The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Satanism vs. Wicca

by Diane Vera

Since your main worry seems to be public relations, here's how I would make the distinction between Wicca and Satanism, in a way that is fair to both sides and does not throw Satanists to the dogs:



Wicca and Satanism are quite distinct. Wiccans worship pre-Christian deities (or a modern-day composite of pre-Christian deities) and do not worship the Christian anti-God. Some Satanists also worship a pre-Christian deity, but regard the Christian anti-God as a manifestation of their deity, which Wiccans do not. Wicca and Satanism are very different in their aims and tone. Wicca emphasizes harmony and balance, whereas Satanism emphasizes spiritual self-liberation via iconoclasm and catharsis.

I should mention, though, there's one possible problem with that last sentence. Some feminist Wiccans might take offense at it, since it implies the more radical forms of feminist Wicca are really more like Satanism than like Wicca. Which in my opinion they are. If you've read some of Mary Daly's books, you'll know what I mean.



I myself identify as a feminist Goddess-oriented neo-Pagan, as well as a Satanist. Indeed, feminist Goddess religion is still my primary religious identification. (Satanism is how I relate to "male" energy.) I don't and never did call myself a feminist "Wiccan".



By the way, while I accept today's use of the word Wicca (with a capital W) to refer to a specific European-based religion with a very specific worldview, I do not accept the attempt by Wiccans to copyright the words "witch" and "witchcraft". These words are generic terms, not the property of any one religion. They refer to occult practices found in many religions around the world. A Satanist has as much right to the word "witch" as anyone else. (It so happens that I don't call myself a "witch", but for a different reason: I think many "witches" are making exaggerated claims to occult power, and I don't want to give the appearance of making such an exaggerated claim.)

herbal aids

Body: EQUIPMENT:



Use only stainless steel, glass, porcelain or ceramic pots for heated mixtures. Never use aluminum or iron as they will taint the mixture. All storage containers should have air tight lids. Plastic can be used, but I do not recommend it for liquids. No matter what type of container you choose, make sure it is clean, dry and in large enough quantity for your needs.





CAPSULES:



Use all natural gelatin capsules when using powdered herbs. Many herbs have a bitter taste, this often is the medicinal value in the herb, but makes teas unpleasant. Capsules can be used to take herbs quickly and pleasantly.





DECOCTION:



This is a preparation made by boiling herbal substances in water for a considerable period of time, usually about 30 minutes. Hard materials such as pieces of roots, bark, seeds, etc. are usually prepared in this way as they require longer subjection to heat in order to extract their active principles. Generally 1 ounce of the botanical substance is placed in 1 pint of cold water. The container is then covered and the solution allowed to boil for one-half hour, after which it is then strained, cooled and ready for use. However, since some of the water boils away, may herbalists prefer to use 1 1..2 pints of water so that when the boiling period has ended, the decoction measures approximately 1 pint.





FOMENTATION:



Dip cloth in the infusion or decoction, wring it out, and apply locally.





INFUSIONS:



Infusions are frequently called teas, and are generally prepared in the amount of 1 ounce of the plant substance to 1 pint of water. However, sometimes plants contain very active principles, and little less herb is sufficient. Bring the water to a boil and pour over the herb, in a covered container, let the solution steep (stand) for 15 minutes (stirring occasionally). When the steeping has ended, strain the infusion and use. Infusions can be prepared by placing 1 teaspoon of the plant substance in a cup and pouring boiling water over it. It is then covered with a saucer and allowed to steep for 15 minutes, after this, it is strained and used. Sometimes a little honey is added to make the infusion more palatable. INFUSIONS ARE NEVER ALLOWED TO BOIL.





OINTMENTS OR SALVE:



An easy method to make a salve or ointment is to take approximately eight parts of vaseline or vegetable shortening and two parts of the herb you are wanting to use. Heat on low heat and stir occasionally for 20 minutes. Let cool, strain into glass or porcelain container with a wide opening, for easy assess.





POULTICES:



Poultices are used to apply moist heat to draw or soothe. Fresh leaves of the particular herb called for is bruised and steeped in boiling water (only enough to moisten) for a short time. The leaves are then spread between two pieces of cloth and applied as hot as possible, then, covered with a dry cloth to retain heat. A second poultice is prepared while the first one is still being used. It is to replace the first poultice the moment it begins to noticeably lose heat. The powdered herb of a plant may be substituted for the fresh leaves. Use enough of the powdered herb to make a paste. The paste is then spread between two pieces of cloth, applied and renewed, several times.





