The Animal Lounge (original) (raw)

Hey there everyone, I'm Kaitlyn, though I generally go by the name Ekunyi when discussing my animal-side and spirituality. Some of you may know me from the animal_quills community, but I've been watching this group for over a year as well and figured that it was about time for me to step out of stealth-mode so that I could start responding to all of the interesting topics that have been posted here. In terms of personal human info, I'm 19 years old and a rising junior music major/anthropology minor at a liberal arts school in Ohio.

I consider myself to definitively be a wolf therian, although I could not tell you anything about having a distinct moment in which I suddenly was aware of being an animal-person. It was always just a part of me, even if I didn't have a name for it. When I was little and still knew nothing of wolves, I would dream of what I perceived as pointy-eared dogs with fluffy tails curling up around me, and these dreams comforted me when I was the most frightened or upset. On long car trips I stared out the window of the vehicle, and imagined myself running over hillsides for hours as one of these "dogs". I never played house with my elementary school friends unless I got to be the protective dog, bounding up and down the stairs on all fours because it was the one location where my four limbs moved as they aught. Therian was a term that came later, discovered first by my best friend and spiritual-sister. It didn't change who I was, but instead meant that there were other people who still, as adults, had moments when their mind was more animal than human, people who had instincts they couldn't entirely fulfill. It meant that I wasn't crazy for being what I had always been, and that there were people who understood what I meant when I said that I felt like Wolf "is a major part of who I am." Then, as I spent time trying to pinpoint the exact creature which matched my inner self, I was able to learn more of the details of that Self, and discover more about who I truly was as an individual. It was an incredibly enlightening, strengthening process for me.

I have strongly identified with red wolf (canis rufus) for a number of years now. I'm currently in the process of doing more research in order to make sure that this is still the best fit for my animal-side, as I was previously unaware of a number of very unique subspecies of canis lupus, each which differs slightly from the others in regards to size, prey, coat-texture, pack-dynamics, and physical location. I look forward to continuing my personal search to better learn about myself while getting to know all of you through your writings and discussions.

-Ekunyi