Post by Thylae on Aug 30, 2007 16:57:33 GMT -5
Please tell us about your personal therianthropy:
1. Your theriotype
2. Your awakening
3. What effects does your therianthropy/theriotype have on you and your daily life?
I will go first:
My theriotype is the periodical cicada. I am most likely of the 17 year variety (magicicada). Of the 17 year variety, there are three main types of cicadas: cassini, septendecim, and septendecula. Although difficult to pinpoint exactly, due to the extreme similarities between the three, I believe I am most likely magicicada septendecula. I will further explain my reasoning for this in the following paragraphs.
My awakening was probably one of the longest awakenings I have come across. I have always felt very small. While I am short compared to most now (5'1), when I was in elementery school I was about the same height as most, possibly even taller. I never felt that I "fit in" exactly, nor did I feel "human", at least by the standards of most people. (I do however admit that I am just as human as anyone else, even so). I felt magickal, but also animalistic.
I discovered the therian/otherkin community around age 14. However, being so young I had difficulty learning how to properly soul search. This led to much confusion for about four years, and last year I just recently began figuring things out. First, I realized that I am otherkin. I am a demonic spiritually (which in this article I will not be speaking much about as it is not the main focus). Yet I felt there was something more. Not something more in that I am two things spiritually, but there was something highly animalistic, strongly connected to nature...more mental in feel, and while demon could fit any of these traits, demon explaining my animal/small feelings did not feel right. Even so, these felt so insignificant at the time, I overlooked them. I had not even seen my theriotype yet.
Now, I live in the midwest, and as most midwesterners know, the periodical cicadas came out this past early summer. That was when I saw "myself" for the first time. I remember how I felt instantly connected to the cicada nymph (immature cicada), and when I saw the adult cicada, the feeling was even stronger. I felt at home and good with them. They felt like my family, and I couldn't stand to see them hurt. It was almost overwhelming when I saw them beginning to die out at the end of their brief stay above ground.
At first I thought this was a totem, but as the connection grew stronger, I realized the feeling pertained only to me. The feeling was me. Everytime I saw a cicada I saw myself, and as I meditated, I found their energy matched my own quite well, especially that of the female's. I realized that I feel like a cicada.
Now I was never a strong believer in multikin, so you can probably imagine how well I took this new discovery. I was already a demon, I couldn't be a cicada as well. Yet every other suggestion other than therianthropy felt false to me. Therianthropy was the only one that felt right. Eventually, I realized this was a case of mental therianthropy. I identify as a cicada.
Furthering my findings, I decided to find which type of magicicada I am. I listened to the sounds of their calls from online media players, and found that I felt closest to (as well as slightly aroused) by the mating call of the septendecula. While it may sound silly being aroused by such a thing, one must remember that this is the mating call of my theriotype, and it would also be difficult to distinguish between which I am otherwise. Both septendecula and cassini are smaller than magicicada septendecim. This may coordinate with my feelings of being very small, although possibly not as accurate as the mating call "test", as all of them are, needless to say, smaller than people.
This leads into the way being a cicada therian affects my daily life. While at the moment I can say little, I can say that it affects how I feel around other people. I feel small, sometimes a bit unnoticed. I am also clumsy. Cicadas are known for flying into objects just as I am known for crashing into them. However, this may just be me being uncoordinated and innatentive. Another thing I have noticed, is that I am very set on scheduals, and rituals. I seem to be most awake during the day, although adaptive. Cicadas do have a strong pattern, and are most active during the day. (I know most will argue that most humans are most awake during the day, but this is not necessarily the case.) One last "iffy" idea is that I feel most willing to mate during the late spring and early summer, but this mating urge seems to subside when July comes. This is around the time that the periodical cicadas would mate. They tend to be gone by the second week of July generally. It would be difficult to distinguish, though, if this is just a human tendency, as most people tend to be more easily willing to mate in the summer. Unfortunately there is also little information available on periodical cicadas. They remain quite a mystery still, and so thus, I have to rely mainly on my own feelings.
