No. You don't look like a fool for asking questions.

I, honestly, would rather someone else would do the list thing. It gets tedious after a while and there are a bunch of "types of shifting" probably a few that hasn't been labeled yet. Some are only part of Therianthropy because they're part of Humanity. Berserker shifts, for instance, might happen to Mainstreamers as well as Therians.

My first shift happened in high school (after 30 something years, please don't ask me to pinpoint it). To some it happens earlier, to some later.

Some people shift almost constantly. I don't shift - I'm a contherian. I used to shift and, I guess at the most frequent it was about 2 or 3 times a day.

But your questions are complicated so I would suggest you go to a site like the Werelist or the Weresource or the Therian.Wikia and read a around.

WolfVanZandt wrote:

I, honestly, would rather someone else would do the list thing.

Well, I guess I'll give it a shot. And as WVZ said, don't feel silly for asking questions, asking questions is the best thing to do if you don't entirely understand something! So ask things away!



Hahah, I'm probably not going to do the definitions any justice, so if anyone can add to these, please feel free to do so!

Well...here's my basic definitions of shift types I think I understand adequately enough, I'll probably miss out a few however.

Physical Shift:
These kinds of shift are often highly controversial, and there isn't much evidence at all to support them. A physical shift would be the changing of your actual physical body, or at least parts of it, into aspects that would be of a non-human creature of animal. I personally can't say I agree with this one, I'd be one of the doubters for this type of shift if I'm honest. Being able to alter parts of the physical body we have through a shift is something I can't grasp or see occuring. There are other therians who would accept this kind of shift...but as I said, it's usually a controversial subject, and evidence for it is usually asked for to back up the claims.


Mental shift:
This is one I understand a bit more, as I've experienced this one. This would be an individual havng a change in their thoughts or mindset, to that of a animal that isn't human. So for me, it'd be a wolf. Although I believe that WVZ once mentioned that some Therians have felt to be able to shift into other animals besides their theriotype. Anyway, a mental shift can vary; some can be rather mild and somewhat un-noticable, they can be a bit stronger than that, or they could be pretty intense. They can vary dramatically in how intense they are, although for me (and I'm going to assume here, a lot of the Therian population) the more 'intense' shifts aren't as frequent.

I'm gibbering on quite a bit, so to summarise it up: It's a shift that involves a change within an individuals mindset, the intensity of the change can vary.

*realises he's really messing things up*

Phantom Shift:
Well, this one is when a person would feel a sense of a body part that isn't human. It could be a completely new body part, such as a tail for example, or it could be a body part they have, but the feeling is 'over' that one (can't think of a very good word for it), such as a hand feeling like a paw for example. The "Phantom" part will be referring to the "Phantom Limb" experience that some amputees have sometimes claimed to experience. Some therians have a constant feeling of this Phantom shift, whereas with other therians, it's something that can come and go. It's even possible for a therian to feel uncomfortable, or even in pain if a phantom shift is more intense. An example being perhaps if a therian has a phantom shift, and the feeling of a tail is present; if they were to sit in a chair, it may end up causing some discomfort, as it'd be like sitting on the tail. Thats a pretty poor example I guess. But, even though the person knows that the limb or body part is not physically there, it can feels as if it is as real as a physical body part.


Dream Shift:
This would be when the individual would dream of being/shifting into a particular animal or creature, not a human of course. I can't really add much more to it that that. I believe that everyone couild have a dream where they shifted into an animal, therian or non-therian. However, for me (so not the case for all Therians I assume), I tend to always dream as a wolf, when I can recall my dreams that is. So there may be some difference in a therians dream shifts, and a non-therians dream shifts.



I've come across , other types of shift mentioned, however...I cannot say I'd know very much about them. Astral shifts, Cameo shifts, Pseudo Shifts, there are a few that I don't know a lot about. The above is just my poor attempts at explaining the ones I know and think I understand enough.

If anyone else can add, by all means. As I've probably not explained the ones I did sufficiently, and there are shifts I have missed out.

wow thanks a lot guys! i havent had an "awakening" (yet?) but i suppose i feel like i should be somewhere else and i have the strangest feelings one day but i doubt it the next day but ive always been obsessed with wolves and i guess you could say i feel like a wolf when i feel a certain emotion i tend to react like a wolf would i dont exactly know how to put it but ill give an example ex.when im angry alot of times i growl and ive started to feel a longing (i mean i always kinda have but its kind of stronger)