SYRUP:



Boil tea for 20 minutes, add 1 oz. glycerin, and seal up in bottles, as you would fruit. Small juice bottles are the right size for this.





TINCTURE:



These are spirit preparations made with pure or diluted alcohol (not rubbing alcohol), brandy, vodka, or gin is the best. Tinctures are used because some herbs will not yield their properties to water alone, or may be rendered useless by application of heat. In other instances, an herb will more readily impart it's active principles when prepared as a tincture. Usually, 4 ounces of water and 12 ounces of alcohol is mixed with 1 ounce of the powdered herb. The mixture is allowed to steep (stand) for 2 weeks, the bottle should be shaken thoroughly every night. After the 2 weeks are up, the clear liquid is strained off carefully, so as not to disturb the sediment. Strain and discard the sediment. The tincture is then bottled for use.







A

ABSCESSES: Carrot powder (poultice), slippery elm.

ACNE: Burdock, chaparral, parsley, echinacea, red clover, capsicum.

AGING: Kombucha.

ANEMIA: Alfalfa, Red beet root, yellow dock root, strawberry leaves, chickweed, burdock root, nettle, mullein leaves.

APPETITE (Increases): Chamomile, ginseng, golden seal, marjoram.

APPETITE (Decreases): Spirulina, Patchouli (combine the two).

APOPLEXY: Black cohosh, hyssop, vervain, blue cohosh, catnip, skullcap.

ALCOHOLISM: Milk Thistle, cayenne, golden seal, valerian, skullcap.

ALLERGIES: Cayenne, chaparral, grapefruit peel (powdered), chaparral, burdock root, golden seal.

ARTERIOSCLEROSIS: Comfrey, evening primrose oil, cayenne, golden seal, rose hips, garlic.

ARTHRITIS AND RHEUMATISM: Yucca, alfalfa, chaparral, devil's claw, burdock, mullien, agrimony, burdock, celery, colts foot (lotion), garlic.

ASTHMA: Ephedra, comfrey, nettle, powdered grapefruit peel, mignonette (eases spasms).

ATHLETE'S FOOT: Goldenseal, garlic, black walnut hulls, powdered turmeric, benzoin, myrrh.





B

BAD BREATH: Alfalfa, myrrh, parsley, rosemary.

BALDNESS: Aloe vera, nettle, yarrow.

BED WETTING: Watermelon seeds, cranberry powder.

BITES: Cornflower (poultice or topical lotion).

BLOOD CLEANSER: Red Clover, chaparral, dandelion, garlic, burdock, daisy, red dock, marshmallow, honeysuckle flowers, marigold.

BLOOD PRESSURE (High): Cayenne, hawthorn berries, garlic, valerian root.

BLOOD PRESSURE (High or Low): Hawthorne berry, ginseng, kelp, golden seal root, ginger root.

BLOOD PURIFIER: Pau d'Arco, red clover, chaparral, oregan grape root.

BOILS: Chapparal, dandelion, red clover mullein, echinacea, chickweed.

To Heal BONE, FLESH AND CARTILAGE: White oak bark, comfrey root, black walnut, scullcap.

BOWEL (Lower) CLEANSER: Senna, cascara sagrada, golden seal root, red raspberry.

BREAST FEEDING (Increases milk): Alfalfa, fennel, red raspberry.

BREAST FEEDING (Decreases milk when ready to wean): Parsley, kelp, sage.

BREATHING DIFFICULTIES: Powdered Grapefruit peel, ephedra, comfrey leaves, mullein.

BRONCHITIS: Powdered Grapefruit peel, ephedra, comfrey, eucalyptus, chickweed tea, slippery elm, mullein, cayenne, ginger.

BRUISES: Daisy.

BURNS: Burdock. Aloe vera.

BURSITIS: Alfalfa, chaparral, comfrey, mullein.





C

CALCIUM DEFICIENCY: Horsetail, comfrey, alfalfa.

CANKER SORES: Burdock root.

CANCER: Pau d'Arco, rhubarb root, slippery elm, red clover, sheep sorrel, garlic, ginseng, golden seal, burdock, yellow dock, goose grass (tumor or skin).

CANDIDA ALBICANS: Pau d'Arco, psyillium seed.

CHICKEN POX: Lobelia, cayenne, red clover.

CIRCULATION: Bayberry, cayenne, blessed thistle, gotu cola.

