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shimi.bsky.social
Shimi ·⃝⃤
@shimi.bsky.social
1.9K followers 500 following 760 posts
Deaf arty faggit. Bitey lil trans critter. Lvl 61 Elder. Episcopal & knot deep holothere. Castus, non caelibis. Gramarteus & miniator. Pictor, Librorum illuminator, Scaenicus, Tibicen & Cantor. Psalmista & Vates. Amator animalium.
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shimi.bsky.social
Shimi ·⃝⃤ @shimi.bsky.social · Nov 11
Just a heads-up: a few copies remain from the original 100-copy hardback run of GODBEAST — my memoir of growing up #Therian in 1970s UK before even having a name for any of it. A story of wildness, faith & becoming the creature I was destined to be.

ko-fi.com/s/ecba5ebb8d
GODBEAST — A Feral Memoir (Hardback + PDF) - Shimi & Critter's Ko-fi Shop
GODBEAST is my first full-length book. A feral memoir. A sacred howl. It’s 120 pages of memory, myth, and survival. I wrote it with my whole heart, ...
ko-fi.com
shimi.bsky.social
GODBEAST SECOND EDITION NOW AVAILABLE We sold out the hardback edition first and second press and now we go to paperback! Cheaper and more affordable, easier to ship and mail. $12.99. Same book, same story just softcover. Thank you for your support.|

ko-fi.com/s/ecba5ebb8d
GODBEAST — A Feral Memoir (Paperback + PDF) - Shimi & Critter's Ko-fi Shop
GODBEAST is my first full-length book. A feral memoir. A sacred howl. SECOND EDITION We sold out all the hardbacks so it’s time for paperbacks! GO...
ko-fi.com
February 4, 2026 at 6:32 PM
shimi.bsky.social
Had the den to myself tonight. All creatures out at the bar & its rarely (blessedly) quiet. So I made tea, put the heated blanket on low & did a drawunder. A bit rusty after the move, the book, the show, the asking for & receiving help. A moment of rest.

Ilera of the cloth is unlocking a lot in me
A side-by-side comparison image. On the left is a rough pencil sketch of a wolf’s head and upper shoulders, drawn with loose guide lines and sketch marks. The wolf faces slightly to the right, with pointed ears, almond-shaped eyes, and a softly indicated snout. A digital drawing interface with tool icons appears along the left edge. On the right is a finished, realistic wolf head mask or sculpture with grey and white fur, pale blue eyes, and a calm expression, draped in a brown cloth around the shoulders against a neutral background.
February 4, 2026 at 4:53 AM
Reposted by Shimi ·⃝⃤
shimi.bsky.social
My name is Isera, I will accompany you while you walk the path.

One of the many children of Lykaeon: A cloistered wolf of faith & stories, she doesn’t need to move much — the world rearranges itself quietly around her.

She tells tales of her mother & the early world. Would you like to hear them?
A wolf-headed, human-bodied Shimi stands facing the camera against a softly lit, neutral indoor background. She has grey-and-white fur, upright ears, and pale, steady eyes that look directly forward. She wears layered, earth-toned robes in brown and off-white, draped simply over her shoulders and arms. Her human hands are held at chest height, fingertips touching to form a small diamond or narrow opening, suggesting restraint or a guarded threshold. The overall mood is calm, contemplative, and monastic, evoking a cloistered or devotional presence rather than action or movement.
January 31, 2026 at 7:15 AM
shimi.bsky.social
Today we will see the full “Snow Moon” in the PNW tonight after sunset moonrise around ~5:08 PM — may your howls to her, shining her light upon us, reach each other.
A black-and-white illustration shows four wolves arranged in a loose circle, all facing inward and howling upward. Two larger wolves sit on either side, with two smaller wolves positioned between them denoting a family pack. Above the pack is a full moon, with short radiating lines beneath it. The drawing is rendered in dense, textured black ink on a white background, with no other scenery.
February 1, 2026 at 3:15 PM
shimi.bsky.social
My name is Isera, I will accompany you while you walk the path.

