#father sebastiaan

[reno-matagot]

''Cᴏᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ʙᴀʙʏ ʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴍʏ Fɪʀᴇ'' - Tʜᴇ Dᴏᴏʀs

26 avril 24

[blodigrodion]

[ajstudio]

Do you still have the tenth volume of Hellsing? I have something I want you to check for me.

Is the year of the time skip different from the new release of the Hellsing manga? I bought the omnibus volumes last year.

My vampire book collection.

Two books are not pictured because they’re too large to fit on the shelf.

Also, the 10 volumes of Hellsing manga because why not, they count.

[vampfairywitch]

Real Living Vampires & the Magic of Vampire Witchcraft

🎃🧛‍♂️ Real Living Vampires & the Magic of Vampire Witchcraft 🧛‍♀️✨

As Halloween approaches, the veil between the mystical and the mundane grows thin, sparking curiosity about the supernatural. Among the fascinating legends is that of real living vampires—modern-day individuals who practice vampiric lifestyles and magic. But what does it mean to be a real vampire in today’s world, and how does their craft bring benefits to their lives? Let’s sink our teeth into the mysteries of vampire-style magic!

🦇 Modern Living Vampires: More Than Myth

Forget the Hollywood image of vampires—they aren’t all lurking in crypts or turning into bats. Real living vampires are people who embrace the energy-absorbing practices associated with vampirism. They may draw energy from their surroundings, nature, or even other people, much like ancient vampiric lore suggests. These individuals often identify with vampire subcultures and have built communities where they can explore their identity.

Notable examples of modern living vampires include figures like Father Sebastiaan, a fangsmith and leader in the vampire community, and Michelle Belanger, a psychic vampire who educates others about vampirism through her books and TV appearances. These individuals practice ethical vampirism, often focusing on energy work, psychic development, and mindfulness.

🧙‍♂️ Vampire-Style Witchcraft: Energy, Glamour, & Transformation

What is vampire magic, you ask? This form of witchcraft blends traditional energy work with the dark, transformative allure of vampirism. It often revolves around the concepts of energy manipulation, glamour magic, and shadow work.

Energy Absorption: Vampiric witches may draw upon the energy of others or natural forces to rejuvenate themselves. This is not about "draining" others but balancing one's own energies and replenishing when needed.

Glamour Magic: Like vampires who charm and mesmerize, this practice involves using magical intention to create an aura of allure, boosting confidence, or becoming more noticeable. It's about transforming your outward appearance and inner vibe to attract positivity or success.

Shadow Work: Vampires are often seen as creatures of the night, and vampiric witchcraft focuses on exploring the darker aspects of the self. Shadow work involves understanding and embracing hidden emotions or traits to bring them into balance.

🌟 The Benefits of Vampire Magic

Embracing vampire magic can bring unique benefits to your life. It’s not about spooky rituals or dark pacts—it’s about empowerment! 🦇✨

Energy Boost: By mastering the art of absorbing and directing energy, modern vampires can keep themselves balanced, rejuvenated, and more resilient to stress.

Personal Transformation: Much like the legendary vampires who change from human to immortal, vampire magic can aid in your own journey of transformation, whether it’s developing new talents, changing old habits, or manifesting desires.

Increased Confidence: Through glamour magic, many find themselves exuding an aura that draws others in, building self-esteem and attracting positive relationships.

Healing Power: Energy work can also lead to emotional and physical healing, allowing you to clear blockages and enhance well-being.

👻 A Spooktacular Halloween Experience!

If the idea of embracing the dark, alluring magic of vampirism excites you this Halloween, you’re not alone! Whether you’re drawn to the mystique of modern vampire communities, the enchantments of vampiric witchcraft, or simply exploring your own inner power, the magic is there for you to tap into.

As you celebrate the spooky season, remember: vampire magic isn’t about darkness—it’s about the balance of shadow and light, about transformation and growth. So, why not let your inner vampire shine a little brighter this Halloween? 🎃✨

Happy Halloween, witches and vampires! 🧛‍♂️🧙‍♀️

#VampireMagic #LivingVampires #Witchcraft #EnergyWork #HalloweenVibes #SpookySeason #Transformation #GlamourMagic

[lexsang]

Hi! I was reading your opinion if father Sebastiaan and Sabretooth and you mentioned finally seeing sanguinarianism as a blessing. As someone who struggles a lot with seeing if as anything but a handicap and feeling frustrated, I'd love to hear more about how you managed to see the positive in all this.

