werevyote

[werevyote]

by OnlyYotes

[werevyote]

Point of view of the exotic pet (part 1) (the rest in reblogs)

[werevyote]

ALT

I made a new fictionkin symbol because I fucking hate the F key symbol with the burning passion of a thousand suns, and refuse to use it for myself. self care is making your own dang ficitonkin symbol

also petition to put the 🖋️ icon up there with the ⎇ and ΘΔ in terms of alterhuman text/emoji signifiers

Transparent versions below the cut

Keep reading

[werevyote]

something quick for therianthropy day :3

alt under cut

[werevyote]

Hidden Lake and Boulder Pass, by Darren Umbsaar

[werevyote]

Photo Credits: Blue Ridge Georgia Mountain Cabin Rental on Flickr, dpsager on Flickr, Kristie McCoy, Nicholas T, Shannon McGee (x2), tripod_treker on Flickr (x4)

Appalachia in the cold season my beloved.

[werevyote]

Happy Therianthropy Day! I felt the need to celebrate with some writing, I've been meaning to write more about my coyoteness, so I took advantage of the holiday spirit and did just that,

To Be Animal,

“To be animal”, a phrase I use for myself in more ways than one. I am an animal in the sense of being myself, I am an animal in the sense of my soul and spirituality, I am an animal in the sense of my psychological self, I am an animal in the sense of my fashion, I am an animal in the sense of my physical form. My body, my soul, my heart, my mind, is of a coyote so therefore it’s only fair to call my body a coyote as well. Maybe in the sense of a human-like coyote, maybe in the sense I’m not human-like at all. I am a coyote through and through, no matter how my social look perceives me as an animal or person. 

I am many things, I am a dragon in my coyote identity and I am a robot and virus, I am a ‘taur and werebeast, and yet, my primary form will always simply just be a coyote. I like to believe that likely my coyoteness presents itself in different ways, social and emotional influence being heavy in this factor. Yet, despite the different forms and despite the different circumstances that occur to force different shifts in my body, it’s all connected to simply “animal”. 

Often enough however, I am at my most comfortable at just being an animal. Sure, my identity is complex and odd, it’s everywhere and dare I say it could be anything and yet nothing as long as it’s rooted in my coyoteself, a coyotic void or a coyotic god, who’s to say? Yet, it’s still animal. I think that’s what makes a lot of my coyoteness so special to me.

I am a firm believer that I was simply just born as an animal. Sure, maybe not a coyote exactly, that took time to discover and more time to fully accept, but at the very least I have always been, always will be just an animal. I’ve explained before in older essays and stories on how my behavior has always been odd as a kid, and every once in a while I will learn something new that only just adds onto it, proving my point. Funny enough, it’s almost always been canines too, but avian and equidae influences are undoubtable. While I have little to nothing left in my equidae senses, I still can deeply feel its influence it had in my childhood, so it only feels right to bring it up and show some sort of honor to it. My avian influences still stick, though more so presents itself in my draconic identity. 

I have many, many memories of my animalness and feral identity presenting itself since I was a kid. As I discover more over time or am told things overtime, it really begins to show itself to me on how this aspect of my life truly always has been me. Human looking or not, I was born to be an animal, a coyote. It’s always been there since the beginning. A lot like my trans identity, there always has been signs. I grew up to not only defy my assigned gender but to my species, and I love it. I fully embrace it. Yes, it’s so hard, it truly can be so so so hard, but it is me, it is true. Even how it presents itself now, either as a coyote or through the lens of an animal that is draconic or even a mass of simply existing in or as a concept. 

Despite this half of myself, I often enough just see myself as a simple coyote. I also have been more comfortable in calling myself transspecies as a result. My senses have always been coyote, sure, I only would begin to call myself as a coyote when I was 15, but yet, it took time to come to that conclusion meaning my coyoteself has either always been present or began to show itself earlier then. I know I stated before that I was likely not always coyote at first, and it holds true, but I believe likely my soul and identity molded itself into being a coyote. I had no choice in the matter, it simply just happened. Even before then I never cared or even liked coyotes due to the social stigma of them as a whole. Yet, it still just happened. 

