In what way are you a wolf?
2005-10-24 12:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frameacloud posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
therithere
The animal design within the brain in the second-to-last panel is based upon the White Mare of Uffington, a 370-foot design etched on a British hillside in the first century BCE.
[Edit 2017-04-03: Updated link.]
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Date: 2005-10-24 08:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 08:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 08:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 09:55 am (UTC)I recently had a Deep and Meaningful Day with a group of close friends to discuss draconity, soulbonding, and various other suchlike ideas, and one of the things that we were asking all the dragons was, 'How did you find out? Why do you think you're a dragon?' and we got a few different origin stories, and I like that the comic addresses that.
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Date: 2005-10-24 10:48 am (UTC)It's interesting to see all these possible meanings of the same phrase - "I am __." In my personal use of the terminology, all of these would be "otherkin" - a being whose physical shape does not match their mental representation of themselves - except the last. Role-players of all intensities are furries, and it's possible to be both otherkin and furry. (I count as both, though my roleplay is primarily confined to self-depiction and AIM-pouncing.) I tend to think a therian is someone identifying with an Earth species, fae are the humanoids (elves, pixies, goblins...), undead are the vampires and zombies, angelics are the angels and demons, and mythics is everything else (dragons, griffins, centaurs...). Next to those are two more categories - furry and were. A furry is someone who role-plays and self-represents as an animal, most commonly an anthropomorphic animal, to others, whether or not they believe themselves to in any way be that animal. A were is someone who has the ability to shapeshift into a limited number of forms - not necessarily physically in this lifetime, but a werewolf is not the same as a wolf therian.
Wow, rambling. That's entirely my personal use of terminology, and I don't expect anyone to agree with me except in the general sense of "yeah, most/all of those terms apply to this type of thing."
..blame all that on it being between 5 and 7am local, if any of it doesn't make sense or is exceedingly random. ;)
Suggestion: entry with screened comments. Anyone who feels comfortable doing so can share their personal awakening story (and, if they're comfortable enough, indicate they would like it unscreened). If there's enough response, there will probably be a pattern, or several patterns, of "typical" awakenings. Might help solve the problem of not being quite comfortable sharing your own, and not wanting to single anyone out in particular, but needing to handle the topic somehow... just a thought. :)
Little Sleep Means I'll do Stuff Like This.
Date: 2005-10-24 12:23 pm (UTC)I'll second Inuki-san's comment for the "Other in Spirit" panel. Whether a representation of phantom-limb syndrome, or the shape of someone's aura, or just a visual shorthand for the way the sense of a different perspective overlays someone's life, it's working. Also, because I can see it representing all these things.
"Other in a Past Life": Hah! Guy looking over his shoulder, startled. As if to say, "Oh! So that's what I've been doing.
"Want to Become Other": Not mutually exclusive with any of the other identifications by far. And nor is wanting to be something other than in the human shape we're all sharing exclusively the province of 'kin and theris. For that matter, "What would you be, if you didn't have to be human? Or live on this earth?" is a question I like to ask my friends. Some people won't really answer the question--they're quite happy in their skins. But I've got at least once acquantaince who answered dragon, and another close friend of mine that I'm sure would be a kitsune (el asian shape-shifting fox trickster spirit) in a heartbeat.
For that matter, the practice of imagining what it would feel like to be to have a tail, or wings, or paws, or pointed ears, isn't exclusive to therianthropes or 'kin. Sure it's no phantom wing, but I'm not the only one of my friends who does this either. I've asked around. ~^.=.^~
Human and Other: Also a neat little illustration here! Shades of Yin and Yang, intertwining in a whole, a circle.
Other Ancestry: Honestly? I got nothin' to say on this, as I've done little reading about it, and I don't know a soul who ascribes to this. But I like the illustration. I wouldn't mind if my great grandma had pointed ears. ^.=.^
Other as a Trait of the Brain: Also a theory I've only just heard about, but kind of like. I also didn't catch the wolf at first--etched as it were into the folds and wrinkles of the person's brain. But I like it. Again, cute little effective pictures.