This is a fantastic question. I'll try to cover it as completely as I can, but I do want to stress that my experience, like all of ours, is unique. Just a warning before I jump in, I am talking about my awakening in a decent bit of detail, so please ensure you are in a good place before reading. It might not be a bad Idea to have your favourite blood substitute on hand before giving this all a read.

I may have told a vague story of my awakening a number of times, but I think it's pretty relevant to this topic, so I'll start with that. Surprisingly, I don't think I have actually heard many in-depth awakening stories from other vamps, so I don't know if many of the details of mine are different from the norm. I do know that the general feeling of absolute isolation is fairly common though. When I first awakened, it was like a dam burst. Suddenly, and without any inciting moment, I had a vague interest in blood, and the curiosity in drinking it. But it only remained a small thought for a couple of days, and quickly exploded into full body cravings that left my mind unable to think about anything else. It was violent, disruptive, and absolutely life altering. I, unlike some lucky members of the community, had no previous knowledge of the vampire community, or that anyone else could possibly be have the kinds of experiences I was thrust into having.

I assume that having that knowledge would have changed the course of my awakening, but if I'm being honest with myself, I don't know that it would have changed a thing. Suddenly, I was an isolated individual, unlike anyone else, constantly wading through seas of people (I was in school, and then university at the time), and overwhelmed by vivid, violent thoughts. Like I mentioned, I like to think that having the knowledge that all I needed was to feed on a little bit of blood would have changed the depth of my awakening. However, my body, sending every signal it could in the effort to convince me to feed, pushed further and further, until the cravings pushed past just blood, and into meat as well. I mention all of this to help convey that I was wholly consumed by my cravings. For every second of every day for two or three years, this was my internal experience. What I have failed to mention, however, is how I felt about that experience.

I didn't push away from it or create tension between myself and those feelings and impulses. Of course I did maintain control (albeit somewhat loose control sometimes), but rather than being fearful of myself, I quickly accepted it as a part of myself. I have to be direct. I loved the feeling that the cravings sustained in my body. And that is the main thing that I think makes my experience so different from the experiences of many other sanguinarian vampires. I enjoyed the experience of vampirism from the beginning, I just closed my eyes and fell backwards into the sensations and the experience, with a smile on my face.

That being said, it did complicate parts of my life. I was in a pretty negative relationship throughout much of my awakening, and she, being the only person I had told about my cravings, was kind enough to fairly consistently remind me that she saw me as a monster, despite the fact that I was clear that these experiences were happening at me, and not from me (suffice to say, don't keep people in your life who are incapable of accepting you). It was also difficult to manage family at the time. Because of that relationship, I started going through some rough times, and the addition of unsated cravings complicated my ability to ask for help. My family became very worried about me, but there was only so much I could say. So I certainly won't say that vampirism is a completely enjoyable experience without it's difficulties, not to mention the very real pain that can come from cravings.

I do think there is a decent amount to be learned from my experience. That the experience of vampirism, though I harp on the fact that vampirism expresses itself uniquely in every individual, varies most extremely based on the perspective of the person experiencing it. And luckily, perspectives can be changed! You, at present, view your vampiric experience from the perspective that it is a handicap, but I can't imagine that that one perspective has been the entirety of the experience. The way I see it, my vampirism allows me to look at life as if I'm looking through a stained glass window, one that no one else will ever get the chance to see. Yes, there may be other vampires (which is also a good thing, we get to connect with others over something that makes us all unique and alike), but no one else will ever experience it in the same way you do.

I think it's also very important to take time with the cravings. By pushing against them, many vampires add tension to their experiences, and make it harder to deal with. Use substitutes if you need to, or feed if you have the opportunity to, and disconnect from the experiences of others. Just sit in your own body and let the cravings be there with you almost like meditating with your vampirism. When you are present with them like this, without judgement, how does it really feel to sit in that vampiric experience? When there isn't something pressing that the cravings are distracting you from, how does that experience manifest?