I’m thankful. I’m still very very thankful. As of writing this, I'll soon be 21 in the upcoming months. My coyote identity has always been such a wonderful, often hard, but wonderful experience and it had such a deep influence in my upbringing. Not even just my coyote wereside, but more of my animalself too. I was born as an animal and over time it molded into something special. To be a coyote to me is simply existing. My existence, my joy, my pain, my work, my simple living is to be a coyote and to be an animal. To be animal is to be me. 

[werevyote]

On My Animality

A Little Something for Therianthropy Day

by Sivaan of Candlekeep

I am predator and prey. I am wild and domestic.

I am many, many things, but I am an animal through it all.

I experience a kaleidoscope of identity through my animality. Animality is such a wide spectrum to touch on, yet it is a spectrum that I feel so, so very alive in.

When I understood myself to be an animal, I ironically realized this through a species that I don’t experience being as frequently anymore. Make no mistake, I am still a bearded vulture. I may not experience this form as prominently, but I will always regard this form as my first step into animal identity. In making that step, I had to reconcile with the fact that I don’t solely see myself in bearded vultures. I am a bearded vulture.

I am one among many birds of prey. In addition to being a bearded vulture: I am a theriomythic gryphon, a stygian owl, and a giant teratorn.

Even though I do not experience those forms as often as I did upon discovering my animality, they are still a part of me. I mostly associate these species, along with my paleolithic species, with my draconity.

Nowadays, I experience animality primarily through my felinehood. I’ve questioned it before, but I’ve found that I am not a domesticated cat by any means. I am a big cat through and through. This is not a shock to me, seeing that I am a liondrake. It’s only natural that my animality gravitates towards species which closely resemble my primary form.

That said, on this day, I want to talk about my facets of my animality that I’ve been meaning to discuss but haven’t had the time to.

One can already see in these previous cases how I may be wild and a predator as an animal. Yet, I have been meaning to talk about my species which are domesticated and/or prey animals for quite some time.

Although I lack a connection to domestication for a couple of species (such as my position as a feline), that does not mean I’m totally alienated from being a domesticated animal. Moreover, my experiences with domestication, like any other avenue of my animality, diversifies my outlook on alterhumanity. The same goes for my experiences with being a prey animal.

Early into my self-discoveries, I’d joke with my friends about how I am my own enemy. In retrospect, it’s not that way at all. These sides of my animality click into place like matching pieces of a puzzle. They were meant to exist alongside each other; nothing about me is juxtaposed by being one species in addition to the other. They complete each other, thus I complete myself. After all, where would a lion be without antelopes or zebras?

What would become of the grasses, roots, and overall plants without grazers?

There is no enemy here, only two sides of the same coin.

Yes, I am a West African lion. I am also a gemsbok. I associate my being as a gemsbok with pride and resilience more than I do with my leonine self. From the horns towering above my head like thin, spiraling mountain peaks, to the beautiful markings of my visage, I too am another wonder of the ecosystem. I do not require claws, massive teeth, or a powerful roar to be a part of that.

Both parts of me are commendable for their survival, as all animals are. However, we as antelope are often misconstrued as being flighty and weak. I say we are alert and knowing. We are painted as hapless game because many do not see nature for what it is.

Worse, many do not respect nature for what it is. They have to apply their power dynamics to grasp it, even though it couldn’t be farther from reality.

There are no kings, no serfs, only a world neighboring their own that they could easily understand if they looked beyond what they project onto us.

I see that now, not just as a predator and a prey animal jointly. I also see this as someone whose species can be closely associated with humans. I experience a desire to work towards a common goal with them, thus I attribute some of my instincts to that of a working animal.

Being an equine, my animality as a draft horse (a Međimurje) and a mule (an American Mammoth hybrid) is best described as “hardy”. I’m no stranger to pulling through tough spots, literally and metaphorically; this is reflective of both my lived experiences and my equine identity. That said, I am familiar with the disrespect that is flung towards animals such as myself.

