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Shape Shifters
Shape shifting is the transformation (mentally or physically) of one's self into an animal. A 'theriomorph' is a shapeshifter; a being who can assume an animal as well as a human form.
A spiritual theriomorph is someone who at least sees aspects of animals in his or her personality and actions, and those aspects shape who he or she is. More so in the meaning of a spiritual shapeshifter, being able to assume animal as well as human form in spirit (or a mix of the two).
There are two types of shapeshifting; changing your light body in the astral to power animal, and changing your physical form on the earth plane into an animal. Perhaps this is where the lycanthropy legend actually began. Very adept shamans are said to be able to change their physical human forms into that of animals.
During certain ritual dances, humans can be possessed by the animal spirit. Although they outwardly do not become the animal, their body may contort or move in the fashion that the animal is most comfortable. Vocalizations are also heard, such as the cry of the Eagle, scream of the Falcon, etc.
These power dances are not harmful, as long as they are done within some type of sacred circle. Inwardly, the individual melds with the animal. The human's sense of smell or sight may be heightened, there could be increased dexterity in the limbs, or a feeling of savage power that the animal may represent.
Depending on animals for food and fur for warmth, primitive man knew that his destiny was linked with that of the beasts. His almost religious fascination with the creatures he hunted is evidenced by cave drawings found as far apart as France and Australia.
Many early civilizations revered animals as the incarnation of gods; in ancient Egypt, for example, both the cobra and the cat were objects of worship. It is not surprising that stories of humans turning into beasts, has become deeply ingrained in the popular imagination. Often such metamorphoses are associated with fear and terror.
In central and eastern Europe, for example, a belief in the bloodsucking vampire that condemns its victims to a living death has persisted into the 20th century.
In West Africa until recently, members of a secret society called the Leopard Men believed that simply wearing the leopard's distinctive spotted skin would magically imbue them with that animal's fearsome strength.
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Forms of Shape Shifting
There are many different styles of shapeshifting to be seen. One is the literal bodily alteration where the body physically changes. Depending on what the subject is changing into, the different parts of the body will shift, stretch, compress, and expand. This type of shapeshifting is often against the subject's will and can be a slow and painful process; articles of clothing are usually lost or destroyed, as in the case of the werewolf or the transformation of Eustace into a dragon in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
A second style is what can be called the 'fold over'. In this transformation, the subject new flesh forms overtop of their original. In a sense, it is almost as if they are wearing a body over another, and their old form is underneath. In Margaret Weis's Mistress of Dragons, an evil dragon called Marista steals human hearts and uses them to acquire a human form which she changes into in this way. This form of shapeshifting is most commonly painless but can be traumatic if the change was unintentional, as in the case of Link in the video game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, where the hero is transformed into a wolf. Clothing is rarely lost in this process. In retransformation, the form will fold back and the subject will 'crawl' back out.
The third is the fastest and most convenient type of shapeshifting. In this style the subject in a sense has two separate bodies that they can freely switch between. Such being can be found in the Harry Potter series, in which they are known as Animagus. This change is always intentional and won't harm clothing, or any other article on the body. Injuries sustained on either of the bodies usually don't carry onto each other, although death of one of the forms usually results in the death of both forms and the individual in question. During the shapeshift, there sometimes is a moment when the subject seems to disappear.
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Multimedia - Google Video |
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Shapeshifting Powers
One motif is a shape change in order to obtain abilities in the new form. Berserkers were held to change into wolves and bears in order to fight more effectively. In many cultures, evil magicians could transform into animal shapes and thus skulk about.
In many fairy tales, the hero's talking animal helper proves to be a shapeshifted human being, able to help him in its animal form. In one variation, featured in The Three Enchanted Princes and The Death of Koschei the Deathless, the hero's three sisters have been married to animals. These prove to be shape-shifted men, who aid their brother-in-law in a variant of tale types.
This use, though rare in older fiction, is perhaps the most common in modern fiction. Several superheroes — Beast Boy, Chameleon Boy/Chameleon, Morph, Ben 10, Mystique — have it as their sole power. The Harry Potter series contains both Animagi who can change to a single form and Metamorphmagi who can alter their appearance. Even one episode of the television show " Supernatural " featured a shape-shifter, and a reference that the main characters had hunted shape-shifters before, or at least knew how to. Both the Earthmasters and their opponents in The Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy make extensive use of their shape-shifting abilities for the powers of their new forms.
Even creatures from folklore may regard their other forms as abilities. The werewolf in Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos uses his wolf form to track and to fight, and never suffers from the desire to attack humans so common in legend.
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