What is a Therian??
What is a Therian?
A therianthrope, in a general sense, is someone who in some way has the characteristics of both a human being, and a wild animal of some sort. Now obviously, this covers a lot of ground -- but then, so do the people who think of themselves as "weres". We are looking at a very diverse community here.
There are people who believe themselves to be guided by a totem spirit, and people who, as BleuLynx notes above, feel their animal connection to be purely internal, a facet of the self rather than a spirit with an independent existence. There are people who feel their therianthropy is innate, and people who feel they consciously chose it. There are people who feel it is purely psychological -- a matter of mindset or self-concept -- and people who feel that it has at least some physical components as well. There are people who believe physical shape-shifting to be at least a theoretical possibility, and people who don't. There are people who consider themselves to be fundamentally human, people who consider themselves to be some sort of sub-species of humanity, and people who disclaim the label of "human" entirely. And of course, there are people who might take issue with my use the word "people". :-) And even with all that, I'm sure I haven't covered the entire span of variation, not nearly.
So, what is the common bond? What does it mean to be a therianthrope? Fundamentally, it means that you in some way perceive yourself as occupying the liminal space between human (anthropos) and wild animal (therion). You may believe yourself to be a human who identifies with a wild animal, or a wild animal soul in a human body, or any of a number of variants -- the key concept is the liminality, the between-ness of human and non-human animal.
And I think also the element of wildness is also important -- therion is not simply "animal", that would be zoïon, root of zoology, protozoa, etc. Therion is a wild animal, something untamed and "other" to civilized life. And hence, therianthropy denotes a liminal space not only between human and animal, but between culture and nature, civilization and wilderness, order and chaos. A therianthrope is someone who embraces the in-between spaces within these dichotomies; murky realms of ambiguity and paradox rather than the safe but stale absolutes. An individual therianthrope, depending upon philosophical orientation, may feel that he or she is torn between the opposing poles, or has a special role to play in healing the split and restoring balance, or that his or her existence is proof that the split is illusory to begin with; it all depends on how you choose to view your it.
As with so many things, there are as many stories as there are authors. And most of them are still being written.
I have recently learned about the therian subculture that exists in todays world I have always known I was diffrent and always felt a darker more primal uncontrolled fire down deep inside that wasnt entirely human. So you could imagine my releif when I found out I wasnt crazy. You see there are a lot of wannabes that think being therian is cool and now it isn't that it's a burden it's that it is knowing your true self that is the relief you feel and becoming one as much as a therian can. The important thing to remember is that an awakening is an extremely disorienting and uncomfortable experience. You think you have lost your mind to even began to think theres an animal inside you that wants out after years of suppression and is tired of being caged safely away in the subconscious. It is a paradigm shift like no other because it changes the eyes you look at the world through completely. You begin to see the world both through human and animal eyes its intense and you think youve gone crazy until you look and find that there is a whole community of others like you who have went through the same thing. At least this has been my experience thus far.
EmberWolfe