Re: Historical Relation Between Vampires & Alchemy

[BeautifulEvil]

Wow, now that is interesting!

Could you tell us some more?

[taceyoto]

Well acording to the text I read, the earliest "symtpoms'' of vampirism were exhibited in Ancient Egypt when the Ba and the Ka escaped the body, one looked like a bird andthe other like the human soul, the human soul would look for offerenings to survive ( why they buried food with thier dead) and with no offerings they would prey on human energy. the first "vampire" was the first mummy ever, said to have been mummified by Anubis himself.

[Gunderic Mollusk]

Revenants, however, are sort of a worldwide phenomena, usually spurring out of fears around plagues, as most early folk didn't quite understand microbial life as the source of infection. If we take a look at the European literature about vampires not in romantic fiction, drinking blood was an afterthought, and most general misfortune would be blamed on some form of restless dead, yet rather than unhappy ancestors, this was a malevolent individual who had recently passed on, in order that they be dug up and subsequently have their corpse mutilated in a series of ridiculous ways. Every culture has some Oogeyboogey that makes life difficult, and many involve some bizarre funerary rites to keep the dead from returning to wreak havok.

[deviadah]

For the info of others:

A revenant is a visible ghost or animated corpse that that was believed to return from the grave to terrorize the living. The word "revenant" is derived from the French, revenir, "to return", and shares etymology with "revenue". Belief in revenants emerged in Western Europe (especially Great Britain, and later carried by Anglo-Norman invaders to Ireland) during the High Middle Ages. Though later legend and folklore depicts revenants as returning for a specific purpose (e.g., revenge against the deceased's killer), in most Medieval depictions they simply return to harass their surviving families and neighbours. Revenants share a number of characteristics with folkloric vampires.

Many stories were documented by English historians in the Middle Ages. William of Newburgh wrote in the 1190s, "one would not easily believe that corpses come out of their graves and wander around, animated by I don't know what spirit, to terrorize or harm the living, unless there were many cases in our times, supported by ample testimony". Stories of revenants were very personal, always about a specific individual who had recently died (unlike the anonymous zombie depicted in modern popular culture, such as Night of the Living Dead), and had a number of common features. - source

On a sidenote the best vampire film (in my opinion) is Dreyer's Vampyr:



Vampyr (the whole film, but not the best quality)

But of course this is a classic too: Nosferatu

[Gunderic Mollusk]

Quickly becoming a favorite of mine are the draugar of Scandinavia, where the ambulatory corpse grows immensely in size and crushes its victims. A few sagas had a draugr as the primary adversary.

[deviadah]

Ok... never heard about them before.

Wikipedia: Draugr

In fact I thought I'd might recognize the word if I saw it in Swedish, but I don't!

They sound cool though!

[spectre]

Since I just stumbled on this homepage of the "The Kemetic Order of Aset Ka" http://www.asetka.org/ -
I thought I might put it here in this related thread.

(Kemetic = Egyptian, Ka = Essence or Soul, Aset = Isis)

They (or at least the author of the homepage and the "Asetian Bible".. not sure how many members are in this cult) claim to be an "elitist secret vampire society" from the times of Egypt. Since it's about "psychic vampirism" I don't think there's any blood involved. Interestingly, they associate themselves with Spiritual Alchemy

"Development and enlightenment is a slow and enduring process of the Asetian journey through life. This metaphysical initiation is a system of transmutation. By this pure and deep change, it is meant that the Asetian achieves to alter in form, appearance and nature, which is a manifestation of the force of the Violet Flame itself. This transmutation, deeply connected with the vampiric birth, represents the alchemical nature of the Asetian soul, ever changing and eternal. According to this, we can establish the Asetians as the alchemists of the soul, creators and destroyers, catalysts of change and evolution, with the power to transform lead into gold. Asetians are the givers of life, the pillars of the subtle existence, owners of the breath of immortality."

However, on closer look, this group (or just book author) seems very narrow minded and not truly alchemical. They claim to be only for an "elitist few" and to possess the secrets to immortality. They also claim to be the only ones to have gained immortality (I don't think Alchemical and Daoist tradition would agree) and that only "asetian souls" are indestructible, i.e. that other, non-asetian, souls will decompose like the physical body. That's obviously ridiculous (besides not even in agreement with Kemetic religion they claim to follow)... I have never heard that the Astral+ Planes are only pack-filled with "Asetian psychic vampires". It sounds more that they're lying or delusional to make followers believe more blindly and to claim stronger authority; it's a very old trick and every major religion does it (Christian by claiming Jesus = God authority, Islam by claiming Muhammed = God's Final Prophet, Judaism by claiming Jews = God's Chosen People....and all the Abrahamic religions disagree). So, in my personal opinion, this seems like just another blind religion with a different masquerade and slightly different version of the same old authoritarian creed. What I can intuit so far their main-work actually involves is a type of Black Magick/Black Tantra which involves negative psychic energies and demonolatry (although unconventional), especially in forms of succubacy/incubacy. Neither their work, which would be a distraction from alchemy, nor their narrow-minded theories seem relatively useful; I'm not sure of what use vampirism is to alchemists, except to study these things to have knowledge of mechanisms of demonology or psychic problems.

