The Therian Timeline

Selma, AL 36701
wolf@theriantimeline.com

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The Modern Therian Community

What does "Therian" mean?

"Therian" is the shortened form of "therianthrope". "Therianthrope" is the general form of "lycanthrope". A lycanthrope, of course, is a Werewolf. But not every Therian is "wolf", hence the need for a general term.

It's rather unfortunate that the first image most people have when they hear "werewolf" is that of a fictional monster from movies and books. But the fiction was inspired by a truth. Before the 15th century there were Werewolves and now, again, there are Werewolves.

What I know (what I have observed in the Therian Community).

Some time in the 20th century (or before), some people began realizing, as children, that there was something different about them. They lived life more intentionally, paid more attention to what was going on around them, were more empathic, and felt as though they did not quite fit in with the people around them. On the other hand, they identified very well with various nonhuman animals - often to the point of conceptualizing themselves as nonhuman.

But they were not dysfunctional. On the average, they got along well with their families, they had friends, they succeeded in school, many worked for themselves, many worked for others, and they were happy and well adjusted. But they were unique, as far as they knew, and they kept their differences a secret.

November 16, 1992, a Usenet Newsgroup was founded for fans of horror movies so that they could discuss werewolf movies - it was called alt.horror.werewolves or AHWW. Soon, the administrators noticed that the discussions had turned from movies to the members' private lives. The Weres had found each other.

I have noticed that in the groups of Therians that I have been associated with, they seem to have certain predispositions, such as a high incidence of an unusual tooth form called "shovel teeth" and a tendency toward autoimmune disorders and migraines.

What they tell me (what I've read).

Before the Werewolf Trials of the later Middle Ages when thousands of mentally ill or simply despised people were tortured to death by the Inquisition for being "werewolves", there really were people known as "werewolves". Far from being insane, they were respected in their communities. They even had a special position in the church - they were called the Dogs of God and Saint Peter's Wolves. Traditions of these non-monstrous werewolves remain today in Eastern Europe.

What I think (My opinion - it's not the only one around).

There are many diverse explanations for Therianism. My own belief is that Therians are a genetic continuation of the old Weres who have awakened due to population and environmental pressures in modern society.

The Time Line

I have been digging through dusty old research libraries and downloading snippets of information about therianthropy for about 30 years. This time line is a result of the historical data I have collected.

The study of the history of the Therian Community is more like archeology than history. Much information was lost during the Inquisition. Information survived better in areas where the Roman Catholic Church had not gained a strong foothold. The British Isles and Northern and Eastern Europe remain rich in Therian lore - those places are also where most actual history survives.

Like archeology, in the study of Therian history, all that exist are, for the most part, fragments and hints. No individual fragment can be trusted. Each individual piece must be validated and interpreted by noting its place in known history and its relationship to the other pieces. As fragments stack up, patterns become evident, picture emerge.

And like any history, this one must continuously be revised as new information appears.

Who am I?

My name is Payton Wolf Bailey VanZandt. As an advocate for the Therian Community, I do not use web names. I don't keep my Wereism a secret.
I am a Werewolf who lives in the southeastern United States and am registered on the Werelist. Currently, I organize events for the Southeast Howl. I also provide other services to the Therian Community, including this site.

I am a vocational evaluator and am respected in my field. I am also a Christian evangelist who works mostly with fringe societies in the United States. I was a founding member of the local Christian Motorcyclists Association chapter. I perform much community volunteer service with the church, the Boy Scouts, and the local Department of Human Resources. I am also a founding member of the Citizens Against Violence.

I can be contacted at:
wvanzandtwolf_v@yahoo.com

!

What's new?

5/3/12 A new book, worthy of any werewolf's bookshelf, is out this month. It's called "Creatures of the Night" and the author, Gregory Reece, has provided a fair presentation of Weres (Therians), Vampires, Ghosts, and several other "horrors" in history, in art, and in modern society. This looks to me to be a worthy successor to the progressively hard-to-find "The Beast Within" by Douglas Adams, as far as Werewolves are concerned and does Mr. Adams one better by addressing several other communities.

On a more personal angle, I think the author is just a great guy and deserves for his book to sell in great quantities, so go out and buy a copy and buy a few to give away on birthdays and Christmas.

