What is a Vampyre, exactly?

What is a Vampyre Exactly?

Vampyres, Real Vampyres, Human Living Vampires, etc… All terms that describe basically the same thing… It is a multi-faceted phenomenon that is more prevalent than one would think should you never have been exposed to the idea before. There are tens of thousands of people around the world who identify as part of the vampyre subculture in one way or another. It may even be up into the hundred thousands at this point.

A Vampyre is an individual who feels on a deep intrinsic level that either all or part of their spirit or soul is imprinted with a vampyric essence for one reason or another. They are someone who believes all or part of their subtle body is vampiric in nature and most parts of their lives are influenced by this nature. This could be experienced through their health, energy body, spirituality/spiritual self, etc. They realize this part of them exists through what many refer to as their vampyre awakening. People can awaken naturally on their own, or in much less common circumstances, they can be led to it by someone capable of showing them that path. In my opinion, being a vampyre has a lot more to it than one’s penchant or need to feed on life force. The need to gather and feed on life force [or blood] does seem somewhat universal, but it’s also the end of the story for a lot of people, which is a shame. There are a myriad of different groups out there with vastly differing opinions who define the practice and philosophies of the vampyre beyond the universal need/desire to feed on life force and despite their vast differences, none of them are inherently wrong, per say. Some of them are morally/ethically bankrupt… but the way people perceive and define vampyrism as a spiritual and/or mundane practice is the reality they live and create for themselves and their kin. Therefore, it’s correct for them.

WHILE MANY PEOPLE ENCOUNTER SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THEIR AWAKENING STORIES, THIS VAMPYRIC NATURE CAN MANIFEST IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS.

The connection one feels to the mythological and media vampire through this phenomenon varies *greatly.* Obviously when it comes to me, I pull a great deal of inspiration from myth and media. As a witch, I’ve always been close to my mythology anyways, so my vampyric journey follows suit. I have no problem indulging in aesthetics. I believe my vampyric nature has allowed me to grasp confidence by the balls to be able to live the way I do with the attitude that I have.

However, just because many of us feel akin to the myth in some ways, it doesn’t mean people who identify as Vampyres believe themselves to be actual mythological creatures. Immortality is more about reincarnation or the Viking idea of fame & glory and continuing on in a spiritual nature rather than physical immortality. “Powers” that we might possess are more just metaphysical gifts that we may have an edge on. Vampyres seem to have proclivities for certain types of magick or skills that we gravitate towards. We know we’re not blood draining monsters stalking the night and killing people. Although, our community does attract crazies, so when you come across people who pretend to be such, they’re not legitimate members of our community. (it happens, a lot… another post for another day about that)

Feeling any sort of connection at all with the spirit, the myth, the legend, or the archetype is in no way a prerequisite of vampyrism. There are many self identified vampyres who could not give a fuck less about any of it or any of the culture… but that’s no fun, is it? At The Vampyre Coven, we recognize the line between fiction and reality and we jump rope with that line in a controlled and discerning fashion 😜 Our personal spiritual reality gifted to us by the Vampyre Current isn’t one we choose to suppress and we welcome others who want to explore that too.

What you will hear about vampyres when you venture out into the subculture is not the whole story.

One of the more popular & publicly accepted definitions of vampyric existence is that vampyres are energetically deficient. They’re either not making enough life force energy to sustain themselves or they have a higher turnover rate of life force energy due to their higher vibrational/evolved metaphysical state. To recover from said energy deficit, they need to feed on life force from another person to be able to thrive in life. For many, it is treated as an affliction; a disease even. You’ll find people who cling to the idea that they are incapable of survival without having a donor to feed from.

While I do believe this occurs, I believe it is extraordinarily less common than people think. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen. I’m also not saying that vampyres don’t often feel very drained and feel the need to feed to replenish themselves in ways that are unique to us… but what I am saying is that people who believe that is the whole story are doing themselves a great disservice. People who treat it as if it is only a disease are missing out on great metaphysical potential if they do actually have vampyric potential within them. People who refuse to broaden their knowledge and find ways to cope with whatever energy deficiency they’re feeling beyond having a single specific human donor are stunting their own growth.There is an unfortunate amount of people out there who are married to the vampire fantasy because they’re using it as an escapism technique to blame something else for their mental illnesses (or as a way to ignore it/get away from it). Many of them deep in their shadows enjoy the comfort of having a reason to stay in that lower vibrational existence rather than working to improve themselves.

Now, I’m not discounting that a lot of vampyres feel the need to feed. I’m not arguing that some won’t feel shitty if they don’t feed.  What I am saying is that this dynamic has been exaggerated by the community masses to the point where it’s the only thing on the “are you a vampyre” checklist and nothing else is talked about. This energy deficient narrative tracks for people for many reasons, and I’m not going to get too deep into the debate for or against this philosophy (for now) but I feel the need to mention that this is not the end all be all, nor universal paradigm within the entire Vampyre Community, contrary to popular belief. What is readily available or easily findable online is not the whole picture. Just keep that in mind as you explore this path.