COLD FEET: Cayenne, bayberry, kelp.

COLIC: Catnip, fennel, camomile, peppermint.

COMMON COLD: Red raspberry tea, chaparral, rose hips, honey, garlic, golden seal, chamomile flowers, slippery elm bark, cayenne, peppermint, blessed thistle.

COLDS AND FLU: red clover, raspberry tea, chaparral, rose hips, garlic, golden seal, yarrow leaf, peppermint.

COLITIS: Alfalfa, camomile, caraway, peppermint, plantain.

CONSTIPATION: (Do not take during pregnancy) Aloe vera, cascara sagrada, psyllium. To help a nursing baby, mother: drink a weak licorice tea, (this will pass on to baby gently).

COUGHS: Comfrey, coltsfoot, ginseng, horehound, hyssop, myrrh, black cohosh, wild cherry bark, bistort, coltsfoot, elfwort, garlic, hollyhock (makes coughing up phlegm easier).

CONVULSIONS: Black cohosh, catnip, scullcap, valerian, hops, hyssop.

CHILLS: Cayenne, bayberry bark, peppermint, willow, sage, catnip.





D

DANDRUFF: Yarrow, chaparral, aloe vera, nettle.

DEPRESSION: Nutritional yeast (one of the best), ginseng, gotu kola, cayenne.

DERMATITIS: Pau d'arco, aloe vera (topically), dandelion, golden seal, evening primrose.

DIABETES: Pau d'Arco, cedar berries, licorice root, cayenne, mullein, juniper, uva ursi, blueberry leaf, raspberry leaf.

DIARRHEA: Red raspberry, slippery elm, nutmeg and cloves for cramps, alder, ginger.

DIGESTION: Comfrey leaves, aloe vera, cayenne, fennel, ginger, papaya.

DIZZINESS: Peppermint, catnip, wood betony.

DROPSY: horsetail.

DRUG DEPENDENCY: Pau d'Arco, camomile, licorice.





E

EAR INFECTION: Blue cohosh, scullcap, echinacea.

ECZEMA: Aloe vera, chickweed, red clover, yellow dock, Pau d'arco.

EDEMA: Uva ursi, safflower, parsley, juniper, dandelion tea.

EMPHYSEMA: Comfrey, anise seed, ephedra, powdered grapefruit peel.

EPILEPSY: Irish moss, black cohosh, nettle, scullcap(especially good), powdered elder bark (good combined with scullcap).

EYE DISORDERS: Eyebright, cornflower (conjunctivitis), teasel (fresh juice).

EYESIGHT: Celery (strengthens), elder leaves (said to cure and prevent some types of blindness), eyebright.





F

FATIGUE, STRESS: Ginseng, gotu kola, cayenne, nutritional yeast, guarana, chamomile.

FERTILITY: Feverfew (women).

FEVERFLU: Red raspberry, elder flowers, garlic, rosehip, golden seal, yarrow, red clover, willow. Peppermint tea and powdered grapefruit peel at the onset of flu to halt. Bistort, [combine peppermint, yarrow, elder flowers] will sweat the flu out, ginger, mignonette.

FIBROSIS: horseradish (rub).





G

GALL BLADDER: Asparagus, goose grass.

GANGRENE: Comfrey (topical lotion).

GAS, INTESTINAL: Catnip, ginger, peppermint, horseradish.

GENITAL (Burning and itching): Raspberry leaf, slippery elm, chickweed. Combine all herbs as a wash.

GLAND INFECTIONS: Bee pollen (excellent although not an herb), golden seal, saw palmetto, echinacea, horsetail, knapweed, sea holly.

GOUT: Yucca, stinging nettle, safflower, Pau d'arco, lobelia.





H

HAIR: Nettle, rosemary, jojoba oil, burdock, quince.

HAY FEVER: Powdered grapefruit peel, ephedra, nettle, black cohosh, elfwort.

HEADACHE: Catnip, feverfew, peppermint, rhubarb root, rosemary, thyme, vervain, wood betony, marjoram, red root, camomile.

HEART: Hawthorne berries (covers a wide variety of heart ailments, a strengthener), barberry, shepherds purse, cayenne, garlic.

HEMORRHOIDS: Yellow Dock, butcher's broom, marshmallow, black walnut, lobelia. (all external as well as internal application)

HORMONE REGULATION: Blessed thistle, damiana.

HORMONE IMBALANCE: Valerian, don quai, licorice.