While horses are usually associated with beauty, freedom and hard work, donkeys and mules are cast aside as ugly, ignorant, and shameful. I identify as a mule rather than a donkey because both of my equine species are intertwined at times; this is fitting given how mules are conceived in the first place. That said, when I am a mule, I don’t refer to this experience loosely. I specify the breed of donkey that I belong to, just like I would do as a horse.

When I address myself as a mule, I address myself with that species of donkey first because I am not a mule without it. If I can do the same with being a Međimurje, I can do it with being an American Mammoth. The society I live in bolsters the idea that there is something inherently “embarrassing” about donkeys and their hybrid offspring. The phrase, “to make an ass of yourself”, is one case out of hundreds. Yet, I have nothing to be ashamed of. Whether this society wants to admit it or not, it needed us. It sought our hardiness, our strength.

The problem does not lie in the existence of my being, let alone any palatability I may “lack” as a mule.

The problem lies within those who demean my existence because they see “nothing worth” projecting onto, despite relying on my kind for as long as they have.

On the flip side, I’ve recently come to understand that I retain a connection to canine-ness. Realizing the prominence of my felinehood, I distanced myself away from any possibility of being a dog. I’ve explored these possibilities before, but nothing seemed to stick.

Being a wolf or a hyena didn’t fit like I thought they would. I made this assumption as I was fleshing out what being a were-creature looked like for me. I know now that my place as a were-creature is exclusively tied to my feline identity, but it took a separate state of being for me to understand the ways in which I am a canid.

I made these connections by reflecting on my family history with dogs. Perhaps, leveling with them as a child is what made me understand where I fit in this. I hesitate to say “imprinting” in this context, but I feel like I latched onto them in a way that may have facilitated this connection.

I was never a wild canine, just as I was never a domestic feline. I am a worker-herder type which actually feels right unlike those past questionings. To specify, I am a Leonberger and an Old English Sheepdog respectively.

Every dog that has come into my family was/is family in the most literal sense to me. There is the “Man’s Best Friend” perspective which I am fond of, no matter the context, but there is the context that neither my earthen family or my brother (said family’s dog) will ever understand. It is that he and I are brothers beyond the roles of owner and pet. He will never know me to be a dog like he is, and that is a fact I’ve long been accustomed to since I got in touch with my animality. Yet, I feel for him.

I feel for him because outside the comfort of our home, dogs like him are constantly ostracized.

He is a mixed Rottweiler breed. While there are a few who look to Rottweilers as tough, “hardcore” breeds not like that’s any better, I’ve seen the behavior of other dog owners whenever we walk him or take him to parks. I’m familiar with the glances, the nervous distancing, the hasty pulling of leashes or harnesses, you name it. I would be more understanding if it wasn’t for the fact that a lot of dog owners operate on breed assumptions than learning anything about dogs at all. As a dog and as his companion, it boils my blood to see such behavior.

In terms of aggressive encounters, I’ve had more trouble with popular breeds (ex: Labradoodles) whose negligent owners assume they could do no wrong than I have had with stigmatized breeds. Of course, this isn’t the fault of the dogs themselves, no matter the breed. This falls on owners who fail to educate themselves on the individual behaviors and needs of dogs they decide to take in, let alone properly train them and socialize them around other dogs.

This sort of projection is less relevant to people associating animals with power and prestige, then projecting this image of said animals onto themselves. Instead, it’s relevant to how people project their biases and lack of understanding onto other beings.

Being both a Black alterhuman and a canine, I understand him in ways he will never know. Sometimes, I think it is best that he doesn’t know. That way, he doesn’t lament the thought of it as I do.

That’s enough gloom, though. This is a day to celebrate. Granted, the best way I do celebrate is through doing what I always do: write. Whether it be with hooves, claws, paws or wings, it’s in my nature to put important moments or reflections to a page. Or, in this case, I put them to a webpage.

There are other avenues of animality that I have not went into, which I’ve entertained as topics either here or in future writings.

There’s the fact that I have more of a connection towards birds than I do towards extant reptiles on this planet as a dinosaur, yet I have little to no explanations behind why that is unless anyone wants to take the scientific route.