[spectre]

I believe this information about Blood, Alchemy and Nicholas Flamel is of more interest...

Nicholas Flamel was in possession of an alchemical work by "Abraham the Jew" which contained five symbolic images, here's a description of the last one:

On the reverse side appeared a king carrying a great faulchion who caused his soldiers to destroy in his presence a multitude of little children, the mothers weeping at the feet of the murderers. The streams of blood were gathered by other soldiers into a great vessel, wherein the sun and moon bathe.

You can find a picture here: Nicholas Flamel: Hieroglyphics (Alchemy) and quoted text from Alchemy Rediscovered and Restored

Flamel asked a man named Master Anselme ("who was a Licentiate in Medicine, and studied hard in this Art") about this picture who told him:

The feet of this substance could not be cut off, meaning that it could not be fixed and so deprived of volatility except by such long decoction in the pure blood of young children. The quicksilver uniting with gold and silver in this blood would change with them, firstly into a herb like that of the fair flower on the teverse of the fourth leaf, secondly by corruption into serpents, which serpents, being dried and digested by fire, would become Powder of Gold, and of such in truth is the Stone.

Flamel further notes:

This explanation sent me astray through a labyrinth of innumerable false processes for a period of one and twenty years, it being always understood that I made no experiments with the blood of children, for that I accounted villainous.

Nicholas Flamel unveiled the symbolism of blood to represent the spirit of metals (maybe because blood represents vitality)

Moreover, I found in my book that what the philosophers called blood is the mineral spirit in metals, more especially in gold, silver and quicksilver to the admixture of which I tended always.

[carabric]

Well aside from the obvious historic benefits which have been mentioned throughout the record which bear similarities to the stereotypical vampire(s) (long life, blood red stones etc...). Other similarities are allegorically attached to the idea of vampire. Fulcanelli calls it at one time "our vampire" in Dwellings of the Philosophers. This is due to the fact that at phases it is called death and yet it is still living and able to sustain. Beyond that, he also suggests at times it must avoid the rays of the sun, as the two quotes bellow suggest more succinctly. Whether you want to believe it's allegorical, metaphorical, or plain speak is up to you.

Benedictus Figulus: All this was done to ward off the too strong rays of the Sun, that our male and female seed might, without hindrance, remain together to the birth: “For the separation of active and passive necessarily prevents generation”.

153 Chymical Aphorisms: Here learn to understand, that when the rays of the Sun reach the volatile damp earth, salt or saltpeter, thence arise lightning and thunder. Therefore one must catch the atoms soon, ere they vanish.

[carabric]

On the reverse side appeared a king carrying a great faulchion who caused his soldiers to destroy in his presence a multitude of little children, the mothers weeping at the feet of the murderers. The streams of blood were gathered by other soldiers into a great vessel, wherein the sun and moon bathe.

This is a bit of a daunting allegory, and I too didn't understand...but in perusing further into the record you will find mention of a blood red oil... And much as Herod had all those innocents slaughtered after the magi followed the star their blood was seen to float on the waters, much the same way the Nile river turned to blood.

[EtuMalku]

Vampires do not need blood, they need the prana contained in blood.
The primordial vampires are the children of Aset
Perhaps the mods should have kept my post concerning the Asetian Bible.

Em hotep,
EM

[BeautifulEvil]

Vampires do not need blood, they need the prana contained in blood.
The primordial vampires are the children of Aset
Perhaps the mods should have kept my post concerning the Asetian Bible.

I have unlocked the thread, and please do keep in mind I didn't lock it - deviadah did. So really, you shouldn't say "mods" or really mod at all, since deviadah is the administrator, and I'm the only moderator.

Now let me ask you a question. Why do they need the prana from blood, and why can't they obtain it from other means? It's a pretty basic question, but I want to see how you'll answer.

[EtuMalku]

I apologize, my mistake.

Why do they need the prana from blood, and why can't they obtain it from other means?

The simplest answer is that their Chakra / Shen centers have been damaged and they no longer retain the prana like normal humans do. There are many other ways to obtain this energy. But in the end it is the life-force that is needed to be replenished.

Thank you for unlocking my thread,
Em hotep,
EM

[BeautifulEvil]

I apologize, my mistake.

No problem really. I try to be as fair, thoughtful, and understanding as possible.

The simplest answer is that their Chakra / Shen centers have been damaged and they no longer retain the prana like normal humans do. There are many other ways to obtain this energy. But in the end it is the life-force that is needed to be replenished.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I thought you'd answer. Do you believe this life-force is a material substance, or immaterial? Most people will say it's immaterial, but I know a few people who would argue and say it's an actual physical substance.

[EtuMalku]

Thanks BeautifulEvil,
I am going to go with not material, only because it has never been measured or recorded in any way . . . yet!
Though I am not certain really. If we don't have instruments that can measure something as prana that doesn't mean it is not physical.