Therianthropists and OtherKin Community Journal

In an effort to help the therian community better understand itself, and to help the public understand the therian community, Kinmunity is introducing a 2016 community survey. The purpose of this survey is to learn more about the community, identify trends and correlations in the community, and to help the community understand itself better. This survey will probably be longer than most others you have encountered; this is because we aim for high quality results. Once the survey closes to responses, the data will be posted publicly with any personally identifiable information removed (although none is really collected in the first place!)

Click here to take the survey!
!DO NOT SHARE THIS LINK! - This survey link contains a unique acquisition code that says you've come from LiveJournal, if someone accesses it from outside LiveJournal their responses will be automatically discarded. If you wish to share a link with friends, share this one: https://kinmunity.com/surveys/inde…

Not sure if many people still frequent this but, I wanted to share something. I saw a movie a bit ago that peeked my interest and I can honestly say it hit me right at home. For any therians, furries, shifters, etc etc the movie "wolf children" is absolutely phenomenal. Its the story of a woman who falls in love with a man who is also a wolf and after having two children he is killed and she must raise them alone and without knowledge of what to do. I can't really express how much this movie really spoke to how it feels to be more in tune with ones animal side and knowing how you fit in the universe because of that. I can't suggest this movie enough and am going to re post this to my personal journal and the communities I frequent

Official Public Release Announcement - May 20, 2013

Introducing The Global Vampi(y)re, Donor, Therian, Otherkin+ Community Directory
http://merticus.com/vampirenews/20…

Thank you for participating!

It has been years which I had thought I "grown" out of the thought that I had a Wolf within myself, since I always felt I had a connection with such in one way or another. I even used to dream about both wolves and werewolves and often I was one among them as well.

Nowadays I am lucky if I even have such dreams, let alone feel that I could be connected to anything.

If there is anyone in this community that can help me encounter myself once again or to have a connection with my inner being, the Wolf, I would be glad to hear your thoughts on how I could start searching within me again.

Kind of hard up for cash lately, and as this is Therianthropy related, I don't feel so bad advertising it here. :P

I'm continuing to work on my history book, the Otherkin Timeline. There are some people who I need to interview, but I can't find any functioning contact information for them. Can you help? Do you know their current contact information? Do you know of any friends of these people who could help me contact them?

Yaiolani, author of the Werewolf and Shapeshifter Codex, active on alt.horror.werewolves during the Nineties. Does anyone have a functioning e-mail address for Yaiolani?

KatmanDu, editor of the alt.horror.werewolves FAQ, active on alt.horror.werewolves during the Nineties. Their .edu and Negia e-mail addresses are both non-functional. Does anyone know how to contact them?

LanceFoxx, active on alt.horror.werewolves during the Nineties. I can't find an e-mail for them, so I settled for sending them a PM. That was over a year ago, and I haven't heard back from them yet. Does anyone have a functioning e-mail address for them?

Not sure if this is an appropriate community to post this in...

I have a question... or.. well a problem, and I'm seeking advice.


See, I've been going through a lot lately, (much of it involving health) and unfortunately it's begun to affect my faith. I hadn't thought about it a whole lot for a while, but these days... I feel like I want to reach out to it, but at the same time I'm not... sure there's something to reach out to?

My belief has generally been that there's something out there so grand and beyond the scope of anything we know that our minds can't really grasp it. Much the same way that an ant can't grasp that it's walking on the toe of a big ol' human, or something. It's just that big. But because that doesn't sit well with people, different cultures and groups gave this being different names, and applied different faces, aspects, and even personalities onto it.

It's kind of like looking at a gemstone. It has many different sides or faces, but it's all the same stone.


The problem with this is, it leaves my at a very odd place. Because it means that I don't know if prayers or rituals or anything really have any kind of effect. And in turn, if things like magic have any effect (magik? magick?).

I want to believe it can. I want to believe one can manipulate their aura, meditate, or possibly even astral project. Send out positive or healing energies through prayer or 'spells' or such. Ground themselves, etc.

But then, my scientific side says there's no proof of any such thing and any perceived effects are purely caused by the human mind being more that capable and willing to trick itself and makes us feel/see what we want.

But... if it makes me feel steadier, safer, more at peace to do these things, is it bad? Am I just lying to myself? Blinding myself? That's no good...

And what if it is real? Even to a small degree? Does that help me? hurt me? am I depriving myself of something by turning away from it? Blinding myself with extreme logic?

I don't know @_@

((cross-posted pretty much all over the place. Sorry if you see it a lot))

Hello,

Wulf Howl is doing a survey regarding therianthropy, in general, and its connection with psychological conditions, abuse/bullying, and a lot more.

We would appreciate it if members of the therianthropy would complete this survey and share it around; it will help us to understand the psychological factors of therianthropy, as well as how prevalent bullying and discrimination are in/against the community.

The survey can be found here:
http://wulfhowl.com/2012-community…

We are accepting responses until November 12th 2012; shortly after, our results will be published.

No personally identifiable information will be present in our published results.

Thank You.

I would contend that this is one of the most important academic papers ever written concerning the sociological and identity aspects of the Otherkin community.  Perspectives from Dan O'Dea, Gerbasi, Hesson, Kirby, Lupa, Mamatas, Nytemuse, Orion Sandstorrm, Sade Wolfkitten, Suscitatio (AVA), Sylvere ap Leanan, Th'Elf, and more are all part of this article.  It's well worth your time to read and I encourage everyone to either purchase a copy or request it from their local college or university library.

If interested, I'd also encourage you to to review Dr. Laycock's 2010 article through Nova Religio; Real Vampires as an Identity Group: Analyzing Causes and Effects of an Introspective Survey by the Vampire Community which is available at http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1525/n…  Joseph Laycock is the author of Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism Praeger 2009 - http://www.amazon.com/Vampires-Tod…

---

We Are Spirits of Another Sort: Ontological Rebellion and Religious Dimensions of the Otherkin
Community
By Joseph P. Laycock, PhD
Nova Religio - The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions
February 2012, Vol. 15, No. 3, Pages 65-90

Purchase Article:  http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1525/n…

Abstract:

Otherkin are individuals who identify as "not entirely human." Scholarship has framed this identity claim as religious because it is frequently supported by a framework of metaphysical beliefs. This article draws on survey data and interviews with Otherkin in order to provide a more thorough treatment of the phenomenon and to assess and qualify the movement's religious dimensions. It is argued that, in addition to having a substantively religious quality, the Otherkin community serves existential and social functions commonly associated with religion. In the final analysis, the Otherkin community is regarded as an alternative nomos--a socially constructed worldview--that sustains alternate ontologies.

---

SEE ALSO: NOVA RELIGIO ARTICLE (2010) CONCERNING REAL VAMPIRIES:

Real Vampires as an Identity Group: Analyzing Causes and Effects of an Introspective Survey by the Vampire Community
By Joseph Laycock
Nova Religio - The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions
August 2010, Vol. 14, No. 1, Pages 4–23

Purchase Article:  http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1525/n…

Abstract:

"Real vampires" believe that they must either consume blood or feed on "subtle" energy in order to maintain their physical, mental, and spiritual health. Recent scholarship has analyzed vampirism as a religious movement or as a cluster of "vampire religions." This article argues that vampirism should be viewed foremost as an identity around which social and religious institutions have formed. This model accounts for the mosaic of religious and cultural orientations held by vampires and acknowledges the vampire community's claims that vampirism is not a choice. It also facilitates a functionalist reading of vampire discourse as validating a new category of person.