There’s the fact that out of any experience with animality, my experience with being leonine exists across all manner of species for me. Whether I am partially humanoid, a full-on beastman, or just a regular big cat, it is a constant within my being that has also permeated my draconity. Or, has it always existed within said draconity? If so, is that why my leonine qualities are so prominent throughout my alterhumanity?

There’s also the fact that despite being a menagerie of species, as well as a polymorph, there’s plenty of species that I know for certain that I’ll never identify as. I may become them in a cameo shift, but I have no instinct or phantom connection to the form of insects, amphibians, fishes or other mammals that I can’t even begin to list off, otherwise the post would go on until next year’s Therianthropy Day. Besides, that’s just covering earthen species. Wait until I get to my fictomere and my mythic background!

Yet, I think I’m content with just being an animal.

Be it a mountain lion, a gemsbok, a mule, a sheepdog, or a vulture, either are satisfactory.

As long as I stay true to myself, that is more than enough action on my part. I wish the same for every wonderful animal in this community.

Happy Therianthropy Day!

[werevyote]

Therianthropy Day is Friday, November 15, 2024

Therianthropy Day is held every year on the first full moon of November. This year, in 2024, that falls on Friday the 15th. According to NASA, this also happens to be a supermoon, which means it’s slightly brighter than usual.

Why that date, and what is the history of that holiday? 

Therianthropy Day commemorates the first Howl, which was held 30 years ago in November 1994. A Howl is when therians meet up together in person. That was a year after the first therians started to meet up together online in November 1993. Therians first proposed commemorating it as a holiday on that date in 1996, in a conversation thread you can still see here. Based on that history, in 2016, Muninn the Raven proposed observing it as Therianthropy Day, though the first posts and community poll about it attracted little attention. I think the holiday finally really caught on in 2021, when I first saw many therians posting on social media about fun things they were doing for it.

What are therians, anyway?

If therianthropy is a new idea to you, or you want to explain it to others who are unfamiliar with it, this essay is a quick and easy to understand introduction to it. It’s available in several languages already, and more translations would be great.

Learn more about the history of the therian community by reading the Timeline of the Therian Community written by @liongoatsnake

What can we do for Therianthropy Day?

I’ve seen therians celebrate it by wearing gear (for example, a necklace with the therian symbol, or clothes with pictures of their species), meeting up with their therian friends, and howling at the moon.

Enjoy some indie games and zines about therianthropy from this hand-curated itch.io collection. Some therian highlights from that: SlumberDragon’s zine of self-care tips for animal folk, @who-is-page’s therianthropy-inspired solo journaling game Wolf In Man’s Clothing, puppygirlbelly’s interactive story I Am Dog(s), and Digital Freegans’s zines THERIANARCHY and BEAST PUNKS.

Are there days for other sorts of alterhumans too?

There are. Alterhuman Day commemorates when Lio of the Crossroads System coined that word on September 26, 2014. Otherkin Day is on July 9, commemorating when the word was coined in 1990, though Arethinn has found that the word’s origin is a little more complicated than that. Plural Events says that Plural Pride Day is the third Saturday of July, and Plural Acceptance Week is that week.

[werevyote]

im changing

[werevyote]

Website: are you a robot? *gives me capcha*

Me: *fails it* :D (I got species euphoria)

[werevyote]

I often find myself wishing that sometimes , I was just as much as the habitat and setting as I am the animal ; I find peace in imagining I am the snow and leaves , I am the cold and everything apart of the setting is a part of me ⸻ I like to imagine myself as the trees that protect the wildlife , the water that provides and the dirt that hides , the wind that cools from the heat and the breeze that carries a scent of fresh kill meat

Maybe as a coyote that is my core of my being , like a heart , my trees my limbs hide that part of me , keeps it alive and lets me thrive

I often wonder if I were the setting , would the dead be a part of me too ? When something dies when decays , it melts and fossilizes into my skin and then new life from the decay begins , mushrooms and plants , I think a part of me is in an everlasting cycle of life and death's dance

[werevyote]

Samantha Fields

[werevyote]

Little paintings with lyrics from the song ‘Coyotes’ by Modest Mouse, which has a quite poignant music video featuring a live coyote riding a train.

