“Though miles may lie between us,

We are never far apart,

For friendship doesn’t count miles,

Do you have your own big black shiny ax? T: Yes.

Did you name it? T: No. I don’t know why. I do think fondly of it, though.

Not fondly enough to name it. It’s like an orphaned puppy. T: Ok, you made me feel bad. Maybe I’ll call it… I’ll call it Sara. Isn’t that weird? Me holding Sara in my arms. That’s kinda strange.

In honor of the anniversary of Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone, here is I think the last remaining old artwork I made illustrating that particular book that I haven’t shared on tumblr yet, of Baby Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback.

“By far the most common explanation from those who fit the definition (even if they don't claim this specific label) is that whilst their physical forms may be human, their essence, soul or equivalent term is not. Of those, the majority make their claim based on reincarnation - what they have been in a previous incarnation so strongly affects their current incarnation that they still identify with it. Obviously this requires a belief in reincarnation, and in the transmigration of souls. Both are reasonably common in a number of religions and spiritual beliefs across the world. The less frequent explanations are ‘nature of soul’ (where one is created as a specific entity,  but failed to incarnate as such - sometimes including the ‘ooops! missed!’ theory of incarnation), and ‘walk-in’ (where the original spirit inhabiting a body vacated it for one reason or another - frequently near-death or severe trauma - and a separate entity took over). [...] The two main symptoms appear to be:

“Problems not dissimilar to trans-gender issues - discomfort with the physical form not because of gender but because of species. [...] (Many of the psychological arguments for and against transgender apply here, though for the most part the biological ones do not).

“Phantom limbs - much as an amputee often gets sensation from the missing limb, so do some who claim species that have appendages that humans do not (wings and tails being the main ones). The conventional explanation for amputees is misfiring nerves and obviously this is implausible in this case. That such problems are psychosomatic seems possible, however some do have physically observable side effects that have to be handled (such as back muscle problems from 'supporting' wings).”