Your best mental transformation
KATM...@uga.cc.uga.edu
Was thinking again about the idea of transforming inside; i.e., becoming the
werewolf in your own mind as opposed to the physical shape changeing. Have
any of you ever had an experience where you felt more in touch with whatever
animalistic desires and behaviors there were inside your own head?Where you
felt you had regressed to a more feral or animalistic state? If so, what was
it like? How did you feel before, during, and after the experience? Did you
make a concious effort to achieve thisstate, or did it just happen?
I used to live in an apartment complex bordering a large, wooded cemetary
on the edge of the UGA campus. One early fall night, while it was still quite
warm (75-80 deg), I changed into camo BDU's and jumped the fence seperating
the complex from the cemetary. I strolled the vehicle paths for 20 minutes
or so. I didn't choose to walk in the cemetary because it was full of dead
bodies, or any such thing; but because it was empty of humanity, nearby,
and wooded. Eventually i wound my way to a footpath that left the vehicle
paths and dropped steeply down a thickly wooded hillside. I paused at the
trailhead for a moment, peering into the dark opening. Something stirred in
me then, something that I imagine stirs in anyone who looks into dark woods;
only in some folks it's interpreted as fear. Those who have been raised in
suburban townhomes and have possibly never ventured more than 5 minutes from
a car see the forest as a malignant entity, full of dangerous and nasty vermin.
(One park here has a sign stating that there are dangerous animals in the woods
and that the county is not responsible for injuries caused by them.. puh-
leeze! Water moccisans, maybe, or a raccoon with rabies, but it's not like
there are any more cougars in NE Ga anymore.. *sigh*) I saw the forest and
felt the same sensation, but I interpreted it as a tugging at whatever remnant
of prehistoric man there was left in my genes. I felt a desire to enter the
woods and move silently through them, stalking some prey amongst the pines.
I started down the trail.
Needless to say, I'm no Jim Bridger. I made more noise than a pregnant elephant
walking through a plate-glass window, but I didn't much care. The further
down the trail I went, the further back the mundane, everyday thoughts of a
Homo sapien went and the thoughtsof a hunting mammal pushed closer to the
surface. I know any wolf that watched my performance would've asphyxiated
from rolling on the ground laughing at me, but -I- felt as if I could catch
anything.
Eventually I reached a large boulder that overlooked a small stream. The stream
flowed through two large, square tunnels that went under Sanford Stadium and
originated in a parking lot on the other side. It flowed into the Oconee River,
which was about a quarter mile downstream. I perched on the boulder, looking
down the ravine at the water. Across the ravine, I could see the lights of
the campus through the trees; but right in the gully on that boulder could
have been in any time period and in any forest. I let my mind stay open and
uncluttered; I felt the most amazing urge to howl.
Then I heard some voices, and bodies crashing through underbrush. I lay flat
on the boulder and peered cautiosly over the rim. Three college-aged males
were splashing up the creek towards the tunnel mouth, talking in loud, uncon-
cerned voices. They paused at the entrance to the tunnel and looked in. One
of them spoke up, telling the others how there was a lot of devil-worshipping
graffiti spray-painted on the walls of the tunnel, and how satanists have
ceremonies in the cemetary, and several other wild rumors that I'd heard
before. (The graffiti IS there, but how dangerous is graffiti?) They poked
each other and joked about walking through the tunnel, but none of them had
brought a flashlight; so they began to climb the opposite bank.
I had a start when one of them looked directly at me, but he didn't see me
and I remained motionless until they had disappeared over the far edge of the
ravine. The sense of... power, is the only word I can think of.. that I felt
while I crouched there and watched them was incredible. I had an insane urge
to leap off the rock and.. what? Devour them? Rip my shirt and scream like a
bloody idiot? Tell them "Say, don't you fellows know the woods are dangerous?"
I crept back up the trail and to my apartment. I sat in the living room with
the sliding glass door open and shivered for a half hour, and gradually re-
gained rationality. The experience and the feelings were so vivid and vital,
I shiver now remembering. I told one other person about it and got the
expected quizzical look and "Dude.. what were -you- smoking?". I've
conciously gone and tried to recapture that sensation in other locations
since then, with varying results.