HOARSENESS: Mullein, horehound, hyssop, coltsfoot, goldenseal.

HYPOGLYCEMIA: Blueberry leaf, juniper, safflower.





I

IMMUNE SYSTEM: Echinacea, goldenseal, chapparal.

IMPETIGO: Echinacea, red clover, licorice root, turmeric (made into a paste and applied externally)

IMPOTENCE: Damiana, sesame seeds.

INSOMNIA: Hops, skullcap, valerian, mullein, passion vine (combine all).

ITCH: Yellow dock (excellent), chickweed, plantain, oregano, white willow bark, myrrh, golden seal.





J

JAUNDICE & LIVER: Irish moss, dandelion, horsetail, rose hips, parsley, fennel, birch leaves, agrimony, burdock, celery, fumitory.





K

KIDNEY AND BLADDER: Corn silk, dandelion, juniper, parsley,asparagus, uva ursi, thyme, carrot powder (excellent),daisy, goose grass, hydrangea, nettles, celery, marshmellow (makes passing of foreign objects much easier), twitch.





L

LABOR and DELIVERY: Red raspberry (coordinates the uterine contractions, often making labor shorter.), Jasmine flowers (makes easier).

LAXATIVES: Psyllium husks, flaxmeal.

LEG CRAMPS: Horsetail grass, alfalfa, comfrey herb, oat straw, scullcap.

LEUKEMIA: Pau d'Arco.

LEUCORRHEA: Bayberry bark (douche), golden seal and myrrh (douche and internally), plantain, slippery elm, white oak bark (douche), wintergreen, yarrow, juniper berries.

LIVER DISORDERS: horsetail, dandelion, cascara sagrada, blessed thistle.

LOWER BOWEL PROBLEMS: Psyllium seed husks, calamus root tea.

LYMPH INFECTIONS: Dandelion, hydrangea.





M

MEMORY AID: Ginseng, gotu kola, cayenne.

MENTAL TROUBLES: Sage (for wide variety of mental aberrations).

MENTAL EXHAUSTION: Guarana, fennel.

MENSTRUATION PROBLEMS: Red raspberry, uva ursi, dong quai, honeysuckle flowers (eases pain), melissa (eases pain), tarragon (delayed), thyme (regulates excessive flow & ease swollen & painful breasts).

MENOPAUSE: Ginseng, black cohosh (not to be taken during pregnancy), blessed thistle, licorice root, sarsaparilla.

MIGRAINE HEADACHES: Feverfew, camomile, celery.

MISCARRIAGE: Strawberry leaves (prevents), bistort (prevents)

MORNING SICKNESS: Red raspberry (prevents), peppermint leaf, alfalfa, catnip, ginger.

MOUTH SORES (Canker, Thrush, Pyorrhea): Aloe vera, golden seal, myrrh, red raspberry, white oak bark, lecithin.

MUMPS: Lobelia, echinacea, bayberry root bark, ginger.





N

NAUSEA: Ginger, lavender, mint, oregano, peppermint, red raspberry, yarrow.

NERVOUS DISORDERS: Skullcap (good for mild or severe problems), valerian, hops, rosemary, chamomile (tranquilizes), cornflower, elder bark (severe problems), fennel, heather (tranquilizes), mignonette, sage (balances mental facilities),

NOSEBLEEDS: Witch hazel, bayberry bark.





O

OBESITY: Chickweed, kelp, saffron, papaya leaves, hawthorn berries, and licorice, spirulina, patchouli, nettles, white willow ephedra, gotu kola, cayenne, bladderwrack.





P

PAIN: White willow, mullien.

PARALYSIS: Horseradish.

PLEURISY: Yarrow.

PNEUMONIA: Comfrey, eucalyptus, fenugreek, mullein, yarrow (breaks fever and promotes sweating), marshmallow (makes coughing up phlegm much easier)

P.M.S. (PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME): Red raspberry, uva ursi, nutritional yeast, alfalfa (for its calcium content, studies show that women who take calcium on a regular basis have reduced or eliminated P.M.S. symptoms).

PHLEBITIS: Calendula.

PINWORMS: powdered Watermelon seed.

PROSTATE AND KIDNEY: Golden seal, corn silk, uva ursi, juniper berries, ginseng, cayenne.

PSORIASIS: Chickweed.





