Re-imagining Weres.....

I have to admit a fondness for were-animals.
I love the idea that humans have animal instincts and abilities and that those abilities could magically manifest themselves into the actual animal.
Shape-shifting has been a belief of many indigenous people and there must be good reasons - the closeness to nature or the need to feel one with all beings.
Somehow modern people have lost that feeling of connection.
Is that why we have the fascination with werewolves, cats, lions, bears....werewhatever?
Or is it because in a different shape we can transcend our human-ness and do what humans can't or won't?
I love wolves, so it's natural for me to gravitate to their weres.
And so I've been indulging in some werewolf books lately.
Shannon Delany's Thirteen to Life Series is a re-imagining of the werewolf legend by a new young adult voice.
The Kiss of the Silver Wolf  by Sharon Buchbinder is definitely a new way to look at the legend as are Lori Handeland's Marked by the Moon and Bonnie Vanak's Immortal Wolf.
My own werewolf novel is one of the books of my heart because I use the ancient legend of wolf as guardian, not predator, as its basis.
I don't think these stories will ever go out of style.
The legends themselves have been with us- through many cultures and many centuries.
Animals are our cousins, ourselves.
Maybe...just maybe...we all shift at one time or another.
Do you really know what you do, at night, when you're deep asleep?
Hmmmmm?