An introduction to phantom limbs

[frameacloud]

Page number 6 of Theri There, originally posted on October 3, 2005.

---

Image description: One page of a comic.
Narration: "A 'phantom limb' is the sensation that a limb is physically present when it's not.
"Neurological explanation: the relevant portion of the brain is still there, so it feels as if the limb is still there, too.
"Spiritual explanation: the spirit also stays intact, even if the body doesn't. This has to do with chakras and the astral plane."
The illustration shows a person with no left arm, but a phantom left arm.
"Phantom limbs are also experienced by therianthropes and otherkin. The difference is that these don't follow a human-shaped template. We may feel wings, tail, or any such thing."
The illustration shows a therianthrope with a human physical body, and a gryphon-shaped phantom outline. "We know there's no physical counterpart to these limbs. They're not visible to plain sight, and they pass right through everything, like a ghost."
The same therianthrope goes on a walk, their wing passing through the wall of a nearby building. "However, there are odd exceptions where a phantom limb responds to a physical object as if both were equally tangible." The therianthrope's wing hits a lamppost, making them stumble, saying, "Ow!?"
"There are also instances where people respond to the limbs as if they could see them."
The therianthrope stretches out a wing, and other passerby walk around it.
"Rarest of all, sometimes physical objects respond to the limb's presence."
A dragon therianthrope steps into an elevator, their phantom tail trailing behind them. The door closes on their tail. Someone else says, "Hey, what's jamming the elevator door open?"
End description.

Note from 2005: This is a short introduction to phantom limbs of therianthropes. There is much more to say about them, whether the best known kind (felt by people who have had amputations) as shown in panel 1, or the kind experienced by therianthropes. Panel 4 was suggested by a phoenix who wishes to remain anonymous. Panel 6 was suggested by a friend who had it happen as shown, and I’ve heard very few anecdotes about a paranormal phenomenon of that kind.

Note from 2015: Several folks have asked me about the phrase “phantom limbs,” which I used in my old Theri There comics. In 2005, that was the only name therians gave to that experience of theirs. Now, readers were concerned that it might be wrong to use that name for that experience. It’s a sensitive issue, but it’s also important to address, so I wrote a long blog entry about it: https://frameacloud.tumblr.com/post/731842421775859712/regarding-phantom-limbs

Note from 2023: I updated the link to that blog entry with some new commentary that I wrote today. For another thing, back when I drew this page, I thought of phantom limbs as a paranormal phenomenon. That fit with how my worldview used to embrace the paranormal. My personal worldview has changed and become generally more skeptical as I've continued to ask questions and learn. I still acknowledge that part of the range of these experiences are ones that are strange and difficult to explain.

[Edit October 21, 2023: Added local images, links, and transcript.]

Comments

[slupine.livejournal.com]

I've never had anything react to phantom limbs physically, though I do tend to keep things pulled tight when I feel crowded or claustrophobic (which I do easily). I will allow people to get closer to me from the front than from behind, except with a couple select people.

The thing that confuses me quite often is that I have multiple "forms" (for lack of a better term), that can express themselves one at a time, or sometimes mix (which is when it's really weird to try and explain what I am to close friends). The wolf being the most commonly expressed, I usually refer to myself as that. Does anybody else get anything like that or am I like a total freak? o.o;; I've never really heard of anybody having more than one when they aren't cohabitating, but as far as I can tell there's only one of me in here.

Oy, even around like-minded folks I still worry I'm gonna be thought of as bonkers. >.

multiple forms

[frameacloud]

Multiple "forms," but one self, and not cohabitating: I've heard quite a few people describe things similar to that. Not bonkers at all, it's actually pretty common. :) It does seem harder to describe in a concise way, oddly enough. People feeling more (say) feline one day, feeling more deer-ish the next, and just sort of wandering between those specific two depending upon circumstances, and maybe one being more frequent than the other. This may be somewhere between animal totemism and therianthropy, as described in Galenorn's book, "Totem Magick," which sounded a lot more like therianthropy to me than most books about animal totemism I've read.

Some people stick to the idea of having only one trueform and call anything else a "cameo shift," where you feel like you're something completely different, but it only happens once. (For example, a self-identified lion who has one weird incident of feeling more like a fox.) There's also people who have two or more specific theriotypes and call themselves polyweres.

For me, m-shifting is part of the process of remembering a past life. Since I've been rather a lot of different people and things in my past lives, it figures that I'd have experienced a pretty varied lot of m-shifts into different species. They're all me, although they're how I looked and felt in different parts of time.

Re: multiple forms

[slupine.livejournal.com]

Well, the "combined" form is actually, in my case, the one that feels the most purely "me". I get restless in all the others - especially the wolf (which gets stronger and a lot more beastlike as adrenaline rises but I guess that makes sense). The combined form can be pretty beastly when I'm stressed too, but it feels the most comfortable and I'm less edgy about the limbs when they're all there. Or something like that. Been trying to draw it so I can sorta explain to people, but no matter how close I come it's never been right. >.< I always drawing looking too similar to stuff other artists have done of dragon/wolf hybrids or something, which are close... sort of... but don't hit it right. Drives me up the wall trying to get it. lol

It's funny how it progresses too. The forms came in an order. First was the wolf - reason why it's strongest I guess. The gryphon started out as a fun character thing, and I assumed that's all it was till I started to realize I kept getting this beak sticking out of my face. O.o; I tried to tell myself for a really long time that it was only my imagination. I've since given up. Dragon was last, and that was just a bizarre thing that I thought was just a one-time instance at the time. But since then it pops up at random intervals, and at least once for days at a time. But up until maybe midway through my second year in college, I felt human at LEAST half of the time. Now it's pretty much never. I think that's known as "waking up" or something? I actually haven't read a whole lot about the otherkin phenomena... only enough to assure myself that I'm not just some psychotic loner out here hallucinating wings and stuff.