***********************************************************************
Katm...@uga.cc.uga.edu '83 Kaw GPz305 <--Name Me!
SysOp of A1A BBS (706) 613-1629 Sell me your bike!
FIDO 1:370/130 500 cc and up!
My opinions are borrowed from someone who no longer needs them.
Moss A D
[..]
| I had a start when one of them looked directly at me, but he didn't see me
| and I remained motionless until they had disappeared over the far edge of the
| ravine. The sense of... power, is the only word I can think of.. that I felt
| while I crouched there and watched them was incredible. I had an insane urge
| to leap off the rock and.. what? Devour them?
Yeah, you shoulda.
They wouldn't have made THAT mistake again.
:)
Seriously, interesting story.
Anyone else had a similar experience?
Adam.
--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Adam Moss mos...@essex.ac.uk
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"A smartass once accused me of being subtle. I decked him with a short
right over the heart and and elbow in the tranchea." - Harlan Ellison
Brent Hughes
> and I remained motionless until they had disappeared over the far edge of the
> ravine. The sense of... power, is the only word I can think of.. that I felt
> while I crouched there and watched them was incredible. I had an insane urge
> to leap off the rock and.. what? Devour them? Rip my shirt and scream like a
> bloody idiot? Tell them "Say, don't you fellows know the woods are dangerous?
I was going to post something similar, but you beat me to it. :(
This part in particular reminds me of something similar that happened to me
when I was younger. It was in public school (grade 7 or 8), and my class went
on a school camping trip. We had just spent a couple of hours in the middle
of a large forest (200 acres+) listening to ghost stories about the area. On
the way back (close to midnight), the class got separated into two groups by
mistake. I was with a friend of mine between the two groups, so I quickly
caught up to the main group ahead, leaving a smaller group of about 15 people
behind. We arrived back at the camp, but there was no sign of the smaller
group over the next hour. My friend and I decided to go back and look for
them, but when we heard them further down the trail, we decided to hide and
scare them. There I was, in the middle of the night, in a dark forest,
crouched and waiting to pounce. The feeling was incredible. I remember
thinking about things lurking in the forest, and the thrill of realizing that
_I_ was the thing lurking in the forest. I sat utterly still, listening to
all the night sounds around me, adrenaline flowing as I waiting. It was all I
could do to sit still as energy built up inside me. When they rounded a bend
in the trail, the excitement was almost too much to bear. Unfortunately, my
friend jumped out too early and ruined the surprise, but it's still a memory I
recall very vividly. I can remember every sound, smell, and thought of that
moment.
> I crept back up the trail and to my apartment. I sat in the living room with
> the sliding glass door open and shivered for a half hour, and gradually re-
> gained rationality. The experience and the feelings were so vivid and vital,
> I shiver now remembering. I told one other person about it and got the
> expected quizzical look and "Dude.. what were -you- smoking?". I've
> conciously gone and tried to recapture that sensation in other locations
> since then, with varying results.
Afterward, I too couldn't stop shivering. My guess is it was from the
adrenalin. I didn't talk to the other guy afterwards, but I get the feeling
he felt nothing like what I felt. I have never had an experience parallel to
this, but I do try every now and again.
This brings to mind a question. Talk on this board lately has been on
non-wolf forms of lycanthropy. I knew other forms existed, but how many of
these appear in various myths and legends? The more I think about it, the
more I realize that I don't relate at all to wolves. I am too solitary for
hunting in a pack, and I prefer waiting for my prey to come to me. If
anything, I would have to say I relate to panthers the most. It's much more
thrilling to pad silently through the night, nobody knowing you're there. I
do admit though, that howling _is_ a lot of fun.
Anyone care to compile a list of different forms of lycanthropy?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autumnal Equinox
Half way between the longest day of the year and the shortest
It's the middlest day of the year.
And it feels like it.
-Red Green
Brent Hughes
bhu...@sms.business.uwo.ca
darren wilson
As I mentioned once before, I spent the first three months of last summer
living in the middle of 1700 acres of wooded land in central Ohio. The things
I experienced and felt during those three months will stay with me for the
rest of my life. before going on this adventure I lived in the city of Akron.
