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A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods which they inhabited while they were alive. They wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century. Vampiric entities have been recorded in cultures around the world; the term vampire was popularized in Western Europe after reports of an 18th-century mass hysteria of a pre-existing folk belief in Southeastern and Eastern Europe that in some cases resulted in corpses being staked and people being accused of vampirism. Local variants in Southeastern Europe were also known by different names, such as shtriga in Albania, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania.
Vampire literature covers the spectrum of literary work concerned principally with the subject of vampires. The literary vampire first appeared in 18th-century poetry, before becoming one of the stock figures of gothic fiction with the publication of Polidori's The Vampyre (1819), which was inspired by the life and legend of Lord Byron. Later influential works include the penny dreadful Varney the Vampire (1847); Sheridan Le Fanu's tale of a lesbian vampire, Carmilla (1872), and the most well known: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). Some authors created a more "sympathetic vampire", with Varney being the first, and Anne Rice's 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire as a more recent example.
The vampire lifestyle, vampire subculture, or vampire community is an alternative lifestyle and subculture based around the mythology of and popular culture based on vampires. Those within the subculture commonly identify with or as vampires, with participants typically taking heavy inspiration from media and pop culture based on vampiric folklore and legend, such as the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, the tabletop role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade, and the book series The Vampire Chronicles by author Anne Rice. Practices within the vampire community range from blood-drinking from willing donors to organising groups known as 'houses' and 'courts' of self-identified vampires.
The A∴A∴ is a magical organization described in 1907 by occultist Aleister Crowley. Its members are dedicated to the advancement of humanity by perfection of the individual on every plane through a graded series of universal initiations. Its initiations are syncretic, unifying the essence of Theravada Buddhism with Vedantic yoga and ceremonial magic. The A∴A∴ applies what it describes as mystical and magical methods of spiritual attainment under the structure of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, and aims to research, practise, and teach "scientific illuminism". A∴A∴ is often held to stand for Argenteum Astrum, which is Latin for Silver Star, however, see section on Name below.
Gerina Dunwich, is a professional astrologer, occult historian, and New Age author best known for her books on Wicca, and various occult subjects.
A psychic vampire is a creature in folklore said to feed off the "life force" of other living creatures. The term can also be used to describe a person who gets increased energy around other people, but leaves those other people exhausted or "drained" of energy. Psychic vampires are represented in the occult beliefs of various cultures and in fiction.
Raymond Buckland, whose craft name was Robat, was an English writer on the subject of Wicca and the occult, and a significant figure in the history of Wicca, of which he was a high priest in both the Gardnerian and Seax-Wica traditions.
Nosferatu the Vampyre is a 1979 horror film written and directed by Werner Herzog. It is set primarily in 19th-century Wismar, Germany and Transylvania, and was conceived as a stylistic remake of F. W. Murnau's 1922 German Dracula adaptation Nosferatu. The picture stars Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula, Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker, Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker, and French artist-writer Roland Topor as Renfield. There are two different versions of the film, one in which the actors speak English, and one in which they speak German.
Lon Milo DuQuette, also known as Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford and by his neo-Gnostic bishop title of Tau Lamed, is an American writer, lecturer, musician, and occultist, best known as an author who applies humor in the field of Western Hermeticism.
Kenneth Hite is a writer and role-playing game designer. Hite is the author of Trail of Cthulhu and Night's Black Agents role-playing games, and lead designer of the 5th edition of Vampire: the Masquerade.
In ceremonial magic, a magical formula or a word of power is a word that is believed to have specific supernatural effects. They are words whose meaning illustrates principles and degrees of understanding that are often difficult to relay using other forms of speech or writing. It is a concise means to communicate very abstract information through the medium of a word or phrase.
Shiloh Walker is an American author of contemporary and erotic romance novels and novellas. She has written under the pen name J.C. Daniels.