-Cicada
1. Your theriotype
2. Your awakening
3. What effects does your therianthropy/theriotype have on you and your daily life?
I will go first:
My theriotype is the periodical cicada. I am most likely of the 17 year variety (magicicada). Of the 17 year variety, there are three main types of cicadas: cassini, septendecim, and septendecula. Although difficult to pinpoint exactly, due to the extreme similarities between the three, I believe I am most likely magicicada septendecula. I will further explain my reasoning for this in the following paragraphs.
My awakening was probably one of the longest awakenings I have come across. I have always felt very small. While I am short compared to most now (5'1), when I was in elementery school I was about the same height as most, possibly even taller. I never felt that I "fit in" exactly, nor did I feel "human", at least by the standards of most people. (I do however admit that I am just as human as anyone else, even so). I felt magickal, but also animalistic.
I discovered the therian/otherkin community around age 14. However, being so young I had difficulty learning how to properly soul search. This led to much confusion for about four years, and last year I just recently began figuring things out. First, I realized that I am otherkin. I am a demonic spiritually (which in this article I will not be speaking much about as it is not the main focus). Yet I felt there was something more. Not something more in that I am two things spiritually, but there was something highly animalistic, strongly connected to nature...more mental in feel, and while demon could fit any of these traits, demon explaining my animal/small feelings did not feel right. Even so, these felt so insignificant at the time, I overlooked them. I had not even seen my theriotype yet.
Now, I live in the midwest, and as most midwesterners know, the periodical cicadas came out this past early summer. That was when I saw "myself" for the first time. I remember how I felt instantly connected to the cicada nymph (immature cicada), and when I saw the adult cicada, the feeling was even stronger. I felt at home and good with them. They felt like my family, and I couldn't stand to see them hurt. It was almost overwhelming when I saw them beginning to die out at the end of their brief stay above ground.
At first I thought this was a totem, but as the connection grew stronger, I realized the feeling pertained only to me. The feeling was me. Everytime I saw a cicada I saw myself, and as I meditated, I found their energy matched my own quite well, especially that of the female's. I realized that I feel like a cicada.
Now I was never a strong believer in multikin, so you can probably imagine how well I took this new discovery. I was already a demon, I couldn't be a cicada as well. Yet every other suggestion other than therianthropy felt false to me. Therianthropy was the only one that felt right. Eventually, I realized this was a case of mental therianthropy. I identify as a cicada.
Furthering my findings, I decided to find which type of magicicada I am. I listened to the sounds of their calls from online media players, and found that I felt closest to (as well as slightly aroused) by the mating call of the septendecula. While it may sound silly being aroused by such a thing, one must remember that this is the mating call of my theriotype, and it would also be difficult to distinguish between which I am otherwise. Both septendecula and cassini are smaller than magicicada septendecim. This may coordinate with my feelings of being very small, although possibly not as accurate as the mating call "test", as all of them are, needless to say, smaller than people.
This leads into the way being a cicada therian affects my daily life. While at the moment I can say little, I can say that it affects how I feel around other people. I feel small, sometimes a bit unnoticed. I am also clumsy. Cicadas are known for flying into objects just as I am known for crashing into them. However, this may just be me being uncoordinated and innatentive. Another thing I have noticed, is that I am very set on scheduals, and rituals. I seem to be most awake during the day, although adaptive. Cicadas do have a strong pattern, and are most active during the day. (I know most will argue that most humans are most awake during the day, but this is not necessarily the case.) One last "iffy" idea is that I feel most willing to mate during the late spring and early summer, but this mating urge seems to subside when July comes. This is around the time that the periodical cicadas would mate. They tend to be gone by the second week of July generally. It would be difficult to distinguish, though, if this is just a human tendency, as most people tend to be more easily willing to mate in the summer. Unfortunately there is also little information available on periodical cicadas. They remain quite a mystery still, and so thus, I have to rely mainly on my own feelings.
-Cicada