What is spiritual therianthropy?

The word “therianthropy” comes from the Greek roots “therion” and “anthropos.” Therion means beast or animal, while anthropos means human.

Today, we use the term therianthrope or therian to refer to people (like me!) who identify as a specific type of animal. Therianthropy refers to the phenomenon at large.

For me, this is on a spiritual level, but other therians sometimes contextualize their experience differently. This site focuses primarily on therianthropy through a spiritual lens, so I cannot really comment on no-spiritual perspectives on it. My preferred way of describing therianthropy is this: I’ve a human brain and body, but my soul is engrained with this animal identity. I (and many other therians) feel that their souls are not entirely human.

This is a variation of spiritual therianthropy. For me, this is an integral part of my spiritual existence. Spiritual therians seek metaphysical explanations, often verging into (what I would consider) occult for their nonhumanity. Many of us attribute our animal connections to past lives as our theriotype. I think this is a very valid and useful theory. Many cultures throughout history believed in reincarnation. As an occultist already (sort of), it is part of my personal worldview.

Not all therians believe in reincarnation, though. Others believe that their therianthropy came about through other reasons. For example, some see it as a sort of cosmic accident where a soul meant for one creature ended up in a human body. Still, others see it as a metaphor for things humans don’t currently understand. I can only accurately express my own perspective. So, I won’t talk too much about those theories here.

There are as many explanations for therianthropy as there are therians, though! Which answer is right? It depends on the therian and how they construct their own beliefs.

Now, I realize that this whole concept sounds, well… pretty weird! Is it?

Compared to a lot of ideas, therianthropy is an unusual belief. But! It’s not that different in form than other, more common spiritual beliefs. Most therians live boring lives, regardless. In fact, many find their lives strengthened by an awareness of their therioside. Of course, plenty of people still think we're weirdos, but that's not our problem!

Therians are a sort of subtype of otherkin. The word otherkin, coined in the early 1990s, refers to anyone who identifies as non-human in some way. You can read more about that here. Therians and otherkin are part of an even broader category called alterhuman.

Alterhumanity refers to any deviation from standard idea of what it means to be human. The category includes phenomena such as soulbonding, too. Therians are alterhumans, but not all alterhumans are therian or otherkin.

This site touches upon general alterhuman topics, but mostly focuses on the experience of therianthropy, and specifically, that of spiritual therianthropy.

Spirituality presupposes a metaphysical aspect of reality - in short, an unseen world resting behind the one we experience everyday. Some people see this world or plane as the purview of God(s) and incorporeal spirits.

Others might view it as simply another slice of reality, yet populated by energy rather than matter. Still others see it as merely another layer of subjective meaning to reality, rather than an objective, concrete thing.

Regardless of what you believe, spirituality teaches us that there’s more to reality than meets the eye. This perspective pervades history. Evidence suggests human spiritual beliefs appeared long before the first cities were built or the first crops tended.

The tendency to look at the world and say, “There must be more to this. Yes, there is more!” has been with humanity for thousands of years.

What about therians, though? Socialized as humans, we tend to have a human’s inclination towards spiritual exploration. Some of us are drawn to spiritual perspectives. We often channel this into concrete spiritual beliefs about therianthropy itself. Spiritual beliefs are unique to the individual, and very diverse.

When most people hear the term “spirituality,” though, their mind turns to the idea of a God or Gods, worshiped by the faithful. This is probably the most common expression of spirituality in the world today. Religion is spiritual, but not all types of spirituality are religions or even related to religious belief systems.

It would be fair to say that religion is an organized form of spirituality, and a collective, often communal, experience of the spiritual world. If we were to tally up all of the religious systems and beliefs held by humans over the millennia, we’d likely find them numbering in the tens of thousands, at the very least.

Spirituality permeates civilization on this earth, and all humans are touched by it to some degree, but few of us agree completely about what it all means. None of us can conclusively answer all of the “big questions” in life, at least not in a way that will satisfy everyone. It’s quite easy to find someone out on the street who will tell you, “Yes, I’ve got it all figured out spiritually,” and perhaps try to convert you to their own perspective regarding concepts like a theoretical immortal soul, deity, and then some.

In fact, you could likely find many, many such people, none of them in complete agreement! Even among those who claim a specific religion, theological and spiritual differences can be vast. This is naturally the case with therians, as well. I am a spiritual therian. To elaborate, for me, this means that I gravitate towards spiritual (what some might call mystical or even occult) explanations for my therianthropic identity.

There are many varied spiritual explanations for therianthropy. Each therian, spiritually or otherwise, experiences their therioside in a way utterly unique to them. You won’t find two therians who approach things in quite the same way.