This is certainly a bit petty; however, I have noticed a trend, especially recently, that many of the people making sweeping statements decrying physical experience and demanding we conform to a hard materialism, that we express experience only behind reality check and doublebookkeeping, that we "see a doctor" — as though many of us are not already within the psychiatric system to very mixed reviews — and that we be disallowed to exist within community (either the wider nonhuman community or even just our own spaces) have themselves identities which would be viewed as equally or more incredible by wider society. Certainly it is not wrong to have an identity which might not make sense to others or that the general public might view as outlandish or madness, however some people really need become aware they are in a glass house, and best not cast stones.
A noema (pronounced noh-EE-mə or noh-AY-mə, plural noemata) is intrinsic knowledge about one's kintype, hearttype, or other alterhuman ident
A noema (pronounced noh-EE-mə or noh-AY-mə, plural noemata) is intrinsic knowledge about one's kintype, hearttype, or other alterhuman identity. Noemata may include memories, things one experiences as memories but which are not believed to be real memories, gut feelings, and general knowledge about the looks, life, or habits of one's alterhuman identity. Noemata may have a psychological or spiritual basis, may be a mix of the two, or may have unknown origins.
As noemata are intrinsic knowledge, knowledge from external sources such as books, films, and games are not noemata.
What sorts of noemata do you experience? Where do they come from? Do you associate them with a past life or something else?
I’m one of those people who likes being educated on practically everything, so can someone explain to me the difference between a Therian and an Otherkin?
Denotatively (ie, in terms of strictly the definitions):
Therian = someone who identifies as an animal (sometimes you'll see this defined as earthen animals only, but this is historically not necessarily part of the label - if it's animalistic, it qualifies)
Otherkin = someone who identifies as nonhuman (be that animal, plant, sapient nonhuman people, object, concept, etc.)
Connotatively (ie, in terms of associations and cultural nuances), there are some cultural distinctions as well. The therian and otherkin communities actually arose completely independently, and only later started interacting so closely that in many ways they've nearly merged.
The otherkin community originates from a few separate groups of elves, namely the Silver Elves and the Elf Queen's Daughters, both of whom originate somewhere in the 1970s (exact dates often difficult to pin down) and which then led to the Elfinkind Digest, a mailing list originally intended for elves but which quickly expanded to other nonhuman beings, within which the term otherkind (which would rapidly become otherkin, as far as I can tell due to typographical errors that accidentally got preserved in the lexicon) was coined to avoid the inconvenience of having to write elfin-/dragon-/orc-/hobbit-/etc-kind constantly within the Digest. The influence of these groups and communities has meant the otherkin community has always had heavy influence from New Age and neo-pagan philosophies, and has always leaned toward spiritual explanations - though certainly never exclusively.
The therian community, on the other hand, originates from a messaging board called alt.horror.werewolves, often abbreviated to AHWW within the therian community these days, in the early 1990s. While this messaging board was originally a fansite for werewolves, at a certain point people started turning up who felt themselves to be (were)wolves under the skin, and gradually that kind of discussion took over much of the board. (Not just wolves, either - some of the earliest weres I remember seeing in logs include a bat and, of course, the now-famous werePontiac.) If you've ever seen animal-people, particularly older ones, calling themselves weres instead of/in addition to therians, this is why - that was the original word we used for the concept. Culturally speaking, the therian community has always been very focused on the concept of shifts because of these origins - it is, if I'm not mistaken, where the otherkin community adopted that terminology from. The therian community also tends to be more focused on the animality of being non-human - which is why these days that's usually used as the primary distinction between otherkinity and therianthropy.
Ultimately, there's a lot of overlap, but there are also a lot of reasons why someone might want to use one word or the other even if both could theoretically apply to them denotatively.
You're just a mammal. Let yourself act like it. Your brain needs enrichment. Your body needs rest. You feel hunger and grow hair. You need to pack bond with other sentient things so you don't become unsocialized and neurotic. You are biologically inclined to seek dopamine and become sick when chronically stressed. Outrage about hedonism is made up to place moral value on taking pleasure in sensory experiences. I am telling you that if you don't let yourself be a fucking mammal, as you were made, you will suffer and go insane. No grindset no diets no trying to be above your drive for connection. Pursue what makes you feel good and practice radical rejection of the constructs meant to turn you into a machine. You're a mammal.
