Atlanta Vampire Alliance [AVA]

[Kiera]

As some of you may know... I am a deeply spiritual person, although I do not align myself with a particular religion. I have done research on Celtic Shamanism, Wicca, Voodoo, Taoism, Buddhism, Shamanism and Native American Spirituality along the course of my quest.

Since I was a very young child I have felt a deep spiritual connection to a Mother Earth Goddess and also the Native American path. I recently found an article in the December 2000 edition of National Geographic, which links The Celts with Native Americans in the New England area of the United States from 800 BCE. So now through Archaeological evidence there is proof of contact between Europeans and Native Americans prior to the Roman Empire's conquest of Britain. Long before The Vikings briefly settled North America.

For years I have stated that the Celtic religion and modern Wicca held significant parallels to Native American belief systems, so in essence this article provided validation for the belief system that always felt closest to my personal vision.

Then I began reconsidering my views on Modern Vampirism... and this is where my Revelations begin...

I know some people choose to associate themselves with the term Vampire for many myriad reasons and I dare not try to touch on them all here. However most Psi-Vampires state they have an energy deficit that causes them a physical hunger and a need to feed upon the life energy found in other people, or from emotional energy or elemental reservoirs.

I do not doubt this particular reason, however I have come to the belief that it is simply a manifestation of a different idea.

If you look throughout other cultures and time periods at Prophets, Seers, Saints, Faith-healers, Shamans, Natural Healers, Herbalists, Witches, Witch-Doctor's, Nurses and dozens of other people and professions that people turn to in times of need or illness, what do they all share?

Through ritual or ceremony these people raise and manipulate energy. They use this energy to heal others as well as strengthen their own Gifts. In essence they are Energy Manipulators of various degrees and archetypes. Is that not what a Psi-Vampire is? A human being who is able to extract and manipulate energy for his or her own personal use. Does it matter what label we attach to it? Vampire, Witch, Shaman... when the symptoms are all the same.

Can we honestly say that we only reap energy from others? Do we not also give back that energy to others day to day... especially in our Dayside professions? I know that I do, each patient I touch and reassure is given my energy, and often his or her gratitude and warmth cycles that very energy back to me.

As vampires we delight in the decadence and pleasure of feeding, but I think often as Psi-Vampires we are accused of being Leeches who only take energy... rather than participating within a give and take scenario. I feel the more accurate terminology is Energy Manipulator... We cycle energy, rather than simply consuming it.

Energy is not stagnant. It cannot be consumed without releasing energy in another form. Is our Beacon not a manifestation of the concentrated energy field that surrounds us? The Flame that draws the Moths to us? Energy flows freely and those of us who know how to channel it are at a great benefit as compared to those Unawakened Souls who are unable or unwilling to in turn be swallowed and then strengthened by the mighty currents that flow within every atom of matter on this plane of existence. Perhaps that is the truest explanation of The Dark Gift, an inborn ability to harness and direct the forces of nature.

Kiera

[Rendier]

K...run with this here...it's my new idea that I came up with yesterday. Im going to need some help. Been working with the term "energy signature" recently, because it seems to be a pretty concrete way of naming and describing each energy event, because when the event happens, it leaves a signature. Let's say that there is a bird flying in front of you. That bird...in it's age, and evolution, is simply the signature left over from an all but unseen event of energy interacting with itself to form the birth, life and death of this piece of energy. It could also help in referring to "events of energy"...ohh...this could be good...

nice post...dig in, this is going to be a long haul...
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[Rendier]

here is part of a conversation that I am trying to get started on michellebelanger.com.

( http://michellebelanger.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1681&highlight= )

The problem has started from a revelation that I had while watching the matrix...

"You can't quantify that with perception!" So now I had at least what appeared to be a common thing wrong with everything as a whole. Now...on that note, I am working along those lines to find reference points to the ways that things may be measured in a common way...here's the next part of the post.

[Maloryn]

One of the biggest issues with discussing vampyrism in all of its forms has always been a lack of consistant terminology.

"Vampire" itself brings different images to everyone who sees or hears the word, add in intonation with the word spoke aloud and even more contextual clues muddy the waters.

With all the efforts to communalizing vampyres over the last 10 years, I'm surprised there is no commonly referenced vampyric lexicon - or mayhaps there is and I'm just out of touch and unaware of it.