The Social Parasite

In Don Webb’s Book “Energy Magick of the Vampyre” he speaks of one’s “social parasite.” It’s “the accumulation of social and language training that acts as though it were a living part of your personality.” People are taught by social experience what is acceptable and adopt it into their identity because it feels safe. Sometimes these things have been ingrained into your sense of self for so long that it becomes hard to handle when it’s questioned. It causes you to hesitate when you want to give your real opinion on something that you know isn’t going to sit well with your audience. You tailor your words to make them more comfortable. People are conditioned to lash out when things they hold as truth are challenged, even though they themselves never challenged those truths when it was spoon fed to them. This dynamic is what has fueled the new internet age of the vampyre community. It’s why this “leaky chakras” dynamic surrounding vampyres has taken hold like wildfire. This definition has been widely adopted into the public community sphere that you’ll find online because it was popularized by Michelle Belanger and was a very publicized definition in the mid to late 2000s. It’s been adopted as gospel by the public VC ever since. In my early vampyre journey, I felt like I was supposed to fit into that narrative, and through confirmation bias from things I experienced in life, I adopted that story for a while. I took in what I was told from people who were supposed to be respected mentors in the VC at face value. Eventually, “following the leader” didn’t work out so well for me. I realized I was suppressing myself to fit a mold that wasn’t right for me and realized a lot of people were doing the same just to feel accepted. Henceforth I’ve been on a quest to find as much information on my own and share it. It’s my own shadow work to log what I find and experience through my own authentic journey with vampyrism to share with others to read and take what they can from. This website is a product of that work.

What a Vampyre is, aside from deficit

In my opinion, being a Vampyre is more about the spirit you have within you than the need to feed. I’m not rejecting the notion that many vampyres need to feed on energy or blood to get by in a way that is unique to them at all. I feed as well and I know what happens to vampyres who do have a true deficiency when they don’t feed. I do however think energy recharging due to society depleting us all the time is way more prevalent for everyone than people realize and people who end up researching vampyrism attach to this story of energetic need due to confirmation bias.

What is universally true (in my opinion) is the vampyre’s ability to master and control their surroundings, to understand objective truths, and weave magic in unique ways. They have an inherent mental strength and fortitude that helps drive them to create the narrative of the truth they wish to create. Vampyre Magick & Vampyre Witchcraft all has the chaote energy of “use what works, nothing is true, everything is permitted.” Vampyric paradigms work for those who put forth true effort with them regardless of the content held within them. This is why you can look at various vampyric systems and find them to be so vastly different from one another, yet find similarities between them all as well. The Vampyre Current we’re all led to informs us, the way we perceive it varies. What I find is that many Vampyres lean towards “dark”, chthonic, or left hand path systems. We’re all usually looking towards the Vampyre Community to express ourselves in ways that may have been suppressed by others. We lean into the power found in places that have been shunned by society as we have also been shunned by society for existing differently. We lean towards the taboo to connect with the deepest and darkest parts of ourselves and express them outwardly in what we hope is a safe place to do so.

Vampyres are weavers and creators. We learn to understand the intricacies of the psyche and project the reality we intend to conjure. We conjure that reality with great force and we don’t let anything stand in our way. We learn to strategically maneuver through social constructs and bend them in our favor. We embody the cunning and determined spirit of the vampire just as much as we experience energetic anomalies that may or may not require us to feed. This attitude towards life is crafted through the Vampyre’s practice and experience over time. The cultivation process of this way of thinking and way of life is often the result of many years of hard work and dedicated practice (and a lot of annoyance and heartbreak) with vampyric communities and systems.

In my opinion, what makes a real vampyre is their spirit, their soul, the way they move, the way they carry themselves. It is a deep carnal and primal nature about them that can’t really be taught, but can be trained once awake and skills sharpened over time. To me, it’s less about the fact that someone needs to recharge their depleted energy but instead more about why they ended up reaching out to the vampyre current to do it.

While this is what I believe real Vampyres to be, the spectrum of vampyric belief is vast and often contradictory.

The spectrum of philosophy, magic, and lived experience found within and throughout the Vampyre Community is extremely varied. I speak on my experience as a vampyre and I speak to those who can benefit from my point of view. I recognize my definitions leave a lot to be desired if you’re a sang, especially a medsang. However, a single person writing a single article cannot possibly cover the entire spectrum of this community, especially as someone who’s never lived a medsang experience. It’s not up to me to cover it all. I can only speak to/for those who experience their vampyrism through the lens of a witch or energy practitioner.

My personal journey through this community has always been about translating things to a more eclectic witch path. I am a Vampyre and a Witch. I don’t follow the left hand path completely nor do I align with any styles of vampyric practice I’ve found elsewhere… So, I’m cutting my own crooked path through the Vampyre Witch forest and trying to write down my thoughts along the way.

Being a Vampyre can be an incredible source of energy and empowerment when you learn how to lose the victim mindset many attach to it. Vampyrism can help broaden your thoughts when it comes to energy work, glamour, ritual, etc. Utilizing the nature of the vampire, the Vampyre Current, and embodying the archetype has been a style of LHP practice longer than the Vampyre Community as most know it has existed. The VC is a diverse community with many styles of practice and belief. There’s no one size fits all answer for what vampyres are & what they believe. Anyone who puts their mind to it can find value in what they study here.

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