I know this has been said before but a lot of you are pissing me off so I'm going to say it again.
Being alterhuman does not mean you have some ~special ability~ to interact with wild animals.
DO NOT go touching/chasing/ generally messing with wildlife. You aren't special and you could harm those animals, or be harmed by them. Even small things like bugs can kill you. You aren't immune to rabies.
If you scare wild animals by chasing them for species euphoria or whatever, you can genuinly kill them. Birders have a term for when it happens to birds, its called a Dread Flight. When you unnecessarily scare a wild animal, you are causing it to waste energy it needs to survive. Wildlife can't afford to waste energy. You're enjoyment is NEVER worth disturbing wildlife.
You do not have the training to rescue wild animals just because you're alterhuman. If you don't have the actual training to resue wildlife and you genuinely find an animal in need of help, CALL A FUCKING WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTER!!!! It isn't that hard to find the number for your local center and they'll tell you what to do, if anything, and help you if necessary.
I'm so sick of seeing alterhumans online think they can interact with wildife willy nilly just because they're alterhuman. Please fucking stop.
Edit: This post is not a place for you to debate hunting. I hunt. Hunting, if done correctly, is good for the environment. This post is not about hunting AT ALL. Separate topic. I will take away reglogs dont fucking test me.
At great personal risk. All I have to say on the subject is things exist before we study them. Empirical evidence is good and important but *only* subscribing to empirical evidence and western medicine can be detrimental to understanding things which can be very difficult to study or haven't been studied yet and it is imperative for people who have these kinds of things affecting them to be able to talk about it. Chronic fatigue syndrome has no empirical cure and if I waited for science to help me I would still be house bound, but by using the methods of "woo woo" people (which I still think a lot of the woo is silly) like meditation and understanding of mind-body connection, my illness is in remission.
And it seems goofy-ass that we are talking about that kind of thing when it comes to personal identity anyways. This is the kind of stuff that makes people think there needs to be a physical difference in trans peoples brains for them to be valid. There doesn't need to be! Like someone else said, it is a framework. You can identify as nonhuman if you want to. Chill.
The whole community jsut needs to chill. There is so much arguing and essaying which isnt even about peoples personal experience but how they think everyone else shoudl conceptualize *their* experiences. Can we just chill? cant we just relax? Cant you all just grab a blunt and smoke in the woods with me?
I recently made a post summarizing my feelings on the subject of therianthropy as a mental framework. I think the post is as concise as I can possibly make my feelings on the matter, but I recognized that it is a little dense or perhaps confusing so I felt that a longer explanation was in order. Here is that explanation.
Read time: 3-5 mins
What is a mental framework?
Put simply, a mental framework, or sometimes mental schema, is a tool your brain relies on to organize information. It works as a filter to make the world more comprehensible by organizing sensations, thoughts, and other data points into predetermined "frames" or paradigms.
For example, you have a framework for what a "chair" is. A chair may be any object with four legs you sit on, though notably this definition includes horses and exclude constructions with three or fewer legs many would still consider to be a chair. Still, it's likely you are able to discern what a chair is and isn't even if you can't articulate it by a simple definition, and even though some chairs may also be benches or stools or etc. Your framework for "chair" is quickly retrievable and adaptable; you can usually identify a chair despite the fact that chairs can look vastly different, and many chairs you have never seen before. If you encounter an object you do not immediately know to be a chair, your framework of "chair" can be updated to include the new object.
What is a platonic ideal?
In contrast to a mental framework, Plato's Plane of Forms posits that there is a metaphysical, absolute and unchangeable "essence" to all things that determines how the object can be categorized.
So, a chair is a chair because it imitates the abstract Chair Form-the Idea of a chair that exists outside of our thoughts and prescribes what a chair is and isn't. A horse cannot be a chair because a horse imitates the Horse Form. How either of these things are defined is somewhat immaterial because both horse and chair exist metaphysically and beyond the input of the human (or nonhuman) mind.
What the hell does any of this have to do with therianthropy?