R

RHEUMATISM: Yucca, alfalfa, chaparral, cayenne, fennel, garlic, red clover, red raspberry, devil's claw, burdock, elfwort (lotion), horseradish (rub), hydrangea, jasmine flower oil (rub), nettles.

RINGWORM: Black walnut, golden seal, turmeric, castor oil. (Make a paste of the three powdered herbs, smear on spot and cover. Change bandage twice daily. Bath thoroughly daily and rinse entire body, including hair, with apple cider vinegar. Pat dry and apply castor oil to entire body, then apply paste to spots. Must continue for 30 days.





S

SENILITY: Dandelion, ginseng, gotu kola, alfalfa, licorice, yellow dock.

SINUSES: Comfrey, fenugreek, ephedra, natural bioflavanoids.

SKIN: daisy (tones), red dock, nettles (closes pores).

SNAKE BITES: Drink combination of garlic, plantain, black cohosh, borage, scullcap, hyssop, echinacea, and wood betony, ephedra. Put a poultice of cornflower, plantain and garlic on bite.

SPLEEN: Eyebright.

STOMACH (Indigestion and Gas): Angelica, thyme, valerian, vervain, witch hazel, willow, wintergreen, wood betony, camomile, marjoram, echinacea, chickweed, aloe vera, bayberry bark, caraway seed, catnip, cayenne, comfrey, fenugreek & fennel (allays nausea and cleans impurities), ginseng, golden seal, sage, sassafras, slippery elm, spearmint, hyssop, nettle, oregano, plantain, rue, anise, bay leaf.

STRESS: Reishi Plus (strengthens and balances stomach, spleen, and brain chemicals, making stress easier to handle), Black cohosh root, cayenne, scullcap, valerian root, lady's slipper.

STYES: Carrot, strawberries.

SWELLING: Coltsfoot, comfrey root (combine two for topical lotion).





T

TESTICLES: Chickweed, mullein, burdock.

TETTER: Borage, plantain, sarsaparilla, raspberry leaf.

THYROID: Mullien, parsley, kelp, black walnut, irish moss, bayberry, white oak bark, scullcap, black cohosh, sage (gets rid of toxins).

TONSILLITIS: Echinacea, bayberry root, ginger.

TUBERCULOSIS: Comfrey, myrrh, wild cherry bark, golden seal, pau d'arco, bayberry bark, burdock root, coltsfoot, yellow dock, marshmallow (makes coughing up phlegm easier), honeysuckle flowers, icelandic moss (an old but successful Viking cure), sage (brings relief).

TUMORS: Horseradish, onion (two combined for poultice).





U

ULCERSSKIN: Honeysuckle flowers (excellent), myrrh, golden seal, aloe vera, comfrey root, marigold (topical lotion for varicose veins).

ULCERSSTOMACH: Carrot powder, bistort, cornflower, horsetail, licorice, burdock, Pau d'Arco, goldenseal, myrrh, slippery elm bark white oak bark, red raspberry, valerian, aloe vera.

UTERINE DISORDERS: Bistort (prevents miscarriage), chamomile,jasmine flowers, melissa, mignonette.





V

VAGINAL PROBLEMS: Aloe vera, blessed thistle, garlic, ginger, golden seal root, red raspberry, slippery elm bark, yellow dock root, comfrey root, uva ursi.

VARICOSE VEINS: White oak bark, calendula, witch hazel, yarrow.





W

WARTS: Clove of Garlic laid on wart for 3 days will blister up, when blister heals, wart won't come back. Castor oil applied twice daily.

WATER RETENTION: Dandelion, parsley, uva ursi, cranberry, juniper, buchu, corn silk.

WEIGHT CONTROL: Spirulina, chickweed, guar gum, bladderwrack, patchouli, nettles.

WHOOPING COUGH: Valerian root, cayenne.

WOUNDS: Horsetail (antiseptic), honeysuckle flowers (poultice).

Plague and Vampires



From an early date, the vampire stench was held to herald and accompany

plague. William of Newburgh tells the story of a revenant, a lecherous

husband, terrifying his hometown.



For the air became foul and tainted as

this fetid and corrupting body wandered

abroad, so that a terrible plague broke

out and there was hardly a house which

did not mourn its dead, and presently the

town, which but little before had been

thickly populated, seemed to be well-nigh

deserted, for those who had survived the

pestilence and these hideous attacks hast-

ily removed themselves to other districts

lest they also should perish.



