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[theolduvaigorge]

Mad About Monkeys: A Loving Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weird and Wonderful Kindred Creatures

A captivating primer on our fellow primates, from belligerent baboons to brilliant macaques.

by Maria Popova

“We share this planet we call home with an astonishing array of equally astonishing creatures. But, perhaps because we judge everything by our solipsistic human criteria, few elicit our admiring fascination more potently than monkeys — our fellow primates, which evolved some 35 million years ago; we share with them a distant common ancestor, from which we diverged on our separate evolutionary paths. (But, contrary to a common misconception, we did not evolve from monkeys.)

In Mad About Monkeys (public library), a wonderful addition to the best children’s books celebrating science, British illustratorOwen Davey presents a stunning and richly informative primer on these marvelous primates. However wildly different the 260 known species of monkeys may be from one another and from us, we continue to share surprising commonality with these distant cousins — from our highly networked societies to our capacity for play, that peculiar activity serving no other purpose than providing pleasure and delight.

Davey traces how their evolutionary history set monkeys apart from gibbons, lemurs, and chimpanzees — lest we forget, Jane Goodall has spent a good chunk of her career patiently debunking the popular misconception that chimps are monkeys — and how monkeys migrated from Africa to Asia to North America to develop into the distinctly different Old World and New World classes” (read more).

(Source: Brain Pickings)

[alecsgrg]

Lago Di Braies | ( by Mio Monasch )

[lobo-de-luna-deactivated2018082]

Sol Duc Falls

[sdzoo]

Capuchin monkeys on Flickr.

[gardensofgrace]

[shanerounce]

The cliffs at Owler Tor. Overlooking Hathersage Valley

Shot during January, 2017.

[thother]

[gilgameshs]

favorite video game characters  → isabela, dragon age.

[bright-witch]

[90377]

[danpetermann-deactivated2020010]

OZ

~

Textures of pacha mama <3

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instagram | website | prints

[flowershrine]

isabela mermaid!! she probably hoards treasures from pirate ships she sunk. 

i really wanted to add more detail but as im moving back to brazil i don have much time to draw this may :v

[dsxsbx]

Coastal Resort by Derek Liang

[gabrielaquevedoilustracion]

Are we humans or… (2014)

Illustration made for an class assignment

Acrylic and goauche on paper

[seriousotherkin]

How do I know if I’m otherkin? How do I know what my kintype is?

This is the most common question I get. I have several varieties of it in my inbox right now! Let me show you a couple of examples….

(sorry, not gonna write out the contents of each screenshot, but suffice it to say they’re mostly just wordy-er ways of asking “what am I if I’m otherkin at all?”)

I have been asked this question countless times before and I know I’m going to be asked again… so… post will become my default answer for sure.

No one can tell you whether you’re otherkin or what your kintype is. There is no shortcut to the end goal of knowing yourself.

You gotta figure yourself out yourself. No one can do it for you.

Here’s an earlier answer with some basic info.

Here’s another answer specifically about keeping logs (you should seriously consider doing that.)

And here’s an answer on the basics of Meditation.

And here’s a slightly more recent answer on the concept of “doing the work”.

If you really want to know yourself then it takes work. I can’t tell you who you are or what you are, you gotta work that out for yourself.

[theriannation]

Hello Dustin here, also known as Koda in the therian community. If it isn't too much trouble could I have some tips on helping other individuals start the journey to discvoring if they are a therianthrope and tips on methods one could could use to discover ones theriotype, if they believe they have one. I gave the personal advice of keeping a journal and recording any non-experiences but this person wants to jump to the conclusion that they are a wolf because they feel canine.

Journaling is great advice. It can help record thoughts and feelings that happen. It can also accompany and work well with the following methods that can help people decide if they are Therian and/or find a theriotype.

Introspection

Introspectionis the “observation or examination of one’s own mental andemotional state,mental processes, etc.; the act of looking withinoneself.”

Thisis related to having questions about who you are, what you are, andwhy. It’s important to examine why we believe that we are nonhuman.

Hereare some sample questions to ask yourself. Keep in mind that you maynot have the answers right away. That’s okay. Many people have takenyears to understand this aspect about themselves and conclude whetheror not they were indeed Therians or what their theriotype is.

Whydo I think I’m a Therianthrope?

DoI experience therianthropic shifts?

AmI tricking myself into feeling shifts or do they occurnaturally/involuntarily?

DoesModern Therianthropy explain feelings I’ve had prior to discoveringthe term or community?

DoI really have any behaviors that are nonhuman? What are thosebehaviors?

Mindfulness

Wehear a lot about meditation in the community, which has it’s pros andcons. What we don’t hear about is mindfulness. This is “thepractice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened orcomplete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on amoment-to-moment basis; also:such a state of awareness”.