Though the house I lived in was closed off from the city by trees, bushes etc.,
I still felt caged. It had been many years since I had been camping or hiking
or anything of the sort. These things I dearly loved. I was going to move in
the fall anyway and I had the opportunity to quit my job and live in the wild
untill school started in the fall. I thought it would be an interesting
experiment if anything, so I went for it.
While I was there I usually stayed in a tent if the weather was foul but on
warm clear nights after roaming the countryside I would sometimes sleep
outside. On nights where there was a full moon it was impossible to sleep. The
animals made so much noise it was unbelievable. It was LOUD! By going out and
watching these animals at night I learned many things about survival and
stalking. My vantage point was usually from high in a tree. The moonlight cast
just enough illumination to see what was going on. Some of the more memorable
experiences were:
Rabbits tricking coyotes.
Coyotes are very quick so the prey must use trickery to escape. The
rabbit would run into one side of a thick clump of bushes into which
the coyotes could not follow. The rabbit would make noise near an
opening on the other side and then with great stealth backtrack and
come out of the same place it went in. This must have been instinct
because I saw it several times.
Tracking herds of deer at night.
this was very tricky because I could only move when they moved, making
their sounds mask my own. If the wind shifted and they caught my scent
they would bolt and would not come back to the area for a few weeks.
They are the most sensitive and alert animals I have ever seen.
The night a large cat of somekind, Probebly a bobcat, made itself known
very near my camp.
I was trying to sleep one night during a full moon. All the animals
were making noises. The raccoons were chattering, the deer were
foraging, the coyotes were howling like mad and the lone wild dog
that roamed the same woods was barking just to join in with the rest.
There was a small stream about 30 yards from my camp. All at once a
sound came from the stream that made the hair on the back of my neck
stand up. It sounded like a young girl screaming but it was clipped
like a dog bark. I immediately heard the dear bolt. The sound came
again and the raccoons and coyotes were quiet. The last animal
to make a sound was the lone wild dog, a short low bark and then the
sound of it trotting away at a fast pace. The cat down by the stream
walked up and down it`s length for almost two hours making these
terrible shreiks. I was hoping it would not come into my camp. It
stopped just as abruptly as it started. I went the next day to look
for tracks so I could identify the animal but I found nothing. It
hadn't rained for a while and the streambed was stone. If there were
any tracks, I missed them.
After I learned how to be stealthy and sly from my fine ferral friends. I was
able to follow and watch not only animals but humnans also. There were
serveyers, hunters (I know, not a good idea),hikers and forest rangers. The
last of which kept a pretty close eye on me during the day. I could detect
sunlight glinting off of binoculars on several occasions. I got "the rush"
each time I tracked a human or an animal but there was something about tracking
humans that made it twice as exciting.
Now the low point of my adventure. I Had a faithful sidekick that came with
me but never left. His name was Elvis. Elvis was a black cat with glowing
green eyes and a real bad attitude. I think this nasty attitude is what made
him so endearing to me. Anyway to make a long story short he went out hunting
and never came back. The night he went out the coyotes were very near and were
running up and down the tree lines of the feild my tent was in, howling like
mad. I am fairly certain that he became a late night snack. I never found any
trace of him.
Well folks, there it is in a nutshell. I long to get back there but I don't
think I will have the time to do so in the next few years. If anyone has any
questions or comments please feel free to email me or post it to the pack.
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
D. Wilson
david zevcalvert hines
LeVay in _The Devil's Notebook_: element of fear, regression to natural
instincts. Although if you believe him, you should ideally be naked and wearing
a wolf mask. 8) Still, your experience was very interesting to read of.
I've had a couple of similar experiences. I think it works best on a slightly
chilly night - the cold sharpens you, keeps you awake.
Those experiences are realy weird... they are cool, though. For just a minute,
you can lose sight of civilization, even of the civilized you. Then you can go
back to your heat-pump-outfitted house, curl up in front of the big-screen TV
with beer and pretzels, and watch reruns of "Married... With Children."
Civilization is a grand thing, make no mistake.
