By now most of us are familiar with the idea that totemism is not synonymous with therianthropy. A totem is an external animal, either archetype or spirit, that guides a person throughout hir life, or at least a certain portion of it. Therianthrope, on the other hand, describes a person who is the animal, spiritually, psychologically or otherwise.

Admittedly, for some people therianthropy is a decidedly non-magical/non-mystical phenomenon. For others, therianthropy and totemism may be two separate parts of their lives. However, this doesn't mean there is no connection between the two whatsoever. People who work with both therianthropy and totemism in tandem understand the differences, but also see some similarities.

Although not all therians who have totems have matching animals internally and externally, others do. And some of them make a connection between the two. I'll use myself as an example. I am a wolf therian, and Wolf is also my primary totem; it's been that way as long as I can remember, even when I didn't have the terminology to describe it. I work quite a bit of totemic magic in my practice, and I call on Wolf every time I create any type of ritual. I have found that pretty much every time I evoke Wolf the totem, I simultaneously invoke my internal wolf and go through a spiritual shift for the duration of the ritual.

Additionally, I have found that working with totems and other animal spirits is incredibly easy for me compared to most other forms of magic; I attribute this at least partially to my therianthropy. Because I am, spiritually, animal myself, I find it easier to relate to and communicate with spiritual animals.

I have also known a few therians who (depending on your beliefs about therianthropy) either were "given", or had "Awakened" in them, their theriosides by a particular totem of the same type of animal. Granted, this didn't necessarily mean that they became uber-therians overnight. Any sort of change takes time, even if that change involves something that was already there. I've heard it said in the vampire community that someone who has supposedly been "turned" into a vampire in reality was simply Awakened to that inherent part of hirself. Perhaps it's the same way with therians who are made aware of being animal through the guidance of an external totem.

Totems may also be psychological symbol sets that help the therian understand hirself. I have found that, just as with ancient pantheons of deities, the totems that I work with comprise the enire spectrum of the human psyche and are a map to myself. For instance, Wolf is my ego/primary self, while Fox is the Magician/Creator of Change, Bear the Warrior/Healer, and so forth. By working with certain totems I can access lesser-used aspects of myself and bring them to the fore. While I consider myself to be only a wolf therian (at least at this point--I am ever in evolution) I have had similar relationships with totems other than Wolf that had led to extremely therian-like experiences, including cameo shifts.

However, I prefer to see the animals as both microcosmic and macrocosmic. I do not believe in firm lines between all things; I believe there is a lot more interplay between us and our environment than we often assume. "As Above, So Below" also means "As Within, So Without", and in my beliefs we are all miniature models of the Multiverse. There is an illusion of duality, that if you are X, then you are automatically not Y. However, the very fact that we as therians proclaim ourselves to be something other than what we most obviously are says otherwise to me. If I was to walk up to the average person and say "Am I a wolf or a human?" they'd say "You are not a wolf--you are a human". Yet I know that I am both, despite evidence to the contrary. So it is that while Fox, Horse, Badger, and other totems I work with are all Out There somewhere, they are also In Here, inside me.

What this brings to therianthropy are possibilities for those who work magic, particularly totemism. Because we are animals ourselves, we may find it easier to deal with animal spirits because share a certain level of understanding not defined by flesh. A shift is already an invocation of sorts; the invocation of a particular part of the self. But because I am already used to seeing through animal eyes, I have found that it's easier to invoke and thereby see things through the eyes of totems other than Wolf. By using the headspace that therianthropy has given me, I can create stronger bonds with my totems, both internally and externally. It won't automatically make every totem I work with into a therioside, though who knows what may Awaken as a result? But what it has done is enriched my relationships with the animal spirits that I work with on a regular basis, and aided me in learned that which they want to teach me, and teaching them what it is they want to learn about me and my world. Theriosides aren't totems, but therianthropy can definitely aid in communication with these animal beings.