On the subject of psy-vampirism vs. energy manipulation:
The difference is that a shaman, psychic or other practicioner of general energy manipulation does not suffer an innate deficit of the energies they manipulate, whereas someone exhibiting vampyric traits do.
Without an outside balance, even the most skilled energy manipulators amongst vampyres will be thrown out of balance. It's part and parcel of what they are, be they sang or psi.
This is not to say that psi-vampires cannot be very effective shamans, only that there is a difference between a psi vamp and a psycic skilled in energy manipulation.

Ehran V

[Kiera]

If you delve into Shamanism there is a term called The Wounded Healer... whereas a healer actually suffers physical harm from the amount of energy they focus into healing another. So it is not exclusive of vampirism that Energy manipulation can weaken or wound the Practioner. Rather it is the price one pays for a Gift. Nobody Rides for Free.

Frankly... and this will probably ruffle some feathers... I don't think Psi-Vampires MUST have energy to survive. Personally, due to an auto accident in June, I've spent the better part of 6 months isolated from all people... alone 90% of the time... and I have not withered up and died from lack of energy feeding.

Psi-Vampires enjoy feeding, they enjoy the rush. If... and it has never been proven concretely... we have an energy deficit... it is a mild one, one that can be lived with. Maybe we get a little distracted, a little grumpy... but we won't die.

And when we are not able to feed off energy due to circumstances that isolate us... the symptoms we suffer are more along the lines of alcohol or drug detoxification rather than malnourishment.

Perhaps the reason I titled this thread Revelations... is because I think far too often, The Vampire Community as well as individuals forget to think outside the box. They read The Vampyre Almanac or any number of online or literal texts and accept the information within them like The Holy Grail.

Michelle Balanger states Psi-Vampirism results from an Energy deficit... which may or may not be true and everyone takes it for the Gospel Truth. Don't misconstrue me, I respect Ms. Balanger immensly and agree with many of her teachings... but that does not mean that we as Vampires or Otherkin should simply expect to be spoon-fed our beliefs. Human beings were given a Frontal Lobe for a reason. To learn, explore and question.

Kiera

[Eclecta]

Ruffle my feathers girl!

I disagree with you. I think it is a deficiency. I do agree with you tho that we are not going to die should be not get what we need. I think vampirism is defined by need tho. But as we all know already, we don't always get what we need, but we learn to make do.

I think you are making do while you are at home. Now, while one could argue that your mom may be more tired that normal due to having to get up and do for you, I would be willing to argue that perhaps you are pulling from her, tho maybe not intentionally or in excess. The same goes for your Dr appts etc.

When we are in "need" I think we "take" without consciously thinking about what we are doing. So, without thinking about it, we just do it. During these times, I think we also just take a bare minimal amount, just enough to get us by....

Just my 2 cents worth tho.
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"Love is the law, love under will."

[Kiera]

You know I have been very concious and quite concerned about pulling energy from my family. I actually try to keep myself isolated in order to prevent it.

And you know how stubborn and independant I am... I really don't let my Mom do alot for me... I pretty much take care of myself day to day, if I can't do it or get it myself, I do without.

I think often we do make do with the circumstances we are in, we feed when we can from where we can. Indeed it is true that we don't always get what we want... but we get what we need.

Kiera

[zero]

There have been first-hand accounts in the vampire community of both sang and psi individuals trying to go "cold turkey" and be normal. One guy I remember from the old Pathway to Darkness forum said that he had stopped feeding for years, seemingly with no problems, but suddenly was back in bad shape again, and desperate to know why he couldn't just get rid of his vampirism.

It's a common idea in the community that a psi's intake need varies with his output, and if you're actively doing a lot of work, you need to feed more and more often.

The Sang side of things is actually a lot less thought-about. Some blood drinkers go months between feeding, some ignore the hunger without reprecussions for years only to have to deal with it again in full force later on, and some have never gone even two weeks without at least a raw steak.

What's even more annoying in terms of defining these needs is that it seems to vary not only between individuals but also within the same individual at different times. For the guy who thought he had "stopped being a vampire," having to wake up one day and deal with the blood hunger again was pretty unsettling, and it confused the heck out of the rest of us.

Also, if a psivamp stops feeding, we're still photosensitive, and still have the other "vampire stuff," some of which we're trying to hash out in surveys right now.

