ISIS Inc.

“But first, on earth as vampire sent,
Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent,
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race.”

Throughout the years Vampirism has grown to more than just what is seen within books, movies, and television shows. In fact throughout the world there are millions of people who feel they can relate to the mythical vampire so well that they created their own subculture and new religious movement.

“Currently there is a prevailing phenomenon of modern vampires whose serious commitment to their beliefs; community and culture meet the criteria for designation as a new religious movement. Vampirism is a specific to real vampires and is practiced in western society both individually and community through many different organized vampire groups variously referred to as clans, churches, covens, orders, houses and circles. There are many subgroups of the main clans and a significant number of individual unrelated less known groups. Similar to other new religious movements it is difficult to establish an accurate number of followers Estimates range from 1,000 to 100,000 self-identified vampires throughout the world “(Perlmutter, 2004, p. 145)

For any movement to be considered a new religious movement it needs to be more than just a passing fad. This movement has grown throughout the years so much so a religious movement has been created. The growth of this movement is not just seen within the United States but throughout the world.

When one creates images of the modern vampire, you might come up with images of Edward Cullen or one of the Salvatore brothers who are all able to walk in the sunlight. Others might have images of Dracula or someone dressed in garb from the 1800s, which are all images we have seen through the past few decades through television shows and movies. The fact is there is a large subculture which is just as diverse as the people who choice to live their lives portraying the persona of being a vampire.

We at Athena Research Group believe that any sort of self-expression is a positive. Not everyone is going to fit into the norm of society and these subcultures help provide a positive means of expression for those who are not “normal”. This research article is to help others understand what the vampire subculture is and help everyone understand that this subculture is no more dangerous than any other subculture in the world today.

Juveniles and the Vampire Movement

Teenagers are searching to find a community they can connect with. During the teenage years (12 to 18 years of age) we are struggling to create an identity outside of our family. For those who have studied child development they will recognize this stage as Identity versus Identity confusion stage of Erickson’s Eight Stages of development. This is the time of our lives where we become more independent of their families, typically pulling away from our parents in order to figure out who we are and what we want to do with our lives.

There are certain elements of the vampire subculture which draws teenagers to it. This culture has a romantic, mysterious element which will attract young lost souls to it. Some of the juveniles attracted to this movement will become hard core members and continue with the lifestyle, others will outgrow the attraction. The initial attraction to the vampire movement may be through books, television, the internet, or role-playing games. While juveniles involved in the movement may seem odd in their manner of dress and speech, they are not for the most part violent. The acts of alleged vampire crimes are isolated incidents perpetrators will use their membership in a vampire clan as a justification for their antisocial acts not because membership requires any sort of violence.

Key Characteristics of the Vampire Subculture

Vampire Culture

• Real vampires seriously committed to the culture and members of clans
• Vampire lifestyles identified with the culture but have not yet committed
• Vampire role players entry level participants in vampire role playing games
• Goth scene entry level through music clothes etc
• Body modification scene tattooing, piercing cutting
• Modern primitives body mutilation for spiritual reasons
• Fetish scene hard core sadomasochism (Perlmutter, 2004, p. 147)

Common Terms

• The awakening which alludes to initial attraction to the vampire scene and is also referred to as the birth to darkness or the becoming 
• A sire is a vampire parent which can be parent/child, lovers or friends.
• Anyone who guides a fledging to his vampire nature 
• The fledgling or chide is an initiate until he moves to the next level 
• Mundane signify non-vampires and people who do not support the lifestyle 
• Swans refer to those who are aware of the culture but choose not to partake 
• Black swans are tolerant of the lifestyle 
• White swans disapprove and try to persuade family members to leave the scene (Perlmutter, 2004, p. 149)

Real Vampires

• The modern vampire is a combination of characteristics derived from a variety of historical and cross-cultural folktales, cultural myths and legend

