An introduction to phantom limbs

[frameacloud]

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

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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

[a-leprechaun.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Has anyone here actually had that "physical object reacting to a phantom limb" thing happen to them?

[kistaro]

Well, I know that last example is straight out of a personal account at draconic.com- a tail jamming an elevator door. I've had people detour around my limbs fairly frequently, had unpleasant moments of a tail in a rear bicycle wheel (yes, OW), and a computer my left wing passed through spontaneously rebooted in the CEC a while back.

What's not mentioned here is when people don't detour around phantom limbs. It sucks to have one's tail stepped upon.

[forestdweller.livejournal.com]

I've had the experience of wind catching my wings and lifting me up (and almost knocking me over as I was too surprised to react), as well as one instance of an elevator door that paused and reopened when my back was to it and my wings not pulled tightly against me.

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

I'd point out here that not all people, and certainly not all therians/'kin, believe in chakras and stuff, but I think you already know that :}. In any case, I love your explanations of things. I'm a very visually-oriented person, and even though I know what these things are already, it's good to be able to see them :D.

Wow.

[meirya.livejournal.com]

Very nice. I'm glad my phantom limbs all correspond fairly well to my body. *heh* The worst I've got to deal with is a beak. Wings correspond with my arms, though it means my shoulders feel out of place and such... but at least they aren't catching in stuff. o_o

Though a phantom beak can be quite aggravating if you're trying to make out with someone...

[frameacloud]

Yes. kistaro donated the idea for that panel, from his personal experience.

[frameacloud]

Nope, the various spiritual terminologies in the first panel (chakras, etc) are not required beliefs to be an otherkin or therianthrope. (I didn't even believe in chakras until very recently.) They're some of the traditional explanations for [human] phantom limbs, and needed inclusion for context and historical interest, if nothing else.

One of the articles I was reading told about phantom limbs experienced by wounded samurai, what people in feudal Japan believed the phantom limbs were (more spiritual than neurological, as you would expect), and the therapy used to relieve samurai from phantom pains. It was mirror-box therapy, basically the same as is used to help amputees in modern day; it uses optical illusions to trick the brain into going, "Oh, I have this many limbs now, I get it." As I said, fascinating stuff.

Hmmf... I have the article links around here somewhere, so you can read more. Most of 'em are about neurology, but it's always neat to find out what various ol' cultures made of the phenomena. Ah! Here they are...

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web1/Dawsonandoh.html
My favorite article. Beautifully complete and well-spoken.
http://www.phantomlimb.org.uk/
More to-the-point.
http://www.macalester.edu/~psych/whathap/UBNRP/Phantom/homepage.html
Eyeburningly bad, senselessly ugly and stupid site design. Surprisingly, the content isn't stupid at all; it's quite well-researched, with lots of good diagrams and case studies.
http://hubel.sfasu.edu/courseinfo/SL98/phantom4.html

I'm glad that the visual stuff helps!

Re: Wow.

[frameacloud]

Aligning your wings with your arms... that's interesting. I've heard a few people talk about aligning non-human-body-part phantom limbs with their real limbs. Someone (Grygon, I think, on alt.lifestyle.furry in the summer of 2000?) said that xe'd aligned xir tail with one of her legs, with the amusing effect that when xe was happy, xe would wag xir foot.

Though a phantom beak can be quite aggravating if you're trying to make out with someone...
Yikes! That'd be a gruesome version of the typing with talons comic. o_o;;

[frameacloud]

"I've been known to feel people with my tail(s) behind me when I did not even realise them to be there to begin with."


Watch out for kitsune, their butts have extrasensory perception!

...Hey, maybe I should use that for a comic. Shall I? :)

Re: Wow.

[meirya.livejournal.com]

It's really more a case of the anatomy aligning. I don't do it consciously; it's just how the shift manifests. It always makes no sense whatsoever to me when bird-types describe phantom limbs coming from their shoulders or shoulder blades or whatnot. Birds have four limbs; their wings are arms. If you're a gryphon or four-legged dragon, I can see where the wings-sprouting-from-the-back comes in, but if you only have two legs and a pair of wings...

Eh, anyway, it's odd. My arms won't bend the normal way when they're wings, and they'll rotate to be in the more "natural" position (for a bird anyway!) angling behind me somewhat. When I'm forcing myself out of a strong shift, it sometimes involves forcing my arms forward, and my mind's going "OW THE SHOULDER DOESN'T MOVE LIKE THAT" while my body says "Yes it does, this is normal". So I get crackling aching shoulders as a result.

Yikes! That'd be a gruesome version of the typing with talons comic. o_o;;

XD Normally it's not a problem; if I'm in a mood to be making out, bird's not manifesting very strongly. Birds just aren't that sensual; if bird's out and feeling like being close to someone, then it's a case of preening, and that's just kind of weird to humans. But sometimes I'll beak without warning, or be a little shifty, and... yeah, kissing doesn't work too well when you've got a couple inches of extra space in front of your nose/mouth. Especially if your SO is sensitive to stuff, and so can sense the beak. Eheh.

...

[meirya.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing*

That'd work awesomely for a comic!

(And I'm now curious as to who this phoenix is. There aren't a lot of 'em out there, and I used to identify as phoenix and still feel a strong connection to the mythos.)

Re: Wow.

