I don't wanna just leave it unremarked, so i'm making a post about it
i've started using ΨΔ instead of ΘΔ as a symbol of my identity. it's pawbably not a good idea, since it has no traction as a symbol at all as of now. i am by no means influential or even a well-known voice on this site, so i doubt it'll catch on, but i'm gonna give a brief explanation of the symbol and why i came up with it beneath the cut
As i'm sure most people finding this post via tags know, ΘΔ stands for Θηρίον (thērĭ́on) or "wild animal/beast", and "Δ" the mathematical symbol for change. Ultimately that's where its general symbolic meaning ends, but if mew go a bit further mew can draw out more meaning. it could be seen as
A description of common therian belief: They used to be non-human animals, but now they are in human bodies, an animal (Θ) change (Δ) has occurred.
A "goal": to become (Δ) said animal (Θ)
the first of the above bullet points will become part 1 of why i chose "ΨΔ", which i'll put together below. Moving on:
in the wider alterhuman community, there seems to be splits across a few lines that lead to other labels coined by the community. The ones i'm going to focus on for my explanation are:
Real animal or not (therio- vs other-)
willing or involuntary (-link vs -kin)
the reason for identifying as non-human (coping- or not)
the term "copingkin" may refer to an otherkin who involuntarily started identifying as non-human to cope with some form of trauma. it is opposed to "copinglink" which is essentially the same thing, except the individual in question voluntarily started identifying as non-human to cope with some form of trauma.
so, what's the term for someone who subconsciously started identifying as non-human? that's not really voluntary or involuntary, it's somewhere between. What's the term for someone who started identifying due to trauma, but has dealt with that trauma and is no longer coping from it using their non-human identity... but still identifies as non-human?
The answer? it's "Traumagenic Otherkin" or "Traumagenic Alterhuman". It does exist, sure, but it's just the two large-cast terms "otherkin" and "alterhuman" with the modifier "traumagenic" in front. And i do identify with this, but there's no specific symbols for them outside of flags or non-text-based symbols. There's another term as well, "Psychological Therian", and it's part 2 of my proposal.
finally: i propose ΨΔ. Like i said above as part 1, therians exist as an animal (Θ) change (Δ). What i experienced, however, was a psychological change. As stated in part 2, one of the applicable terms for me is "Psychological Therian". A common symbol for psychology is the capital greek letter Psi (Ψ), this is due to the word Ψυχή (psūkhḗ) which means a lot of things (the animating principle of life, animate existence, the immortal part of a person, spirit as a concept), but the reason i'm bringing it up is that it is used to mean "the seat of the mind" or simply the mind itself, and is the source of the "psych" in "psychology".
to summarize, "Ψ" could be used to mean "mind", and we already know that "Δ" is the mathematical symbol of change. So for those of us who have experienced some form of mental or psychological change to become non-human, typically trauma-caused, we can use ΨΔ to indicate such a mental (Ψ) change (Δ).
Like i said above, i don't expect this to catch on, since it's not a new label and i'm not a well known blog, but at the very least i think it's a neat and useful symbol for people like me.
If mew've read this far, mew're welcome to reblog this post! i figure if it spreads around more, more people can get use out of the symbol!
Name: Sam
Time date and month: January 16, 10:17 pm
Normal hours of sleep: Around five to eight a night.
Thing I last googled: Silly wolf pictures
Nickname: Sam
Day of birth: March 18th
Gender: Gender fluid. Sometimes I am masculine and sometimes I am feminine.
Sexual Orientation: Queer
Height: 5'5"
Favorite color: Any shade of blue
Happy place: A forest at twilight (I know soooo cliche)
How many blankets I sleep with: Two
Favorite movie: Star Trek (2011 revamp)
What am I wearing: A Black hoodie with a navy blue long sleeve shirt under it and light grey jeans.
Last book I read: Field guide for edible wild plans.
Dream Job: Large North American carnivorous mammal ecologist and/or biologist.