And of course, feeding is probably the big one. Yes, we gradually get to a point where we don't feel healthy. The level and timeframe of that varies from vamp to vamp, but it is a fact that that aspect of vampirism is a handicap. But through that difficulty, we get to experience feeding, something that 99.999% of people will never be able to understand. People say that you can't truly experience the good in life if you haven't experienced the bad. I won't necessarily agree or disagree with that, but I will say that that is a great way to relate to the experience of feeding. The instant dissolution of whatever doubts that might have been swimming around in my mind, along with the sudden removal of negative symptoms is a blessing. And in my experience, that is just where feeding starts. It obviously shouldn't be seen as a drug to be used for regular recreation, but the feeling of feeding, if you see it as more than just filling a need, like taking a prescription, is really something else.

This has definitely been much longer than I had originally intended, and I'm too lazy to look back through it to see if I messed up any spelling or anything, and I solemnly apologize for the number of times I used the word 'experience'... but I couldn't think of any other word, and it's too late to crack open the thesaurus. I hope this helped, and if you have any more questions or are looking for any clarification, please feel free to ask. I'm more than happy to help where I can :)

[wanderlust-psifang]

Immortal Mindset

There are plenty of articles and books written about feeding, fashion, and the fundamentals of vampirism. There is a lot on magic, ritual, and the spiritual side as well. I also want to present articles on empowering one's life beyond just the metaphysical and feeding and how we can better ourselves in various ways.

So we'sll start with the Immortal Mindset. I first came across this term in Daoism. The Immortal Mindset is one of patience and observation, as health and longevity are the pursuit of the philosophy. Daoist Temples not only teach Daoist philosophy and kung fu, but also Traditional Chinese Medicine, which includes herbalism, nutrition, massage, various forms of qigong, and meditation. You will find similar concepts in many traditional kung fu schools (I was taught the basics of massage, herbalism, and qigong in the kung fu I learned).

The second place I came across the term was Father Sebastiaan's Sanguinomicon, and the third was Temple of the Vampire literature. In the Sanguinomicon, Feeding is part of the journey toward an Immortal Mindset. Strigoi Vii feed to empower the astral body so it can sustain after the First Death (physical death). This concept is similar to Temple of the Vampire literature.

Where Temple of the Vampire differs is their Dayside Secrets. All I will say is that it influenced my approach to vampirism's Immortal Mindset with my previous fascinations with neuroplasticity and how certain mindsets, lifestyles, and foods can enhance the overall human experience.

Taking Action

The Immortal Mindset is not simply a way of thinking but thinking in ways that provide well being by taking action on said thoughts. You can't just think of getting stronger, you have to exercise and eat well. You can utilize visualization to enhance your physical attributes, but it still takes physical effort to achieve a healthy level of fitness.

As a vampire, I strive to go beyond basic fitness which is why I mix traditional martial arts, Old Time Strongman, and calisthenics. I don't just want to be strong and have an aesthetic body, I want to have functional strength.

A good place to start learning functional strength is the Bioneer on YouTube. I suggest all his videos, but especially his Batman series as it not only goes over physical training, but mental training as well. He is one of the most unique and well rounded fitness influencers.

[sangaverage]

Reblogging as a vampyric witch myself

Hey OP? You still looking for vampire magick stuff?

So I think Lilith wants me to get into Vampirism again. I haven't been interested in that since I was 21. Most notably Vampyric Magic which I didn't know was an actual thing until very recently.

It makes sense and given I nor Levathia (A past life self) is attached romantically to our former master/ex anymore, I think it would work out a lot better.

Lilith being a literal ancient goddess/Succubus & an aspect of Asmodeus being an Incubus (which are energy vampires in a sense IMO, maybe they don't have "fangs" but they do similar things that Psi Vamps do. It's just usually in a sexual way.) it would make more sense them being our "masters/mistress" (more notably Lilith, but I am spoused to Asmodeus.) then a narcissistic human who doesn't even believe in being a vampire anymore.

