REAL VAMPIRES
"Real Vampires" - how can this be anything but a contradiction in
terms? We all know about vampires. Stock characters of fiction,
guaranteed box-office draws, the media vampire has been familiar to
us since childhood. Generally speaking, our blood-suckers appear
with a tongue planted firmly in one toothy cheek-from Bela Lugosi
hamming it up in the 1950's, to last summer's teenage "vamp"
movies, to Count Chocula breakfast cereal, the media seldom treat
the vampire as truly fearsome. The stereotyped vampire traits are
familiar to any child: vampires have big fangs, sleep in coffins,
are instantly incinerated by sunlight, and are best dispatched by a
stake through the heart. But the most important "fact" that we all
know of course is that there are no such things.
Of course, in terms of the mythical, literary and cinematic
conventions, we are correct: there are no "legions of the undead"
stalking the unwary. We have explained the folklore with politics,
misunderstood diseases, and hysteria, the literary and cinematic
images with psychology, history, and sociology. We of the 20th
century are confident that vampires could not really exist. But
then, most of us are never forced to think otherwise. For a number
of people, the concept of vampires becomes a critical and often
lifelong concern. To live with, love, or befriend a real vampire is
to encounter a set of problems which may demand expanding the
boundaries of one's accepted reality. To come to terms with being a
real vampire oneself is to face a lifetime's karmic
challenge.
Some people reading this article already know this. The rest are
probably thinking, "Real Vampires, give me a break! Sure, there are
some pretty weird people out there, but all they need is a good
therapist." Yes, there are people who take on all the trappings of
a gothic novel: dressing in black, claiming or pretending to be
"vampires" in the supernatural sense, wearing capes, sleeping in
boxes, even getting their teeth capped. There are more frightening
people who seek to torture or kill animals or human beings in order
to gain power, emotional release or sexual thrill, and who
sometimes call themselves (or are called) "vampires". But most of
these individuals are troubled people who have been attracted by
the cultural myths about the vampire: supernatural powers (because
they feel powerless), overwhelming sexuality (because most of them
have sexual issues and no true relationships), immortality (because
they fear aging and death). Individuals like these are the most
recent "explanation" for humanity's persistent belief in vampires.
But beyond and behind all the folklore, the psychological theories,
the role playing, even the traditional spiritual assumptions, lies
the real truth about vampires.
The field of vampirology is complex and mysterious. There are many
aspects to the vampire phenomenon, and they would require several
books to fully explore. One aspect of vampirism which frequently
troubles magickal, spiritual and other small groups, the most
common form of vampire, is found among living people who share with
us the benefits and disadvantages of physical existence on this
plane, yet are not quite human. These people appear on the surface
to be somewhat eccentric members of society, yet their outward
idiosyncrasies only hint at how different they are from those
around them.
Each of us incarnates for a lifetime with a certain way of relating
to the physical world through the vehicle of our physical body. A
vampire is a person born with an extraordinary capacity to absorb,
channel, transform, and manipulate "pranic energy" or life force.
She also has a critical energy imbalance which reels wildly from
deficit to overload and back again. This capacity for handling
energy is a gift, but the constant imbalance of her own system is
the cause of the negative behaviour patterns and characteristics
which may be notable about a vampiric person.
