April 3, 2018
I wish theriomythic was a more popular term. I find it to be particularly useful because it bridges the therian and otherkin communities, while emphasizing that there are clearly differences between the communities, and allowing otherkin who don't really identify with the frequently metaphysical and fantastical otherkin musings to explore a more animalistic side of their identity.
I think one of the reasons I like it so much is because the term really resonates with my experience as non-human. I entered the online alterhuman community by way of personal therian websites, and I spent a few years reading primarily therian essays before moving on to draconic or general otherkin sites, and my time reading therian materials heavily influenced my views on my identity. Because of this, I feel far more at home in therian circles than I do in strictly otherkin circles, even more so if there are psychological therians present. I think one of the things that turns me off from draconic and general otherkin discussion is that so much of it is focused on past lives and world-building, and less focus is on feelings and experiences in this life as a non-human in a human body. I forget who, but someone recently put remembering past lives as a therian as "not particularly interesting", considering few groundbreaking and earth shattering things happen in the day-to-day life of a squirrel, hawk, or sea-slug, and I think as a result, even with spiritual therians, there's less focus on what was and more on what is. Considering I'm of the belief that my identity is psychologically based, hearing endless talk about past lives and soul swaps doesn't do much to get me excited, while hearing accounts of how therianthropy or otherkinity affects life as a human piques my interest far more.
There's so much crossover between communities now that therianthropy and otherkinity have started to go mainstream (certainly there's always been crossover between communities, and indeed that's where the term theriomythic originated, but this amount of crossover is far greater), and I think the communities are shifting to a more otherkin-esque outlook on identity, complete with a heavy emphasis on past life memories and magic. This is fine, but I feel this takes away a bit from the psychological members of the community and those who don't have past life memories, either because they don't remember, or that they simply weren't worth remembering.
Perhaps I'm giving theriomythic too heavy a meaning, maybe because I'm nostalgic for the days I was just discovering the therian community and reading the then earth shattering revelations and experiences written down for me by older therians, but I think it's really worth bringing it back. It hearkens to a time when interaction within the communities happened primarily on forums and was more about substance and community than aesthetic. For me, theriomythic is a term and a feeling. It cries "my species may not exist, but I too am an animal and I can bear my teeth with the best of them". It brings down the mighty dragon to a lowly beast as ordinary as a field mouse. It says "I am an animal, and no manner of myth or story-telling can change that". I am a theriomythic, an animal as ordinary as the next, except for the fact that my kind doesn't exist.