I consider myself both a PsiVamp (I'm an empath) and a Sanguine Vampire, I will admit to being a fan of Vampire culture before I knew about true vampires (Lost Boys, Buffy, Underworld, John Carpenters Vampires, Blade, The Last Vampire books, The Amelia Atwater Rhodes books ect.) I was also obsessed with Twilight for a time but I knew those books were fiction. I also really liked and still do like The Vampire Diaries and True Blood. Also more obscure or low budget movies and shows like Razorblade Smile (which my ex introduced me to) Blood Ties, Only Lovers Left Alive and A Discovery of Witches.(which I loved because it was witches and vampires)

I've also written stories based on my past life (lives?) as Levathia, idk if I'll finish them though as I did base most of the characters on real people who's influence or inspiration is now gone.

I was into Wicca when I met my ex and found out I was an actual vampyre when I was 18. But I never put them together, being a vampyre (or baby vamp att) was always separate from my craft and I was never in a coven. I never thought to use blood in my practice (especially since my goddess then was Aphrodite) or siphon others energy for a spell. (Not knowingly anyway.) I'm sure as I mostly did spells or rituals with him that Valenn and I used one another's energy but I didn't do it consciously. I also grew up with the mindset that energy vampires are bad, though some are. I didn't realize that empaths and Psivamps are two sides of the same coin until recently.

I've never actively drank blood, or used it anyway, or done blood play ect. But I've always been drawn to it. Just att there's no way I would have done it safely or had anyone around me (not manipulating me) that knew what they were doing.

That being said I'm pretty sure my demons would know to show me how to do it safely and I am married to someone (on the 3D) that I absolutly trust and is with Lilith.

It is still hard to find things about Vampyric Magic (other than the book by Father Sebastian which I have yet to read) or about real Vampirism in general. I've come across a couple on tumblr and YouTube but it doesn't seem to be as prevalent or "trendy" as it once was. If anyone has any suggestions or you are one let me know!

[vermonteldergoth]

Father Sebastiaan's Vampire VLOG

[thedarkmarkshow]

Interview with the Vampire - Father Sebastiaan returns https://audioboom.com/posts/8384564-interview-with-the-vampire-father-sebastiaan-returns

[lexsang]

(Thank you for saying it, those are ankh's from a roleplaying game and I've seen so many people claim that they are a symbol of real vampirism) However! The concept of the bladed ankh does have a place in the overall culture of the RVC (real vamp community).

On the subject of VTM: Back when the internet wasn't a thing, many real vampire communities started, not surprisingly, from vampires who met via Vampire: The Masquerade. That's where many of the terms the community came from as well. Some of that has caused confusion sadly, like the use of the term 'the beast' for the more intense hunger we feel, leading many of us to personify it as something outside of ourselves, rather than a part of us, but that's not what this convo is about.

I don't know if the concept of the bladed ankh was also inspired by VTM's ankh symbols or not, but the main version we see, the legacy ankh, has been with the community since it was designed by D'Drennan for the Sabretooth Clan in 1996. Of course, this symbol is not a universal symbol of real vampirism, but of vampirism in relation to the Sabretooth Clan. As many people know, though I was more vocal about it in the past, I have a few issues with Father Sebastiaan and Sabretooth, but my opinions don't get in the way of the understanding that they have a very large part in the history and structure of the community, at least in the US.

Symbols, at least with such a spread out community, never really unify or represent the community as a whole. They are usually made by a specific group to unify them. But, the concepts of those symbols can. The bladed ankh as an idea (not the VTM one, and not specifically the Legacy Ankh) distills the symbolism of the Egyptian ankh into a strictly vampiric concept that brings a ton of meaning with it.

just clearing up a little misconception because i've been seeing these popping up on pride flags again. these:

are not generic vampire symbols. these are from the tabletop rpg vampire the masquerade. these are not the bladed ankh symbol you're looking for

if you don't mind your vampirism being associated with one specific fictional setting then sure you're free to keep using it, but i have been seeing this for years so i just thought you all should be like. aware. especially when there is 30+ years of lore baggage, with all vampires descending from cain after he killed abel

[churchofsatannews]

INTERVIEW WITH A SATANIC GENTLEMAN

Father Sebastiaan discusses The Satanic Warlock with Magister Dr. Robert Johnson. 

“About a year ago I was introduced to the book The Satanic Warlock by Magister Dr. Robert Johnston, Magister of Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan by a good friend Ruth Waytz (who is also a Magistra in the Church of Satan). As I am into the Gentleman’s Arts of bon vivant, adventure, class and seduction this book seemed to be a direct correlation to my interests and it did not let me down. I had the pleasure of interviewing him about his book!”