One of the many children of Lykaeon: A cloistered wolf of faith & stories, she doesn’t need to move much — the world rearranges itself quietly around her.

She tells tales of her mother & the early world. Would you like to hear them?
A wolf-headed, human-bodied Shimi stands facing the camera against a softly lit, neutral indoor background. She has grey-and-white fur, upright ears, and pale, steady eyes that look directly forward. She wears layered, earth-toned robes in brown and off-white, draped simply over her shoulders and arms. Her human hands are held at chest height, fingertips touching to form a small diamond or narrow opening, suggesting restraint or a guarded threshold. The overall mood is calm, contemplative, and monastic, evoking a cloistered or devotional presence rather than action or movement.
January 31, 2026 at 7:15 AM
shimi.bsky.social
I’ve been pushing for a therian identity that’s not just furry-adjacent & not reducible to other people’s frameworks of therianthropy either. As a Holothere, I sit in a space that makes it plain that furry, while fun, is not interchangeable with theianthropy. One is a layer, the other is a core.
canislupus.bsky.social Cry @canislupus.bsky.social · 5d
Therian is not Furry+ can we please move on from this. Please I am begging critters to stop calling therians just "furries who are a bit extra". A lot of therians are furries but not all of us are and they are not the same 'community', our history is not the same.

I Am Not A Furry+
January 30, 2026 at 3:45 PM
shimi.bsky.social
It came to me in a flash how to play my flutes and shakuhachi through the muzzle of a full mask… and early experiments show a way I can do this. I now no longer need to have half masks for performance. And flutes are a pivotal part of how I perform. Absolutely stoked.
January 29, 2026 at 6:17 PM
shimi.bsky.social
Fuck as wolves
January 29, 2026 at 2:55 PM
shimi.bsky.social
Hail to the prince.
onlyyotes.bsky.social OnlyYotes @onlyyotes.bsky.social · 6d
#hourly #yote https://api.tinyfox.dev/hourly/yotes/46113373865_8db2c76bb3_c.jpg
Image of yotes
January 29, 2026 at 2:46 PM
shimi.bsky.social
A companion to my earlier poem “I remember”
Let Me In is a poem about creaturely intimacy, consent, and grief, written from my therian perspective. The “dog” in this poem is metaphor — a way of moving through the world that is embodied, relational, and non-hierarchical. The language of fur, breath, and instinct is used to explore trust, safety, and being seen without translation. This work is about right-ordered love: affection without domination, closeness without ownership, intimacy that does not exploit or consume. It resists turning love into a false god, and instead treats both partners as equals within creation. The poem also nholds grief—the loneliness of finding and losing a love that cannot be easily named or explained, and the ache of carrying tenderness in a world that misunderstands it. It is creaturely, devotional, and unashamed.
January 27, 2026 at 11:28 PM
shimi.bsky.social
I need to be bitten — and then to return the favour.
January 26, 2026 at 7:53 AM
shimi.bsky.social
At Ravefurrest being creatures with @seerendipity.bsky.social. Last night was a blast and a much needed blowing off steam — thank you all for being you.
January 25, 2026 at 5:10 PM
shimi.bsky.social
“This is a poem about memory, embodiment, and a kind of love that doesn’t ask permission to exist.”

#Therian #Poem #Poetry
A poem that is too long for alt text. In the background is my own personal holothere sigil based on the Delta-Theta therian symbol and adapted from @feralfluid’s holotherian design
January 22, 2026 at 8:51 PM
shimi.bsky.social
Want to read an incredible #Memoir?

