nova-as-a-star-cluster

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

questioning polyfrag culture is fitting into a lot of the symptoms but not having gone through ritual abuse or the like so feeling like it simply isn't possible

experiencing ritual abuse or any ramcoa isnt a requirment for being polyfrag dw

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

Proposed new superpower for systems: the ability to speak in all headmates' voices at once when using the body. This would give systems much appreciated intimidation, attention, and ~spooky~ buffs

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

someone should invent a camera that can take pictures of what happens in headspace so you can show other people …… because there are so many unexplainable events that happen in here that you just need to see for yourself to understand

- 🦇

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

system culture is going out shopping and getting matching jewelry for your and your insys bestie :]]]]

-artemis💗

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

being plural is crazy because you do the most mundane shit and have a bunch of people making live commentary on it like they’re streamers making reaction content

- 🦇

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

Disordered system culture is the hosts changing because they just cant handle fronting anymore consistently and then basically disappearing and being so scared the same will happen to you

-

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

you're not an horrible person you are 15 years old

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

Fictive culture is

Fronter: "So I was talking with <Fictives preferred name> and-"

Outsider: "Who?"

F: sigh "<Source Name>"

O: "OHHHHH yeah <Source Name>!"

Pls learn my real name ffs ahdhdjwjkw

.

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

oh, also surprise we're alive -Callum/Caspian [🦌]

Yeah, life got busy with band and school BUT we are indeed decently alright now. Might post a bit more over here, hopefully we do, but we are also going through a bit of a blurry, who-the-hell-is-in-front-with-me period like all the time now. We tryna get better at it but its hard yk?

Anyways, stuff has been changing. A bunch of new frequent fronters who will hopefully consciously reveal themselves (aka, actually let us know who they are instead of creeping around in the dark. Who'll ever guess the future though?) stay near front a lot nowadays. So yeah, hopefully we get back to you all on that!

Ah, I have to sign off now don't I? (THATS THE HARD PART!!! 🩷)

-Garrett/Jarrett? (📟🖋) & Vollie (🌺🩷) & prolly others

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

jfc why are anti endos like that god

-Callum/Caspian [🦌]

if you ever wonder why I don't interact with the traumagenic community as a traumagenic system this is why

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

Therian Study Alert

The Jackal in the City: An Empirical Phenomenological Study of Embodied Experience Among Therians and Otherkin

The result of FurScience's interviews and focus groups with therians at Anthrocon since 2016 is finally out. Tens, possibly hundreds of therians were interviewed one-on-one in close to hour-long sessions, their responses recorded, transcribed, and later analyzed anonymously. The study was published in The Humanistic Psychologist and is 20 pages long, detailing the experiences of therians and otherkin, along with associated analyses and a suggested re-terming of what we call "mental shifts," at least in the context of psychology.

While most therians will already be familiar with the what this study will reveal, I'd consider this the closest thing to a "therapist's guide" to therianthropy/otherkin that currently exists. It's accessible for $20 through the APA website linked above. For those who would not like to pay for it, I will summarize below:

The study analyzes the experiences of many therians and otherkin and seeks to "destigmatize and depathologize" our experiences. They provide well-structured examples of what we experience, as well as its psychosocial connotations starting from early childhood and into adult life.

They define a therian as "an individual who believes that they are not human—or at least not completely human. Instead, they identify as a species of non-human animal that either currently exists or has existed and is now extinct," and an otherkin as a person identifying "as a nonhuman being that is typically considered mythical or fantasy-based (e.g., fairy, elf, unicorn)."

They apply Sara Ahmed's work on the ideas of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation to alterhumanity. They dive into our preference for natural environments over manmade ones, our disconnect from other humans and our own bodies, species dysphoria (which they describe but do not explicitly name), and reorientation by means of our own personal image, shifting, seeking out community, and "ontological doubling" - "living [a] human life with its human demands, alongside a pervasive feeling of being out of place."