Rational thought and self examination is important. Partof mindfulness is also knowing when to take a step back. If you arehaving trouble finding answers about yourself, it’s okay to put thisaside and focus on other things. If you are indeed a Therianthrope,this part of yourself won’t disappear just because you don’t focus onit. It’s always a part of who you are.

Research

It’simportant to actually learn about Therianthropy and some of thehistory of our community and see what otherTherians have experienced. Learn as mush as possible about the animal that you suspect is a theriotype, but branch out too. Research other animals. A lot of animal behavior is similar, but many animals have unique traits that might be a surprising match to how you feel.

Coming to the conclusion that one is Therian should not be rushed. Months or years of experiences should be taken into consideration. Asking for advice and information is good, but directly seeking validation from others is not going to allow a person the opportunity to learn about themselves and make that personal decision.

Thank you for your question, star-boy. I hope that you find this information helpful for you and your friend. There may be more suggestions and advice from other people in the community, so look for replies and reblogs too. -Ulfrvif

[muse-members-for-real-justice]

Sorry for sending so many asks my thoughts are fragmented as fuck but how does otherkin stuff use totemism besides the use of the word kin? I'm not saying you're necessarily wrong I'm genuinely asking.

Ain’t no problem homie.

Otherkin uses the concept from Totemism because of how similar they are when it comes to spiritual beliefs.

From what I understand, the Native Americans believe that their spirits is guided by a non-human being and they have a kin relationship with that spirit. The spirits can vary from any animal like a fox, wolf, rabbit, etc. This being is often called a totem.

Because of this they feel connected with this being, so eventually the persons spirit becomes their guide. In which many Natives and others identify with (which is why it’s often referred to as “spirit animal”)

This is where Otherkin comes in play.

Many people say that their kin with wolves, dragons and all that and claim that they’re not human, they’re Otherkin. That their spirit is *Insert animal/deity/person* and it’s who they identify and have a connection with. This is awfully similar to Totemism.

It doesn’t help when many try to use Native American beliefs as back up :/

I don’t have a problem with Totemism, that you have a spirit animal or anything similar. It’s a belief.

But when you’re running around saying that you were never human, acting as your supposed “kin” and start attacking others out of no where, it gets out of hand and taken to the extreme.

Hope this answered your question Anon!

[shadowfae]

I don’t think I have the necessary insight to argue this, so. @hallowedbone, @who-is-page, and @necrophagist- if any of you can explain why otherkinity =/= Native American spiritualism and all that jazz?

[hallowedbone]

For one thing, there isn’t some collective one size fits all Native belief in spirit animals. iirc they’re a very specific set of practices belonging to certain tribes, and closely guarded. Saying “it’s a Native thing” is ignorant. Unless you are Native and part of a tribe that experiences spirit animals, you know fuck all about them. End of story. 

Tutelary animal guides exist outside of those groups, secondly. I’m Celtic Irish and Korean, and both sides of my family have animal guides. How much they resemble Native American tribe practices I cannot say, but they’re there. My family’s “totem”, to borrow the vernacular, is the Phoenix. In discussion with some of my siblings and a spiritual elder, I might also be in communication with the bearded vulture. Highly likely in fact, but I take my time with these things.

These are SEPARATE ENTITIES, not kintypes. I don’t have a dragon spirit guide, I am a dragon, guided by the Phoenix and evidently this vulture. They heavily impact my identity, but they are not ME. My soul is a dragon, is an Arrancar, is a hanyou - whatever. That’s not the same as being linked to outside entities, and this isn’t that hard to understand. Don’t speak for or over indigenous people and our spiritualities. We didn’t ask. Otherkin aren’t a problem for us, and some of us fall under that label as is. 

 pinging @jeshire-katt , too.

[jeshire-deactivated20230502]

Yea, a kintype isn’t a totem. A totem isn’t a species identity, and their significance varies between cultures because as @hallowedbone​ said, what people call “native culture” is actually the many of different cultures and nations that existed before Europeans colonized North America, and not all of them practiced totemism. We aren’t just one people and it helps when you try to stick up for us to look into who something is appropriated from and why it is significant and shouldn’t be appropriated. I would especially do this if you heard it’s wrong on tumblr.. or heard it’s ok in spiritualist groups that consist only of people without any strong native heritage, lol.

FWIW, that also includes when people bring up Native cultures and traditions in otherkin communities but honestly, I’ve hardly ever seen it there. Sometimes, once in a blue moon, but not very often, and it seems like it’s looked down on in most places and seen as an asshole thing to do, which… good. Anyways.

In Ojibwa culture as an example (who’s language the word is derived from, the word “ototeman” which meant “brother-sister kin”), totems defined a number of clans (”doodem”). People within these clans often had a shared ancestor, were thought to have traits representative of the animal that symbolized their clan, and it was also used for things like splitting up labor, as these clans often lived near/in habitats that suited their animal.