Two young men located the corpse of the husband, cut it with a spade,

whereupon red blood gushed out, and burned it. William continues:



Now, no sooner had that infernal mon-

ster been thus destroyed than the plague,

which had so sorely ravaged the people,

entirely ceased, just as if the polluted air

was cleansed by the fire which burned

up the hellish brute who had infected the

whole atmosphere. (Historia Rerum An-

glicarum.)

Vampire Perversions



The existence of certain perversions which parallel the acts of the

vampire: necrophagism (eating dead bodies), necrosadism (mutilation of

corpses to induce sexual excitement), and necrophilia (sexual

intercourse with a corpse, either normal, sodomy, or masterbation.) A

famous case in France at the end of the nineteenth century was that of

Henri Blot, tried in 1886 for vandalism and necrophilia. Blot was



a not unattractive young man of twenty-

six years, somewhat sallow in complex-

ion. His hair was pulled over his fore-

head, like a shaggy dog's. On his upper

lip he had a fine mustache, carefully

waxed. His deep-set black eyes were al-

ways shifting. He has something of the

feline in his make-up, something also of

a night-bird in his physiognomy. On the

night of March 25, 1886, between eleven

and midnight, Blot scaled a little door

leading to the graveyard of St.-Ouen,

approached one of the trenches where

persons not entitled to individual graves

were buried, and lifted up the boards

which held up the earth on the last cof-

fin in the row. An inscribed cross above

the grave informed him that the coffin

contained the body of a young woman of

eighteen years, Fernande Mery, profes-

sionally Carmanio, a ballet dancer, bur-

ied the preceding evening. Blot moved

the coffin, opened it, and took out the

body of the young girl, which he carried

to the bank at the end of the trench.

There, as a precaution, he rested his

knees on some sheets of white paper

taken from the floral offerings, and had

coitus with the corpse. After this, he fell

asleep, and awakened in time to get out

of the cemetary without being observed,

but too late to replace the body.



On June 12, Blot again violated a cadaver, but did not wake up in time;

he was discovered and arrested. On August 27, he appeared in court and

nonchalantly replied, to the judge's horror: "What would you have?

Everyone to his taste. Mine is for corpses." He was sentenced to two

years' imprisonment. (Albert Bataille, Les Causes criminelles et

mondaines, 1886

VAMPIRES.



To find the first references to vampires, we have to go back to the records of Chaldea and Assyria, but these records do no more than inform us of a current belief in the existence and raids of these monsters; there is nothing to explain their origin and nothing to justify them. They are accepted as facts. In some quarters of the globe, especially on the European Continent, Servia, Austria, and parts of the Balkans, the dread of the vampire is still a living force; not with people of intelligence and education, but with the uninstructed peasantry. And yet it would not be fair to the countries named to generalise so freely, and a strict regard for truth compels us to say that the vampire superstition lives in those isolated districts where the tradition of its ravages is strongest.



Mr Bram Stoker's Dracula aroused a good deal of interest in this country as to the reality of phenomena recorded in history; and when it was followed by "Modern Vampirism: its dangers and how to avoid them," by A. O. Eaves, a book on which I shall have something to say later, it is clear that there yet lingers among us a kind of half notion that Vampirism may contain a germ of truth.



That Vampirism is not an exploded superstition is evident from an even earlier book, which bears the name of Herbert Mayo, M.D., formerly Senior Surgeon of Middlesex Hospital, and Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at King's College. The book is intitled, On the Truths contained in Popular Superstitions, and is dated 1851. After describing the alleged methods of vampires and the means of avoiding their attacks (according to the best authorities), Dr. Mayo goes on to say, "This is no romancer's dream. It is a succinct account of a superstition which to this day survives in the East of Europe, where little more than a century ago it was frightfully prevalent. At that period Vampirism spread like a pestilence through Servia and Wallachia, causing numerous deaths, and disturbing all the land with fear of the mysterious visitation against which none felt himself secure. Here is something like a good, solid, practical, popular delusion. Do I believe it? To be sure I do. The facts are matters of history; the people died like rotted sheep; and the cause and method of their dying was, in their belief, what has just been stated." Dr. Mayo then begins to establish the reasons why he believed the phenomena of Vampirism were real in the places mentioned, quoting at length the evidence of a document signed by three regimental surgeons, and formally countersigned by a lieutenant-colonel and sub-lieutenant. The date is June 7, 1732, and the place is Mednegna, near Belgrade. A specimen case will give the reader an idea of its contents. "A woman of the name of Miliza had died at the end of a three months' illness. The body had been buried ninety odd days. In the chest was liquid blood. The body was declared by a heyduk, who recognised it, to be in better condition and fatter than it had been in the woman's life-time." This is in keeping with the theory that a vampire is "a dead body which continues to live in the grave; which it leaves, however, by night, for the purpose of sucking the blood of the living, whereby it is nourished and preserved in good condition." Dealing with the physiology of the matter first of all, Dr Mayo contends that an epidemic of Vampirism may be started by a few premature burials; and that they are the bodies of persons who have been buried alive. This statement is quite sufficiently startling to compel a pause. A lot of people are buried before they are dead, if we are to believe in the testimony of careful inquirers, and yet we do not seem to have outbreaks of Vampirism as they had in the eighteenth century. Besides, what has become of the possibility of smothering a man to death by screwing him down in a coffin, and interring him in seven feet of earth? What is there after that to keep the average stockbroker from resuming life and activity? These are questions which cannot be set aside.



