Therianthropy

an introduction to therianthropy

Given that this is a website dedicated to my personal therianthropy, it seems only fitting that I should explain a little about what therianthropy is.

The term therianthropy comes from the Greek therion meaning "wild animal" and anthropos meaning "man". Basically it refers to an 'animal person', someone who is both a human and a non-human animal. Depictions of such creatures can be found in mythology, legends and folk law, woven into history. While many of these depictions refer to human-like creatures with physical animal attributes (such as the ever popular werewolf, shape shifters or the Gods of Egyptian mythology) this is not the form I am referring to.

Therianthropy is, if you will, a 'condition' shared by many people from all over the globe and from many different walks of life. It is the belief that a core and integral part of yourself is a non-human animal. This belief is based upon many different experiences and feelings shared by therians. Though therianthropy is a very personal thing, and while there are certain core aspects we have in common, the experiences and beliefs behind therianthropy are often specific to the individual.

As I've said, a therian is basically a person who believes a core part of themselves is a non-human animal. Some of the beliefs behind this are that we are humans born with an animals soul, that we are animals born into the wrong body, that we have lived past lives as animals and those lives influence who and what we are today, that we were 'created' this way by a certain God/Goddess/Deity or that there is some sort of 'faulty wiring' in our brains that mean we think, feel and experience things differently.
In truth no one knows exactly what it is that causes therianthropy which is why every therian seems to have their own take on it. Perhaps at some point in the future the cause will be discovered but until then it's simply down to your own speculations and beliefs.

Velvet Wings
1st April 2007

---