Click here to read more!

[i-want-my-iwtv]

Elaborating on your last post about fake fangs, what do you know about fangsmiths? Are those fangs durable? I'm just so curious because they sound awesome!

Hello! I am actually… really passionate about this and I’ve thought about doing it for myself, too! For now I settle with fanart of me w/ fangs…

[^Portrait of moi by the amazingly talented @vaciel, it’s a WIP, I hope they finish it someday][Ya can’t see them but I would have the canine fangs, too, you can only see the lateral incisor fangs here (that’s the tooth between the front tooth and the canine)]

I actually don’t know the specifics, it depends on the fangsmith, but we have a few fangsmithsbrought into Halloween Adventure here in NYC leading up to Halloween every year to make fangs, so you might get in touch with that store. They would probably need to be done in person so that the fangsmith can take a cast of your teeth so that their fangs will fit perfectly (my little story about the custom fangs, well, Lestat sneakily gets the cast by making the molds himself w/ Brian, during an evening of experimentation with Alginate ^____^ ) I’m pretty sure the fangsmiths all make their fangs removable.

One fangsmith, who I think is one of the Halloween Adventure ones, is Father Sebastiaan, and he has a gallery and prices. He has a list of pointers about his fangs that are probably true for other fangsmiths:

“Fangs color match your teeth.

They will last 2-3 years with good care, longer if you are careful.

Not wise to sleep or eat with them.

OK for smoking, drinking coffee, tea, alcohol, absinthe and sex.

Made from high quality dental acrylics.

18 years of fang making experience.

Good for singing.

Feel like your real teeth when being worn.”

This is one of the customers in his gallery:

^IWTV-style fangs, I think, bc this dude vampire has the lateral incisors done, too

Hit the jump for a little more, anyone w/ more info is welcome to share or tag someone who does!

I’ve also seen my fair share of custom fangs made by dentists who are willing to do cosmetic work, like the plastic surgeons who are willing to make your ears pointy for superficial reasons. Much more expensive, I would assume. Here’s a picture of a fan at a booksigning for PL in ‘14 who I think had permanent fangs and hers were… in my opinion… too big. She reminded me a little more of a sabretooth tiger than a vampiress but hey! It worked for her. 

[X] Sorry for the low-res, it was hard to get any snaps of her! Her fangs were concealed when her mouth was closed, but her lip was pushed out to make room, I guess, and I think she had a little difficulty talking. Hers seemed very durable.

[widdershinsradio]

Father Sebastiaan joins us tonight

[simsingesimblr]

Historical Dutch names for storytelling (1700s-1980s)

Note: it was common for sons to get the first name of their father, and his father before him etcetera. But the nicknames would be different. For example: there could be 3 generations named Albertus but they would be called Albert, Bert and Bertus. Or the oldest could be called old Bert, or something like that.

MASCULINE

Hendrikus (Henricus, Hendrik, Henk, Henri) Christianus (Christiaan, Chris) Johannus (Johan, Hans, Jan, Jannus) Jacobus (Jacob, Jakob) Fransiscus (Frans, Frank) Frederik (Fred, Alfredus) Antonius (Anton, Antoon) Albertus (Albert, Bert) Adrianus (Adriaan, Ad, Aart) Sebastiaan (Bastiaan, Bas) Theodorus (Theo) Wilhelmus (Willem, Wilhelm, Will) Robertus (Robert, Rob) Petrus (Peter, Piet, Pieter) Paulus (Paul) Martinus (Martin, Maarten, Marten, Martijn, Mathijs) Marcellinus (Marcus, Marcel, Marco, Marc, Mark) Marinus (Marius) Arnoldus (Arnold) Bernardus (Berend, Bernard) Gerrit Harry Gerardus (Gerard, Geert, Gerhard) Kornelis Klaas Leonardus (Leo) Nicolaas (Nico, Niels) Richard Roelof (Roel) Rogier Ronaldus (Ronald, Roy) Rudolph (Rudolf, Ruud, Rutger) Stephanus (Stefan, Steven) Vincent Kees Joris Coenraad (Coen, Koen) Floris Teun Daan (Daniel) Abraham (Bram) Barend Diederik (Dirk, Dick) Hugo

