Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism by J. Laycock

Redhead wrote:Thank you for the reply, Jonathan. I haven't really delved into the book much - just wanted to see what they had to say about Aset-Ka and I'm interested in the take on vampire spirituality.

You know, it might be good to go through the book anyway, to determine truth from fiction. What do you think about that? Members here could clear up confusion and refute bull. I know I would learn a lot.

Elendor kindly approved my request for discussion.

Redhead wrote:Preface

Despite the media attention to vampires, the vampire community remains poorly understood.

What exactly is a "real vampire?" According to Laycock, a real vampire is first and foremost a self-designated label. Monsters receive the vampire label from others; real vampires adopt it as an identity.

There is no universal definition of a real vampire. Some drink blood to sustain their health; some do not. Some are sensitive to sunlight; some enjoy the beach. Some feel vampirism is a medical condition. For some, vampirism is a religious or spiritual path.

Psychoanalyses sometimes ignores the vampire community and looks at vampires on a case-by-case basis. Yet another approach has been to consider the entire vampire community as sinister. Dawn Perlmutter, director of the Institution for the Research of Organized and Ritual Violence, contends that the vampire community is a network of cults that uses the Internet to recruit lonely and alienated kids. Laycock purports that both frameworks are inadequate, the former ignoring the cultural phenomenon in the production of identity and the latter ignoring individual vampirism.

To understand modern vampirism, one has to consider the experience of the individual vampire and the context of the larger community.

Vampires arrive at their identities through two entities: the sum total of ideas about vampirism, real and fictional (the vampire "mileau") and the vampire community who informs how the elements/ideas are interpreted.

Formal vampire groups and vampire religions are only a small portion of the community. But networking is very important for individual vampires or groups to communicate ideas.

For over a year, Laycock gathered ethnographic data with the Atlanta Vampire Alliance vampires, attending business meetings and socializing.

Vampires are not just lurking in goth clubs but they're all around us. Laycock met vampires in the fields of social work, medicine, information technology, and law enforcement. To study real vampires is to study the state of the modern world.

To sum it up in a modernistic fashion, vampirism is a search for self.
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Questions? Comments? Do you agree with Laycock? Why or why not?

godofbattle wrote:why 4-6 months pls. Give more details on this subject if you can

Daniel09 wrote:The Dark Kiss is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Aset Ka. No accurate information is likely to exist outside the inner circles of the Elders.

Redhead wrote:

godofbattle wrote:why 4-6 months pls. Give more details on this subject if you can

First, as far as I know, no Classical/Ageless/Long-Lived vampires filled out the vampire survey. I would be highly surprised if a single one did.

About the turning process, I only know it's not a spiritual change and that some people do not make it through the process.

.

Daniel09 wrote:The Dark Kiss is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Aset Ka. No accurate information is likely to exist outside the inner circles of the Elders.

Redhead wrote:It's all fascinating stuff but it's so easy to go off on a tangent. Sometimes, I think knowledge is important for the sake of knowledge. Other times, I think, "gee, I spending too much time reading BS."

Lol... Whit Human history and knowledge scattered trow the winds,

We need to be careful what we conclude to be real...

So some will be BS, as you said , some is not

And its up to each one, to decide if its worth it, or not ....

But do keep In mind that, the most of the writers out there, do believe that there writings are accurate, even if they may not be, I'm not saying that they are not right at some points, but not necessarily the hole thing , its like their fate or belief ( in a way ).

Sincerely Divine 277