Vampires in the Media

Welcome to Kindred :the Embraced 10! Actually, this should be Kindred the Embraced 11. I didn’t realize there was already a 10. We’re so glad you could make it! Be sure and check out the other Kindred: the Embraced groups on the other networks. If you ask me, Kindred: the Embraced was the best vampire series ever made. As you know, if you’re a member of the other Kindred groups, you know that the show was based upon The Masquerade, a vampire role playing game. We will also be discussing other vampire series and films, and vampires. There are vampire myths in many many cultures. The Chinese and Japanese legends of angry hungry ghosts suggest vampirism. When the proper offerings are not made at graves by the dead persons’ relatives, then the ghosts become hungry and angry, seeking to suck out the very life essence of the living. Blood is used in these legends because it is thought to be the very essence of life. But it is more than the mere coppery smelling red stuff that comes out of wounds, but also our psychic essence, our psychic energy that vampires seek.

Way back in the late 60’s there was Dark Shadows with its vampire Barnabas Collins played by Jonathon Frid.. They brought it back in the early 90s, Barnabas Collins this time played by Ben Cross. In the early 80s there was the Lost Boys. In the late 80s, we had the miniseries Salem’s Lot, based on a novel by Stephen King. Louis Jourdain portrayed the bloody count in the PBS version of the story. Then there was the movie Night Flight about a vampire pilot who flew from one airport to another, leaving exsanguinated bodies in his wake, also from a book by Stephen King. Then very recently we had the short lived Moonlight. Then there are the three Underworld movies...There is also Bloodrayne I &II, which are made for the SyFy channel movies. Now we have the Vampire Diaries, which is more or less a cross between Beverly Hills 90210 and the classic Dracula.

It is thought by the more scientific among us that there is a disease which may account for vampirism. The name of the disease is porphyria. It is characterized by a lack of skin pigment, and many drink animal blood in order to restore pigment to their blood and their skin. They also have photophobia and heliophobia, a fear of light and the sun. Google it, and see what you think.

Vampires have been the subject of a great many movies, as well as TV shows. There was the classic Dracula as portrayed by Bela Lugosi. He did a couple of sequels after that. Then there were the Hammer Dracula films. When I was doing research for the vampire novel I’m writing, I rented all the movies Hammer had done that Netflix had, and Doc checked the classic Dracula out from the library. Doc so loved helping me do research for my books. I had seen this movie several times so I didn’t really mark the plot. What did strike me was the newly restored soundtrack by the Kronos Quartet composed by Phillip Glass. It did such a good job of setting a dark murky mood that I checked out everything the library had by the Kronos Quartet and by Phillip Glass and burned CDs of it so I could recreate that same dark foreboding mood while I wrote. Far from making me depressed, it inspired me.

Then in 1978 came Dracula played by Frank Langella. It was based on the play based on the book by Bram Stoker. The movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula is closer to the book. Then there was the movie Van Helsing Of course then there were the two movies done of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles: Interview with the Vampire and Queen of the Damned..

We have a question for all of you who are reading this: How many of you have had dreams of being a vampire, encountering a vampire, or any other vampire related dreams? The reason that we ask this question is from Stephen’s point of view is that he’s had dreams about being a vampire or encountering vampires since he was a small child. Far from being frightened by these experiences, Stephen was fascinated. Since childhood, he has always had a fascination with immortality. As he got older, his vampire dreams became more sexual in nature. He also took on different roles in these dreams. Sometimes he was the vampire, sometimes the vampire hunter, other times the victim of the vampire. Many times the vampire dream was a recurring theme. Sometimes he’s a prospective victim, trying to leave the space where the vampire is coming. Of late his dreams have been about being a part of a paramilitary group fighting terrorists. But he’s sure that vampires will soon return as a theme. But as far as I am concerned, the whole vampire theme is an interest I only pursue in my waking life. We want to hear about your dreams about being a vampire, vampire hunter, or vampire victim. There will be a test next period. That’s humor, folks.

As you can see, dreams are like a vast role playing game. There are so many roles you can play in your dreams. Be watching for another extension of Dreamwork for Pagans coming here soon. In fact, after consulting my Master List, it’s coming as soon as we finish posting this Welcome & Intro. This morning I woke up to a marathon of Kindred the Embraced on the SyFy channel. It just reinforced for me what a gem of a show it really was. Where were you and what were you doing when Kindred the Embraced premiered on network TV? I know what I was doing. I was wasting away in Margaritaville. Actually no. I was living with my SO Doc in Cupertino. It was just before I was to get on the Internet, and change my life completely. Let’s review the names of the 5 clans of vampires. There’s Toreador, Brujah, Nosferatu, Gangrel, and Ventrue. That was Julian Luna’s clan. According to the book I have from the game, Sabbat is the 6th clan, and the Camarilla is the 7th clan. The TV series only lists the first 5 clans I mentioned. The other two are in the book The Kindred Most Wanted. It came out in 94. Alastor is a group of archons, and the archons are the main sires.