FEMININE

Johanna (Anna, Anne) Maria (Marie, Marieke, Marietje, Maartje) Aagje Adriana (Adriaantje, Alie) Alberta Anita (Annie, Anette, Annemieke, Annemarie, Antje) Brenda Brigitte Carolina (Carola, Caroline) Catharina (Cato, Catootje) Dirkje Engelina (Ellen, Elly, Ellie) Esther Evelien (Eveline, Everdina) Francina (Fransisca, Francien) Frederika (Frederike, Freedje) Geertruida (Geertje, Gerarda, Gerda, Gerdina, Gerritje, Getruda, Grietje) Hanneke (Hanna, Hanne) Hendrika (Hendrikje, Henrica, Henriëtte) Janneke (Janna, Jantje, Janneke, Jannie, Janie) Jolanda Karin Magdalena

Tips for making the names unique and interesting:

-Add a c before a k (Hendrik --> Hendrick)

-Turn the second a into an e (Klaas --> Klaes || Nicolaas --> Nicolaes)

[lexsang]

Can I ask what your take is on Sebastiaan and Sabretooth? I don't really know anything about the established groups beyond House Kheperu.

Sorry for the wait. Life and work have both been busy, and I also wanted to do some more research so that this could be more than just my opinions. But here we are!

So first of all, my opinions of Father Sebastiaan are mixed. I don't like the way that he does things, I don't think they are inclusive or representative of the whole community, but I also recognize that, as one of the biggest names in the community, he has done a lot to make the community what it is today, for better or for worse.

Sometimes people ask where to start with learning psychic vampirism, and the answer almost universally is Michelle Belanger's Psychic Vampire Codex, but Father Sebastiaan also has a number of books that are helpful too. However, all books on vampirism are either based on the writer's personal experience with it, which varies greatly, or their group's dogma, which can be misleading. It can be easy to read any of these books and believe the author knows exactly what they are talking about, the history of vampirism, etc. They don't, they only have a part of the whole picture, and Father Sebastiaan's part is entirely exclusionary of the sanguinarian experience. Without fail, in every one of his books, there is a section devoted to how sanguinarian vampirism is basically a sin in his eyes. His opinion is always rooted in how he believes that it is a guarantee for disease and in his own words "blood drinking is the most highly dangerous activity you can do" (From the end of this short vice documentary called 'The Real Vampires of 'True Blood'?' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XmdsiyjbT0]). I can understand how people coming from an psychic/magical vampirism perspective see blood vampirism as a lesser choice. They see the act of drinking blood as a roundabout way to take in the life energy that is in the blood, so they see taking that energy in through psychic feeding as a better way to do it. That's not a problem, but the way that Father Sebastiaan does it has been a large factor that has led to the schism in the community, the ridiculous, elitist ideas coming from people on both sides, that only one of these vampiric experiences is the 'true' vampiric experience. And if he actually knew anyone from the sanguinarian side of things, he would quickly see how careful we are. We know that blood can carry diseases, so we test, and we communicate with our donors, easy.

I also personally have a problem with how his house, the Sabretooth Clan, deals with membership. In his own words, from his own site, he says that "Sabretooths are individuals that share the common experience of having had fangs made for them by Father Sebastiaan, which is known as the Rite of Transformation". And this I think is where the big issue, as well as the misunderstanding is. With other psychic vampire groups, like House Kheperu, vampirism is still something that awakens within you. It isn't a choice. That is and has always been one of the things that has made me feel so close to others that share my experiences. It is great to feel the good that vampirism can bring, but the part that makes me feel deeply connected to other sanguinarian, hybrid, and psychic vampires is that we all suffer in a way that no one else does. I can relate to that suffering and I can help others through it. To me personally, a receipt from a purchase of fangs from a guy in a cowboy hat that always feels the need to mention that fangs, a symbol that is, to me, synonymous with the mouth watering hunger I feel for blood and all of the pain I have gone through to see my own vampirism as a blessing rather than insanity, are a great sex toy, being the thing that gets you into his club, is an insult (that sentence feels like a train wreck, but hopefully it makes sense). I could go on about this forever, but overall, the way that he not only looks down on blood drinkers himself, but forces others to do the same, is disgusting. We didn't all bleed so much to be seen as less than others.

