Horn 2: The Modern Left-Hand Path and the Emergence of Vampyric Occult Societies
Note: I will not be delving into the history of the modern Vampyre Community or the history or structure of Houses, Clans, and Covens as they are covered elsewhere on the website. This will solely be a brief history of the modern Satanic movement and their related Vampyric Orders.
The Church of Satan and The Satanic Bible
It all started in 1966 when Anton Szandor LaVey proclaimed himself the High Priest of Satan and opened the proverbial doors to his Church of Satan. Which wasn’t a church at all, rather it was his San Francisco residence aptly called the Black House. It was a Victorian Era house painted black, inside and out, where LaVey and the ‘Council of Nine’ would gather for drink, talk, and Satanic delight with the Dark Prince as the center piece. Within the macabre walls of the Black House, LaVey collected his favorite writings and wrote his magnum opus, The Satanic Bible.
The Satanic Bible is broken down into four categories:
- The Book of Satan: An Infernal Diatribe, written like classic scripture
- The Book of Lucifer: The Enlightenment, a collection of his core philosophies
- The Book of Belial: The Mastery of Earth, an explanation of Satanic Magic
- The Book of Leviathan: The Raging Sea, a collection of Satanic Rituals
Within The Satanic Bible LaVey briefly mentions psychic vampires, but takes his concept mainly from the known literature of Crowley, Fortune, and modern psychology. That is, an emotionally draining leech. His advice was as simple as saying ‘No!’ without remorse when this type of vampire asks for help. He makes a distinct difference between this type of vampire and someone in need that you desire to help in the fourth Satanic Statement:
“Satan represents kindness to those who deserve, instead of love wasted on ingrates!”
The Church of Satan is considered an atheist religion and sees Satan as a symbol rather then an actual deity. To counter the argument that magic isn’t a rational nor atheist practice, LaVey believed all religions have an irrationality, for the Satanist it is magic. It was this belief that a former Church of Satan High Priest, Michael Aquino, had an issue with. He did a working in Egypt and believed he made contact with Set, the God of Storms and the Desert. He and LaVey had a falling out and Aquino founded the Temple of Set in 1975.
The Temple of Set and Order of the Vampyre
The Temple of Set considers it self a Magical Order where there are specific achievements to be attained for initiation. They break down their curriculum into Lower Black Magic and Higher Black Magic. Lower Black Magic is the working of rituals to attain desires, such as influence, affluence, and love. Higher Black Magic is the working of rituals to gain conversation with Set and attain what they call Xeper, or Becoming. This is what influenced Father Sebastiaan’s term Zephyr. In the Temple of Set, once a member attains Priest/Priestess status they can put in a request to create their own smaller Order within the Temple, which they call Pylons. Michael Kelly founded the Order of Beelzebub and Aquino’s wife Lilith founded the Order of the Vampyre in 1984, the first known Vampyric Order not associated with the Vampyre Community.
They Feed but not because of a Need. They Feed to fuel their Nightside applications of Vampyric Magic and Dayside applications of glamour for influence, affluence, and seduction. Dayside and Nightside were also borrowed by Father Sebastiaan from the Temple of Set, as Aquino wrote his own renditions of Egyptian Papryi Coming Forth by Day and Coming Forth by Night (or the Egyptian Book of Life and Egyptian Book of the Dead, respectively). The Current High Priest of the Order of the Vampyre is Donn Webb, who wrote Energy Magick of the Vampyre which has risen in popularity in the larger Vampyre Community.
The Temple of the Vampire and The Vampire Bibles
The Temple of the Vampire was founded in 1989 by a Church of Satan member Nemo. The Temple of the Vampire also does not consider themselves the ‘needy’ type of Vampyres. They Feed for the same reasons as the Order of the Vampyre, to empower their Nightside. They believe in Vampyric consciousness called Undead Gods who may be a mix of deceased Temple members who attained the level of Adept or higher or may be Gods of the ancient past, particularly Tiamat. These Gods are not worshiped, they are perceived as both invisible Mentors and goals for attainment. They break down their Temple into two main categories of Dayside and Nightside, much like how the wider Vampyre Community uses the terms, Dayside are all the mundane habits and practices we have to live and thrive, and Nightside are all the esoteric habits and practices.
The Temple of the Vampire started as a mail order group. You would send them $10 a month and they would send you a newsletter. Once the internet became commonplace, they created the Lifeforce Forums, the mecca of the Temple. The Temple of the Vampire is also known as the Vampire Temple and Vampire Religion, who they claim is the only real Vampire Religion in the world. As an initiatory body and secret society, they have their own spokespeople and Nemo has only ever made one public appearance that I am aware of and it was for a radio talk show.
The Vampyre Sanguinomicon by Father Sebastiaan is heavily influenced by The Temple of the Vampire, along with Goddess Rosemary’s House Sahjaza and input from Michelle Belanger, founder of House Kheperu and author of The Psychic Vampire Codex.