Oddly my only past life memory was as a human... a pirate to be specific. Guess that explain my obession I've had since I was a kid. XD And I get seasick, go figure... Used to meditate before a bout at all my duello practices. That's the one time I think I've ever done it successfully... though I managed to go into a vision (in which I apparently saw where my boyfriend was at the time, which was freaky because I didn't find out till later when he was describing it to me), which melted into this weird thing where I relived a death. O.o But that's getting into a whole different realm of oddness. lol

I feel like I get so wordy on here, but I've never had much of a chance to talk about this stuff. Have I mentioned to you how glad I am you started this comic? It gives me a chance to see things, and see them as "normal" in a more visual form. That, I think, helps me feel more open to discussion. Granted right after I post I always feel like I've said too much... but that's that timid part of me coming back to bite me in the butt. Been trying to get rid of it for years. ^^;

Re: multiple forms

[frameacloud]

"Now it's pretty much never. I think that's known as "waking up" or something?"
Awakening. Awakening is the initial realization that one is somehow other than human.

"I actually haven't read a whole lot about the otherkin phenomena... only enough to assure myself that I'm not just some psychotic loner out here hallucinating wings and stuff."
Bookmark these collections of articles to browse through when you have more time:
http://www.weyr.org/~raki/drp.html The Draconity Resource Project.
http://snowspine.com/therian/ The Werelibrary.
http://www.otherkin.net/

"I feel like I get so wordy on here, but I've never had much of a chance to talk about this stuff. Have I mentioned to you how glad I am you started this comic? It gives me a chance to see things, and see them as "normal" in a more visual form. That, I think, helps me feel more open to discussion."
YES! Excellent! This is one of the things I intended to happen with this comic. In saying oft-said things in a fresh way (or rather, illustrating them) and making complex subjects approachable... it encourages discussion on specific details of therianthropy, so that people are sharing things that they might not have otherwise been brought into the open. This is exactly what I was hoping for, and thank you for being part of all of it. :)

Re: multiple forms

[slupine.livejournal.com]

*smiles* Thank you for the links, but I don't know how much I will use them. I prefer to talk to the people themselves than to read essays and such. But then, with anything remotely spiritual I tend to like to figure it out on my own these days. Form my own ideas, and THEN ask about it, since doing it the other way round has never been fulfilling in the past. If that makes any sense.

For some reasons those sites make me skeptical. Partly, I think, because there are probably people who go to them and think it's all a game, like an RPG or something that they want to join in on. I feel bad for being such a skeptic in general... even with some people, I can't help but think "you're not what you think you are", though that feeling is rare (usually it happens for people who try to define me as soon as I start telling them what I am). I feel bad. Because how do I know they don't think the same of me? But I never say anything about it, because even if by some freak chance I am right in thinking they are not, it's not my right to shatter their beliefs, no more than it is my right to try and twist someone from their religion. So it remains in my own mind, continuously evaluating from then on every time I speak to them about similar things. But then, it seems to be in my nature to observe people and try to pick them apart. I go by instinct very often, as my intuition doesn't often fail me. I also go by what the dragon staring over my shoulder tells me. He, too, has yet to fail me. I won't go into too much detail about him I guess, because that's yet another realm of weird. Otherkin/therian with a stubborn bratty spirit guardian/guide. *shrugs*

I'm rambling again...

But no, I much prefer talking to people than reading these sites. Just sitting and chatting about it is a lot nicer - it IS a personal experience, after all, so I don't want huge generalizations.

Actually, one of the websites on werewolves, when I first read it, made me think "who the heck are these nutso people and why do they think they're werewolves?" This was after I started feeling wolfish but before I actually knew their definition of werewolf was different from the one I'd grown up with. Now I am one of "those nutso people".

[westly.livejournal.com]

Hi,

I've got multiple forms, within my co-habitating group.

My Wolf has an anthro form and a non anthro form, as does the Hyena. And the vampire is a shapeshifter (Within his usual range of shifting ability)

So, you're not alone!

[slupine.livejournal.com]

"My Wolf has an anthro form and a non anthro form" I get that too. Anthro, non-anthro, and, in the case of the wolf, "half-anthro", or what I call the true Were. Walk on two, run on four kind of thing. The latter being the most common for the wolf to be in, and the most common for me to be in general.

It's really annoying being non-anthro when you're a biped out in public. >.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* Me, I'm Human, for various reasons it's hard to explain; but sometimes I'm a cat, and sometimes I'm a horse, and sometimes (more frequently in the last few years) I'm a velociraptor. Not any particular cat/horse/velociraptor, just... the walk, the behaviors, the mental identification. So, yes, I believe I grok. :)