Greetings all! Happy Hallowe'en! This month's guest is the VC's own Professor Tom, who generously spent his early morning Saturday having a chat with me :o) Tom is very active in this, and other communities as both a member, listening ear, and a teacher, and has given much of his time and wisdom, not to mention personal assistance in helping to further the cause, especially for new seekers and newly awakened vampires..We are grateful to him for his continued support :o) Those wishing to reach Tom directly, may do so via the following information: Sword1962@yahoo.com =+= AIM: Swordsmyth1 =+= YIM: Sword1962
SilverVC: Greetings Tom, thank you for joining me today, and agreeing to share a bit about yourself, and how you are active within this community, with our readers :o)
Swordsmyth1: Glad to be here, Silver.
SilverVC: Ok, I have several things I'd like to touch base with you on, but before we go any further, let's just begin with an introduction from yourself, for those who do not yet know you.
Swordsmyth1: Sure thing. My name is Tom Begley, and I am the owner/founder of a Magickal Teaching House outsiode of Orlando Florida called RavenLoch House. I'm also a professor at the University of Central Florida and an associate of the Vampire Church and House of Mystic Echoes, to name but a few.
SilverVC: I know you are very involved here in both the vampiric and pagan communities, and it certainly sounds like a very full load, especially when you consider that you are also a professor...This must give you very little time for yourself and your family...
Swordsmyth1: Well, that would be true if my lovely wife Elise was also not heavily involved with the House. There really isn't much that we don't do together.
SilverVC: I have spoken to her before, and I agree she is lovely :o) In fact, your energy sigs are very same-ish, but I suppose this comes with having lived and worked with each other for a long time...How long ago did you and her put together Raven Loch, and was it because you felt there was a real need for it, or because you felt you had sort of a specialised way of teaching things, that you felt might be more worthwhile than what we would normally expect to find out there, along these lines?
Swordsmyth1: About 11 years ago, we realized that we had a unique opportunity to career our teaching mission outside of the campus. We began looking for suitable candidates from amongst the students at UCF who had both an interest in magick and some ability in that area. We established a loose organizational chart that allowed us to accept a class of 12, four from each of the University's levels with an additional four each year as they graduated. We have both always felt a sort of 'calling' when it comes to teaching-- Elise is an English professor at the university-- and we found a serious lack of ecclecticism within our own community. We wished our little group to be different in that we took people from ALL paths, not simply vampires or wiccans or what have you. About 7 years ago we were fortunate to purchase a 100-year old VERY haunted home in the historic district of a small town overlooking a large park. Fans of the 'Harry Potter' series will chuckle at this, but we began calling our home 'The Burrough'-- a sort of 'safe-haven' for magickal study. We also felt that there was a serious lack of understanding amongst the various vampiric and pagan communities that needed to be addressed, and that, in a nutshell, was our mission.
SilverVC: That's pretty interesting...So how in depth, magickally, do you go? What sorts of things would you be likely to delve into?
Swordsmyth1: Oh, there is very little that we DON'T touch on. We are fortunate to have experienced teachers from many magickal traditions. We don't organize ourselves as a 'coven' or any other restrictive hierarchy, but our finest teachers run the gamut-- We have a dark psi vampire teaching blade-work and defense, A Draconian teaching herbalism and Celtic traditions. I, myself, teach Ritual and its Uses. I could go on. We have Romany instructors, Wiccan priestesses, Christians, Buddhists, all as both members and instructors. Everybody brings something unique to the House. I, for instance, am a bit of a fanatic when it comes to archaeology and psychometry, so we make frequent trips to places like St. Augustine to interact with the tremendous energies there, as well as to various Timucuan Indian sites throughout Florida. We are also affililiated with the Daytona Beach Paranormal Research Center run by Dr. Dusty Smith, our Draconian herbalist and author of nearly 60 books on magickal studies.
SilverVC: That's all very kewl, and it sounds NOT like any other pagan house/org/whatever, that I have ever heard of, and soooooo many of them these days tend to totally go by the wayside, and tiptoe around anything "dark" as it were...And as for archaeology, like you, I also have a deep interest in the past, and I know that you own some ancient "dark" artifacts, because I have been on the receiving end of some very interesting ones from you - Do you make use of any of these things during ritual, or to aid you in better visualization?
Swordsmyth1: Not so much during ritual, but each of the pieces that I purchase is available for handling and study by the members. And don't get the idea that I only purchase 'dark' items. I also have a stunning Goddess figurine collection that dates back more than 7000 years. The psychometric gift is very important to our way of thinking because it is a very powerful tool for evaluating current paranormal situations. Having the gift is not a requirement, of course, but those who do can more easily convey their impressions and teach the others how to glean small amounts of past energies from the items themselves. It is my belief that everybody possesses this ability to some degree and it is simply a matter of coaxing it out-- flipping on the switch, as it were, to be able to interpret the impressions.