We sold out of the 1st press of Godbeast. The story of my growing up in the UK in the 1970s, #deaf, #therian, #trans. All initial backer copies are shipped — we’re about to go into a second pressing in hardback—arriving next week.

ko-fi.com/s/ecba5ebb8d
GODBEAST — A Feral Memoir (Hardback + PDF) - Shimi & Critter's Ko-fi Shop
GODBEAST is my first full-length book. A feral memoir. A sacred howl. It’s 120 pages of memory, myth, and survival. I wrote it with my whole heart, ...
ko-fi.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:17 PM
shimi.bsky.social
Proud to be closing out a poetry & music night put on by @animalinstinctprod.bsky.social it’s free so be there in plenty of time. It’s at C&P coffee house, a good space for some pared-down intimate reading. I’ve wanted to be on the same billing as some of these critters. Grateful for the opportunity
A black-and-white event flyer on a dark, textured background with white decorative serif lettering. Large title at the top reads “Animal Instinct Showcase,” followed by “An Evening of Furry and Therian Music and Poetry.” Performer names are listed on both sides of a circular image of three running rabbits in the center: Fritz Wolf, Listless Anarchy, Morris Stegosaurus on the left, and Shimi, Channel Dark, Moon Rabbit on the right. Near the bottom it reads “Thursday, March 26th 5–9pm,” “CEP Coffee House,” and “No Entrance Fee.” Two QR codes appear at the bottom corners labeled “Location” and “Bluesky,” with the theta-delta Therian symbol centered between them.
January 19, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Shimi ·⃝⃤
shimi.bsky.social
“The humans asked me, once, if I had ever been a human woman.

And I laughed.

For what is a woman but a shape that desire wears?

So I remained beast but became what they dreamed of—and they loved me as I was.”

#trans #therian #elder
A softly lit photograph of a nude Shimi figure standing against a plain grey wall, wearing a realistic wolf mask with grey and white fur. The body is shown front-facing with arms held behind the back, posture relaxed and still. The lighting is gentle and directional, emphasizing natural contours rather than detail, creating a quiet, contemplative mood that blends human vulnerability with animal presence.
January 15, 2026 at 7:53 PM
shimi.bsky.social
I missed this as I was moving home. Grayson, one of the pack leaders of Ely, Minnesota’s most beloved ambassador wolves has died at the age of nine on the 9th Jan. I will howl for you tonight. #RIP
A picture of a white and grey wolf with amber eyes and with a snowy background. Below is text that reads: We are heartbroken to announce the death of Grayson, the dominant male in our pack and a much loved ambassador wolf. Grayson, who was 9 1/2 years old, was found dead in his enclosure early yesterday morning (Friday, January 9th) by wolf care staff. The cause of death is still being investigated. The rest of our ambassador wolves are doing well and our Visitor Center will be open today as normal. Thanks for your understanding as our staff grieves this significant loss.
January 17, 2026 at 1:01 AM
Reposted by Shimi ·⃝⃤
shimi.bsky.social
Channeling Aristophanes in this from Lykaeon

This is how Therians were made.
Not from magic or curse
But from union
From the love of one world for another
You are the story I made
with the first humans
You are the breath that bridges beast and being
You are the howl that remembers how to speak…
8/7
January 9, 2026 at 10:01 PM
shimi.bsky.social
“The humans asked me, once, if I had ever been a human woman.

And I laughed.

For what is a woman but a shape that desire wears?

So I remained beast but became what they dreamed of—and they loved me as I was.”

