Vampire lifestyle

The vampire lifestyle or vampire subculture is an alternative lifestyle, based on the modern perception of vampires in popular fiction. The vampire subculture has stemmed largely from the goth subculture, but also incorporates some elements of the sadomasochism subculture. The Internet provides a prevalent forum for the subculture along with other media such as glossy magazines devoted to the topic.

Active vampirism within the vampire subculture includes both sanguinarian vampirism, which involves blood consumption, and psychic vampirism, whose practitioners believe they are drawing spiritual nourishment from auric or pranic energy.

Ideology

Consumption of blood

Like Dracula and other literary vampires, some traditions of modern vampires drink blood, either animal or human, although human is preferred. They claim they need blood to make up for a deficiency of proper energy processing within the body.

Sexuality and sexual practices

The link between vampirism and sexuality has been present even before Stoker’s Dracula. With the modern vampire movement, “eroticism has become so entwined with the contemporary vampire scene that popular vampire magazines, like Bloodstone, include previews of the latest vampire pornography, featuring combined acts of sex and blood-letting.” This focus on sex and sexuality stems from vampire literature. In fact, sexual attraction was the most frequent response in a survey conducted among a group of 574 college and high school participants, where the participants were asked what they found most appealing about vampires and vampire literature.

Sex researchers have documented cases of people with sexual (paraphilic) vampirism and autovampirism.

Members of vampire subculture

Unlike what is commonly assumed, there are more members to the vampire society than simply those that drink blood. Such members tend to congregate into small clans, usually called covens or "houses," in a tribal culture to find acceptance among others that share their beliefs. Generally vampirism is not considered a religion but a spiritual or philosophical path. There are also many modern vampires that are not part of a coven, but rather are solitary. Most human vampires wear regular or ordinary clothes for the area they live in to avoid discrimination. In addition, there are hybrids, human vampires that take both blood and energy. There are three main types of vampires lifestylers.

Sanguinarians

Those that drink blood are called sanguinarians or "sanguine vampires". They and psychic vampires address themselves as "real vampires" and usually have a collective community. They believe they have a physical and/or spiritual need to drink human blood to maintain their mental and physical health.

Psychic vampires

Commonly known as psi-vamps are another kind of human vampire that claim to attain nourishment from the aura, psychic energy, or pranic energy of others. They believe one must feed from this energy to balance a spiritual or psychological energy deficiency such as a damaged aura or chakra.

Living vampires

Often calling themselves by the namesake are highly spiritual and consider vampirism an action required for spiritual evolution and ascension, yet maintain a rigid ethical system in its practice. Living vampires are rarely, but sometimes, blood drinkers and are usually organized into initiatory orders such as Temple of the Vampire, Ordo Strigoi Vii, and the Order of the Black Dragon.

Transcendental vampires

The notion of the vampire having an immortal soul is the focal point of this Vampiric identity. Those who associate with this form of Vampiric identity such as the coven House Bennu hold the belief that their soul/psyche may travel into, and fuse with the soul/psyche and body of a younger Vampire with the goal of achieving immortality. Transcendental Vampires may be sanguinarian and/or psychic in nature.

Blood donors

Blood donors are people that willingly allow human vampires to drink their blood. Within vampire society, human vampires and donors are considered equal, yet donors are expected to be subservient to the vampires. At the same time, donors are difficult to find, and because of that human vampires have no reason to abuse their donors.

Blood fetishists

Fetishists in the vampire community use blood as a fetish or stimulant in sadomasochistic sex.

Vampire role-players

Vampire role-players, otherwise called "fashion vamps", differ distinctly from human vampires in that they are "serious vampire fans and those who dress up in vampire clothing, live a vampire lifestyle (e.g. sleep in coffins), and primarily participate in RPGs such as Vampire: The Masquerade."

Terminology

Term	Definition
feeding	the taking of energy via blood or other forms
mundane; nil	a closed-minded individual/ non-awakened, non-vampire
black swan	a non-vampire that is sympathetic to vampires
fledgling	someone that is new to vampire subculture

Controversy

Christianity and modern vampires

In response to the rising vampire subculture, a Christian counter-movement of self-professed vampire slayers has formed that opposes the notion of real vampires. Online, they swarm vampire websites with hate mail and participate in other similar activities, but there are rumors of zealous vampire slayers killing human vampires.

Modern vampirism and crime

Tracey Wigginton gained the nickname "The Lesbian Vampire Killer" after she killed a man in 1989, purportedly to drink his blood. Other serial killers and similar delusional individuals have killed people, believing themselves to be vampires and in need of blood to drink. However, the vampire subculture as a whole does not associate themselves with these individuals, stating that they are not real vampires, and that the subculture does not promote violence or crime in any form. Crime as a whole is rarely associated with vampirism.

See also

• Clinical vampirism
• Jonathon Sharkey
• Christian (chaimovich) Castravet Modern day decendant of Vlad Tepes

References

Serbian Emperor Stephen Uroš IV - Dušan The Great strictly forbids exhumation, staking and burning supposed "Vampires". This is detailed in Czar Dušan's Law Edict of 1349 - 3rd Serbian Constitution , Article No. 20. (1st Serbian Constitution 1219 "Zakonopravilo" by Prince Rastko-Sava Nemanjić later Saint Sava, 2nd Serbian Constitution by King Stefan Milutin). Punishment to the local authority and community a hefty fine of 500 Perpers a medieval currency in Serbia used along with Dinar, and stripping local priest of title and the right to practice..."as judged by my imperial court" (this is 400 years prior to Habsburg Empress Maria Theresia's ban in 18th century). There is a question on timing of the code introduced in 1349 which coincidentally happens to be at the same time of the "Black Death" plague. This devastating period (at the time) of unnaxplained circumstances of death left great paranoia amongst populace across Imperial Serbia during reign of Dušan the Great, and the rest of the European continent. No studies so far have made thourough connections with Vampirism with the outbreak of the "Black Death" but the timing of the introduction of the "Article 20" may well be the earliest attempts to control and contain the Plague and other infectious diseases what might have been interpreted in Medieval Serbia as Vampirism. Currently there are no discovered surviving written records of the 2nd Constitution of Serbia by king Milutin referenced later in Dušan's Law "Dušanov Zakonik" of 1349 to compare and examine if previous references to "Vampire hunting" practice ban and exhumation of corpses existed. No recorings on such practices exist in the 1st Serbian Constitution from 1219.

Further reading

• Belanger, Michelle A. (2004). The Psychic Vampire Codex: A Manual of Magick and Energy Work. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-1-57863-321-0
• Laycock, Joseph (2009). Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism. Praeger. ISBN 978-0-313-36472-3
• Russo, Arlene (2005). Vampire Nation. John Blake. ISBN 978-1-84454-172-0