I've been silent for a bit. Haven't really been socializing or interacting. Depressive episodes are like that. Someone close to us also died suddenly, which hasn't helped. But I'm back now, for what it's worth. I have some catching up to do.
Knotted cord with K2 azurite stone and beads carved from European wolf bone, with a pendant featuring the therianthropy theta delta symbol with a wolf's face at the center. Made for wolf and dog therians. Natural materials such as fur and bone have long been used to assist a shapeshifter into achieving their shift or growing closer to their animal-nature.
I make things when I am bored and/or angsty.
One topic I had been meaning to write more on is the usage of natural materials (bones, skins, stones and etc) in the otherkin and therianthropy exploration process. This is a topic I and my system have decades of experience on, having utilized natural materials in our personal explorations, our art and our magic for almost three decades now. I am, however, out of practice with writing and producing long form content, something I used to be very good at. Time and covid have left me rusty, and I'm working on changing that.
I made a group for avians of various sorts: @Avianthropy
Currently rewatching the entire Blade Runner series, including spinoffs. Although Blade Runner wouldn't be considered my "source fiction", it did come from the same inspirational wellspring. I do see a lot of parallels and similarities in the fiction to the world I remembered as an android or cyborg. It is one reason why I often use "replicant" in posts relating to this topic.
People often speak of many otherkin, therian or alterhuman "identities", but I never found that wording as something I could identify with, personally. For me, I have one single identity, as one single person. However, that identity has many facets. All those facets are interconnected parts of a whole. They all relate to and with each other, all share a single crystal lattice. Angel and dragon, goshawk and bear. Even the cyborg.
Recently set up an account with LibraryThing as a container for my years of reading and research as other and therian. It is forever in process; backing up 20+ years of books is no small task.
I must admit, I'm experiencing some degree of culture shock in easing myself back into otherkin/therianthropy "community" spaces. The landscape has changed, and I am unsure if it's changed for the better, to be honest. In addition, in (re)joining certain social media groups and having to explain and justify my claims to people who were in kindergarten back when I was first deep in research and self discovery is...something, that's for sure.
Often my experience as an "alterhuman" is one where the past, present and future converge into one. Pictured is my black bearskin cloak, with my Eurasian bear claw pendant. But the claw holds a strange secret.
It has been quite a long while since I last participated in anything even remotely relating to the otherkin community. I had started, more or less, in 2005. After quite a few many years, I opted out for a time.
I'm an avid reader. One thing I'd like to get into the habit of doing more often is reviewing books I've read that are relevant to the topics discussed on this site. One of my end goals in doing this is to connect with others, something I am, on average, not very good at doing. Maybe I can expand my own reading list by having people write their own reviews in turn. I don't know, but it's worth a shot. Most of these books will be nonfiction. If there is a fiction book in there, it will be the exception rather than the rule.
I'm not sure I ever even formally introduced myself here yet. That might change. I'm still working on some posts and articles. I write quite a bit, mostly on my tablet. I then transplant posts here. It helps to preserve more of my writings.
Looking back, were there signs of your identity that you recognize now but overlooked at the time?
I'm not sure how much of an outlier this is, but I went ahead and created a group for robots, androids, replicants, reploids, anyone who relates to having been an artificial life form.
I've been around for awhile.
Rarely do I identify with anything mammalian. Usually it is (closer to) avian, or reptilian, if it is something that is "alive" and not android or replicant. But, when I do, it is the bear in particular. A common pattern that has stayed with me, to varying degrees, across multiple lifetimes.
Is the character you identify as the same entity as the character in the source material, or a version, an echo, or something related but distinct?
Who I am is actually of little concern here. Know me personally, and know who I am.