The greymuzzle and the new kid on the block.

I laughed when the pup told me it knew everything.

"Honey, I don't know anything. You don't know anything. I could be a self-deluded fool. I could be a cosmic jester. I could be insane. I could be like everybody else. No one knows anything with absolute certainty. Does the world exist outside of our minds? Do we exist beyond our own imagination? When we die, and all goes blank, does the world die with us?"

The pup looked confused.
"Well, if I'm hurt, or you're hurt, we bleed... and we all know the world carries on after we die, because plenty of people die and we're still here."

"But does our world continue? Are our perceptions immortal?"

The pup shifted awkwardly and averted its eyes.

A parliament of ravens called from the leafless treetop. I glanced up with sensitive eyes. The pale winter light made me squint.

"You're weird", muttered the pup. It walked away dismissively.

I shrugged and talked to the ravens.

Rant from my homepage...

I wrote this a few years ago, but after spending the morning peeking at some of the wacky animal-people LJ's and every board out there, this is even more relevent:

Rant #3: Lycanthropy, animal spirituality, and its butchery on the net.

I've been reluctant to place anymore lycanthropic subject matter on my page, mostly due to the incredible farce it's become on the net over the years. I've tried to distance myself from the score of nutballs on the web who have made themselves into cult figures, gurus of an entirely subjective and largely undefinable school of thought and spiritual practice. I've finally decided to rip out the floodgate of my emotions on the subject and talk, so here goes:

First, a few clarifications for the uninitiated: identifying with an animal spirit has NOTHING to do with bestiality, as many think. Animal spirituality has nothing more to do with sex than being a Christian does - I.E., nothing in and of itself. Why the need to mention this off the bat? Because of the horde of idiotic web sites "defining" lycanthropy over the years, and equating such spirituality with sexuality, and not just healthy sexuality but all manner of odd, negative perversions. It angers me to no end that someone looking to find a credible site on animal spirituality is now likely to turn up a page supporting "zoophilia", a flowery term for bestiality, or a site on "plushophilia", sex with stuffed animals. Why and when did lycanthropy get dragged into such stupidity?

In part it's just the nature of the net, and of any subculture. The net attracts more than a few antisocial, deviant types - not all deviations are bad, mind you, but some are and with the anonymity of the net, it's easy to find others who share such deviations. And, as with any subculture, some weirdos are drawn in, almost like a cult.

I've been interested in, and seriously studied, mythological, Hollywood and clinical lycanthropy since the age of twelve, though before that I usually pretended to be one form of animal or another and often played as such. Later I delved into the slew of New Agey books on animal totems and spirituality, which was pretty on par with my feelings beneath all of the fluff. I went on-line when I was twenty-two, for the first time, and decided to do a web search of werewolves. A handful of sites turned up, including a newsgroup called alt.horror.werewolves (AHWW). Intrigued, I lurked there for awhile and was impressed by how close-knit and serious about animal spirituality the regulars were. After a month I posted, in February of 1995. The group was so warm, caring, and interesting. I felt an amazing sense of camaraderie with these folk, and began meeting with many of them. Soon my apartment became the "were-house", so many folks from the group would pop in and visit from time to time. A few experiences were less than positive, and made me realize that I had to be more assertive and discriminatory. I began to notice a decline in serious animal-spirit people around 1997. It suddenly seemed vogue to be a spiritual "werewolf" (or whatever were-animal you'd like to insert), and a web search on lycanthropy would turn up dozens of sites. Certain individuals began claiming authority on the subject, or housing "information" sites that were thinly veiled claims of authority. I left AHWW then, and shied away from most lycanthropic things on the net.

A year ago I did another web search on lycanthropy, and was disgusted by what I found. Something so deep and meaningful had become just another cult, a commercial niche. The common age of this new breed is under 21, and clinically depressed - kids looking for super powers, blaming their loneliness and antisocial attitudes on being something other than human and therefore misunderstood.

I once tried to reach out to these people, to help them and reassure them. Now, though, *they* are authorities at age fourteen, and don't want help. They don't respect or talk to anyone who might have a lifetime of experience, unless they have a big flashy "kewl" website with lots of popular key words like "Were", "therianthropy", definitions for different kinds of "shifting", or even handy little java tests to determine one's animal-self - "look, kids - no more years of study or deep thought necessary! Anyone can be a were-whatever in a matter of seconds!"

And, so, with only a moment's hesitation, I took every lyanthropic web ring, link, and page off of my site. I kept my revision of AHWW's "Feline FAQ" up, under "Feline", but removed all references to "Were" stuff from it, as it took a long time to compile the information and it's a worthy reference for feline mythology and lore.

It's my hope that someday the lycanthropy trend will die down and only the true will remain, but I'm afraid it's probably too late for that. If you're stumbling upon this somehow and are new to the animal spirituality thing, stay away from the onslaught of websites and "resources" on-line. Instead, read all you can - yes, real books. Study animals, fiction and nonfiction, even the cheesy, boring, dry, and bad stuff. Then compare it all, and draw your conclusions. It takes far more time than the net gurus will lead you to believe, but it will make all the difference.

*******************

Another trend seems to have cropped up: the non-spiritual vs. the spiritual. What a crock! There should be dialogue and respect for both "sides". Instead, the scientific types are quick to dismiss those who are spiritually inclined as "irrational new age fools", and the spiritual types are quick to label scientific types as "faithless, hyper-critical fools".
There's room for all kinds, folks. Why encourage yet another trend, another excuse to draw lines?