SilverVC: I am ever in total awe of your Goddess statue collection, and I sit here daily and stare at my Venus of Willendorf statue :o) And as far as ancient things still retaining an energy signature from their previous owners, I very much agree with that...They even state that as a matter of course about sites such as Stonehenge, the Merry Maidens, and the Rollrights...Because gorsedds were held there, and energy raised, the stones retained those energies, and over time, they were reinforced every so often...So I believe that there will always be some degree of an energy sig, and when it comes across a new owner, then that signature will also be added to it...It would be an interesting thing to be able to pick up something about each successive owner, all through time...
Swordsmyth1: It is a bit like panning for gold, yes...I have a few VERY confusing pieces that have retained a great deal of energy from several former situations. I have a bag of emeralds, for instance, that were mined by the Incas, stolen by the Spanish, shipwrecked off the cost of Cuba, and recovered in the 1930's...Try making sense of THAT!
SilverVC: Oh dear! You have to wonder about some of these past experiences...Some things carry with them, almost a curse, due to what people had to go through just to procure them...Like your emeralds, for example...
Swordsmyth1: That is true. I had a magnificent collection of Nazi daggers, for example. So much dark energy they could barely be handled by the sensitive. We had a room in the back of the house we jokingly refered to as 'The Vault' because it was where I kept all the truly dark materials. That is, until its roof collapsed. And then of course, it caught fire a week later. And then there was the insect infestation. Needless to say, those items are no longer kept in one place. FAR too much of a concentration of negativity for the House to handle.
SilverVC: Sometimes, things like that are far too weighty, and take on a life of their own, for the good of anyone else...
Swordsmyth1: Absolutely.
SilverVC: And having spoken about ancient things/dark things, what period do you think of as your favorite? The one you tend to be drawn to the most?
Swordsmyth1: I am Irish. I've lived in Ireland, both North and South, and intend to retire back to the mud-hut cottage my great grandfather built before coming to the US. Thus MY traditions are decidedly folk- Celtic. I say 'folk-Celtic' because what the Irish today still practice in the isolated villages is very different from the Celtic traditions that you read in your average store-bouight books
SilverVC: Oh, I am quite certain this is true. You tend to find a skewed version of anything like that these days. People assume that the Celts were a peaceful people, when in all actual fact, they were a warring tribe, or rather, they were several warring tribes. One thing I have seen alot of, are people trying to combine vampirism with their beliefs. Why do you suppose this occurs, and do you think it could work, and that there is sort of a need for the two to walk hand in hand?
Swordsmyth1: Absolutely! The Irish people fascinate me. They see no contradiction whatsoever in building the Lughnassadh bonfires and dancing round them, then going to Mass on Sunday. Paganism is completely integrated into village life.
SilverVC: It is strange to see an entire island do a complete religious turnaround, and go from one extreme, to the other, but equally interesting that remnants of the original are still widely practiced :o)
Swordsmyth1: It is essential to look at the evolution of belief systems, be they Celtic, Wiccan, or Catholic. To not do so would put a very biased slant on those beliefs, and if we cannot learn from the past we will definetly make the same mistakes in the future. Germany is also very much like this-- I once spent some time in a village called Knittlingen in Germany while researching my thesis on Faust. The villagers there have a magnificent church. But on Walpurgisnacht, the town is deserted because EVERYBODY is up in the hills dancing around a bonfire, even the priest.
SilverVC: As in Dr. Faustus? The one who gave up his soul to the demon, Mephistopheles?
Swordsmyth1: LOL..The very same. He was a real person, you know, born in Knittlingen and died in Heidelberg. His home is still a museum in the village. So many myths have sprung up about the man that it takes a great deal of patience to sift fact from fiction, much like the mythologies surrounding Vlad Tsepes.
SilverVC: Oh I am quite certain that's true...as for Vlad, my own son is currently studying him on his own time. He needed to understand why people have said over and over that Vlad was a vampire, when he was not.
Swordsmyth1: Vlad was a warlord. His powers, such as they were, came from his Gypsy lover Tzigaine. It is a pity she is less remembered.
SilverVC: True, but I have made this known to him, and he understands :o) Ok, let's move along here...can you please explain what your involvement is within the vampire community?