I've been adding bits and pieces here and there to this site. I've added two more pieces to the Werewolf Oratorio - that leaves three to compose. The International Wok runs through Bangladesh now and, after Memorial Day, will include some spicy Barbados-ish recipes. I've also added a pickle recipe to the Art of Scientific Cooking - a hot and spicy Red Rocket Bread and Butter Pickle.

There's also an addendum to the Howl Book that explains waterproofing.

1/9/12 Another year and I've broken out of the A's on the International Wok page, so there's a new page starting - The International Wok B. Bahama is already up. I've also added a page under the Howl section called The Howl Book. It's a brief overview of things I've learned over the last 11 years about organizing and attending Howls. Happy New Year!

4/25/11 I have added several items including an Arkansas section for the International Wok (fried chicken dinner), some more information about alternative mathematics, an essay on Leave No Trace and a Fable in the Essays section, and a little more in my commentary on Genesis.

1/27/11 Along with a lot of other little changes here and there - some music, a little commentary - I've added an Armenian meal to the International Wok and a quick and easy potato salad to the last section of the Art of Scientific Cooking.

1/3/11 So it's a new year and I've started a few new projects and will also be working on cleaning up what I already have here. The Argentine meals is up and it was a keeper. I've also begun a commentary on shamanism and I'll be talking about things like commonalities, Therian shamanism, and specific techniques. I'm also getting my original musical compositions up.

11/29/10 The Arizona meal turned out great and served me well for Thanksgiving - not the traditional turkey but I was certainly stuffed. It's in the International Wok page.

I realize that I missed Argentina but I will remedy the error on one of the upcoming holidays. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and may your next year be better than any that came before.

9/25/10 The Therian Timeline has a new home! Considerable problems with static on my home phone line and the inability and/or unwillingness of anyone to fix it necessitated my independence from both WebTV and AT&T. So, I backed up all my websites and moved them over to this site which has a much easier to remember address and easier to navigate structure. I'm happy.

8/21/10 I have added a comment in the Essays section o the book Metamorphoses of the Werewolf, by Leslie A, Sconduto, a very pleasant and very recommended read.

8/6/10 I am now updating the site weekly so I will only post here when there are major additions (new sections added or information that I consider especially important to the community. For those interested in food, I generally use long (holiday) weekends to experiment with dishes, so you can generally expect new recipes (especially to teh International Wok project) within a month of holidays.

7/25/10 I've begun a new project on the site, an exploration of the Therian community. The Therianthropy pages will cover several facets of the community. The first page, opened by the Therianthropy link above, is a discussion of the various theories about what therianthropy actually is. I have also started a page, linked from the Therianthropy page, a glossary of words related to therianthropy. This will necessarily be a long term project as there are a lot of words to sift through. Hopefully, I will be able to add commentaries on other facets of therianthropy without waiting to complete the glossary.

7/2/10 The Anguillan section is up on the International Wok page and I've added a really nice Beige Bisque recipe. Why beige? - because it's not pink. And I've begun a review of what's known and what's suspected about the Therian community on the Therianthropy page. I will attempt to be complete and to curb my own biases.

4/10/10 I've added the Antigua and Barbuda meal to the International Wok page. It features Pork Chops with Bananas and Bacon.

4/2/10 I've just finished a commentary on Genesis 6 (that curious section about when the "sons of God' became romantically involved with "daughters of man". added more to the Timeline, and an essay on museums in the Experiences section. I'm eating an Aruban meal tonight and, hopefully, that will be up in a week or so. The bread is in the bread maker.

3/5/10 I've added a new section called "Experiences" to share my adventures in continuing education. It moves faster than my long-term Excursions and you'll see a lot more variety there.

I'm also adding material to the timeline weekly. With the SEHowl coming up next week, I'll be absent from on-line activities for awhile, but barring any disasters, I'll be back the last of March.

2/21/10 I like to share my fun with friends. I've added a section called "Experiences" to share my adventures in continuing education. Also, I continue to expand all the other sections.

1/9/10 Okay, okay. I've started back to work on the Timeline and I've added a bibliography to the site.

I've also added a section on the Essay page on things I've observed in the Therian community that look like Therian-specific disorders.