8)
David
Ron Cass Poirier
When I was at my family's 60-acre camp in New Hampshire with a
group of high school friends, two of us ran ahead of the others in order
to scare them when they finally caught up with us (we intended to duck off
the trail after we hit a bend). No one had flashlights - the only way we
could see to navigate was by looking at the stars, since we were in a
thick forest and the old logging road we were on was clear of overhanging
vegetation, so you could see a "path of stars" if you looked up. Well, we
ran and ran with our heads pointing up and the sky to see where we were
going, and before we could get out of hearing range of our companions, I
found out that there were parts off the trail that were exposed to
starlight, too - as I slammed at top speed into a solid maple,
chest-first. I was knocked flat of my back, and unable to breathe for
what seemed like minutes.
It was a funny story, after the pain went away a couple days
later. The thing is, that night I had my first dream about sonar, while
flying low in a dark forest. And I woke up to a little bat staring down
at my face. Hmm.
- Ron P. ^*^
KATM...@uga.cc.uga.edu
bhu...@sms.business.uwo.ca (Brent Hughes) writes:
>I was going to post something similar, but you beat me to it. :(
>
>hunting in a pack, and I prefer waiting for my prey to come to me. If
>anything, I would have to say I relate to panthers the most. It's much more
>thrilling to pad silently through the night, nobody knowing you're there. I
>do admit though, that howling _is_ a lot of fun.
>
that takes the best traits (IMHO) of both without compromising... anonymity?
in the human world.
An interesting exercise, and harmless. I hope. :)
KATM...@uga.cc.uga.edu
dzh...@kimbark.uchicago.edu (david zevcalvert hines) writes:
>Hmm... the procedure you followed sounds very like that outlined by
>LeVay in _The Devil's Notebook_: element of fear, regression to natural
>instincts. Although if you believe him, you should ideally be naked and wearing
>a wolf mask. 8) Still, your experience was very interesting to read of.
Heh, LeVay, huh? Having never read it, I dunno.. Closet agnostic/satanist?
Hide the pastor.. :)
I'm too much of an agnostic to believe either way.
>Civilization is a grand thing, make no mistake.
Timothy Fay
>Hmm... the procedure you followed sounds very like that outlined by
>LeVay in _The Devil's Notebook_: element of fear, regression to natural
>even of the civilized you...
The idea that becoming an animal is some sort of "regression" or that
it means losing or giving up "civilized" behavior strikes me as a human
conceit. On the evolutionary scale, humans are relatively new; most of
the other animals on this planet had evolved into their current states
millions of years prior to _homo sapiens_. So in some ways animals are
more advanced than humans. A wolf, for example, upon becoming human
might feel it had "regressed" to the point where it could no longer
smell or hear as well as before. :-)
And "civilized" is a very relative term. Skunks will never spray each
other with their scent, rattlesnakes will never bite each other, nor
will a porcupine deliberately stick another porcupine with their quills.
Humans, on the other hand, have been known to practice wholesale
extermination on themselves and on other species for no valid reason. In
fact, humans could truly be called "civilized" if they learned to treat
each other like animals. :-)
Which brings me to the subject of mental transformations: I grew up in
a rural part of Minnesota. And during that time I would sometimes have
dreams where I became an animal, though those "dreams" felt more like
an out-of-body experience (OOBE). My "mind" or "spirit" (whatever you may
call it) would settle into the body of one of the local fauna, usually a
deer or a horse, sometimes a fox or other animal. I remember that those
experiences were very vivid, unlike my usual dreams, but I don't remember
feeling that I had "regressed" into some kind of "animal" stage. My senses
and the way I perceived my world were different, that's all. I recall that
they were very thrilling and emotional experiences (though once, when I
was a deer, I sensed I was being hunted and that was a bit troubling--to
say the least! :-) ).
Were they dreams, or were they something else? I'll let the reader
decide. :-)
--
Reply to: ava...@wings.micro.umn.edu
fayx...@maroon.tc.umn.edu
"My mental facilities are TWICE what yours are -- you pea brain!"