Dr Mayo can find no satisfactory explanation of the activity of the vampire when on the rampage. It is the ghost of the vampire which visits the victim and sucks his blood: a very substantial ghost, indeed. But he thinks the death-trance of the victim may become epidemic, acting by means of suggestion. Very true; the whole thing is suggestion from beginning to end. We have only to make people believe in the possibility of being operated upon after the manner of the vampire, and imagination will do the rest.



It is distinctly annoying to take up a modern book on the subject and find that the author's first words are: "Want of space will prevent elaborate and detailed proofs being given of the statements made in the following paper. Most of the statements made have been verified by more than one of the investigators into the subjects dealt with, observers who have developed within themselves extensions of faculties possessed by all, but latent as yet in most of us." When Mr A. O. Eaves starts out in this manner, we know what value to place upon his stories, his arguments, and his conclusions. Of course, to him the origin of vampire superstitions is in the fact that vampires have always existed. A bad man dies and can't get away from his earth life. He strives to come back again into earthly conditions, and Vampirism is one of the ways open to him. Says Mr Eaves:--"In the case of those removed by accident, or suicide, in which no preparation of any kind has been made, and where all the life-forces are in full play, if the life has been a degraded one, then they will be alive to the horrors of this plane. They will be cut adrift, as it were, with all their passional nature strong upon them, and must remain on that plane until the time their death in an ordinary manner would have taken place. Thus a man killed at 25, who would otherwise have reached the age of 75, would spend half a century upon this plane. In case of the suicides, seeing they have not accomplished their end, viz., to put an end to existence, the return for earth-life grows upon them with terrible zest."



"It is here that one of the dangers of Vampirism occurs. If the experience they seek cannot be obtained without a physical body, only two courses are open for them. One is to do so vicariously. To do this, they must feed on the emanations arising from blood and alcohol; public houses and slaughterhouses are thronged with these unhappy creatures, which hang about and feed thus. From this standpoint the habit of offering blood-sacrifices to propitiate entities, as found recorded in some of the world-scriptures, becomes luminous, and the history of magic teems with such examples. Not content, however, with thus prolonging their existence on the lower level of the astral plane, the entities lure on those human beings whose tastes are depraved, causing them to go to all kinds of excesses, enticing them on in sensuality and vice of every kind. Each time a man yields to temptation, the supremacy over him which these creatures hold becomes the stronger; they gain possession of his will, till at length they control him altogether. How many men, who have hitherto lived a blameless life, have on the spur of the moment committed some heinous crime, and the public have marvelled how they came to do it. The explanation offered after the commission of the crime has often been to the effect that they could not tell what possessed them to do it, but they felt a sudden impulse sweep over them and they obeyed it. Here, without doubt, is the genesis of the conception of a tempter, and one feels more inclined to pity than to blame in many cases."



If the censorship of books is needed, it is needed in such cases as Modern Vampirism. A young girl of highly nervous temperament might easily be obsessed by reading it, purely through the action of imagination. Mr Eaves is quite sincere, and means well, but the mischief of his book in some hands is palpable. No doubt, to think and live purely is, as he says, a "defence"; it is a defence against many evils on the ordinary plane of life; but when he advocates a plentiful use of garlic and the placing of small saucers of nitric acid to scare away vampires, we wonder whether we are still in the middle ages.



