Phantom Shifts and Dream Shifts | Shifting | Forums

Arethinn said:

My goodness! What an image. (Think you missed an “f”, there.)

LOL, yes I did.  Thanks for the catch. 🙂

It is of course possible to purposely shapeshift the etheric or astral form, as you describe. But what if the person experiencing this phenomenon doesn't know how, or doesn't even know it's possible, and the phantom limb manifests spontaneously without their conscious intent? Or if it's something they wouldn't have chosen, given their druthers?

Depends, I think.  If you've been exposed to images of or writing about the thing you're shifting into, I think it's entirely possible to shift into it without conscious intent or even necessarily knowing how.  IMO, it's a lot easier to astrally shift than most people make it out to be.  If it's really spontaneous, with no outside prompting whatsoever, I'd be somewhat less skeptical.  But I haven't seen much of that.  I also don't know that I've really seen examples of it not being something they would have chosen, given their druthers.  

I don't think I've ever had any dreams of myself as my kin-self either, so I can't speak to the second one fully, but I have experienced the sensation of waking from a dream and Knowing it was Something Important, something Real. If someone has such a dream they may be able to tell it apart from the more common “mental junk drawer” kind of dream.

Possibly.  I'm admittedly very jaded.  I've just seen the dream-stuff really abused lately.  A dream that one leapt further than a human can and growled at one's this-life pet dog != having been an inherent shapeshifter in one's elven past-life.  

Neither of these things would be too good to go very far on on if they are literally all the evidence you have, a single piece, alone. It would be jumping to a conclusion. But as parts of a “syndrome” of evidence, I think phantom limbs and dreams can be quite valid.

Now that I very much agree with.  They can definitely be part of a larger pattern of evidence.  It's just when the two are used alone, or in combination, as the sole evidence for a kintype or theriotype that it bothers me.