"Our contention is not that dead men live again, but that a living man never dies". -- Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind
"Vampires are not "made" - they are awakened."
-- Richard Kupfer, Urban Dictionary, Vampire Definition #46
In the Annotated Dracula, Leslie Klinger refers to The History of the Word Vampire, by Katharina M. Wilson, which "traces possible Turkish, Greek, Slavic and Hungarian roots for the term Vampire. However, linguistic studies concerning the etymology of the word in major European languages indicate it is neither Hungarian nor Romanian. Like the origins of the creatures themselves, the origin of the word Vampire is clouded in Mystery."
We turn to the ancient Sanskrit tongue to Solve et Coagula the enigma. The Sanskrit root word VAM is the tone which emanates from our second chakra, Svadhistana, the home of our regenerative organs and sexual seed / root / fruit. VAM represents consciousness, water, and bliss. Adding the suffix PYRE, a towering inferno / blazing FIRE, we realize a SPIRIT BEING, originating astrally (from the Stars / Sun), and incarnating physically, by Va-Va-Vamp-ing the burning bliss of Desire. A violet flame powers sexual attraction, by all sweet accounts of seduction. The Vampire wills Itself into Flaming Existence, to engage in the ritual of Life (Blood), intent on pursuing Romance (Love), in a Body dedicated to Forever. An equation signed, sealed, and delivered with a kiss.
Ever wonder why we incarnate? The only acceptable answer is to Live, Love, and Learn (reaping valuable lessons about who we are). When a self-incarnated vampire chooses to leave this earthly plane (in flames upon a funeral pyre, for example), the Sacred Heart remains occultly burning, while all else dissolves into Spirit (a miracle of the heart of Saint Jeanne d'Arc). When cooled, these solid gold relics, testament to a life well-loved, are kept in secret shrine depositories and inner mountain sanctums (Transylvanian, Tibetan, Christian). Our yogic Life-force (Sanskrit : Kundalini) and DNA's writhing, double-helix, molecular structure, share serpent symbolism with the Transylvanian House of Dracul (Dragon). Vamps, like their counterparts - yogis, dragons, and the Code of Life, replicate (and exhale fire!) by undulating and recycling Prana (Life-breath).
In another vein, specifically the defining pulse of the Undead, a Vampire is characterized as a "fabulous being, the ghost of a heretic - one who questions the laws of Death or decrees of the Christian Church" (an institution inordinately fond of burning said heretics at the stake). Upir, or upyr, the Slavic term for vampire, and ubyr, the Turkish term for witch, ghost, or ghost of a witch, are related, and classified "revenants", capable of spectrally doing harm (the infamous "Shape", which appeared to bite and threaten the afflicted "victims" of the Salem Witch Trials).
While astral projections of the living may be mistaken for ghosts, truly-disembodied ghost sightings are evidence ethereal replicas of physical beings remain animated, retaining the desire and will to (astrally) function, whatever their motives or compelling influences may be (revenge, attachment, fear, or love). Imagine honing this technique of Supreme Willpower over one's physical flesh. The Undead possess a fluctuating Immortality, granted by the Will and / or the Bloodline, it is merely a Vampyr prerogative to "recognize" one's inheritance of such Mastery, and to practice what the flesh naturally preaches (warning : this may attract the Attention / Wrath of Other Supreme Beings).
The smoke is beginning to clear on the true fate of Bram Stoker's Dracula, bowie-knifed in the heart in his stagecoach casket, in the Borgo Pass at sunrise in the story's finale. As it dawns on the more astute readers, the signification of being Undead may denote virtual powers of hermetic transmutation.....manifesting in an uncommon equilibrium of....Everlasting Life. Suck it, Professor Van Helsing. One surmises the Count, upon being impaled, has simply turned into one of his fluid, mercurial states (in this case - mist). There's no way to kill the wary Necromancer, a Master Shapeshifter having undone Death aeons ago (no one gets to looking like that overnight!). Perhaps, Count D intended to open an Eleusinian Mystery School in England, and to disseminate his knowledge, initiated soulful playmates, Mina and Lucy, as tantric (yoga) instructors!
Albeit, the fame of the Victorian Age's casual regard towards opium usage, the Count's Incubus / Succubus seduction techniques, and hardcore, S & M foreplay, threatened the Church's male-dominated hierarchy. Their WASPY (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) prudish minds cried WOLF! as the swarthy foreigner "mutated" their women, into powerful, yogic vamps; and in the face of their powerlessness to stop him, dredged-up the usual litanies of fear / propaganda : Kill the Monster! Crucify the Sacred Heart! - performing miracles of Undying Compassion, liberating women to openly embrace sacred harlotry and polyamory. Are Vampires allegories for Free Love? Will the Undead render healthcare obsolete? undermine capitalist society? address population control?
Don't cross him......silver crosses and bullets, and communion wafers also shed light....of the Moon! The host held to Mina's forehead "sears the flesh" marking her occulted third eye, while Dracula cringes and withers, in mock-horror, at the crucifix or mini-moon wafer wafted in his face. It's a farcical, tragic-comedy, for God's sake!
The most deadly artifacts of them all, sure to slay a Vampire on sight is......Buffy? (c'mon people, help me here).....THE SUN. Now that'll nail the lid on the coffin....wait....HOW CAN SOLAR RAYS KILL A YOGI WHOSE INNER POWER SOURCE IS THE SUN? WHOSE MIRROR IS THE MOON? More likely, Vampires, in all their sublime glory, swoon, burst, and dematerialize into flames, SURRENDERING in sheer ecstasy, beholding their reigning King Sol-o-mon. Spirits conscious of originating in Space bear burning Starflesh, seared by the pain of forgetting one's Divinity.
Vampires are systematically loved, idolized, venerated, despised, misunderstood, and decried, in every cultural context imaginable (in general, people don't take well to their fellow villagers rising, blood-thirsty and decaying, from their burial mounds). Aspiring to Immortality is an unforgivable sin, and considered a symptom of arrogant pride (involving the-selling-of-one's-Soul-to-you-know-who). Vampires serve to strengthen cultural taboos, against practicing the Dark Arts, committing suicide, and / or the sacrificial blood-drinking of one's enemies (bathing in blood is heinous and strictly prohibited). As the undisputed stars of supernatural horror, they dramatize our obsession with violent death and occult superstition, and are more than willing to play the part. As their popularity in modern entertainment attests, everybody is dying to receive an Immortal DNA upgrade......it's the age-less missing link (as seen on True Blood, a shot of vamp blood is better than Viagra / MDMA combined!).
What a perfect creature to represent the cultural iconography of what-is-perceived-as-the-plague-of-Eternal-Life! For a suffering, self-accursed people, it's the prize oath / epitaph / curse to deliver to one's enemies, and / or one's Maker : "I will live forever drinking your blood!".....a threat, as it were, dramatizing interesting parallels. Hey, God! Your Son, Jesus Christ, and his Consort, Mary Magdalene, baring their radiating, thorn-briared, dagger-struck, or Spear-of-Destiny-impaled, flaming hearts, are Vampires! Jesus claims by drinking His blood, we will LIVE FOREVER!!!
"Whoever feeds on my flesh, and drinks my blood has eternal life."
-- The Gospel of John, 6-54
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