And now to possibly destroy any credibility I may have and talk about shifting!~ Now, it's not what you're probably thinking, and if it was you'd be right in thinking me crazy, but it's not, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in a second. What is shifting? Well, in therian slang, shifting is a change (or
shift) in one way or another towards one's animal side. I managed to find a fairly decent list of the different types of shift, so I can go through them and briefly explain each one and my take on it (or experiences with it, as the case may be.)
Shifting Terms:
Astral Shift - A shift experienced in the astral plane.
I've had approximately no experience with this, I don't tend to have much to do with the whole "astral plane" side of things, so the definition here will have to do, I can't elaborate.
Aura Shift - A shift where the external energy, or aura, becomes like one's theriotype.
Once again, no experience here, this is another thing I don't have anything to do with.
Cameo Shift - A shift that a therian experiences as a different type of animal other than their normal theriotype.
This is usually done deliberately, when a therian wants to experience what it's like to be a different animal (as it were), with varying degrees of success.
Dream Shift - A shift experienced while sleeping through dreams.
Sometimes called a D-shift. Oh look, something I've done! Not much to say about this one though, it's a dream where I'm a wolf. I generally do wolfy things in said wolf dream. That's about it. I tend to wake up being one of the other kinds of shifted, though. Some people have control over these, these are the same people who can control any dream they have.
Mental Shift - A shift that is experienced mentally, in which the therian's mindset becomes more like that of the theriotype.
Also called an M-shift. I get these a lot. Most of the time if I say I'm shifted, it's usually a mental shift, phantom shift, or some combination of the two. I've had people in the past ask me what it feels like to be shifted, but honestly, it's hard to put into words exactly what it feels like and how it's different from normal.
Phantom Shift - A shift that gives the sensation of non-existent body parts attached to the body.
A lot of people get hung up on this one, saying (and I'm almost quoting here) that they get weirded out when they hear someone talking about a tail that doesn't exist and how they have to sit weirdly or whatever to accommodate it, and I actually can vouch for this. I know some people will call that a delusion or hallucination, but I can't deny that I felt
something that isn't physically there. I've felt phantom wolf ears, a muzzle, and tail before, but I find the muzzle's the easiest to notice for me, I do get a phantom tail sometimes, but it's a lot more subtle. I don't get it nearly as often or strongly as some other therians do. Actually one of my closest friends can feel a phantom tail and ears almost all the time. It's near-constant for him.
Physical Shift - A widely desired but scientifically unproven shift where the body transforms into that of the theriotype of the individual.
Also called a P-shift. This... doesn't happen. At all. It's pretty much listed everywhere because everyone wishes they could do it, and there are some people still looking for a way, but it's generally accepted outside of those few people that it's not possible and not going to happen. Sucks, but that's the way it is. Also of note, there ar people who troll comments sections and forums claiming to have "the secret of p-shifting" or that they're "the lone survivor of a werewolf pack" and they're invariably not sharing the secret in a public forum "because it's too dangerous" or "they're hunting me" but they'll tell you in private, in an email, of course. Once they get your email address, they'll usually either spam you, sign you up for shit, ask for money, or feed you some bullshit ritual taken from the weirder corners of the web that does nothing. I've seen them show up before and they usually get run off the site by people asking for tangible proof, videos, or pictures. None of them have the decency to even pretend to photoshop something, they usually claim they're allergic to cameras or something (or "I don't have a camera" or "I don't want to endanger myself". One wonders why they bothered posting that they're a werewolf on a public forum if they're so afraid of being "hunted".) TL;DR, P-shifting is near-universally considered to be bullshit.
Sensory Shift - A type of shift where the therian's senses become more like their animal counterpart.
I tend to lump this in with mental shifts, not sure why it has its own entry here.
Hopefully that clears some more stuff up, and I'm really hoping I didn't just kill all of my carefully accumulated credibility here
