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The Shifts Thread

aepaex - 2020-03-01 20:14:17

I felt like an alterhuman forum wouldn't be complete without some discussion on shifting, lol :v

Here is an article about shifts and different kinds of shifts (thank you Magen for the link). The article focuses on therianthropy but of course I want to open this topic up to everyone.

Without further ado:

You don't have to answer all (or any!) of the questions, they're just suggestions to generate discussion.

aepaex - 2020-03-01 21:38:01

I might as well start things off with my own answers, since I didn't do that with my last thread. Although my own experiences are limited so I don't actually have much to say.

Do you experience shifts? If so, what kinds?

The short answer is, I've got no idea! I certainly don't have obvious phantom shifts or anything like that. The closest thing I have is times where I'll feel more connected to a particular identity, and sometimes I refer to those as "shifts" for sake of ease. For instance, there are times where be hit with "spirit feelings/yearnings" which may be a type of mental shift, but IDK if I feel more like a forest spirit in those situations? I get something similar with my phils 'type-link-thing, where I'll feel less connected to my face, but that may just be varying intensities of dysphoria.

There were some weird times where… I felt like I was supposed to be experiencing a bilocation shift, but wasn't? Like, "I should be out there, but also in here, and I don't know if I actually am out there." But that was years ago and I don't really? Concretely believe in bilocation shifts personally? So shrug.

Does shifting (or lack thereof) impact your identity in any way?

As I wrote in my most recent essay:

"I enjoyed and related to the human experience too much to resonate with otherkin/therian narratives. And how did I feel, out in those woods? Mundane. I did not have (obvious) shifts, phantom/astral limbs, or past life memories- and not all otherkin do! But, I felt that if I could at least experience one of those things, then it would point me in the right direction. No luck."

So I would say that my lack of shifting has impacted my identity, in that it's made things more difficult to tease out. I had a harder time figuring out if I was anything nonhuman, and what that nonhuman thing was, etc. Not to say that shifting automatically gives you all the answers. I just think it would have made my awakening process more streamlined than it was.

If you have multiple identities (be it two kintypes, or a fictotype and a heart-type, etc.), does your experience with shifting differ between them?

Again IDK if my "feelings" count as shifts so I won't elaborate on them here, unless others want me to. I will say, however, that I don't really experience feelings with my lucky rabbit copinglink like I do with my other identities. I'm not sure if that's because it's new, because it's human, because it's more voluntary, or because its "core" is a constant in my life.

What is your opinion on shifting in relation to alterhumanity? Do you think it's still "relevant" in communities?

I feel like I've observed discussions on shifting becoming less common over the years. Either that, or "shifting" is starting to mean "feeling more like X" (like I talked about above) in some spaces. I don't see as many people talking about phantom wings, or accidentally growling at someone during a mental shift- maybe it's a stigma thing? As alterhumanity in general becomes more known, people want to act "normal" in order to "make the community look good" and such.

Still, I do think shifting is relevant and has its place. Not everyone shifts (and that should be normalized/respected) but it's an important and historical part of alterhuman culture.

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Cipher - 2020-03-02 03:07:17

Do you experience shifts? If so, what kinds?

Yes. I experience phantom, mental, and dream shifts (although with my beliefs you could say I'm in a permanent bilocation shift lol but I don't say that).

Does shifting (or lack thereof) impact your identity in any way?

Yep. My mental shifts especially are a major influence in how I perceive the world and connect with it as my Lucifer self. My emotions, thought processes, etc. that are altered during these shifts are insidiously subtle, but I feel they make my experience of my identity richer in a way that I think would be lacking if I did not experience them.

What is your opinion on shifting in relation to alterhumanity? Do you think it's still "relevant" in communities?

I believe it's still relevant. In certain circles it isn't talked about at all, with preference for terms like simply 'kinfeels' or 'kinshifts' (as opposed to the specific categories of shifts). However, I think that even those more general terms are still roughly talking about the same kinds of experiences - those moments when you in the present are closer to your kintype than at other times - and that that shows the understanding, if not the specific language, is still relevant. And @Phytanthrope that's strange, I saw the opposite with regards to shifting. The Old Ideal™ was that you had to conform to the community language of shifting and "prove" your shifts with sufficient evidence or you were "fake". I feel the relevance of that is, fortunately, being shunned and relegated to the past as it becomes more understood and evidenced to the community that shifting is not necessarily the be-all, end-all of an identity.