1/4/2010 I have used this holiday to add three essays to the Essay sheets. They are on philosophy, intuition and reason, and morality. I have added a logarithmic scale to my Calcard and will be describing the process soon. I have also added an Andorran meal to The International Wok page - this is my favorite wok meal to date.

Thanks to Lenowill for his comments on the Calcard page. Pardon the typos - It's getting to the point that I can't see that well anymore and it's really hard to catch them - and Page Builder doesn't have a spell checker.

12/27/09 I have added a site map to the home page with links to all the pages of this website. I've also added a banana bread pudding to the Examples page of the Scientific Art of Cooking. The Calcard section is through exponents and logarithms and we're almost ready to add scales that will allow the Calcard to do multiplication, divisions, and a lot more. There's a little issue of imagination to clear up first. It's all very complex.

12/12/09 Have you ever cracked open a division and looked under the hood? I do that in this installment of Excursions - the Calcard. We're getting closer to teaching Calcard how to multiply and divide, but we're also running out of options. Will we find the key before it's too late. It's a cliffhanger!

I've also put a recipe for stewed potatoes in The Art of Scientific Cooking.

11/28/09 The American Samoan meal is up on the International Wok page. I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

11/23/09 The whole cookbook is up sans some of the example recipes. I hope you enjoy it. I'm working on a camping cookbook to tell all I've learned at the Howls. That should just about do the culinary part of this webpage.

11/12/09 I've added the first few chapters of my cookbook, The Art of Scientific Cooking, to the website. The others are written, I just have to post them. I will also be adding some illustrative recipes as time goes on. The links to the cookbook are at the bottom of the Stuff Files page.

10/3/09 I've added subtraction to the Calcard.

9/13/09 I've finishd the Algerian secton. The Cream of Wheat pudding is the highlight for me. The lemony cardamom flavor really sets it off.

9/12/09 I've added an Algerian meal to The International Wok page.

9/7/09 There's now a section at the end of the Stuff Files on finding local flavor.

7/11/09 I've finished my foray into Albania gastronomics with an Albanian Corn Chowder. Hmm.....what's next, Algeria? That ought to be interesting.

7/7/09 I've added one of two Albanian meals to the International Wok page. I really enjoyed the Chicken with Walnuts and the Notklava,and I hope you do too.

5/30/09 The Alaskan recipes are now up on
the International Wok page. You Cats would like this.

5/25/09 I've posted the first installment of my homemade paper calculator (slide rule) called the CalCard. The link is on the Excursions page. The first installment is about linear scales, geometric construction and addition.

1/28/09 I have added the Alabama section to the International Wok page. It includes a catfish dinner with blackberry cobbler and biscuits with tomato gravy.

12/28/08 My first installment of the International Wok project is up. You can find the link at the bottom of the Stuff Files page. If you have a sweet tooth, you really should try the Brown Bread Pudding.

11/19/08 About Cain and Abel in the Commentaries section.

9/1/08 I've added my recipe for salmon gravy to the Basic Stuff Files (The link is at the bottom of the Stuff Files page). It's one of the meals I got refularly growing up and I never got tired of it. It's easy. It's good. And you feline types ought to appreciate it.

8/16/08 The second Essays page collects various essays. The first is one on what I consider a vital issue for the church and one that I hope will be called up when people do web searches on such topics as The Moral Majority, Christian politics, Jerry Falwell, Falwell Confidential, Faith In Action, Coral Ridge Ministries, and D. James Kennedy. The direct link is

http://community.webtv.net/WolfVanZandt/Essays

12/24/07 There's a new essay on why the claim that God exists isn't necessarily an exceptional claim.

12/10/07 I've added a section to the stuff files about quick and easy vegetable glazes. Are you looking for a way to make carrots palatable?

11/11/07 Well, obviously I'm not very good about maintaining my webpage. It takes a long time between projects for me to get around to updating individual sections. I'll try to remedy that by adding essays, my thoughts about various issues to keep some (at least illusory) progress going on. The first essay is related to the arguments about whether or not God exists, the existence of evil in the universe and why the theodicy issue is, in a very technical sense, nonsense.

As for my current time consuming project, I'm trying to build a reliability analysis subroutine into my statistics package. It's not difficult, just very, very large..........

4/5/07 I've added the last three pieces to the Verse page (for the time being).

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Selma, AL 36701
wolf@theriantimeline.com