Well, I would argue that the way definitional culture works on tumblr and the way we generally describe identity groups falls much closer in line with Plato's Plane of Forms than it does with the idea of a mental framework.
We sometimes discuss the concept of therianthropy as though it's a Thing that Exists, even intangibly, and thus it's something you either Are or Are Not. Our language around "awakening" and "discovering" our therianthropy echoes this, as though therianthropy is something latent within us or that we're born into (echoing "born this way" sentiment common in the queer community). And certainly that is the experience some may have, but I don't think it's a useful paradigm to understand therianthropy as a whole through. Therianthropy was not discovered in the 90s, but instead the language was created to articulate an experience and therianthropy (the language, the community, the concept itself) has continued to evolve and iterate, much in the same way a mental framework adapts to new information.
How is any of this applied?
Put simply, I'm suggesting that the community think a bit more critically about how therianthropy, and nonhumanity broadly, is framed. As I said in my initial post, I am not a therian because there is a Therian Form that I contain some essence of; I don't believe such a thing exists. I understand myself to be a therian because it's how I make sense of certain experiences, thoughts, sensations and because I relate to the experiences of others who have taken on the label. It is (one of) my framework(s) for how I understand myself. It communicates certain things about me such as:
I identify as a nonhuman animal in some way
I align myself with others who identify as a therian
I express certain elements of myself through the "performance"* of therianthropy
I filter my lived experience to some degree through the lens of my therian identity
In my original post I described therianthropy as a "mode of meaning making for clusters of experiences and thought processes" and I think this is the best way to describe it. I have certain experiences and thoughts, and therianthropy is my mental framework for processing and understanding them. I don't have the experiences because I am a therian, but rather I am a therian because it's how I choose to categorize the experiences.
In my estimation, a good deal of the common discourse can be eliminated by understanding therianthropy in this way. Validity/"more therian than thou" discourse can be forgotten because it's ultimately a choice to describe one's self in this way, and because there is no One Ultimate Therian we are each whatever degree away from. Even debate about physical nonhumans can hopefully go by the wayside, because these are really just small modifications that communicate something about the other's framework, generally that they include some degree of somatic experience or input as relevant to their therianthropic schema (specifics will obviously vary).
We all speak very concretely about these words, and while the history of the community should not be forgotten, it's important to remember that the framework for therianthropy has always evolved and will continue to evolve! We can update our framework along with it and find more accurate language as the community continues into the future.
*note that "performance" here is used in a similar way as the way gender is characterized as a performance. Performing therianthropy may look like wearing a theta delta necklace, running a therian blog, or simply calling one's self a therian. It is any external expression of a therian identity.
Author's note: I think it's worth a small addition here that not everything we commonly describe as an "identity" can be boiled down to the mental framework understanding, so please do not take this essay, run with it, and conflate them all. Some identities describe positionalities and political or physical realities that are not solely the description of an internal experience and it's important to learn the difference.
•The Otherkind of Color Alliance, A Safe Place for Alterhumans of Color•
•Greetings! The Otherkind of Color Alliance is a fluxer server meant for alterhumans of color to share their experiences with both humanity and nonhumanity in a safe, non-judgmental space! This is also the off season server for the Sacred Skies online convention. In a predominantly white community, it can be really difficult for alterhumans of color to make connections when we are so fragmented and underrepresented. The purpose of this server is to create a safe space for people of color to speak without fear of racism or discrimination. All people of color are welcome to join this server, regardless of whether they identify as alterhuman or not! We want to foster a safe and accepting environment here!
•FAQ's About This Space•
•Why choose fluxer?
•In light of discord's vile digital ID update and legalized spyware, we have chosen to move to fluxer, which is a privacy based platform that values your privacy. Discord now threatens to send information to ICE and governments that want to constantly watch you, fluxer does not. Discord is no longer a safe platform for anyone.
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•Can white people join this space?
•No. Even if you are a genuine ally, this space is only for people of color. It is very rare for us to have a space of our own, and we want to keep this space that way for the comfort of all our members. It is nothing against you by any means. If a bodily white person is caught in our space, they will be banned without question.
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•I am a genuine ally of people of color? Why am I barred from joining?