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vagabondsun - 2020-03-03 16:14:39

Do you experience shifts? If so, what kinds? […] If you have multiple identities (be it two kintypes, or a fictotype and a heart-type, etc.), does your experience with shifting differ between them?

Answering these two together because they're related for muis. I think wei're always something - like, there's no baseline vanilla mord. And wei're usually always experiencing some kind of phantom bits if wei stop and pay attention (which wei should make a habit of doing more). Right now it feels like I might be a kirin or a unicorn or some other kind of fancy ungulate. The animal part tends to be on a separate axis from everything else, like, I could be drow and feel like a big cat underneath that, or (one of) my fursona(s), or dragon, or whatever.

Wei're also median, of course, and that on top of the other stuff makes shifting terminology ill fitting at times. So wei tend to use The Flock's phasing terminology, and have semi-seriously described identities in terms of Sun/Moon/Rising before, also inspired by Rook.

What is your opinion on shifting in relation to alterhumanity? Do you think it's still "relevant" in communities?

Oh, I actually wrote about this last year. So, that was my take at the time, but the interesting thing is the responses it got when I shared it outside of tumblr. A lot of people commented that they didn't feel shifting terminology fairly described their experiences - that they were always X and that what others would identify as shifting they just considered letting loose, indulging their instincts, purposefully bringing those feelings to the forefront.

Therians had suntherian and contherian for that, but the fact that those words existed kind of shows that it wasn't the norm. I guess that's probably an artifact of the fact that therianthropy has its roots in the were community, huh? Whereas most everyone who responded to my mastodon crosspost used the otherkin label but were coming at it from the furry side of things.

Another observation I have: the place where I see the word 'shift' used the most these days? Is kinnie tumblr. It seems to have kind of genericised into that singular term for any kind of change in mindset/perspective/experience to that of a 'kin', but it's interesting that they've held onto it and ostensibly find it more useful than the current otherkin community.

So, my past self bemoaned the decline of shifting discussions in alterhuman communities, and I guess I stand by what that meant, because I was still observing that (at least on tumblr) people were talking less about their experiences actually being alterhuman, but that might be because we could do with looking at it through new lenses to keep pace with new understandings of alterhumanity we might have beyond mainstream otherkin and therian narratives now.

marron - 2020-03-11 14:58:55

Shifts are an interesting topic to me. When I first started in the kin community probably ten or so years ago, shifting was considered really important; I knew a lot of people who thought you couldn't be kin if you didn't have involuntarily shifts, especially mental shifts. I don't experience mental shifts much (being what you might call mentally integrated) and so didn't find much community there.

I still don't really experience mental shifts, though there are times I sort of experience them as a gnoll - because my gnollish identity is nearly bilocal, as opposed to deeply integrated as I am as an ooze and a machine. I find in particular that when I use gnollish language the gnoll in me is highly present, though even in my day to day life there are gnollish ways I think.

I also recently started experiencing phantom shifts again; I hadn't for quite some time, but I've been doing exercises to improve my somatic awareness for spiritual purposes, and they almost always trigger a phantom shift, particularly experiencing my feet as paws. So that's interesting - the purpose isn't to trigger a shift, but it does so regularly.

In some ways I think I'm glad the shifting discourse has died down - because it could be hegemonic and alienating - but in other ways, I kind of miss it. It would be nice to have more opportunities to discuss these experiences.

Vyt - 2020-04-14 19:19:42

Yes. Early on I used to feel phantom shifts more regularly. They're more rare now, and often only happen if I'm actively thinking about or discussing my therianthropy. More often I'll have the emotional feeling of longing for canine ears or a tail, as a form of emotional expression, than actually feel the phantom parts.

aepaex:

The closest thing I have is times where I'll feel more connected to a particular identity, and sometimes I refer to those as "shifts" for sake of ease. For instance, there are times where be hit with "spirit feelings/yearnings" which may be a type of mental shift, but IDK if I feel more like a forest spirit in those situations?

This is also accurate to my experiences! I used to call these mental shifts, but I'm not sure they are. Rather than being a time period in which my mentality or cognition is necessarily more dog-like , it's more that that identity feels more prominent. I connect more to dog things, want more strongly to express myself and be seen as a dog, and yearn for canine experiences more profoundly. Maybe these are not mental shifts but species dysphoria? But I hesitate to say so, because even in these 'yearning shifts' it's not necessarily a desire for a different body for me, so much as a desire for expression and acknowledgement (to be seen as myself). Then again, that does remind me a lot of how social dysphoria (with regards to gender) can also feel for me, so… :man_shrugging:

Does shifting (or lack thereof) impact your identity in any way?