[Rendier]

On the note of vampyrism...I am not a proponent of the "deficiancy" definition. Just because I am hungry for food doesn't make me anything but hungry...really...vampyres in essence, I think, are defined by the people who are willingly or consciously taking energy. Before you are aware of it, I don't think has anything to do with it...because everyone at some level or another takes energy from others in many different ways. It seems to be instinctual on some level. Those that choose to taste and touch and feed to excess sometimes are only more truely accepting their nature than anyone else...and fall into a subculture of people collectively called "vampires," not because of their image, or lifestyle, but because they choose to lable themselves by such definitions. At that point...there is a good chance that any energy transfers become conscious, or willful, if not by simply allowing their nature to perform as it is supposed to...
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[zero]

I'm also interested in the thought that vampires are similar to other energy workers. It's an important thought, since the greater magickal community often wants to draw a big, fat line between energy workers and energy feeders. On one side are the "beneficial" energy manipulators, like healers, shamans, reiki practitioners, etc. These are traditional professions in the human world that are seen as supporting human communities, by bringing health, wisdom, and harmony.

On the other side of things, we get lumped into the greedy, evil, selfish or decadent stereotype (see Konstantinos' Vampires: The Occult Truth, where many new agers get their views on vampirism), even though "vampire" isn't a traditionally-understood ANYTHING. Profession, state of being, identity, nothing. Human traditions don't seem to say anything about us, at least not in an obvious way.

And because we have trouble finding ourselves, knowledge of ourselves and evidence of our people, in history and folklore, there is a tendency to try to de-construct vampirism as an identity, as a "thing to be." I have seen Otherkin try to identify vampires as elves with messed-up energy structures. I have seen weres try to claim vampires as another type of were, we just don't know what our animal sides are, or perhaps we are some extinct nocturnal creature inside? And I have seen magickal people suggest that we're really "just energy workers" who are a bit unbalanced and need help. (that's the sympathetic view - others claim we're just doing it for kicks or for evil, or something silly like that)

So what does this mean? Are we really such outsiders? Kiera said it plainly and rightly - no, we are not. We're in the middle of human society, attempting to balance things and be beneficial to those around us. Vampires tend to try to help other people out of instinct - I have never met a vampire who didn't do something useful for his fellow human beings.

Michelle Belanger wrote extensively about her particular vision of how her Kheprian vampires can and do fit into a larger human context, and how vampirism isn't so much a predatory tendency as a tool for accomplishing necessary work within a human society. It's not the only answer to how vampires can be different from human energy workers and also have their place. But it is one widely-published example.

So why aren't we accepted in the magical community in similar context to shamans, healers, and other energy workers? Do we have to pass as such to be accepted? Do we have to NOT be energy feeders in order to help people and fit in to human society? I really don't think so. I believe that we do have a place and a use. I really believe that if we know what we're looking for, traditional human shamanistic knowledge really DOES know about us, it's just that they were traditional societies and we're postmodern. These days everything is an "identity," but in traditional lore, maybe some shamans were vampires and they knew it, mabye even acknowledged it, but just didn't care all that much. Who knows?

Within the past 50 years, historians have written, in footnotes and asides, about curious werewolf beliefs that have nothing to do with the Inquisitional beliefs of early modern Europe (the "folklore" we so casually think of as the European werewolf belief). They look almost exactly like modern spiritual Therianthropy. So Weres are not a "new age" belief, they seem to be a very old one. And I don't mean "every legend has a grain of truth," or "famous Eurpoean werewolves" like Stube, or any of that misleading amateur folklorist crap. We KNOW that socially-benefical spiritual lycanthropy, in a similar form to what weres talk about right now, was an accepted belief and practice at least in some parts of Europe, because we have Inquisitional trial records that prove it. We have folklore elsewhere that hints at it. The same is out there for our people, and I believe that we will find it.

[Kiera]

“I'm also interested in the thought that vampires are similar to other energy workers. It's an important thought, since the greater magickal community often wants to draw a big, fat line between energy workers and energy feeders. On one side are the "beneficial" energy manipulators, like healers, shamans, reiki practitioners, etc. These are traditional professions in the human world that are seen as supporting human communities, by bringing health, wisdom, and harmony.” -Zero

I think what I was originally trying to express in my original post... the original thread that has been both challenged and supported by various forum members is that:

Vampires Are Energy Manipulators in the same vein as other Energy Manipulators which are accepted by society such as Shamans, Healers, reiki instructors, or various other spiritual and/or magickal practitioners. We CAN be beneficial, supportive and harmonious with human communities. It is a Choice each individual makes according to his or her own moral and ethical codes.