•There are multiple reasons. I and all the other folks in this community have nothing against genuine allies of people of color, though having our own space where there is not even a sliver of a chance of experiencing racism or white ignorance, unintentional or not, is the goal I aim for.
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•Are mixed race people of color allowed to join?
•Yes! I myself am a mixed race person of color, like I stated before, we welcome all people of color in this server and we do not wish to exclude anyone from this space and its positivity!
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•Can I join if I am non-white, though do not consider myself a person of color?
•Yes! We welcome all non white folks to join this server! You do not have to fall under the label of poc or identify yourself as such! We do not want to exclude any non white folks from joining because they don't feel they fall under the label of poc.
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•Can I join if I am white and 1/12th native?
•No. There are all manner of reasons why claiming yourself as a person of color when you have so little non-white heritage is racist and problematic. It is an attempt to deflect white privilege and take an identity from a distant family member who you would never have the lived experiences of. We do not encourage the ignorance of or attempts to deflect one's white privilege.
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•Can I join if I am a white passing person of color?
•Yes! Like I stated before, we welcome all people of color in this server! We do not want to exclude anyone from this server based on appearance. We just highly recommend that white passing individuals recognize that there is privilege that comes with being white passing.
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I can't access fluxer in my region, what do I do?
•Certain states and countries have blocked access to fluxer because of new laws attacking digital privacy and promoting digital ID (which leads to a police state). Using a VPN to bypass region blocks is the best way to go. ProtonVPN is a free VPN that you can use.
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•Feel free to join our community! We are a friendly bunch and are always looking forward to having new folks pop in to our community to share their views and have conversation! If you have any other questions about this space that were not answered above, feel free to DM my being! ^.=.^
Fluxer is a free and open source instant messaging and VoIP platform built for friends, groups, and communities.
Practically every other post I see by a fictive is them apologizing for their source, feeling bad about their source, or laughing at themself for just fucking existing in this world as a fictive. Stop that. Stop insulting yourself. Stop putting yourself down. Stop telling the world that you don't deserve to be taken seriously. Stop telling the world that your relationships, your efforts, your experiences are worth mockery. You are worth more than that. You have worth. You have a right to love yourself, too. You have a right to respect, too. You have a right to be taken seriously, too. You have a right to everything that everyone else has a right to. Every time you feel like you need to make a joke at your own expense, remind yourself of that. You. Deserve. More. Than. Laughter. At. Your. Existence.
This was inspired by trends we saw in fictive posts, but this also goes for factives and all other sourced headmates. Stop treating your life like a joke. Stop talking bad about yourself. You are a living being. You are not a punchline. You do not deserve mockery for being yourself. You are worth being taken seriously. You are worthy of respect and understanding. You are deserving of a full life! Live! Live without shame! Live without these jokes that treat you as nothing more than absurd entertainment for existing! Live without treating and talking about yourself as nothing more than absurd entertainment! Do not treat your life like a series of jokes, treat it as your life! That's what it is! Live unafraid and unashamed! Live as you! Live for you!
"On Being a Mule of the World: Reflections on Race, Gender, and Species Transition" is the latest nonfiction essay from ANIMAL by @liondrakes ☀️
"'Mare' doesn't hold the same meaning to me as it does to most people. Usually, folks think of a female horse when they think of the term. That much is true from a technical standpoint, but sex isn't the reason why I consider myself as a mare. For me, it is the social implications of the term that make me feel comfortable with using it. I'm not an equestrian, but I know there's no shortage of horse owners, riders, trainers, etc. who treat fillies and mares as if they're from an entirely different planet than colts and stallions. Despite being a construct of human society, misogyny is capable of affecting any species one can think of. Oftentimes, mares are portrayed as bitchy, irritable, aggressive and harder to manage than stallions. Although I'm aggravated by this mindset, I also see myself in mares because of it."
Read the full essay on our website:
Coyote perks up in sometimes the strangest places, though I suppose they really aren't all that strange for an animal known for its ability to survive in the margins of urban and suburban North America.
Walking through alleyways, taking shortcuts into overgrown empty lots, strolling into a claustrophobic corner store for a small break from the summer heat by the drink fridge. Learning the best bus routes to avoid the tourist crowds, getting to know the subway schedule by heart.