It was big as "proof" to myself that I was a therian, back when I was new and questioning. Now shifts have just become part of the day-to-day background noise of life.

What is your opinion on shifting in relation to alterhumanity? Do you think it's still "relevant" in communities?

I do? It may not be a universal experience, but it's still a big part of many people's alterhumanity. They're still an important part of mine, even if they've changed and become less prominent over time. I think it's worth discussing and acknowledging, without turning it into a bar to clear.

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VeraLycaon - 2020-04-16 17:20:33

aepaex:

Do you experience shifts? If so, what kinds?

Absolutely. I experience some pretty vivid phantom shifts with a few different triggers tied to them (most importantly the lunar cycle, emotions, heavy exercise/other physical activity and just because I plain feel like it); the wolfish instincts and behaviors tend to come and go along with that (even if they're never totally absent) in spite of the fact that the whole lycanthropy thing is a pretty central part of my identity regardless of how 'human' or not I'm feeling at any given moment.

aepaex:

Does shifting (or lack thereof) impact your identity in any way?

Yes and no? The shifts themselves, as a thing that exist neatly slot into it all, but my current state within them doesn't impact anything in and of itself, as stated above. At the end of the day I'm always a werewolf, regardless of where my current state is at.

aepaex:

What is your opinion on shifting in relation to alterhumanity? Do you think it's still "relevant" in communities?

Again, yes and no. I don't really interact with the broader community much and honestly never have (probably to my detriment in retrospect because boy howdy if a newly awakened teenage me couldn't have used the support at the time), but I do sense from what I've been able to glean (both from what ends up in my lap and sentiments mirrored here) that it's not as important an aspect of the alterhuman community now than it used to be when I'd first heard of it in the late '00s or so (and failed to connect then largely due to my own insecurity at the time), and it's like… on one hand? If you experience this sort of thing that's a pretty sure-fire sign you're at least some flavor of alterhuman but on the other - this is a very broad umbrella that definitely expanded and became more interconnected in that span of time, and includes basically every experience that isn't plain old humanity as prescribed by society, so naturally there are going to be many different modes of existence there to which shifting in any way, shape or form is not at all relevant.

It is what it is, honestly. As much as I do share your concern about discussions not happening for respectability's sake, there's also just the thing where if it's less relevant to people's experiences overall, then naturally it's going to be discussed less often - even if it's never going to go away entirely, for the simple reason that there are always going to be people who feel these things and want to discuss them.

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Nim - 2020-07-02 10:58:38

Do you experience shifts? If so, what kinds?

I am not sure, I think so. It's mostly a mindset and a state of being all the time but then I do get cameos from things I don't believe to be.

Rarely I get a phantom dog nose, but mostly I will just try to replicate dog body language with my human body instead of feeling phantoms.

I also don't have very clear mental shifts, feeling like the vacillant therian description fits me better.

The only shifts I feel strongly about are my dream shifts, but then I am a demon/supernatural being in each and every dream so does it still count as a dream shift if it is simply my dream-state of being? I can shapeshift in my dreams but those aren't dream cameos as I can shapeshift as the demon I am.

So I think on one hand I can use all the shift terms if I want to, but at the same time I rather explain what I feel or what is happening with my own words.

Does shifting (or lack thereof) impact your identity in any way?

The fact that I am always a demon in my dreams heavily affects me, I am different from how I am in wake-life - I react different, I have different wants, I am supernatural with abilities, but I am still me.

Shifts in wake-life don't really affect me because I know what I am on a deeper level wether there are shifts or not - my dog and demon me are always there.

If you have multiple identities (be it two kintypes, or a fictotype and a heart-type, etc.), does your experience with shifting differ between them?

No it's quite the same for both of them though I can feel more dog or demon at a given time of course, but that is not connected to shifts I think. I have always had trouble saying my kintype and theriotype were "multiple identities" as a teen I called myself "foxelf" combining the animal and supernatural into one. I now use polykin but not because I feel like they are separate or different - I just know this is an easier way to communicate and it is technically what it is.

What is your opinion on shifting in relation to alterhumanity? Do you think it's still "relevant" in communities?

I don't really have an opinion on this. If it helps someone with explaining or talking about their experiences then that's great (: but personally I am fine with other words.