#trans #therian #elder
A softly lit photograph of a nude Shimi figure standing against a plain grey wall, wearing a realistic wolf mask with grey and white fur. The body is shown front-facing with arms held behind the back, posture relaxed and still. The lighting is gentle and directional, emphasizing natural contours rather than detail, creating a quiet, contemplative mood that blends human vulnerability with animal presence.
January 15, 2026 at 7:53 PM
shimi.bsky.social
Some crossings happen without our blessing.
Shimi stands barefoot against a plain, light-colored wall, wearing a long, fitted black dress with thin straps. Her head is covered by a realistic gray-and-white wolf mask with upright ears and a slightly lowered gaze, giving a calm, watchful expression. A spiked, bone-tooth like necklace rests at the base of the wolf’s neck fur. Their hands are held behind their back, shoulders relaxed, with one foot lightly crossed in front of the other. The lighting is soft and even, creating a quiet, composed, and contemplative mood.
January 10, 2026 at 8:05 PM
shimi.bsky.social
So And why do I side with Plato’s Aristophanes? Rather than Plato’s Diotima? Where Diotima says: ascend beyond bodies Lykaeon says: return to them. Where Diotima promises immortality through ideas, Lykaeon offers continuity through pack & where the Ladder teaches release, Lykaeon insists on bonding.
January 9, 2026 at 10:41 PM
shimi.bsky.social
Plato gives us two of the most beautiful accounts of love, and they couldn’t be more different — or more necessary. In Symposium, we get Aristophanes’ myth of the split humans and Diotima’s Ladder of Love. Both astonishing. Both unfinished on purpose. 0/7

