About AniMagicka and Furry Spirituality

AniMagicka represents one aspect of my own personal attempt to reconcile and integrate the spiritual and creative aspects of my life with my furry nature. Many years of study and practical experience with various spiritual traditions have suggested to me that we are most joyful, fulfilled, and creative when we are also most wholly and authentically ourselves. For me personally, authenticity means being compassionate, tolerant, patient, and a teacher. It means discovering ways in which my creative and spiritual energy and impulses might manifest. And because I am a Furry, I sincerely desire to find ways to do all of this within that context and to serve the Furry community as a whole.

My vision for AniMagicka is to provide ideas, instruction, experiences, and open discussion for those who feel a deep need to make their Furry life part of their spiritual life. For me, this connection was practically beating me over the head, and it took me several years to figure it out. I am only now beginning to understand the implications. Sometimes the most obvious things escape us, and life has to shake us up a bit to teach us. Once I had this personal realization, I searched in vain for others within the community who shared my interest in Furry spirituality. There might be an odd question or two on a forum, a blog post here or there, but little else.

While I would never suppose that anyone else would or could share my personal spiritual path, nor my exact perspective on what it means to be a Furry, I am certain there are other Furries out there who are asking or have asked many of the same questions that I have, who share a part of my feelings and experiences, and who face similar challenges. AniMagicka is most especially for them. Above all, I hope you find AniMagicka to be helpful, supportive, and inspiring. Along the way, I hope to share some of my creative work with you, because it is my desire to make things available to other spiritual Furries that are made with that intention in mind.

It is important for you to understand that I am not out to persuade anyone that I have all of the answers or even any answers for anyone other than myself. We all walk a spiritual path that is our own to discover and explore. Nothing I offer here is intended to convert or otherwise convince anyone of anything. My intention is simply to share and to encourage others to share in an open, sincere, and non-divisive way, to celebrate that which we share in common, and to explore the things that distinguish us.

This, frankly, requires some degree of trust upon the part of the reader, and so regardless of how you have found your way here, I believe you are entitled to know where I am coming from. I was raised within a faithful, but mostly inactive, Protestant Christian home. A deep dissatisfaction with the tradition I received (as I then understood it) coupled with an insatiable curiosity, led me, as a young teenager, to begin exploring the various world religions as well as alternative spiritual paradigms. I studied early Christianity, the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, Gnosticism, Classical Philosophy, and the Ancient Mysteries. I studied Pythagoreanism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, Qabalah, Alchemy, and the great thinkers of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. This led me into more practical explorations of Christian Mysticism, Western Esotericism, Theurgy, Ceremonial Magic, Neo-Paganism, and Shamanism. My personal journey has been principally Western in focus, though not exclusively so. I suspect that any conventional label for one’s religious or spiritual affiliation would likely shatter if applied to me. I know that there are some who would perceive this as a problem, or at the very least a weakness, but for me, it is a strength. I have an unshakeable faith in and devotion to the Divine, which I understand to be at once present within us and within the Universe, while also being far more than that. My journey is about self-knowledge, self-improvement, and service to Love.

I am also a Furry. If you are reading this, you probably have your own personal sense of what that means. Being a Furry can imply one or more of any number of things, and these different perspectives or aspects are explored in various ways within the community at large. My personal experience of being a Furry does not only involve admiration of or participation within the Furry and anthropomorphic artistic and creative community. I am certainly part of the Fandom. I love the artwork, the stories, the animation, the costumes, and the role playing. However, the word “Fandom” has never been adequate when attempting to capture my inner experience of being a Furry. For me, it also implies a very deep connection and relationship not only with the animal kingdom as a whole, but with very specific animals or species that have been and continue to be an important part of my life. The experience of such a connection is one of companionship, but it also involves guidance, protection, instruction, mentorship, and inspiration. Anthropomorphic or Furry forms then become a natural expression of union or identification with these animals, and so even the word “Fursona” falls short in making a mask of what is truly an essence. By intentionally giving space in our lives to these animals and their anthropomorphic forms, we can only strengthen and support our quest to discover the power and potential lying dormant within us.

If you are willing to come that far with me in understanding this experience of being a Furry, perhaps you can perceive why it is such a vital part of my spiritual journey. So feel free to linger here as long as you like. Keep your heart and mind open. Take away what you find to be useful or beneficial and disregard the rest as you feel appropriate.

Wishing you Life, Light, and Love,

Phelan Muirneach