Swordsmyth1: Actually, my involvement with the vampire community is a rather odd thing. I'm not much of a 'joiner', per se. I always prefered to remain at a distance from any of the communities that I felt were a bit too 'adamant'. For a very long time, I denied my own nature in terms of vampirism, prefering to think of it as simply a 'different' kind of psychic ability. I think it was the stigma attached to the word 'vampire' in those days-- I was, at the time, a jesuit seminarian. That was MANY moons ago. I was always attracted to the darker side of life-- In fact, when I met our own L.A. Judge back in the early 80's it was in an Ohio biker bar. About two years ago, the gentleman that is our House's resident dark neg vamp (other than myself) steered my towards the local vampiric/goth community. Although I enjoyed the music, the scene, and the clothing (ESPECIALLY the clothing....) I saw most of these people as 'role-players'...Not really fundamentally different than the ravers, or the hippies, or any other little community. Had a rather large epiphany during a teaching session a while back that whatever I chose to call myself, the definition 'vampire' always seemed to fit. Before that time I let the stigma of the word keep me at arms length from the community.
SilverVC: That must have been difficult..
Swordsmyth1: Like most everything else in my life, Once I came to terms with the word, I dived right in. First I joined the Sanguinarium (House Sabretooth). I quickly became disenchanted with the organization and its founder. Largely as a result of discoveries best not mentioned here. I went searching for SOME organiazation that actually tried to unify the community without crowning a king and found Bloodlines International...But under its previous leadership that, too, became a disappointing disaster. Finally, it was recommended that I take a close look at the Vampire Church. After reading the material on real vampirism and realizing that this truly was a place where people of all paths could share their experiences, I first joined the e-list. A few months of reading and posting (and having a few posts pulled for VERY good reasons) I decided that this was a group of people that I particularly wanted in my life. You, Silver, had a tremendous amount to do with that, as did LA, Zaar, Barbie, and Damien.
SilverVC: Well believe me, I have been exceedingly grateful for your presence here, as well as having you as a friend... I have learned much from you, as you know, and I can't imagine this community being the same without you in it... You have so much to give, and you find ways of explaining things where, whoever is on the receiving end of it, sees it for what it is, and because it is presented in a truthful manner, backed with years of personal experience, it makes it easier to understand, and to grasp, and learn/benefit from. So this community, especially myself, are totally grateful to you for being here :o)
Swordsmyth1: *Smile* Ah, but if only you could read some of my 'first- drafts'...I don't usually come across as a dark neg on the list because I self-censor. Many of my original posts would never have made it past the moderators had I not made an effort to tone down my visceral response to something a bit less threatening. "To Shred or Not To Shred" has ALWAYS been the question...
SilverVC: Ok, I know your preferred method of grabbing energy is via negative energy flows, but do you also make use of other types of energy? And if so, would you then say you are truly negative, or more along the lines of being maybe eclectic, or even adaptive?
Swordsmyth1: Oh, I am definetly an eclectic feeder. I wouldn't exactly say that negative energy is my preferred diet, but it IS the one that provides me what I need. Sometimes it seems positively medicinal to feed from negative situations, and it is not always enjoyable. I have, on occassion, fed sang, but not for many years, but I do regularly practice elemental and ambient feeding. I prefer being at the beach during tremendous thunderstorms...The waves, the lightning, the boiling clouds give me something that not even true negative energy can. Not to delve into the prurient here, but I have always been a pranic feeder as well. Sex, at one point, was my primary method of emotional feeding since it reqired the ebb-and-flow of nearly frantic energies. That, too, has gone by the wayside as a feeding method for quite some time. I used THOSE energies that had previously gone into pranic feeding to enhance my natural abilities in the magick realm. I still feed on ambience, but have learned to be a bit choosy as to where. I was in the flea market a few months back just absorbing everything and went home with a migraine and a deep desire to have my hair cut in a 'mullet'.
SilverVC: OMG!! NOOOOOOOOO MULLETS!!!
Swordsmyth1: Tell me about it. Just glad there wasn't an open tattoo parlor. I'd have ended up with a confederate flag on my ass.
SilverVC: ahahahahaha :oD Alright, moving on a little bit, how do you feel about houses which promote vampirism as a belief or fetish?
Swordsmyth1: Well, objectively speaking, they have a perfect right to believe whatever they want. I, myself, once believed that the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series in my lifetime. BUT.....Many if not most of these 'houses' use the vampire guise to mask lifstyles that have more in common with role-playing games or BD/SM sex clubs, or both. Blood Fetishism is NOT a part of true vampirism. Whereas the true sang NEEDS blood energies, the fetishists simply LIKE blood and find it sexually arousing. Nothing wrong in that, per se, until you try and trot it out as 'vampiric'. As for vampirism as a belief, I am quite sure that vampirism is a fact. To say ,"I believe in vampires..." is a bit like saying, "I believe in leukemia." We are not mythic creatures of the night. I only own one cape, keep my fangs in a jar on the nightstand, and hardly EVER say, "Blah!" in a bad Hungarian accent.