Coyote loves sitting in a quiet shady corner of a busy park and eating a greasy sandwich from the local shop for lunch, and coyote kind of likes the smell of beer and sweat and other bodily fluids that wafts out of busy bars on summer nights. Coyote watches hungrily when the rabbits are out nibbling on people's gardens in the early mornings, and coyote quietly protests every rat not chased when they scurry along the sidewalk at night. Coyote wants ice cream for dinner even when its vegan and teriyaki for dessert even when its been in the fridge for a day (or two) too long, and coyote wishes he had just a little bit less impulse control at the farmers market when the fresh fish are out.
Maybe this is part of why I don't draw as strong a delineation between human and animal as some therians do, nor reject humanity as strongly as some do. The coyote in me is animal and yet delights in humanity, wants to sniff around and make a practical home in the margins beneath blackberry brambles and concrete rather than dream fruitlessly of an idealized life in human-untouched wilderness. The wilderness doesn't have teriyaki.
Of course, I love “the wilderness” too, but I recognize how much the idea of wilderness is a constructed concept that's, paradoxically, deeply wrapped up in human perception. So many “untouched” places have been stewarded by human hands for thousands of years. So many wilderness documentaries of far off lands are a camera behind which sits an extensive film crew and bustling roads and towns full of human life.
“The wild” only exists in relation to “the tamed and cultivated and built up.” Why would coyote constrain himself by such things when there are den sites to claim under the highway and plenty of small critters to eat? Why would he care where the pavement ends and the dirt begins? He's busy thriving where he is.
so many misguided metaphors around violence and desire. if the open maw of a panting beast fills you with the want to be devoured, that does not make you prey. while the rabbit trembles in fear, its deepest desire is to run. evolution demands it. in fact, the desire to be eaten does not make you any small animal at all.
One thing I think is important for understanding the daemian community – especially if you're coming from an alterhuman perspective – is that daemonism is not a word for a shared experience, nor a shared identity.
Daemonism is a practice. The concept of it can be used by anyone: alterhuman or not, plural or not. It can be pure playfulness. It can be imaginary, and that's okay! That's a beautiful experience in its own respect!
There's no universal daemian experience because we accept and embrace that our minds, and our experiences, are ours alone.
The community isn't built on a shared experience – just a shared idea which we all create unique versions of.
Some people stick closer to the basic idea we started with. Some just take what they like from it and throw out the rest. Some only take vague inspiration from it. Some people adapt it more than others, sometimes due to being neurodivergent, plural, and/or alterhuman.
It's still daemonism because daemonism isn't defined by us all "doing the same thing" or "having the same experience".
Daemonism is, for the most part, defined by a person deciding that they want to call what they are doing or experiencing daemonism.
And a large part of that is often in connection to the community, whether directly or in a peripheral way, by taking inspiration from the practice, making use of the community's writings, and so on.
This is why I think daemonism is often misunderstood in an alterhuman context. Daemonism is not an experience, it's not an identity – it's just an idea we each take and make our own. And that's what it should be. That's the beauty of it!
Anyone could be a daemian if they want to. There's no requirements. A lot of people get started with daemonism purely because it sounds fun! A lot of people start with only their imagination, and many people remain so.
For others, it might become something else in time, or they might discover there was something underlying their imaginings all along. It's no more or less a practice of daemonism, either way.
A lot of alterhuman concepts don't apply to daemonism because of this. Fact is, there's plenty of daemians who are orthohumans too, and plenty of people who specifically see their daemonism as an orthohuman practice.
I see it get included under the alterhuman umbrella a lot, and I feel like it gives the wrong first impression to come at it from that angle by default.
Really, it's more comparable with being a furry. For some people, it is a deep, impactful, life-altering experience, and the people who feel that way are a vital part of the community. But equally, for some it is an exercise in whimsy, playfulness, or creativity – and those people are no less members of the community for it.
We're not united by being plural, or having thoughtforms, or being alterhuman. We're united by being a bunch of people who were inspired by some books (or a film or TV show) to play around with the idea of daemons, and ended up sticking with it for one reason or another.
While the individual experience can be very deep indeed, that isn't what makes daemonism what it is.
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