And then...yes. The infamous Roleplaying. You're being a bit more sympathetic here than most. I imagine the shouter in the back to represent the Oppressive Weight of The Community, so to speak.
--Oi! Largish post. I somehow feel the need to apologize for this much verbage--but, on the other hand, I like analyzing things. Mmm, literature classes. Mmm, webcomics.
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Date: 2005-10-24 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 05:24 pm (UTC)The http://therithere.comicgenesis.com/rss.xml says that the comic updated at 2:12. I do have it set to update at 1:00, though. I guess there can be over an hour of delay.
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Date: 2005-10-24 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 06:19 pm (UTC)There is something else to consider though: a lot of RPers are also 'kin and the other way around.
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Date: 2005-10-24 06:59 pm (UTC)i do take offence to zuki san grouping vampyres with zombies in an all emcompassing 'undead' category. in their own way vampyres are as confusing as all types of theri's combined in that strip.
i also know fae who would take offence at being confused for elves or goblins.
i personally do not draw a line between werebeast and therian, but you make a good point inuki. some therians just are while weres actually shift. but i call meself a werecat, feline therian, Child of Bast, or just cat. I am who i am and some people get it, others don't
may Love, Darkness and kittens follow you wherever you go. =^.^= mau!
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Date: 2005-10-24 07:09 pm (UTC)Re: Little Sleep Means I'll do Stuff Like This.
Date: 2005-10-24 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 07:43 pm (UTC)I spent ages and ages designing and redesigning the therianthropy yin-yang. I wanted the animal side on it to be a wolf, not a cat, but if the "other" is something with a long muzzle, it doesn't look like a yin-yang anymore! Go ahead and use it, if you can, since it'll probably be swiped and adapted by everybody.
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Date: 2005-10-24 11:43 pm (UTC)Indeed. In fact, some therians/Otherkin may also be vampires, since their energetic bodies need extra support that their human aspects can't give them.
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Date: 2005-10-25 12:09 am (UTC)Where did I mention vampires? Or vampyres, if you prefer?
I'll certainly grant you that there are people on the internet that label themselves as such. However, I know next-to-nothing, make-that-squat, about that particular community. But I can certainly believe it would be complex and confusing. If someone directed me to the website of a notable vampire, I might be able to form an opinion.
Or are you mistaking something that I said, with something that someone else wrote? I seem to recall that maybe waywind* mentioned vampires/zombies/undead in a single category. Of course, I could be wrong about that too. I've never been a vampire person.
And you all can just call me Zuki. The "-san" is a japanese honorific suffix. Ah, The perils of getting the right username.
*What do I call you? Seriously. I knew you first as Orion Sandstorm, but I seem to recall you saying something about not caring so much for the name a while back. Also, a lot of blog-reading has fixed "waywind" as your term of address in my head. So I guess I'll just use that, unless ye say otherwise.
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Date: 2005-10-25 12:17 am (UTC)forgive me.
i am not aware of ever having the name Orion Sandstorm, though i never could remember the names of all my past lives.
you can call me magnolia, mags, michaela, micha, kris, kat, kitten, kali, nebet mau, kye... oh gods... pick a name! i don't even care which.
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Date: 2005-10-25 12:20 am (UTC)I'm also 'sort-of' an example of this.
My nickname originated from a corruption of a short-lived role-play character, which was then recycled for a dragon character on a MUD which I was fond of RP 'ing on, and after the MUD died it just became my general all-purpose name. Considering that the Internet is a place where you can visually represent yourself however you damn please, It became associated with my "dragon side," as well. Then again, a number of my close friends will also address me as Zuki, and I'll happily respond to it. The fact that I offer it as an alternative to saying my real name wrong seems to be increasing this number...
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Date: 2005-10-25 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 12:40 am (UTC)And really, most spirits draw off of other spirits aroudn them, so I'm not so sure it can be thinned out to just being 'vampiric'. You know what I mean?