Eroto-comatose lucidity is a technique of sex magic known best by its formulation by English author and occultist Aleister Crowley in 1912, but which has several variations and is used in a number of ways by different spiritual communities. A common form of the ritual uses repeated sexual stimulation to place the individual in a state between full sleep and full wakefulness as well as exhaustion, allowing the practitioner to commune with their god.
The Toronto goth scene, the cultural locus of the goth subculture in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the associated music and fashion scene, has distinct origins from goth scenes of other goth subcultural centres, such as the UK or Germany. Originally known as the "Batcavers", the term "goth" appeared only after 1988, when it was applied to the pre-existent subculture. Distinctive features included internationally recognized gothic and vampiric fashion store 'Siren', a goth-industrial bar named 'Sanctuary: The Vampire Sex Bar', and Forever Knight, a television series about an 800-year-old vampire living in Toronto. In Toronto, the goths did not seek to reject mainstream status, and achieved partial acceptance throughout the mid to late 1990s.
Vampire Secrets is a 2006 docudrama about the mythology and lifestyle of vampires, produced by Indigo Films for the History Channel, and narrated by Corey Burton.
Otherkin are a subculture of people who identify as not entirely human. Some otherkin believe their identity derives from reincarnation, a non-human soul, ancestry, symbolism, or metaphor. Others attribute it to unusual psychology and do not hold spiritual beliefs on the subject. Categories of otherkin include Fictionkin, those who identify as fictional characters; Conceptkin, who identify as abstract concepts; Weatherkin, who identify as weather systems; as well as a number of other more obscure categories. Joseph P. Laycock, assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University, considers otherkin beliefs to have a religious dimension, but asserts that "the argument that Otherkin identity claims conform to a substantive definition of religion is problematic". Many otherkin themselves reject the notion that being otherkin is a religious belief. A controversial but frequently made analogy is to gender dysphoria, leading to the terms trans-species or trans-speciesism and species dysphoria.
Michelle Belanger is an American author who has authored over two dozen nonfiction books on paranormal and occult topics, has appeared in television documentaries about magic and modern occultism. She has performed as a vocalist and worked as a writer with Nox Arcana.
House of Night is a series of young adult vampire-themed fantasy novels by American author P. C. Cast and her daughter Kristin Cast. It follows the adventures of Zoey Redbird, a 16-year-old girl who is "marked", becomes a fledgling vampyre and is required to attend the House of Night boarding school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Books in the series have been on the New York Times Best Seller list for 63 weeks and have sold over seven million copies in North America, and more than ten million books worldwide, in 39 countries.
Vampyre Sanguinomicon: The Lexicon of the Living Vampire is an occult book by Father Sebastiaan that explores the vampire subculture. The book was published in 2010 by Weiser and contains a foreword written by the occult writer Konstantinos.
References
- ↑ "Hssssss! Where Wall Street vampires get their fangs". CNBC. Retrieved 2012-10-16.
- ↑ "The Real 'True Blood'?". Vice Magazine. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
- ↑ "Open Lines & Vampyre Subculture". Coast to Coast AM. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
- ↑ "Interview with a Vampyre's Dentist". Newsweek. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
- ↑ "Fangsmith Fashions Sharp Canines for His Party-Loving Vampires". Bloomberg. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
- ↑ Alexa Tsoulis-Reay (October 22, 2010). "First Person - Getting Fanged -". The Local East Village Blog - NYTimes.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
- ↑ "Interview with the Vampire". Bettyconfidential.com. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
- ↑ Possamai, Adam (2012). Handbook of Hyper-real Religions. Brill Academic Pub. pp. 149, 159. ISBN 9004218815.
- ↑ Yalkin, Devin (2020-10-29). "Inside the Endless Night Vampire Ball". Rolling Stone.
- ↑ "Social Sciences Reviews, October 1, 2010". Library Journal. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
- ↑ "The Secret Life of Vampires (dvd)". A&E. Retrieved 2009-09-05.