SilverVC: hehehe...Why do you think some houses feel they need to represent some kind of tradition when vampirism is a condition and truly has no tradition?
Swordsmyth1: Well, that isn't QUITE accurate. Whereas vampirism itself may have no real traditions, societies do. The Late Joseph Campbell, author of such seminal works as, "The Power of Myth" explains that societies in general must find ways to cope with the things among them that they do not understand. Some Houses utilize existing mythologies to separate themselves from the mundane world. It seems to be a rather large signpost to the rest of the world saying, "GO AWAY". The troubles usually begin when the members of those Houses start to believe their own hype. Personally, I believe that many people who lead the gothic lifestyle and buy into the mythos created around the vampire are simply trying to make themselves seem 'differerent'. Those who cannot seperate reality from a live-action-role-playing are often suffering from minor mental disorders that can range from the benign to the dangerous. That is what has created this fascination with 'Vampire-Hunting' that keeps many of us sleeping with one eye open.
SilverVC: I personally find such things as an affront and an insult to intelligence..Those who engage in the "vampire slayer" thing should be treated as a more dangerous form of a stalker, and tried alongside other mass murderers when they employ their ridiculous ethics upon a community they have a limited understanding of...That old adage still rings true, that people fear that which they cannot see, or have little-to-no information on. And I also find it rather interesting that people such as these tend to put more stock in the mythic aspect, than in the truth of it...
Swordsmyth1: That is quite true. Popular fiction and film has only aggravated the hunter mentality. I equate them with the John Lennon's assassin's fascination with 'Catcher in the Rye" or John Hinkley's attempt to impress Jodie Foster. Unfortunately, many are being encouraged by books that one can buy off the shelf at your local bookstore.
SilverVC: Speaking of which, what is your take on Llewellyn's publications of Konstantinos?
Swordsmyth1: Ah, I wondered if we'd get into that. Personally, I always look at Llewellyn publications with a bit of a critical eye...There is SO much bad and dangerous information presented for profit that it becomes difficult NOT to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Their title "Enochian Magick for Beginners" comes to mind...Konstantinos is a bit different, however. For one thing the man is a genuinely gifted dark magician who is able to use humour to highlight the mythological aspects of vampirism. When I picked up "Gothic Grimoire" I expected it to be just another load of cobbers...But found myself in agreement with much that he had to say. I have since read his other titles, and while I do not agree with many of the things he has written I've found enough truth in his works to use them in my own House. He's remarkably easy to correspond with (Konstantinos@konstantinos.com) and has no trouble doing self- parody for entertainment's sake. He recently played a parody of himself as a radio interview in a popular film. He seems to be the intellectual equivalent of Marilyn Manson-- using the mythological aspects of vampirism to inadvertently point out how silly it all can seem. I recently sent a full set of his books to one of our VC members and one of my newer students (Babs, theangel) in Belfast as a place to start magickally...I was also a huge Alice Cooper and Kiss fan back in the day for the same reasons.
SilverVC: That's very interesting. I have never read any of his books, but then, I have never felt any need to do so. I have heard comments on both sides of the coin concerning his works, and for my own preference, I think Llewellyn is a good place for beginners, but not for continuing down the road with later on. But that's just my personal thing :o) Other people might not feel the same way. I personally feel, that vampirism is better explained, and maybe appreciated when you present it from your own personal experience, rather than picking up a trendy new book on it.
Swordsmyth1: Possibly. I just feel that many of their publications not only pander to the curious but also provide and promote dangerous information that is too easily misused.
SilverVC: Of course they do. This is because those self-same beginners, tend to want to jump right into the deep end of things, before learning how to swim properly.
Swordsmyth1: Too true. The VC is absolutely correct in seperating vampirism from magick. They are NOT necessarily related.
SilverVC: Well, we certainly do try. We need it to be very clear, which is why the lists are kept to topics of real vampirism only, but we do find that things run in stages, and people do attempt to intermix these things in now and then. And of course, it doesn't help any when there is a "kewl" new vamp/lycanthrope flick currently at the cinemas, reinforcing all those ideals yet again, that we work so hard to try to dispel.
Swordsmyth1: Or that damned TLC show....It always brings the curious out of the woodwork and plays havoc with the list for several weeks.
