibly personal.

Therianthropy is also more than liking an animal or being attracted to an animal. It is being a different species inside altogether (and you’ll find therianthropy sometimes compared to transgender).

The animal a therian identifies as is known as their theriotype. So, for example, a person who identifies as a panda would have a panda theriotype. ‘Theriotype’ shares its roots with the word ‘therianthropy’, essentially translating to beast or animal type. (In the past, ‘phenotype’ was used in place of ‘theriotype’ but has since been considered inaccurate because it refers to the physical; however some individuals and communities continue to prefer it over theriotype.) Theriotypes can of course be any species of animal, from rabbit to praying mantis to lungfish, though it is important to note that a theriotype cannot really be chosen.

Some therians also have more than one theriotype, and so identify with more than one animal, perhaps a salmon and a mouse for example. These sorts of people are sometimes referred to as polyweres. Though polyweres with more than three theriotypes are sometimes met with scepticism, it often has little correlation to how honest or serious the polywere in question might be.

There are no more advantages or disadvantages to being a therianthrope than there are for the rest of the population and every other individual out there. Individual experience gives people an individual point of view, and everyone, therian or not, has an individual life experience.

Therianthropy is also a constant in a therianthrope’s life, meaning that the animal aspect of their being is always there in some way. Some therians describe experiences where their ‘animalness’ will wax and wane, particularly in times of heavy stress and especially if it’s very anthropocentric (such as losing a job, or an important exam), but therianthropy does not conveniently ‘disappear’ whenever a therian wishes. They are stuck with who and what they are for better or worse, the same way some people naturally have brown hair (except that you can dye hair!).

Many therians report a time when they realized they were ‘different’ from their peers (sometimes called ‘awakening’), whether before or after discovering the term therianthropy and that other people who shared similar experiences existed. Sometimes they know almost for certain that therianthropy is what they are experiencing. Other people however are more uncertain and begin to re-evaluate who they are, and begin a period of introspection. Introspection (also referred to as soul searching) is very important since therians rely primarily their past and present experiences with life as personal evidence to support their therianthropy.

One thing that many therians (though not all) have in common is ‘shifting’. Shifting is the term used to describe a change in the therian where they become more noticeably animal. Usually shifting is in some way triggered, though it can be completely random. There are various types of shift, such as mental shifting, or phantom limb shifting. Physical shapeshifting has yet to be credibly proven and is met with scepticism.

Therianthropy is sometimes confused with having a totem or daemon. There are some similarities between them, since each is a form of animal identity, but there are also some key differences. Totems differ from therianthropy because they are external and typically viewed as spiritual teachers. While some people learn about themselves indirectly because of their therianthropy, therianthropy is internal and in terms of learning no different from every other person’s ‘self’, since you learn during the process of introspection. Daemons, on the other hand, while internal like therianthropy, are mental constructs and animal representations of a person’s personality, soul, or general self (depending on the individual daemian’s view). Daemons are rather metaphoric, therianthropy is not. On top of this, everyone can have a totem or daemon, while not everyone can be/ is a therianthrope, so anyone who is interested in animal identity is encouraged to investigate the two as well.

Written by Aethyriek.