www.erininthemorning.com/p/texas-a-an...
Texas A&M Bans Philosophy Prof. From Teaching Plato Because of "Gender Ideology"
“Silencing 2,500-year-old ideas from one of the world’s most influential thinkers betrays the mission of higher education.”
www.erininthemorning.com
January 9, 2026 at 6:12 PM
shimi.bsky.social
My teensy based pedals used throughout Lykaeon approached completion. LED switches for Oct +/- Hold 5ths Chords. The rest for scene changes MIDI panic etc. Lighting is via I²C to PCA9685+ULN2803A & 4x Analog Expression Pedals using ADS1115. Legibility is poor when masked so no SPI OLED displays… yet
A rectangular brushed-aluminium metal enclosure lies on a textured grey blanket. Multiple evenly spaced metal footswitches protrude from the top surface, arranged in rows. Faint pencil guide lines are visible on the metal. Soft pink light reflects across the enclosure. The inside of a long metal enclosure is shown from above. Several small black components are mounted through the panel in rows, with blue and silver connectors along the lower edge. Yellow and blue wires run loosely between some connectors. The metal surface shows light scuffs and reflections. A close-up of the back of the metal enclosure shows four black circular panel-mounted jacks in a row, each with a small red locking tab. To the left is a square USB B opening. The metal surface reflects pink and purple light. A large rectangular metal pedal enclosure rests on a fur-textured mat on a carpeted floor. Below it is a row of long, dark wooden bass organ pedals aligned horizontally. Loose wires extend from the enclosure, and nearby cables and a Yamaha FCB 7 Expression pedal sits on the floor beside it.
January 8, 2026 at 5:40 PM
shimi.bsky.social
Telos & Hexis: Maybe the most shocking & formal part of Lykaeon; a three way rut between lycanthrope & goddess. A posture not of invention but intention from ancient Greek vase imagery: hybrid figures in transitional stages, slipping humanity, a core therian state of being. Essay in alt txt
This posture belongs to the same tragic grammar as the earlier essays, but at a later point in the arc. Where thauma (receptive wonder), charis (grace), & anagnōrisis (recognition) shaped Mother Lykaeon’s open stance, this image marks what comes after rupture. The body is lowered, pitched forward, close to the earth. In archaic Greek vase painting, animal–human hybrids—wolf-men, satyrs, liminal figures—are often shown in this low, forward motion: knees bent, spine elongated, one hand drifting toward the ground. This is neither a hunting pose nor a collapse. It is a transit posture: movement through a state rather than toward a goal. In Greek visual grammar, such a posture signals beings who have crossed an ontological threshold. Memory, law & civic uprightness have been stripped away. What remains is breath, heat, instinct, continuation. Lethe is embodied—forgetting not as death, but as survival. Within Lupercali, this posture belongs to Lupercus, Faunus, Lykaeon as wolves emptied of story after near-death, excess, and release. Ancient art does not depict the act itself; it shows the afterbody—unarmoured, exposed, still moving. The lowered axis says what words cannot: identity has dissolved, but life persists. Placed alongside the earlier postures of the Mother, this completes the tragic cycle. Thauma opened relation. Charis offered it freely. Anagnōrisis named it. Prothesis laid intention bare. What appears here is what follows when that bond breaks: not punishment, but animal continuity. This is still tragedy—but not moralised, not spectacular. It is restorative in a darker sense. The body remembers what the story cannot. Even stripped of memory, even after loss, life continues close to the ground, breathing and with a need to mate and find union. In addition to the need to move (as I tell later in the story of our rise and eventual separation that became “Run”) where every living thing needs run, here these living things need to rut, mate & find union. This picture shows a detail from an archaic black-figure plate: inside a circular tondo, a wolf-headed human hybrid moves low to the ground, limbs extended in a crawling/running stride. The body is human but rendered as wild/liminal, with incised lines for fur and anatomy; large wing-like shapes arc above the back. The figure’s muzzle is open as if panting or crying out, and the pose emphasises forward motion close to the earth against a dark background. This “wolf-man” comes from an Etruscan Pontic black-figure plate (we often just called it the “wolf-man plate”), attributed to a Painter of Tityos (c.~520 BCE).  Found at Vulci, specifically the Osteria necropolis, in Tomb 177, during the Hercle Society excavations (1961–63). When I was a child I read about its find and it entranced me. The outer scene shows Herakles pursuing/attacking Nessos during the abduction of Deianira, while the wolf-man appears isolated in the central tondo, which is part of why scholars to this day still argue over its exact narrative function.  This became burned into my mind and, for me, therianthropy and this lycanthropic vase decor became closely intertwined. Hence its recreation in performance.
January 8, 2026 at 4:28 PM
shimi.bsky.social
Anaphora, kratos, rhēsis: The moment Mother Lykaeon decides to leave the forest in search of her lost children. Holding the symbolic candle of the murdered & missing, clenched fist holding anger & determination. I was raised on ancient greek stories, it’s an honour to perform to you. More in Alt txt
The posture of Mother Lykaeon at the start of “Come back, come through, come home” draws directly on the grammar of ancient Greek theatre, where meaning is carried less by facial expression than by stance, axis, & gesture. Her raised arm, holding the candle aloft, echoes the anaphora — a gesture used in tragedy to mark invocation, oath, or appeal to powers beyond the polis. Light lifted upward is never passive in Greek drama: it is a challenge, a summons, or a witness. Here it functions as a portable shrine, transforming the body into a moving altar. The clenched fist at her side is equally legible. In Greek theatrical vocabulary, a closed hand signals kratos—force, resolve, restrained violence—held rather than discharged. It is the posture of a figure who has not yet struck, but will not be dissuaded. The tension between the lifted arm and the grounded fist creates a diagonal line through the body, a classic tragic composition that communicates inner conflict made visible. Her forward-leaning stance recalls the moment of departure common in messenger scenes and exile narratives: the instant when a figure steps out of sacred space and into the world of consequence. This is not pursuit, but decision. In Greek theatre, such moments often precede catastrophe or transformation; they are thresholds where grief hardens into action. Crucially, the wolf mask does not obscure meaning but intensifies it. Masks in Greek theatre were not disguises but amplifiers—fixing identity so the body could speak myth. Mother Lykaeon’s posture speaks a language older than psychology: a mother leaving the wild, bearing witness, carrying the dead with her, and walking toward the world of humans — not to beg, but to confront, to retrieve, to bring home. Mother Lykaeon does not rush. She does not waver. The posture declares what her words in the rhēsis, her declaration will later confirm: this is a mother who has crossed the threshold, and nothing—neither law nor fear—will turn her back.
January 8, 2026 at 3:04 PM