Yet the difference being that as Zero also mentioned, Vampires are often vilified as Energy Suckers, Energy Feeders, That we Take and Do Not Give in return. I propose that there is no difference between Energy Feeders and Energy Workers… In the End Energy is Cyclic… you cannot harbor it like a dragon guarding its treasure.

My Argument is that this vilification is first of all unjust and inaccurate and secondly it is a social stigma that I think many Vampires wear as a mantle of Guilt because of the nature of their being.

Many are either made to feel guilty by social stigma or find some masochistic satisfaction in symbolically flogging themselves with it. The Classic Louis De Pointe du Lac Syndrome… “Am I innately evil for my very nature? Is it beyond my control? Am I Damned?”

I know a Vampire who is a Massage Therapist... while certainly he may inadvertently feed on the ambient energy of a client, he is also investing a great deal of physical, spiritual and mental energy in his daily profession. This can be demonstrated by a multitude of Vampires through their chosen professions.

Ultimately Vampires are people too! We have Professions, Families, Friends, Responsibilities and Morals. We are all different and many of us subscribe to differing ethical and moral codes. There are the Archetypal Evil Energy Sucking Vampires... But is that any more horrific than the Jack the Rippers, John Wayne Gaceys and Jeffrey Dahlmers of the "Normal Society? It is a fringe element at worst.

Among Vampires there are those we would classify as good, evil and everything in between. Most Vampires are basically decent human beings who have one extra issue to struggle with or in turn embrace fully. We just happen to be Awakened to Energy Forces which most either choose to ignore or are ignorant of.

Personally I would love to find factual and historical information regarding Vampirism. The Holy Grail so to speak. I think that ideal is one of the main reasons AVA has decided to aggressively poll and categorize data regarding the community.

“I really believe that if we know what we're looking for, traditional human shamanistic knowledge really DOES know about us, it's just that they were traditional societies and we're postmodern. These days everything is an "identity," but in traditional lore, maybe some shamans were vampires and they knew it, maybe even acknowledged it, but just didn't care all that much. Who knows? “ –Zero

I know from what I personally experienced with my Awakening, before I had any notion of the existence of a Vampire Subculture or Vampire Role Playing Games... I did not have a label to attach to myself... I only knew I was different. I had sharpened senses, certain cravings and sensitivities... I was like a blind man in the dark.... untainted by the mythos of vampirism or the glittering facade presented in the Cyberverse.

“We KNOW that socially-beneficial spiritual lycanthropy, in a similar form to what weres talk about right now, was an accepted belief and practice at least in some parts of Europe, because we have Inquisitional trial records that prove it. We have folklore elsewhere that hints at it. The same is out there for our people, and I believe that we will find it.” – Zero

So with only my experience to draw on...I imagine that in numerous cultures long extinct across the globe... Vampires must have known and felt they were set apart in some way from the ordinary population. Granted certain Gifts that also came with a price. Even if they did not call themselves Vampires... If they called themselves anything at all... I'm sure they have been among Humanity since time immoral.

Kiera

[zero]

You know, I don't think popular occultism really had a knowledge or opinion of human vampirism until Dion Fortune had a bit on it in "Psychic Self Defense." Most of the present day New Age community's objection to psivamps comes directly from Konstantinos' "Vampires: The Occult Truth" book, which lifted a lot of material, including the judgementalism about psychic vampires, wholesale from Fortune's earlier work. (For example, "These are the darkest of creatures" is not too flattering an opening line for a chapter on psychic vampires)

I have yet to hear a non-Konstantinos-based anti-vamp argument from the occult crowd. I believe that this is a fabriccated sentiment and not at all part of the occult tradition of any path. Just like the supposed rivialry between vampires and werecreatures, which seems to have been manufactured by White Wolf and perpetuated by the Underworld movies.

-z

[gothik]

[Eclecta]

I think our lack of energy is a deficiency is what I meant... We are energy deficient in other words...
_________________
"Love is the law, love under will."

[Eclecta]

I think our lack of energy is a deficiency is what I meant... We are energy deficient in other words...
_________________
"Love is the law, love under will."