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I would really like to find out, what people believe of werewolves, in the sense that thier not blood thirsty killers. People who feel so deeply that they are one, wether it be spirit, or the belief that they shift to one.

What is everyones thoughts on this? Is this a common representation in the mythology. Have most of the movies sort of...made it hard to accept that there could be an order of werewolves, not of just physical, but also spirituality?

ps. I would of gone searching thru the boards, but with so many pages, with so many responses. I felt this was easier. I do apologise.

It seems you may be referring to therianthropy.

Here. I think you should read up on it. Read under Modern Subcultural Use of the Term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therianthr ... f_the_term



Therianthropy has come up many times on this board.

If you have any questions, we'll help you out.

thank you

You're very welcome. Hope to see you around the boards!

I wonder if someone who is deeply therian (Dreams, Phantom appendages, emotions, instincts, identification...the works) might actually be consdered as a non-shifting Were'? Is the Shift the demarcation point? Or is it just an adjunct?

trisotter wrote: What is everyones thoughts on this? Is this a common representation in the mythology. Have most of the movies sort of...made it hard to accept that there could be an order of werewolves, not of just physical, but also spirituality?

I don't think I've ever seen "spiritual" werewolves in the movies, but there are a few in books. Right now, the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are Lee Killough's creations in her novel "Wilding Nights". They are a different species than humans (cannot interbreed) and they are mentally/emotionally different too, but they are non-shifting. Their powers are a kind of projective telepathy combined with increased strength, so that other people see them as dangerous animals when they "shift" but they don't physically change, and they know that they don't change.

RedEye wrote:I wonder if someone who is deeply therian (Dreams, Phantom appendages, emotions, instincts, identification...the works) might actually be consdered as a non-shifting Were'? Is the Shift the demarcation point? Or is it just an adjunct?

If you ask me...HELL NO...therians who call themselves Werewolves are nothing but dillusional posers in my eyes.

Yes...the transforming is Essential in defining a Werewolf from someone who merely suffers from clinical lycanthropy (which is a mental disorder).

...I'm sorry to be so harsh about this, but...just, NO...

Very harsh indeed Vuldari. What about a therian who doesnt actually physically shift but believes it is possible?

MoonKit wrote:Very harsh indeed Vuldari. What about a therian who doesnt actually physically shift but believes it is possible?

Metamorphosis IS possible. Catterpillars and Tadpoles do it all the time, and humans change from tiny, stubbly limbed children into large, versitile adults.

...it's just that humans changing into wolves doesn't happen. Our bodies just don't have that capacity built into them, regardless of whether or not it is technically possible for a creature to exist that changes to that magantude within a lifetime.

I believe it is possible for me to learn how to make beautiful music, and I have a heritage of musically tallented people in my family (some semi-famous), and I like music very much...but does that make me a Rock Star?

NO.

Believing something is possible is very different from it being currently TRUE.

Seconded. Well put, Vuldari.

As nice a thought as it is, I really don't see it happening. It goes against so many laws.

Vuldari wrote: I believe it is possible for me to learn how to make beautiful music, and I have a heritage of musically tallented people in my family (some semi-famous), and I like music very much...but does that make me a Rock Star?

NO.

Believing something is possible is very different from it being currently TRUE.

Very true. This is one of the fine distinctions that Forteans are often getting misquoted and misunderstood about. Forteans (like myself) tend to champion the idea that nearly everything is possible, but that very few things have enough evidence going for them to be considered likely. Thus, they often get mistaken for believers in all sorts of kooky ideas at first glance. At second glance, they get attacked by both believers and skeptics because they resist both views.

Vuldari, I suggest that you read up on therians and not dismiss them so quickly.

MoonKit wrote:Vuldari, I suggest that you read up on therians and not dismiss them so quickly.

I'm quite familiar with Theriantropy and what it does, and does not pertain to.

My statement is based on my perception that the word "Werewolf" ONLY applies to a creature that transforms between a shape that is human, and another of, or associated with a Wolf.

I do not include myself among those who consider any possible combination of man and wolf imaginable to be applicable to the term "Werewolf."

Being a soul reincarnated in human form, having been a wolf in your previous life...or a spirit that was possibly Intended to be a wolf, but misplaced in a human body... or are bound to the wolf as a spirit guide...or Whatever...even if a person was a wolfs brain transplated into a human body, or vise versa, I still would not call that creature a Werewolf.

Though that may be the base of the construction of the word, it is not so simple and open ended as "Wolf + Man = Werewolf". ...not as far as I'm concerned. "Werewolf" means something a little more specific than that. IMHO

Then again,
if you got involved in the therian community early enough,
the word "therianthropy" was unknown, as was "therian".
Wolf therians were called "spiritual werewolves" and things along the line.
That's why lycanthrope.org was a legitimate site-the terminology has
drifted and become more specialized.

WordWolf wrote:Then again,
if you got involved in the therian community early enough,
the word "therianthropy" was unknown, as was "therian".
Wolf therians were called "spiritual werewolves" and things along the line.
That's why lycanthrope.org was a legitimate site-the terminology has
drifted and become more specialized.

Exactly...

...they realised that the term they started with was not appropriate and so choose a better, more suited one.

Vuldari wrote:

WordWolf wrote:Then again,
if you got involved in the therian community early enough,
the word "therianthropy" was unknown, as was "therian".
Wolf therians were called "spiritual werewolves" and things along the line.
That's why lycanthrope.org was a legitimate site-the terminology has
drifted and become more specialized.

Exactly...

...they realised that the term they started with was not appropriate and so choose a better, more suited one.

Yep, the terms have changed quite a bit over the years. The same beliefs have been around for a bit over a decade, but the popularity of the different beliefs has changed, as has the names they are called by. Early on, p-shifter claimants were more accepted, as was the idea that all therians might be latent p-shifters. Now, both of those ideas are extremely unpopular. Early on, the idea of wolves reincarnated in human bodies was unpopular, but now it is everywhere.
The therian community likes to complain about how writers zero in on the few p-shifter claimants left and then write about them rather than the more ordinary members (see http://therithere.comicgenesis.com/kinbooks.html). Which is especially galling since those are usually people who've been rejected by the rest of the community. But, as an author and avid werewolf fan, I see exactly why writers do this. People who collect together werewolf folklore and sightings want something that at least adheres in some small way to the core definition of "werewolf." People who don't even claim to be latent p-shifters are miles away from the definition of "werewolf." Practically speaking, they don't really claim to be werewolves at all, except in a symbolic sense.
Try comparing werewolves to some other topic, and you quickly see how it works. Frankly, if I was writing a book about famous football players, I might include a couple stories about people who had claimed to be famous football players and could never back up those claims with evidence, but I would never, ever include stories about people who merely claimed to be "symbolic" famous football players.

trisotter wrote:I would really like to find out, what people believe of werewolves, in the sense that thier not blood thirsty killers. People who feel so deeply that they are one, wether it be spirit, or the belief that they shift to one.

What is everyones thoughts on this? Is this a common representation in the mythology. Have most of the movies sort of...made it hard to accept that there could be an order of werewolves, not of just physical, but also spirituality?

ps. I would of gone searching thru the boards, but with so many pages, with so many responses. I felt this was easier. I do apologise.

look up Goldenwolf, this art I think is one of the better representations of a spiritual werewolf.

(choosing to ignore crazy people spiritual werewolf angle who think they are werwolves but don't shift completly ignoring the defintion and confusing animal totems with hollywood terminology despite numbers of people who follow it)