SilverVC: You know I am STILL waiting to see that? I have religiously combed through the channels on a daily basis, looking for some mention of it, and damned if it didn't happen to come on when I WASN'T looking..
Swordsmyth1: LOL....I've seen bits and pieces, mostly the bits I'd rather not have seen. It is a bit annoying that I have encountered people who confuse our own Damien with the head of the Sanguinarium ("He WHo Must Not Be Named")
SilverVC: Oh dear, hehehe..No, they are most DEFINITELY two very different individuals.. Todd has his way of doing things, and Damien has his.. And speaking of which, there are some people who come to the VC in doubt as to whether they are afflicted with vampirism..Is there a way they can know for certain they do have it?
Swordsmyth1: ARRRGGG!!! I said "He Who Must Not Be Named"!!!!
SilverVC: hehehehehe, My apologies :o)
Swordsmyth1: Have it? Hmmm...Not exactly a disease, but I see your meaning. The best way to determine if one is a vampire is to look at the definition. If the cape fits....Of course, I always refer them to the VC website or the mIRC classes..
SilverVC: How has it helped your vampirism, by being involved in the VC?
Swordsmyth1: My involvement in the VC has had a huge impact on the way I run my House. It has also brought me back together with friends both old and new. But as for my vampirism, it has clarified for me the line where the vampiric condition ends and the magickal ability begins.
SilverVC: Do you think there are times when that "line" is blurred?
Swordsmyth1: For me personally? Absolutely. There are many things about the vampiric condition that have genuine uses in the magickal. For instance, when I teach elemental manipulation to a group of non- vampiric folk I must remember that they cannot feed from the storm and turn back the energies into something else-- they must use other methods of bringing its energies into them, reshaping them, and using them. Sometimes this causes me to fumble around in the dark trying to remember exactly how NOT to feed on it.
SilverVC: Do you find this presents itself as a dilemma? Or have you learned to stop it from being automatic?
Swordsmyth1: I have learned to be better at not allowing it to be automatic, but have not yet reached a stage where I can turn it off or on. Sometimes I simply have to bow out and let my Draconian partner, a non-vamp, teach that particular lesson.
SilverVC: Interesting...
Swordsmyth1: It would be nice to say that I am in perfect control of both aspects of my life, but that would be a blatant lie.
SilverVC: I understand...Sometimes, it can be a little difficult not to cross back and forth over those lines. Ok, I just want to take a bit of a different turn here. As you may know, the VC has recently begun a specialised e-list for those who are underaged in this community, but have or are currently undergoing awakening. How do you feel about this, and do you think it's a good or bad idea, and why?
Swordsmyth1: I think it is a magnificent idea! There has been so few places that the young and the curious can go for solid information that to provide a haven within the confines of the VC is a truly marvelous thing. As a former high school teacher I know exactly how impressionable teenagers can be and how effected they are by popular culture. A moderated forum for the young is a great step towards removing themisconceptions currently being pandered by other, larger groups.
SilverVC: I agree. Ok, one last one, because I know you are a busy man, and have things to do. If someone who was questioning their vampirism, came to you, what advice could you offer them?
Swordsmyth1: Actually, that happens quite often. Generally, we sit down at my dining room table with a cup of mint tea and I ask them to tell me their feelings and impressions. Too often we forget to listen before we instruct. After I hear them out completely, I ask a few more questions (albeit leading ones...) that inevitably steer them towards the appropriate set of teachers. All of the 'kids' in my House have mentors. Generally I advise them all to remember that the mundane world is where they will spend the bulk of their life and to neglect that would be foolish, but to also feed their vampiric self daily by reading, writing, and performing a sort of literary triage on the information that they find on the internet. If they are of a suitable frame of mind and age, I refer them to the VC. If not, I tend to refer them to a number of more remedial groups to prepare them to be responsive to the VC.
SilverVC: That's very interesting, and you have found this to be of help then?
Swordsmyth1: I have indeed. Many of them discover that to WANT to be a vampire doesn't make it so. Some discover that they simply have an affinity for the gothic lifestyle, and I encourage them to feed that as well. Others are simply curious. But when you find that ONE kid.....It makes all of the seemingly endless litanies of "I'm 654 years old and was once the King of Sardinia" worthwhile...
SilverVC: I know exactly what you mean. Well Tom, I have enjoyed sitting here with you, and would like to take this opportunity again to thank you for your time, and sharing your wisdom here with us all :o)
Swordsmyth1: My pleasure!
Enjoy the coming holiday season, all, and with it, I hope it brings peace and prosperity, warmth and happiness to your door..Blessings abundant..Until next month -
The darkest.....
Silver