And in all other cultures I’ve researched about this specifically, none of them have actually mentioned someone in themselves believing they are literally their totem, whatever it meant in their specific culture. Usually it’s a guide, something to do with lineage, or was something to aspire to be like. If there were spiritual practices involving nonhuman identities, involuntary or not, I haven’t heard of them yet (but would be very interested of hearing about them!).

Otherkin, on the other hand, personally believe they are nonphysically nonhuman, whether it be by reincarnation (often across universes in the case of spiritual fictionkin and non-therian otherkin), by spiritual mixup, or without any spirituality at all (ie, a quirk of the brain that doesn’t require any pathologizing and doesn’t disrupt one’s life). A key factor is too that it’s involuntary, so whether or not someone tried to claim stuff they have no right too (which as I said, looks to be rare, and thank fuck for that), they’d still identify as the thing. Our communities started up in the 50′s with elves meeting up in pagan circles (including tolkien elves, so fictionkion have also been around as long as the rest of the community), and then other people who weren’t elves came too because there was finally other people to relate to and share experiences with.

Oh, and therians are people who identify as earthly animals, which is a subset of otherkin with it’s own communities that I haven’t personally been into because.. I’m not a therian. So I may very well be wrong about people using native beliefs to fluff themselves up as more-valid-then-thou, or whatever.

[alynna-menagerie]

I am beginning to hate the words “I’m genuinely asking”.  It almost always means its going to be followed up by hater discourse.

[muse-members-for-real-justice]

Originally, I wasn’t gonna reblog but fuck it.

@alynnafoxie are you referring to me as a hater? Because if so, I wasn’t hating, I literally answered politely. I could’ve told anon off and say that Otherkins are crazy and need to go see a psychologist but I didn’t. I was being nice to the anon, believe it or not.

As for @shadowfae, @jeshire-katt, @hallowedbone I’ll admit you guys do make good points. But the thing is the reason why I’ve only mentioned Native American culture is due to the fact that there are people who feel like Otherkin takes part of their culture and makes it into their own. 

And for the record, I’m not speaking for the Indigenous people @hallowedbone. I never said I was. I only talked about why Otherkin was ripping off from Native American beliefs. Jesus, you’re acting as if I was. I mean I could easily say why it is appropriation of not only Native Americans, but also the Mesoamerican beliefs Nahualismo (a part of my Mexican roots), the belief that a human being can spiritually turn into an animal. 

I can easily post screenshots off why people feel that Otherkin is harmful to their beliefs.

But I won’t. (Mostly ‘cause I’m on my computer)

And mainly because I only explained from what I’ve gathered and my understanding. There is a reason why I didn’t went into it deeply. 

@jeshire-katt, may I have a source of the 1950′s Elves meeting in Pagan circles? I am interested in what that was all about. (Also I didn’t said that Kintype was a totem. I said they were similar)

The reason why I mostly used Native American culture as examples is because I see Otherkin often use the Natives as an example when being called out on their BS.

I appreciate you guys acting as if I was some sort of professional, but I’m not. Again, I only pointed out my point of view and how people feel about Otherkin and why they feel like it’s a ripoff to Native beliefs.

But hey, you do you I guess.

Your beliefs not mine

[theriannation]

Really tired of seeing this. Therianthropy and Otherkinity are not like Native American spirit guides or any spirit helpers for that matter. Spirit guides or Totems are independent, separate entities. They do their own thing unless they want to provide a person with guidance. This requires gaining the spirit guide’s trust and building a relationship with the spirit. Some spirit guides can stay with a person for the duration of that person’s life. Other spirit guides visit us temporarily to help with certain situations. 

The way I look at it, if any person looks back far enough into history, they have pagan, shamanic, or spiritually inclined ancestors or a culture that believed in spiritual entities and helpers. I believe that any person regardless of race can contact spirit animals or spirit guides and ask for assistance. Spirits and helpers don’t care about skin colour. They are here to help us if we ask, and if we are willing to work to build a respectful relationship with them.

Sometimes, when a person has a strong connection to this guide or helper, the spirit will lend a person its power or energy. This can make people feel animalistic or even feel shifts. That feeling is coming from an outside source. Not from within, so it’s different from Therianthropy or Otherkinity. A lot of people have this feeling confused.

When Therianthropes and Otherkin talk about theriotypes or kintypes, we are talking about an inner-self, an inner identity that is not human. This part of ourselves is not independent. We are in control of it. Or learn to control it after awakening. This identity is life-long. It does not leave us like spirit helpers often do. Therianthropes and Otherkin may have periods in their life when they don’t feel the animal-side of themselves as strongly, but it never completely goes away.