And I am no psychologist, but I do feel like I know where this elitism might stem from. We all know that White Wolf, the tabletop RPG company that developed Vampire: The Masquerade, had a large impact on the beginning of the community. Many vampires met through VTM when it became popular, including Michelle Belanger. Fantastic, a fun IP that has a few things we can sort of relate to in it, which gives the opportunity for people like us to have a fighting chance at finding others who might be able to understand us. But with VTM came a fantasy of big underground vampire houses with hierarchies, territory, etc. and that fantasy mixed with reality for some, it still does. Check out this documentary, called "World of Darkness" which can be found for free on YouTube for a deeper look into VTM, it doesn't directly mention the real vampire community, but sections of it are connected to the way that our communities started [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZbwivA3uj8].

And this idea of the vampiric delusion of nobility isn't just an idea that comes from research. When I was living in Arizona, I started really looking for community, meet up groups, anything. I found one other vampire that was living fairly close, and we joined out efforts trying to find or create a meetup group for the Phoenix area. I looked a number of times for established groups in the Phoenix area, but the little I did find wasn't active anymore. After a decent bit of looking, we were contacted by a group in the area, and instead of a welcome, a hello, or any kind of greeting I had come to expect that people suddenly meeting other people they have things in common with would give, we were told to stop trying to create a meetup group because they were the local house and we were infringing on their territory. Lunatic behaviour. Maybe if we were a part of their court system, that would make sense, but we weren't. In no world is one group of adults under the law of another just because they said so. It was basically kindergarten playground rules. I yearn for a world where, when you visit a city, you can contact the court there and find some connections. If someone is available, maybe you can go out for lunch, or they can show you around. We are all the same, psychic, sanguinarian, or otherwise, right? We have something that ties us together.

In all honesty, I don't mind the pageantry, the hierarchies (in moderation and for sensible reasons), or some of the flowery language. What I do mind is the misuse of these things, and large houses seemingly doing nothing to support their communities other than throwing events. Events can be fun, but 'vampire balls' seem to have become the face of the community and all we do. There are no teaching resources, there are no networks of butchers that might be able to supply clean animal blood, there is no effort to further knowledge, especially not in the realm of sanguinarian vampirism (luckily we have The Red Cellar and the Black Books).

This is probably long enough as is, and I could clearly go on a while longer, so my biggest problem with Father Sebastiaan is that he is seemingly always present for the things that have created rifts in the community, and distorted our use of community. And I'm fully within my rights to hate someone who looks at me and others like me, who have been so good and kind, as lesser, and filthy. I appreciate that he helped build the vampire community into what it is today, but we need people who are willing to care for, accept, and understand others to take the torch and carry it from here.

[dikeoucollection]

Dikeou Superstars Monthly Roundup

Joshua Abelow’s solo exhibition “Barnett Abelow” is now open at H.G.Chicago.

Anya Kielar’s solo exhibition “Shadow Box” is on view at Pioneer Works through December 11.

Devon Dikeou has officially pledged to have the papers of her artist studio, zingmagazine, and Dikeou Collection entered into the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art where they will be preserved for posterity and made available for public access and research.

Lizzi Bougatsos created a lens cloth and keepsake poster for her homegirl Chloë Sevigny’s latest collaboration with Baby Parker. She also recently walked in Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s fall 2022 runway show.

Inspiration from Marcel Dzama was seen on the runway via BORAASKSU’s spring 2023 collection presented at London Fashion Week.

Anicka Yi spoke on the Community Panel, moderated by Thelma Golden, at the recent Sky High Farm Symposium at Judd Foundation. She was joined by Father Mike Lopez and Tremain Emory. She was also recently featured on an episode of A brush with. . . podcast

Mycophile Agathe Snow’s sculpture practice has evolved to now include her passion for mushroom farming. She and her partner Anthony Holbrooke run Mattituck Mushrooms in the North Fork region. “The real truth to it is that we’re both sculptors. There’s nothing like a mushroom,” she said. “[Discarded materials] we’re collecting for making sculpture also go into making growing boxes for the mushrooms.”

Sebastiaan Bremer’s current exhibition at Edwynn Houk Gallery was recently reviewed in VMan Magazine.

Paul Ramírez Jonas was honored at the recent Socrates Sculpture Park Benefit.