[dragonzuela.livejournal.com]

I sometimes shift my phantom parts around so that I can make both bodies more comfortable. If I'm lying on my stomach I can put my tail into a leg, and then casually flick the tip of my tail/ankle. Sometimes my wings and tail come out of my human body in an anthropomorphic fashion, but if I'm in touch with my full astral form, I often put my front feet into my physical feet and have the rest of my astral body behind the physical one. I even once put my astral head into my physical hands, because I was holding hands with my boyfriend in a concert hall, and it seemed like how I would want to touch him if I were in dragon form.

[silvernyte.livejournal.com]

I knocked a popcan (nearly full, and it was RED pop) off a coffee table once with my tail... it was a goof 16 inches from the edge, too... and it fell onto my friend's parents' white carpet. I was SO embrarassed... but at least I didn't get in trouble, since as far as they knew it just randomly happened.

[kalanco.livejournal.com]

This keeps getting better and better. Any hints on the next one in line?

Also, and I know this has to have happened to somebody, who here has had somebody else feel your phantom limbs?

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

oo coolness :}. I'll have to read them more in-depth tomorrow :D *aka: when I'm awake*.

Re: Wow.

[ceruleanst.livejournal.com]

My tail does that. Usually it's when I'm lying in bed, on my side; my tail becomes whichever leg is under the other, and lashes slowly back and forth in a somewhat catlike manner. I think my wings are mapped to my arms too, or at least my shoulders. I must be just too attuned to analogies and adaptations, because I've internalized everything. Just sitting here thinking about it, with my hands folded, my right thumb started making tail motions! Sometimes I think my true form, if there is such a thing, might have fewer limbs than my body does, and I have multiple redundant structures for whatever instinctive slithering I may do.

Re: ...

[frameacloud]

The phoenix in consideration knows who xe is, and has been very helpful in the development of Theri There, but xe doesn't feel like being open about xir therianthropy yet. So, no public explanation of who xe is.

I could put you two in touch privately if so desired, though. Uncommon theriotypes, unite!

[frameacloud]

No hints on upcoming comics, if I can help it. I'd prefer them all to be surprises, like presents to unwrap every Monday morning.

[kistaro]

*thwacks you with xir preferred gender pronoun*

I still think the best thing about that elevator is the "Capacity 16" plaque on it. It feels crowded with, like, four. It's the size of a small closet... it could barely fit my tail in the first place.

[frameacloud]

"*thwacks you with xir preferred gender pronoun*
"

Ouch! Sorry, apparently I even make that pronoun mistake sometimes. Goodness knows I've confused other people with my pronouns enough. Consider it random.

"I still think the best thing about that elevator is the "Capacity 16" plaque on it. It feels crowded with, like, four. It's the size of a small closet... it could barely fit my tail in the first place."

No wonder, then. They must have meant: capacity 16... midgets... on a bet. It's just that they ran out of room on the plaque.

Re: Wow.

[inuki42.livejournal.com]

I know a certain wyvern friend of mine, who just discovered xir kin-ness over the past few months, instinctively mapped wings to arms. This resulted in complete inability to do things like type or hold a pen when the wings were most strongly manifest, and in a strong tendency to curl the hands into "pinching" shapes and bend the wrist all the way down - exactly like a folded bat wing.

This caused me no end of trouble, as all of a sudden I got confused. I'd previously identified with a Western type, and wings floated quite comfortably on my back/shoulderblades. Rather abruptly I started feeling different - like Aido's kendii (http://aido.furvect.com/images/guest/kaidowalk-asterroth.jpg) species, which are quadrupedal wyverns, for lack of a better word. (Aido's species, art by Asterroth - source (http://aido.furvect.com/guestart/gue-3.htm)) The explanation that a mutual friend eventually gave was that it's because the two of us are emotionally close, and somehow I was picking up on xir phantoms through that emotional bond.

Xe also likes to lie flat on xir back and float xir hands and arms up and a bit out in midair. Xe claims it's exceedingly comfortable, and has described how xir body could ground the wing-wrists for balance, and probably had some form of manipulatory digits there.

I think xe's crazy. ;)

[kistaro]

No wonder, then. They must have meant: capacity 16... midgets... on a bet. It's just that they ran out of room on the plaque.

Actually, it's got plenty of dead space on it; they probably could have fit the text in. By weight, I can believe the capacity; it's rated at 3,000 lbs., which is needed as it's the only elevator in the School of Engineering. (I find that ironic somehow.)

I've been planning for the last two years to get sixteen very friendly people together, shove them all in the elevator, take a picture, then stick it just above or below the "Capacity 16" sign. Maybe I can get Dean Byrnes in on this one- he's retiring as Dean at the end of the year, and having gotten to know him over the past two years, I can safely conclude that this would match his sense of humor. Maybe 16 administrators?

[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. >.

[slupine.livejournal.com]

Oh, and one question: this "xe" thing, how is it properly pronounced, and is this like a gender-neutral pronoun? I've actually never heard it before. I'm used to shi and hir, which I rather dislike but they were the only alternatives I had heard (oh why couldn't the english language have a better option for a substitute?). Just kinda wondering about that.

[genmaicha.livejournal.com]

Not just limbs for me... When I'm in an excited state, I sometimes feel my cockatoo-ish crest raising. :)