-Percival McLeach
darren wilson
(mine included) made me think of something. Does the name Thomas Lee Dillon
ring a bell with anybody? For all of you who don't know, he was the man that
killed seven hunters/outdoorsmen in central Ohio. He basically would hang
around secluded spots that were frequented by hunters. He would watch them
for a while with binoculars and then shoot them with an old Mauser (german
sniper rifle). They caught him last April I think. I was very relieved because
some of the places he killed his victims were fairly close to were I was
camping. Those of you who experienced the feeling of watching people keep in
mind that there are those who would take this too far. Be careful.
D. Wilson
KATM...@uga.cc.uga.edu
dwi...@cis.ohio-state.edu (darren wilson) writes:
>ring a bell with anybody? For all of you who don't know, he was the man that
>killed seven hunters/outdoorsmen in central Ohio. He basically would hang
>around secluded spots that were frequented by hunters. He would watch them
>for a while with binoculars and then shoot them with an old Mauser (german
>sniper rifle). They caught him last April I think. I was very relieved because
>some of the places he killed his victims were fairly close to were I was
>camping. Those of you who experienced the feeling of watching people keep in
>mind that there are those who would take this too far. Be careful.
>
I understand fully the need for hunting as a tool of wildlife management;
I've hunted myself. I make absoulutely certain that my target is a deer and
that there's nothing behind the target; but there are idiots out there who'll
shoot at anything. Wear blaze orange (so you're a were-tiger for the day ;) )
and avoid the idiots.
Now, if this guy was blasting poachers taking wolves, then... but I kinda
doubt it.
david zevcalvert hines
>In article <1993Dec2.0...@midway.uchicago.edu>
>dzh...@kimbark.uchicago.edu (david zevcalvert hines) writes:
>
>>Hmm... the procedure you followed sounds very like that outlined by
>>LeVay in _The Devil's Notebook_: element of fear, regression to natural
>>instincts. Although if you believe him, you should ideally be naked and wearing
>>a wolf mask. 8) Still, your experience was very interesting to read of.
>
>*urk!*
>Heh, LeVay, huh? Having never read it, I dunno.. Closet agnostic/satanist?
>Hide the pastor.. :)
>I'm too much of an agnostic to believe either way.
Actually I'm an atheist, with leanings into discordianism. LeVay is a looney,
but he has a great sense of humor and is lots of fun to read. Some of his stuff
is interesting and provacative; some is kind of frightening in its sheer
lunacy.
David
david zevcalvert hines
>david zevcalvert hines (dzh...@kimbark.uchicago.edu) wrote:
>>Hmm... the procedure you followed sounds very like that outlined by
>>LeVay in _The Devil's Notebook_: element of fear, regression to natural
>>instincts... For just a minute, you can lose sight of civilization,
>>even of the civilized you...
>
>The idea that becoming an animal is some sort of "regression" or that
>it means losing or giving up "civilized" behavior strikes me as a human
>conceit. On the evolutionary scale, humans are relatively new; most of
>the other animals on this planet had evolved into their current states
>millions of years prior to _homo sapiens_. So in some ways animals are
>more advanced than humans. A wolf, for example, upon becoming human
>might feel it had "regressed" to the point where it could no longer
>smell or hear as well as before. :-)
>
>And "civilized" is a very relative term. Skunks will never spray each
>other with their scent, rattlesnakes will never bite each other, nor
>will a porcupine deliberately stick another porcupine with their quills.
>Humans, on the other hand, have been known to practice wholesale
>extermination on themselves and on other species for no valid reason. In
>fact, humans could truly be called "civilized" if they learned to treat
>each other like animals. :-)
Wrong there, actually. Chimpanzees, believe it or not, practice genocide on
a small scale: they go out in raiding parties to kill other chimps. Of course,
we're much higher than chimps, so we do it *better*. I'm proud to be human,
aren't you? 8)
Moss A D
An excellent post.
Yes, the human concept of 'civilisation' is a very narrow-minded
one.
Becoming animal-like is a 'regression'? I agree that it is
NOT.
Adam.
--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Adam Moss mos...@essex.ac.uk
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"A smartass once accused me of being subtle. I decked him with a short
right over the heart and and elbow in the trachea." - Harlan Ellison