Characteristics

•   Sadomasochism bondage/discipline vampire as predator, hunter
• Psychic vampire was viewed as a ghost like figure as opposed to the contemporary conception of vampire who acquires immortality as a resuscitated body. One of the two primary forms of psychic vampire relates to the concept of the astral body and maintains that there are second invisible bodies that can separate from the physical body usually at the moment of death. Astral vampirism is the ability to send one’s astral body to attack others
• The second more common form of psychic vampirism is sometimes termed magnetic vampirism and refers to the ability to drain the life-force of another person simply by being in his presence. Most contemporary vampire religious philosophers entail one or both forms of psychic vampire (Perlmutter, 2004, p. 150)
• The ability to acquire energy from others called feeing in the vampire community is considered intrinsic to vampire predatory nature A group of member who imbibe blood are referred to as feeding circles (Perlmutter, 2004, p. 150-151)

Vampires and the Fetish Scene

The fetish community is another subsection of society which can be mistaken for the Vampire community due to similarities in dress and accessories. There are similar behaviors which both communities might engage in. One must realize that the two communities along with the Gothic community coexist in many aspects but are not exclusive with their behaviors. 

This section has been set up as a brief introduction to the Fetish community in relations to the Vampire community.

Blood Rituals & Blood Play

• Throughout history and across cultures, people attributed sacred and magical qualities to blood  
• Blood rituals entail everything from drinking to pouring on the body and variety of uses in ceremonies  
• In some cultures it was believed that drinking the blood of a victim would endow you with the victim’s strength    
• Similarly by drinking the blood of an animal you would acquire its qualities  
• For modern vampires the use of blood is what separates the dabblers from the real vampires  
• The use of blood is commonly referred to as blood sports, blood play, blood lust and blood fetishism  
• Blood sports encompass all forms of body multination such as self-scarring play piercing in addition to cutting  
• Blood play involves cutting the body than having another person lick or suck the blood from the cut   
• Cutting is most often done with surgical scalpel or fine razor blade making shallow cuts in the top layer of the skin  
• Occasionally blood sports entail using a syringe to draw blood and then drinking it or sharing the blood  
•  A group of people cutting and sucking each other’s blood is referred to as a feeding circle (Perlmutter, 2004, p. 159)

The fetish community is a closed tight lipped community due to the nature of the behavior. It is hard for anyone who is not actively involved in the community to gain a hold of any information due to the need for privacy. This is similar to the Vampire community who feels that their society needs to remain private in order to protect the members of the community. These secret societies hold their belief systems and rituals close and will only allow those who have been initiated into the communities to know what they are. Just because something is a secret so not automatically make it bad. There is some danger involved in the blood fetish scene because of possible transmission of disease. There is also a risk of injury or death from bloodletting.

Dawn Perlmutter, author of Investigating Religious Terrorism and Ritualistic Crime describes blood fetish in the vampire community in the following manner:

A custom frequently affiliated with the vampire scene includes bondage/discipline sexual activity fetishism and sadomasochism. This is related to the characteristic is the vampire predator/hunter and is a mandatory ritual in some religious groups to achieve higher levels of spirituality participants are referred to as regent (master) and thrall (slave). This involves an aspect of vampire magic termed true name which is a variation of the sadomastic safe word

In vampire religion sadomasochism is theologically one from of feeding because according to the vampire codex a spiritual interpretation of vampire energy coupled with strong emotion is more fulfilling than simple energy alone

According to the codex the most intense emotion to feed off is fear and the next is ecasty either sexual or religious. Sadomasochism is the form of vampire religious ritual provides a combination of all 3 emotions hence it is an intense form of assimilating energy from another. Real vampires retain a high status in the subculture and are well respected within the vampire community (Perlmutter, 2004, p. 151)

Again, finding any information of the nature of sadomasochism as it pertains to the vampire subculture is difficult

Conclusion

Vampires seem to be everywhere these days. All you have to do is head to the local mall where teenagers and young adults hang out and it will be easy to find a vampire. There are those who choice to live within the Vampire subculture for more than just their teenage years. These people help Vampire subculture meets the requirements to be considered a new religions movement. There is even a Vampire Church that is recognized as a religious institution by the federal government located in Washington State. Time will tell how this movement will affect the Modern American landscape.

References

Perlmutter, D. (2004). Investigating Religious Terrorism and Ritualistic Crimes. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press LLC.