To recapitulate: The origin of vampire superstitions must be sought in the ignorance of early races who buried their dead in the earth, for it is singular that the races which cremate their dead have been practically free from vampire legends. Earth burial has never been free from the possibility of premature interment, and although there is no reason to believe that a man buried alive will not die in his coffin of suffocation, an ignorant peasantry seemed to imagine that he could live, issue forth at night, and keep himself alive by sucking the blood of the living. It is notable that as disbelief in this notion assumed large proportions, owing to the advance of education and refinement, the phenomena disappeared. Visitations as recorded in history have borne the marks of an epidemic, and even Dr Mayo was not averse to the proposition that a man who had a wasting disease, or was threatened with one, could imagine himself vampirised and thus spread the contagion to others. Vampirism is only another proof of the power of the mind over the body. It is the fixed idea that does the work. Mr Stanley Redgrove quotes an illustration from J. G. Fraser's Psyche's Task:--



"In illustration of the real power of the imagination, we may instance the Maori superstition of the Taboo. According to the Maoris, any one who touches a tabooed object will assuredly die, the tabooed object being a sort of 'anti-talisman.' Professor Frazer says:--'Cases have been known of Maoris dying of sheer fright on learning that they had unwittingly eaten the remains of a chiet's dinner, or handled something that belonged to him,' since such objects were ipso facto tabooed. He gives the following case on good authority: 'A woman, having partaken of some fine peaches from a basket, was told that they had come from a tabooed place. Immediately the basket dropped from her hands and she cried out in agony that the atua or godhead of the chief, whose divinity had been thus profaned, would kill her. That happened in the afternoon, and next day by twelve o'clock she was dead.' For us the power of the taboo does not exist; for the Maori, who implicitly believes in it, it is a very potent reality, but this power of the taboo resides, not in the external objects, but in his own mind." Very true. And the power of the vampire is the power of the idea.

Blood-Covenant.



A rite by which two persons absorb each the other's blood, either by drinking or by transfusion to the veins, whereby they become bound to each other in even a closer connection than that of brotherhood. It prevails in many countries, civilized and uncivilized, and may be traced back to extreme antiquity. It existed in the rites and literature of the ancient Egyptians, and is frequently alluded to in the Bible. Dr. H. Clay Trumbull, who has made a scientific examination of the subject, holds that its origin is in the universally dominative primitive convictions that the blood is the life; that the heart, as the blood-fountain, is the very soul of every personality; that blood-transfer is soul-transfer; that blood-sharing, human or divine-human, secures an interunion of natures; and that a union of the human nature with the divine is the highest ultimate attainment reached out after by the most primitive as well as by the most enlightened mind of humanity. With savage and barbarous peoples the rite lies at the foundations of cannibalism; it is the motive of sacrifices, in which the animal is offered to the god as a substitute for the human blood. In one form the drops of blood were put in wine or other draughts and drunken; then the wine was drunken without the actual presence of the blood, whence we have tbe use of wine in pledges of friendship and in marriage. Among the Jews it is symbolized in circumcision; among Christians, in the use of wine in the sacrament.

Blood and Blood Vengeance.



In the forms of civilization that preceded our own, and in some existing modern races of lower type, there appear traces of a sense of wrong attaching to any form of bloodshed whatever, whether of fair battle or of base treachery, and calling for the purifying influences of expiation and cleansing. In South Africa. for instance, the Basuto returning from war proceeds with all his arms to the nearest stream, to purify not only his own person but his javelins and his battle axe The Zulu, too, practices ablutions on the same occasion, and the Bechuana warrior wears a rude kind of necklace to remind him of the expiation due from him to the slain and to disperse the dreams that might otherwise trouble him and perhaps even drive him to die of remorse. The same feelings may be detected in ancient times. The Macedonians had a peculiar form of sacrificatory purification, which consisted in cutting a dog in half and leading the whole army, arrayed in full armor, between the two parts. As the Boeotians had the same custom, it was probably for the same reason. At Rome, for the same purpose, a sheep, a bull, and a pig or a boar were every year led three times round the army and then sacrifieed to Mars. In Jewish history the prohibition to King David to build the temple was expressly connected with the blood he had shed in battle. In old Greek mythology Theseus held himself unfit, without expiation, to be admitted to the mysteries of Ceres though the blood that stained his hands was only that of thieves and robbers. And in the same spirit Hector refused to make a libation to the gods before he had purified his hands after battle. "With unwashen hands," he said, "to pour out sparkling wine to Zeus I dare not, nor is it ever the custom for one soiled with the blood and dust of battle to offer prayers to the god whose seat is in the clouds."