Many Neolithic cultures had clans,. The Japanese had clans, the Scots and Irish had clans, the US had just one klan, the KuKluxKlan (that’s supposed to be humor, folks). From what Stephen understands, each clan had special abilities that made them distinctive from the other clans. For example: the Toreador clan was the sex clan. The Brujah were warrior types, the muscle. The Gangrel liked to project themselves as bad asses and ride around on motorcycles. Nosferatu were the most ancient and wisest of the clans. They also hold onto the Masquerade the most stringently.

In the short lived series Moonlight, we learned that cats and vampires are mortal enemies. In fact, any animal that we commonly think of as pets are anathema to vampires, except for wolves and possibly snakes or other reptiles. But werewolves and vampires seem to hate each other. Go figure. You can check for books about the Masquerade at Amazon.com. We don’t recommend Ebay because it’s an auction site. It’s all right if you have unlimited funds. But if you don’t, stay away from there.

It really pisses us off that at this time of year we Pagans are not at all considered by the media. The Christians have their Christmas, the Jews have their Hannukah, but are we given credit for starting the Solstice celebrations? Noooooooooooooooooo! After all if it weren’t for us celebrating the winter solstice/Saturnalia/birthday of Sol Invictus /Dionysus’ birth/Mithras, there would be no winter holidays. The Church only started “celebrating” December 25th because our Pagan forebears were out in the street getting drunk, swivving everything that moved, and generally being rowdy instead of being at mass in church. The church co-opted the holiday to get people piously in church to cut down on the Pagan rowdiness. Stephen won’t even celebrate it, but I do, reclaiming it as a Pagan holiday. It’s ours, it’s always been ours, and it’s going to stay ours, dammit, but only if we all come out of our broom closets and claim it as ours, even as Samhain has always been ours. Stephen calls it Jeazmus. But he’s missing the point.

If you know anyone who wants a fairly cheap housing situation with two congenial Pagan magickal housemates in an ethnically mixed neighborhood in Sacramento, contact me at tezra.reitan@gmail.com or Stephen at abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or Stephen at his phone number 916-455-2267. Also, we desperately need donations to keep Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick afloat. You can send donations of any size to either Stephen’s Paypal account at abbottsinn@gmail.com or abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or my Paypal account at tezra.reitan@gmail.com. If it’s for at least $32, you’ll get either a reading or a class from our vast collections of divination decks/methods/tools or for the class, pick a topic from our vast repertoire in the field of magick. For $60, you can actually have both a reading and a class. I don’t have my webcam hooked up yet, or my mic, but with Stephen you can have sound and video on Yahoo IM, Windows Msgr or Skype. With me for a short while, it’ll be just phone or typing on Yahoo IM or Windows Msgr. Thank you for using and disseminating Stephen’s Zodiac referral number 1-800-280-8496. Stephen1580. It helps ever so much when you use it instead of the regular number because you don’t pay any more, but he makes three times as much. We’re both on SSI, thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger drastically cut both of our checks, and Keen isn’t coming up with the paying calls. I haven’t made one cent since signing on with Keen. My clients all demand free five minute readings, and refuse to go over that five minutes for a paid reading. In fact, it’s cost me money to bid so altogether, Keen has been pretty much of a total loss for me. If you need money, kids, mow lawns or babysit, don’t join a psychic reading service, because it’ll just suck in what little money you do have.

Do check out the PaganRadioNetwork.net It’s free, although they certainly do accept donations. Doesn’t everyone? Seems like everyone has his hat out nowadays, and we’re sorry to be part of that, but the situation is dirt. We almost lost our power yesterday. In these times of smaller SSI checks, a bankrupt state, and practically non-existent paying KEEN calls, the prices just seem to be rising all the time for less and less service or quality.

In order to keep his computer alive, or perhaps get a new computer, Stephen needs a new battery and Windows 7, because Vista is just too unreliable. Vista is the worst operating system since 98. But first Stephen has to pay off his rent, and so do I. Don’t buy a Dell or do business with Wells Fargo. They’re both ripoffs.

If you’re ever in Sacramento, look up Walter Rhoads and Julie Maahs. Together they own Gallery 14 at 14th St. and 60th Avenue. We’re promoting them big time. Walter Rhoads has a very interesting and different approach to art. He compares himself to the late great Jackson Pollock but there are two main differences: Rhoads is still drawing breath with a healthy 98.6 degrees temperature (except when he’s sick, in which case it’s somewhat higher) and I think Jackson Pollock was gay, and Rhoads is, like us, hopelessly hetero.

We certainly hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Sorry about my negativity up there, but I’ve been very depressed by this economy lately, and wishing I were with Doc in the Summerland.
Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Stephen Abbott
Inky my BFF (BoyFriend Forever)
Little (Big)Boy
Oreo (the Mouser)
Bailee Beasley Beastly
Frikki & Frakki
Dr. Livingston I. Presume aka Prince Henry the Navigator