The otherhearted symbol
The term 'otherhearted', refers to someone who involuntarily identifies with, or who has a strong connection with something. This 'something' can be anything, including (but not limited to) animals (animalhearted), fictional characters (fictionhearted), and even inanimate objects (this would be considered otherhearted). The term can be spelt with or without a hyphen (e.g. otherhearted, other-hearted), however, it is more commonly spelt without the hyphen.
It's more than just a fascination with something, but not quite to the point where you identify as it, like with the therian and otherkin community.
For example, someone who identifies strongly with dragons, could say ''I am dragon-hearted'', ''I am dragonkith'' or ''I have a dragon hearttype''. The thing an otherhearted identifies with, no matter what it is, can be referred to as a kithtype or a hearttype.
A thread on AHWW from January 15, 1997 in which someone who claimed to "absolutely adore werewolves and wolves" asked if they were "wolfhearted". [1] The term animalheart was discussed more thoroughly and came into common use between 2009 and 2010.
"_____-hearted: One who identifies as fully human, but who identifies strongly WITH a particular animal, similar to a totem. May experience phantom limbs or certain animal behaviors, but does it as a way to become closer to an animal to whom they feel connected." [2]
Creation of the Other-hearted symbol[]
On the 29th of July, 2017, Tumber user aestherians, made a post presenting 4 possible otherhearted symbols. [3]
"For a while I’ve been thinking that the otherhearted community needs a proper symbol, but I have a hard time coming up with anything aside from these two." [3]
The possible symbols were then presented on the Therian Guide. [4]
And by the 5th of August, aestherians had narrowed down the possible symbols [5], putting up a poll for anyone to decide on the final symbol the next day. [6] And on the 12th of August, 2017, the final results were in, and the otherhearted symbol was decided. [7]
Further Reading[]
"The Exact Definition of Being Other Hearted" The Other Hearts Forum, January 9th 2015 - https://theotherhearts.canadian-forum.com/t10-the-exact-definition-of-being-other-hearted
"Otherhearted: What exactly is Kith?" Therian Guide, March 22nd 2016 - https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-Otherhearted-What-exactly-is-Kith--3337
"Therian & Otherkin Terminlology" Feral Grove, June 12th 2012 (last updated April 18th 2016) - https://feralgrove.forumotion.com/t83-therian-otherkin-terminlology
References[]
- ↑ "AM I WOLF HEARTED?" AHWW, January 15th 1997 - https://groups.google.com/g/alt.horror.werewolves/c/4QHBcdK28Vw/m/SN0jQJMNs9oJ
- ↑ "An Interesting Find" Tumblr, January 19th 2018 - https://web.archive.org/web/20181219174405/http://atlas-of-mossland.tumblr.com/post/169890816504/an-interesting-find
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "For a while I’ve been thinking that the otherhearted community needs a proper symbol" Tumblr, July 29th 2017 - https://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/163566389949/for-a-while-ive-been-thinking-that-the
- ↑ "Otherhearted symbol?" Therian Guide, July 31st 2017 - https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-Otherhearted-symbol
- ↑ "So, after asking a bit around" Tumblr, August 5th 2017 - https://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/163822164289/so-after-asking-a-bit-around-these-seem-to-be
- ↑ "Otherhearted symbol" Tumblr, August 6th 2017 - https://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/163859065629/otherhearted-symbol
- ↑ "The results are in!" Tumblr, August 12th 2017 - https://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/164095918594/the-results-are-in