Vampirism: a Three Layered Word of Composite Meaning

by MysticLightShinethForth 08.03.20 13:01

INTRODUCTION
The vampire, or vampirism, has taken on a certain definition as well as connotation, mostly unconscious, through its stereotypical and archetypal development throughout time and pop culture. Here is presented my theory of the word from a certain perspective and why it holds such particular power in it. However, this theory is taken out on a conceptual and abstract level. I shall present three composite and implicit layers to the significance and meaning of the word from a more unconscious sense of its potential development and perception by people throughout time and recent history - as per my theory and brief understanding of the subject matter - to give an alternative view thereof based upon (merely very brief - but yet fulfilling enough to develop and analyze the concept) linguistic and unconsciously archetypal understandings of it.

THE FIRST LAYER
Vam-, which we shall start off with, is a monosyllabic mantra called as a bija, or seed, mantra in Sanskrit and it is chanted for the Sacral Shen or Sex Chakra, to activate its powers, resonating with that center through sound. (There are other bija mantras for the other primary chakras as well: Lam (Root), Vam (Sacral), Ram (Solar Plexus), Yam (Heart), Ham (Throat), Om (Third Eye) and some variations say it's Om for Crown as well or it has no sound or some say it's a completely different sound... nevertheless, I'd advice caution with these methods and seek out proper educated knowledge as to what is most appropriate and responsible in practice by a legitimate guru's or teacher's instructions, perhaps, as to how they should be chanted as these awaken subtle forces and require proper knowledge and understanding of how it should be done, I think.) Maybe this could be an understanding for why the word vampire was first seen and defined as a risen corpse or haunting ghost of the dead that went about to suck the blood of the living but was later romanticized in various ways, if the word has phonetic ties to the same bija mantra that activates the Sacral Shen which relates to sexuality and so perhaps even romantic interests, if sublimated in some sense. That, and also combined with its mysterious allure of something predatory, dark and dangerous already implicit in the meaning and definition of the word itself, giving a kind of unconscious development that is in synch with and in combination of all these aspects into one archetypal unfoldment or creation, also in some way (although not primarily in entirety but to some very high degree of significane, in my view) through the mediating agency of pop culture's proliferation of ideas, ideals and archetypes into the mass collective psyche, which would be a very unconscious procedure indeed. It can also - with the whole word of vampire or vampirism, then, but primarily dependent upon this aspect of the word, namely "vam-" - however, and to change to another point of metaphysical consideration, give an unconscious feeling of the absorption and storing of energy that might tie in with the energy centers on level with the belly, which the Sacral Shen is indeed located at par with alongst the spine, and which practice of storing the absorbed energy in those areas might not be an entirerly uncommon practice although perhaps not directly necessary. But, for many vampires I believe even the Hunger or Thirst is felt somewhere close to that region so there might be a profound correlation in one way or another but it's up to theory and speculation for now, at least to me.

THE SECOND LAYER
The "-pire" in vampire.
From Wiktionary:
"Etymology
From Middle French pire, from Old French pire, originally the nominative singular of peior, from Latin pēior, from Proto-Indo-European *ped-yōs (“to the ground, downward”). Related to pis."
This part is more obscure to me in regards to deconstructing the word and something that I don't know how to do entirerly, but it bears a certain unconscious impression of having a certain meaning, in a way. Maybe this ending, -pire, in vampire would mean to imply the same exact mythology as of the vampire in the West being an undead or risen corpse, coming from underneath the ground, or risen from the grave, or being a ghost, that haunts the living and sucks their blood; either that, or, as was the custom in various places in Medieval Europe, to spike the dead corpse to the ground, and put it downward, well buried underneath the soil, etc. This could be an etymological significance.

THE THIRD LAYER
Lastly, superimposed upon this and inherently ingrained into it, is the stereotypical, connotative meaning of the word, that might be evoked by some, if not both, of the first two layers in a way of both these two first layers and the third having a mutual development of - and bearing upon - the word as a linguistic container and construct for the meaning of the archetype itself; or it might be "invoked" by inserting the meaning itself into the word. But much rather I think it is, of course, an interplay of both possibilities as one singular and/or composite reality of mutually dependent linguistic and archetypal developmnents both in one, which hold more accurate in my understanding but that's just my theory. That is, if it does not derive from the nature of the real vampires themselves. Or, maybe - even more accurately - it's an expression from that indeed, and so yields a word describing a kind of energy process intrinsic to and in alignment with the energy-wise metabollic structure as well as nature of these beings taken together with the innately predatorial connotations already implicit in that word, from an unconscious level of understanding the word of vampire or vampirism. By the way - this word, then, might also activate a kind of predatorial awareness and energy in the vampire by more accurate identification with that word as a simple linguistic signpost to awaken their nature by a meaningful indicator of unconscious archetypal forms that relate to their very own inner nature, being a container of meaning as to their own awakening.

That'll be some of my conclusion and theory for now.

Thank you for reading.

by Naoom 08.03.20 13:38

That is an interesting analysis of the word, and although like you mentioned it is an abstract overview, it could definitely be connected to the collective unconscious and the archetype of the vampire. I think there is great value in the word itself, even though it has been severely abused and tied to all kinds of nonsense, hence the reason the Aset Ka chooses to use the word instead of avoiding it all completely. They could have easily chosen to do otherwise, which would avoid any association with the vast majority of the VCN and most of these groups, but it seems like a tactful decision, partly in order to make themselves 'hidden in plain sight' and because there is a true side of Vampirism in the occult. In my opinion, there is very very little in common with the Asetianist teachings about Vampirism, and that of the VCN and the people involved in it. If you break it down in parts and narrow the practices involved, what the latter does is nothing but fiction, and what they want to reflect on the surface is that it is magick and occult, but that is only where it was inspired from, and is in no other way connected to it. Again, we shouldn't generalize but even the Violet Throne explains this big difference for a reason, and as appealing and convenient it seems for newcomers and students of the occult as a whole to put everything in the same box so to speak, I think it's important to understand what things constitute the whole idea of Vampirism in each scenario, and manage to draw comparisons once we are knowledgeable of different traditions in this regard. Lastly, the whole archetype is something hidden yet surely alive in humanity's collective unconscious, and on that level words would play little role to the actual archetype itself and the predatory nature it embodies. I am sorry if I went a bit off-topic here, but I felt it was a great opportunity to bring this up, something I haven't personally seen talked about a lot in any online forums. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.