Amy Farrah Fowler Factoids.
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Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. Therianthropes are said to change forms via shapeshifting. Therianthropes have long existed in mythology, appearing in ancient cave drawings such as the Sorcerer at Les Trois Frères. - Wiki
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Cynocephaly: The condition of cynocephaly, having the head of a dog — or of a jackal— is a widely attested legendary phenomenon existing in many different forms and contexts. - Wiki
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Editor's note: I worked with a woman - a fervent convert to the Church now returned to paganism - who was convinced she was a dragon and could feel her tail swing as she walked. People like her refer to themselves as Therians. And they claim they have no mental illness. Some even go through extensive cosmetic surgery or tattoo work to look like the animal spirit they imagine themselves to be. I suppose the phenomenon is analogous to the transsexual experience; women trapped in male bodies and men trapped in female bodies. I was thinking about wolves in sheep's clothing and then I thought of ... Never mind.
Top photo: Black Sheep-Poodle
My daughter has told me about these people. When people stop believing in God, they'll believe in anything. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the story with the dogfaced icon???
Gette - click on 'St. Christopher' beneath the image and it will take you to the wiki explanation.
ReplyDeletePerhaps mistakenly, I thought he was one of those saints who prayed to be disfigured because he was so handsome and Bollywood agents were constantly after him trying to get him on contract for some films.
See Terry, this is why I love your blog. You connect weird dots, modern trends...
ReplyDeleteI was reading an article last night by Donna Steichen on the roots of all this stuff, spirit animals and so forth, and she said that 20 years ago when she would speak at Catholic colleges to parents, warning them that their children were being subtly inundated with new age, pagan, witchcraft, they scoffed in anger. Now it is commonplace and mainstream. Her artcile made me think of the sheepdog mess, funny you picked up on it too.
Ohhhhhhh, weird! I had no clue that St Christopher was portrayed this way in the Eastern Orthodox Church. I can't imagine that they really believed that there existed people with dog heads, but rather it was meant as a metaphor for something or other, wouldn't ya think?
ReplyDeleteThen there is always William Wegman:
ReplyDeletehttp://componentsofenthusiasm.files.wordpress.com/
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