The Temple of the Vampire released five different Vampire Bibles, each unique to the teachings of that initiatory level:
- The Vampire Bible
- The Vampire Predator Bible
- The Vampire Priesthood Bible
- The Vampire Sorcery Bible
- The Vampire Adept Bible
- Revelations
Along with the Vampire Bibles, they also sell a timeline of the Temple called Bloodlines and audio recordings of their Teachings. An Active Member perk is you get half off all their literature and audio programs directly from their main website. As of this writing, active membership is $20 a month with access to their Lifeforce Forums, where there is a thriving community. One thing that stands out from other esoteric organizations is their belief in physical immortality, this is done primarily through the study of transhuman philosophy and cryogenics.
The Order of Phosphorus and Black Order of the Dragon
In 2001, Michael W Ford founded the Order of Phosphorus, an initiatory body of Luciferian Witchcraft and Vampyrism. He has a background in the Black Metal and dark industrial scenes, and currently does ritual recordings under the name Achtya. He has quite a large resume, having correspondence with Kenneth and Steffi Grant who gifted him original works of Andrew Chumbley, Austin Osman Spare, and Kenneth Grant’s own Typhonian Trilogy, which influenced his Egyptian oriented vampyrism found in Sekhem-Apep, his second book on vampyric magic.
He was a former member of both the Temple of the Vampire and Order of Nine Angles and actually ran the first North American Nexion with permission from Christos Beest, the founder of Order of Nine Angles. It operated from 1996 until 1998 in Indianapolis. Before moving on, I must mention the Order of Nine Angles is a Neo-Nazi Satanic group with ties to Atomwaffen Division, a rogue military organization, both deemed Terrorist Organizations by the FBI. Ford has denounced any and all bigoted views and split ways with Order of Nine Angles. He makes mention of his time and disillusionment in Book of the Witch Moon.
The foundational texts of Order of Phosphorus and Luciferian Witchcraft are:
- Luciferian Witchcraft
- Liber HVHI
- Book of the Witch Moon
- The Bible of the Adversary
And many, many others have been written and published by Ford by his publication house, Succubus Publications, and runs a Left-Hand Path devoted online retailer, Luciferian Apotheca.
Prior to founding the Order of Phosphorus he founded Black Order of the Dragon in the early 1990’s, in 1994 he published the Book of Whampyri for his Coven Malifica initiates, which was inspired by both the previously mentioned Order of Nine Angles and Typhonian Tradition. The Book of Whampyri evolved into Akhkharu, Ford’s first public book dedicated to vampyric magic through the lens of Luciferian Witchcraft. The beginning is very basic feeding methods then ventures into his ‘Ahrimanic Yoga’ and ends with rituals for the Qliphoth. Scales of the Black Serpent is a chapbook dedicated fully to his practice of Qliphothic magic. He later released Sekhem-Apep, which dives into an Egyptian concept of his vampyrism, with an interview with Stephen Sennit, editor of the Left-Hand Path and Lovecraft inspired magical anthology Nox & Liber Koth.
Michael W Ford has a YouTube channel as well where he posts regularly on various topics in relation to his publications and magical work. He also helped found the Assembly of Lightbearers with his wife and business partner, Hope Marie-Ford. It follows the 11 Luciferian Points of Power and acts more like a remote body of Luciferian Philosophers over the more magical and initiatory work of the Order of Phosphorus. The Assembly of Lightbearers also follows a three fold path of Liberation, Illumination, and Apotheosis:
LIBERATION is the first step in adapting and applying Luciferian Philosophy.
NO SUBMISSION, NO WORSHIP: Luciferians Develop Personal Power and Reject the Myths of ‘Original Sin’
ILLUMINATION is the second step in actualizing self-determined goals often in attaining knowledge and strategies towards self-awareness of how the use of Will, Desire, Belief commands change according to our desire. Luciferian Philosophy.
APOTHEOSIS is the Third Step in recognizing how Luciferian Magick actually compels change and brings results and the validation of the potential inherent within yourself. Luciferian Philosophy now by experience, insight and overcoming by struggle the obstacles between you and your goals.
Source: Assembly of Light Bearers Official Website
Conclusion
This is a very brief history of the Left-Hand Path organizations that consider themselves separate from the General Vampyre Community but still have had a very strong influence on the modern concept we have now. If you go back far enough, Michael W Ford is in some early Vampyre Community transcripts along with the early founders. Ford even leaves a Praise for Father Sebastiaan’s Vampyre Sanguinomicon. It all comes full circle if you look deep enough. Our community is rich in history, from criminal controversy to the darkest aspects of Satanism. It has grown beyond the criminal and Satanic but it is still very much influenced by the darker realities of Left-Hand Path secret societies and their hierarchies. On the outside, we see an influence from Vampire: The Masquerade among other fictions, such as the allure and nobility of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Underneath though, there is a history much darker and mysterious.
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