acynicalsmileandacupoftea asked you: 2012-07-09 10:40 Hello there! Thanks for the follow back. Oh, since I’m here, I wanted to ask you if you think that is coherent for a wiccan/pagan (and a furry) to get a raccoon/fox/wolf tail. Much people use them as a fashion thing, but I use it as “totem”, but my friends think I’m lying about it (I don’t even use it outside my house!)… So, any opinion/advice?
First of all, you are most welcome :)
And yes, I definitely think so. In fact, that’s how I began making wearable tails over a decade ago—as extensions of the spiritual self, or totemic talismans. My primary customer base for my work has always been pagans, so it only seems natural to me that there would be a spiritual component to working with animal parts. And while a lot of furries who wear real tails just have them as costumery for their fursonas, there are furs who are also spiritual about the whole thing.
It’s only been in the past couple of years that tails have become trendy outside of subcultures like neopaganism, furry fandom, the RenFaire circuit, etc. and so LOTS of sellers have popped up, many of whom are just selling them as fashion accessories. And if that’s all people want to wear them as, then that’s their business. (However, I always include a copy of this care sheet with every tail I sell just to be a little subversive. Who knows? Maybe I’ll score a convert ;)
So in short, yes, you can work with your tail in a spiritual manner, even if not everyone else does. If your friends don’t believe you, then you may want to think about why they aren’t respecting your spirituality. Do they also ignore other parts of it, or is it just the tail bit? What sort of responses do they give you? have you tried explaining it to them?
In the end, you may not be able to get them to see things from your perspective, which is okay, as long as you’re good friends otherwise. Sometimes people just don’t get it, and we can’t make them see. Being a good example is one way to speak without words, so just keep doing what you’re doing. And there are people besides me on Tumblr, on deviantArt, and elsewhere on the internet who work with tails and other animal remains spiritually, so you’re definitely not alone! Perhaps connecting with some of them can help you to feel a little more included. I haunt the taxidermy tag here since sometimes spiritual crossovers show up. And wander through some of the fur and bone related groups on dA to find people who make ritual tools with animal remains (I run this one that’s specifically for pagan ritual tools of all types, though it doesn’t get much traffic just yet).
Let me know what you think of all this :)
(I’ll try to get to the longer bits of writing people have requested later in the week; I was out of town all weekend and am playing catch-up yet again.)
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