Kara Baskin at Boston Magazine:
Before Sol had a word for it, there were the instincts. The feline pull came first—the urge to knead a blanket, the way a cat works a paw. Then she started moving through the house on all fours. She was 11 years old, a fifth grader, and what she was noticing in herself was getting harder to ignore.
As she paid closer attention to these urges—the pull toward one animal, then another—she began to sense canine behaviors, too, prompting her to research different dog breeds. A golden retriever fit her best: energetic and playful, with a love for swimming. In time, there were four animals in all: a calico cat, that golden retriever, a seal, and a red squirrel.
There is a word for what Sol experiences. “A therian identifies as that animal, rather than as human,” she explains—a polytherian, in her case, carrying more than one.
Sol—a name she chose for herself—doesn’t summon the animals, but rather they come and go on their own schedule.
More here.
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