#therianthropes

[break-a-neck]

I wish I had ears and a tail

[dieletztepanzerhexe]

A feature of many groups like the San that include shamans is the wearing of the heads and skins of animals with which these people have a ritual relationship  and on whose powers they draw. Animal or bird caps and/or masks and/or costumes are, or were, worn in a range of societies by ritual functionaries whose role is, or was, to mediate between the living and the spirit world, including the realm of the dead. Animal masks and costumes covering the head and/or body of the wearer include masks made from the entire heads of donkeys (Fig. 7). Other costumes were made from the skin and head of a jaguar, with gloves made from their paws, so that the costumed person assumes the form of the animal (Saunders 1989) (Fig. 8). The ritual dress of Siberian shamans included masks with horns (Hoppall 1992), masks made of bears' heads with skin attached (Eliade 1964), wings hung from the shaman's shoulders (Eliade 1964; Waite 1966; Hoppall 1992), and a bird, such as a raven or eagle, on the head (Waite 1966; Hoppal 1992).

Bogoras (1909) relates a Koryak myth in which a woman transforms herself into a bear by putting on a bear-skin and describes the metamorphosis of trancing Chukchee shamans into animals, aided, in some cases, by their wearing the skin (including head and claws) of the animal concerned. The wild and uncontrolled behaviour of the shamans described by Bogoras (1909) is similar in many respects to that exhibited by San trancers, which suggests that the Chukchee described here went into trance with the aid of animal masks and dress:

“The shamans also imitate the voices of animals and birds, stamp ground with their feet, and jump about violently, foaming at the mouth, and even breaking such things as may come within reach of their hands. A shaman whose body is entered by a (spirit) loses the faculty of human speech, and may express his wishes either by gestures or by gibbering, unintelligible noises. He crawls on all fours, grunting and gnashing his teeth. I was told several times that some of the shamans even put on a bear or a wolf skin, taken off with the claws and the skull.” (Bogoras1909:442)

Therianthropes in San Rock Art by Pieter Jolly

[nyasha-parashaa]

[canidaecowboy]

this is me if u even care

[haorev]

my favorite dnd were creature is still the wereraven. i played a shadar kai order of the lycan blood hunter who was a wereraven for a one shot once (bc how could I not?) and that was fun. his name was Corvisa

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Question

What kind of fashion do you think would arise for therianthropes? Like, you regularly transform either partially or fully into an animal, what do you wear just in case you need to do so on the fly?

[sergioguymanproust]

Egyptian gods never cease to amaze me, why the need of taking on the shape of a wild beast and combining it with a human body? The technical name being a therianthrope .Found in many prehistoric sites ,rock carvings and paintings of half men ,half deer with antlers.These therianthropes carvings found in Europe being much older than the Egyptian civilization. In recent times we are told that there are indeed extraterrestrial bipedal races of o feline ,canine and other species that have visited us helping us to evolve ,unlike the infamous bipedal lizard or Draco species that crave our flesh. I’m not going to delve any deeper into the specifics. Well, in my book we are all extraterrestrial bipedal races at different stages of evolution. The Egyptian mythology has indeed a rather large pantheon of gods and demigods for every area of its culture from reincarnation, death , birth, love, war ,etc. Using dogs, cats, ,lions,hippopotamus monkeys therianthropes.Well, there’s much hidden from us by Egyptologists regarding the true extraterrestrial side of these creatures. Look and study this pic and you will see how unnatural it is for humans to accept such hybrids and cryptids creatures ,the fear that would instills in our psyche if any of these beings would present themselves today.Well, as I alway say it is indeed up to you to decide whether to believe in them or not. If a more advanced civilization is capable of shapeshifting ,that tells you how behind in understanding and evolution we truly are. Words by Sergio Guyman Proust.

Marble statue of the jackal-headed god Anubis (Hermanubis), associated with mummification and the afterlife, holding the Caduceus of Hermes in his left hand, dating from the 2nd century. Now in the Vatican Museums and Galleries.

[taxidermycanine]

can i come over and look at you like this

[break-a-neck]

I feel like a critter. who wanna crawl around the forest with me?? Pls pls pls pls pls I asked my mom and and and she said we can go crawl in the forest if it's okay with ur mom :3

[dieletztepanzerhexe]

i just love this fantastic creature, with this kitty tail and boar face <3

“Hybrids with a combination of human features and those of more than one kind of animal probably signify the fusion of a human with an imaginary, hallucinatory creature that combined the features of more than one species of animal. It is likely that San shamans in dreams and trance fused not only with real animals but also with imaginary, composite beings. Creatures that combine the features of mammals and/or birds and/or reptiles, but have no human features, may, at least in some cases, represent the end result of successive trance-related transformations and fusions of humans with animals or reptiles. Certainly, their hybridity of form links these beings in San religious thought to the more common therianthopic beings that combine human with animal features. For example, antelope-headed or -eared snakes may representt he transformationo f a San shaman first into the more common human-antelope form then, in a further transformationo f this being, into an antelope-snake. Where antelope-snakes are shown bleeding from the nose or with emissions from the mouth, as occurs in several paintings, these features probably link the latter composite being to the earlier, part-human, shamanic form from which it originated. Particularly deep trance would have engendered hallucinatory sensations of the human body not just merging with animals but undergoing a further process of dissolution, as depicted in those therianthropesw here parts of the body are shown transforming into completely imaginary forms unrelated to any living creature( e.g. Fig. 5c).”

Therianthropes in San Rock Art by Pieter Jolly

[nyasha-parashaa]

me and my gf >__< ..she said she would be a lemur, but it was difficult for me to draw it

also Nord and Kiki drew art for me <3 💓

[genderqueerdykes]

be kind to kids (yes, this includes teenagers) who identify as nonhuman, otherkin, fictionkin, therian, alterhuman, or a furry. they are living their life the way that makes sense to them. they don't deserve an "i told you so" if they grow out of identifying that way later on. they don't deserve to be asked "aren't you too old for that now?" they don't deserve to be laughed at and mocked online. children forming a wolf pack aren't hurting anyone. kids who want to meet other kids who identify as nonhuman aren't embarrassing.

kids need a sense of community no matter who they are. kids deserve the right to identify their own feelings. kids are allowed to express parts of themselves adults find "embarrassing". adults are allowed to do all of these things, too, but it's become routine for folks online to mock literal children for embarrassing behavior.

identifying as an animal isn't embarrassing; what is embarrassing is being an adult and picking on literal children. who cares, it's not hurting a singular soul. let them explore identity in ways that make sense to them. identifying as nonhuman isn't a danger to anyone else. they aren't hurting themselves. let them identify as a nonhuman and explore what that means to them. let them live their lives.

[not-really-all-that-human]

Sometimes being a therian is "I'm a lil kitty haha :3" and sometimes it's "My bones are wrong. My muscles wrap around them the wrong way. My eyes can't see in the dark the way they should. My hind legs are too long. My fur is gone. My fangs have been stolen from me. My joints ache when I place them the way they should be. I curse whatever deity or being has placed me in this form." And then it's like "haha I'm a deer UwU."

[rummageraccoon]

[dog-thing-augustus]

i was good today but tomorrow is a different story

[taxidermycanine]

uahhhhh (mouths you lovingly)