They suggest the "re-terming" of what we call "mental shifts" and "phantom shifts" and the like as embodied shifts instead, seeing as they involve more than just a shift in consciousness and can include physical sensations (such as phantom limbs) and can occur in response to the environment, by one's own volition, or spontaneously. While some may be against outside individuals coining terms for us, these are professional psychologists and this likely has more to do with their own understanding of us. Per the study:

"Therianthropy and otherkinship are often experienced as an attunement and orientation toward, and a belonging with, nonhuman animals and to the natural world. In connection with their environment, therians and otherkin experience profound changes in which they are less likely to be mindful of their humanness; instead they experience heightened sensations (especially those sensations that are sharp for their theriotype/kintype), increased spatial awareness, phantom limbs (feeling limbs and body parts belonging to their theriotype/kintype), and personality changes (e.g., from passivity to aggressiveness or assertiveness, from anxiety to calmness, introversion to extraversion, etc.). These changes were conceptualized as mental shifts by Grivell et al. (2014), but due to how this experience involves not just a shift in thoughts and emotion, but in the body and their relationship to their environment and to others, we here use the term embodied shifts. By conceptualizing shifting as an embodied experience, we reaffirm that affective [for the uninitiated, "affect" in psychology regards one's physical expression of emotions - gestures, postures, vocalizations, etc.] and behavioral changes, alongside altered states of consciousness, are not experiences located within the individual, but take place in the intersubjective field (e.g., as a reaction to changes in the environment, feeling threatened at work, or experiencing comfort in isolated spaces or with groups of accepting people). Although these experiences can be orienting in terms of the therian’s or otherkin’s experiences of self, allowing them to become reoriented to their environment or situation, it can also be disorienting for them and their social interlocutors."

The conclusion to the paper encourages professionals (therapists and such) to understand us through a lens of cultural humility and provides some hope in that "(perhaps ironically) humanistic psychotherapy..." can provide therians and otherkin some sense of wellbeing.

Overall, this is really good for us. If you are in therapy, do consider forwarding this study to your therapist.

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

okay which one of us put fUCKING GACHA SONGS ON OUR PLAYLIST??? COME OUT COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE!!!!!!

-james🌨️

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

*eg: getting diagnosed, helping another plural who's looking for advice from plurals with the same origin as them

also sorry, not applicable and nuance have been merged for this one.

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

sometimes I think it's wild that what everyone else sees as a regular high schooler is actually three teenagers, a child, a ghost, and some wack ass god thing trying to masquerade as one (1) Normal Human Person and most of the time failing

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

ITS FUN ALRIGHT???? ASKSHDKSHDJDHSJSN

-WILLSON💥

me when i’m trying to do guard but another alter keeps getting near front bc he likes one specific part of the choreo 😭

-nova?

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

me when i’m trying to do guard but another alter keeps getting near front bc he likes one specific part of the choreo 😭

-nova?

[nova-as-a-star-cluster]

System roles do not have to be your entire identity. You do not have to conform to the stereotypes of them, and you do not have to hold your role alone or without help. You do not need to keep them forever, either. They may be what you were placed into the system to help with, and they may be something you are good at--but it does not have to be you forever.

I am a persecutor, and that does not mean I should be treated differently or harmed. Being a persecutor does not mean that everyone should be scared of you by default either.

Protectors should not be expected to be strong and emotionless walls to put in front of everything all the time. They do not need to be tools.

Comforters might need a break to unload their own stress and need comfort in turn. They do not need to give all of themselves to everyone else and never expect help back.

Littles may not be littles forever, and should not be devalued just because they are children. They are just as real and alive as any other system member and should be taken into account.

Trauma/memory holders might need help to cope with the things they hold, and sometimes when the time is right it means sharing that burden. Maybe there is no right time, but they deserve support whether they can share those memories or not.

Gatekeepers may need a break from controlling switches or access to front, and should be allowed one if needed. Gatekeeping can be a lot of work.

Hosts do not need to do everything for the body or system all the time. Sometimes, being the host of a system can be hard, and support and breaks are deserved.

Systems often put a lot of weight on roles, and it can impact the way that those who have them can feel about their role. It is okay to fit into your role, but it is also okay to not fit, or to end up not fitting your role over time. Some headmates can feel like a failure if they do not uphold their role, some can feel like they have no other choice even if they wanted to not perform it. But a role is a description, it is not an essence of who you are and will forever be. This may be non-traditional but we use roles exclusively as self descriptors so that we do not get wrapped up in what we "should be". If the label no longer fits, or if you need help more than you might have in the past, that is okay.

Be kind to yourselves, and be kind to your other headmates.