[werevyote]

YAY!!! reqs for the draconic community :)) i hope these r all okay... bweh bweh bweh

full page !

[werevyote]

I really think that the therian community needs more essays on former trends and general forms of conduct, because I've said it before and will continue to say it, but the way the community was structured in the mid to late 2010s when I was first awakened was fun and exciting and helped me really find the good in my identity, but also was extremely toxic, judgy, and detrimental to my overall journey.

In my first few years in the community, I was embraced into a corner of the internet that was all about animals and the ethical treatment of them and appreciating and worshipping nature as we all considered ourselves more a part of it than "others". I was also dragged by my tail into a corner of the internet that forced me to give up every single personal, little detail about my personal identity and how I felt about it and the step-by-step of how I got there just to be allowed to speak.

That community both sang the praises of wolf therians, put them on a pedestal, to the point that it felt like they were above all other 'types, while also simultaneously tearing down anyone who questioned wolves, especially certain coat colors, to the point that you had to defend a master's thesis in front of a panel of graymuzzles for anyone to allow you the label "wolf therian". From day one, you were conditioned to believe there was no fun and intimate community, no pack meets, no content for you, unless you were a gray wolf, but you had to be educated on par with the top experts in the world on both identity and the species to not be considered "another kid that likes wolves". If you were anything else, you were an outcast in a world of outcasts. You were just "trying to be unique". You never got edits, outfits, etc. without asking creator accounts for them yourself. The community's terminology was structured around wolves. Howls, packs, etc. You either had to accept that you were going to be outnumbered in any close-knit small group you joined, if you were even allowed and it wasn't "wolves only", or, you could make a group designed around 'types similar to yours, which would never be found by others like you, and would quickly only become a failed idea.

That community is what led to my complicated and painful feelings towards wolves. For the rest of my life, no matter what happens, I will always have doubt in my identity because of it all. I will either be a wolf who believes I'm one because of the community's influence, or I won't and will believe I'm not because I want to escape the stereotypes that come with being a wolf.

That community also was riddled with rigid, unspoken rules about what was and wasn't an acceptable therian identity. I never heard of systems during that time, never saw anyone identify solely psychologically, and no one identified only because they felt like that creature. Back then, you were a standard therian with a single 'type, maybe a second if you'd been researching and journaling every single day without fail for more than a year with statistics to back it up. You had a reason for your identity, but it couldn't just be that you imprinted on your pets as a child (that's not enough), or that it developed from trauma or autism (therianthropy isn't a mental illness), or that you simply feel that way (you're just a wolfaboo). You had to be a misplaced soul, someone with past lives, on rare occasions, you could be a permanent walk-in spirit (but definitely not in a plural way). Don't even get me started on the idea of polymorphs, conceptkin, etc.

I personally feel like a standard therian, but to this day, I still question the origin of my identity. So much of my identity as a red wolf hinged on it being endangered and from my area, because then I could be a misplaced soul due to there not being enough bodies for red wolves to be born into. When I first awakened, I thought my identity came from a past life, even though I personally don't believe I can ever find out what those were, if I even have any. Later on, when I realized being raised with dogs and always seeing and being compared to canines likely had something to do with it, and I considered it to have come from imprinting, I still felt as if I was required to find some spiritual side to it as well. I still struggle with this, to the point that I barely know what I believe in afterlife-wise anymore, and I certainly don't understand what led to my identity, if something even led to it at all.

Those kinds of things needs to be discussed more, because to an extent, I feel like it's still present, both in the same and different ways. The newly-awakened alterhumans of today, yesterday, and tomorrow, all deserve to have a truly accepting space to figure themselves out without pressure to conform to an unspoken standard of how one should identify. Tumblr is better about it than most sites, but ones like TikTok might set things back, if they haven't already, despite the attempts of well-meaning individuals who are trying to break through the algorithm and educate others. I just think more discussions need to be had and more perspectives and experiences need to be shared for the sake of awareness and making sure damaging practices don't continue forever.

[werevyote]

Soulful Osa by X