Greetings once again! This month, I have Belfazaar Ashantison as my guest of honor..Zaar, as he is know, is the Elder and co-founder of the House of Mystic Echoes..Currently, the House does not have a website, as this is primarily an offline House, but all correspondence may be entered into directly with Zaar - His e-mail address is XXVVZAARVVXX@aol.com, and his AIM screen name is the same..

Silver: Greetings Zaar, thankyou for taking time out this eve to sit and have a chat with me :o)

Zaar: Greetings and Salutations to you Silver... It was my pleasure..

Silver: I understand you are the Elder and co-founder of the House of Mystic Echoes..Can you just firstly introduce yourself so we may know you, and then tell us a bit about what you do within the house?

Zaar: My name is Belfazaar Ashantison, a primarily sanguinary vampire living in the New Orleans area... I have been on the outskirts of the community for many years, and finally felt it was time to start lending a hand instead of sitting back in the shadows..The House of Mystic Echoes, being a newer House is primarily for those of us who are mystically inclined with varied beliefs, trying to focus those beliefs into a better working relationship within the Vampire Community as a whole...

Silver: Ok, can you explain how exactly that would work? Let's say I am coming to you for information on membership, what would I find from coming to the site?

Zaar: *smiles* Right now you would find it currently under construction, but it also directs you to inquire about membership to Myself and the House Secretary...

Silver: Ok, so I then come to you..What would I come across then?

Zaar: A regular guy... Although I have been in the community a while, I try to maintain that perspective... I would explain that this House is its own...We do not necessarily follow what another does, but we also respect those differences and even embrace them as a tool to learning about one another...As a newer House we offer a bridge to the community in aiding others finding answers to their vampirism... Being affiliated with places such as the Vampire Church, aids us in this task..Being openly pagan, the House was first designed to accentuate that part of our lives... Many of us within the Vampire Community practice one form of paganism or another...From Wicca, to Shamanism, to Druidic beliefs cross the whole of the community... We welcome them all in a spirit of learning and growth..

Silver: Ok wow, that is such a wonderful thing.. It makes it where anyone coming along will be embraced for who they are and find that some part of them or several parts can be accomodated by your house :o) Now, you say that most in this community tend to have some kind of an alternative path such as pagan or wiccan..Do you have a theory as to why this might be?

Zaar: Although I know many good Christian people, their beliefs tend to be very structured with little in the way of variance for those that are different in the slightest fashion... It is either their way or no way... Paganism offers many choices and even has the ability to cross several different beliefs into a working system.. As with my own personal practice..

Silver: Do you think also, that because of the nature of pagan structured beliefs and creating and raising energy for ritual use, that it might make it easier for those who are also vampires? I mean basically, creating energies for this usage, they would then have a better grasp on how to apply those energies for helping their own needs..

Zaar: To an extent, I believe this... But there is a difference in the energies used... The techniques are what sets it apart...

Silver: Ok, do you want to tell us a bit about how it works?

Zaar: When raising energies for mystical workings, you call upon outside forces using yourself as a channeling device... When feeding you raise these energies and use them to replenish what your body doesn't naturally produce on its own.. Making you the object of the energies instead of the channel for them..*smiles* I hope that makes sense to someone other than myself..

Silver: That's pretty interesting..You sound as though you have been involved on this path for a long time..Sure it does :o) Just wondering when did you first become interested in it all?

Zaar: I started being trained by my Great Grandfather... A full blooded Cherokee Shaman... He died when I was 9..

Silver: And when did the vampiric side of you begin to make itself known?

Zaar: I carried on from there picking up Druidism and then Wicca to enhance what I was doing...They all really work well together...Ummm... According to my mother, it showed itself briefly as a child, but I fully awakened, with the help and direction of Ashanti Whitemantle, when I was 13..

Silver: Oh so your mother is aware of all this about you, then? What about the rest of your family, and how have they handled that? It's really rather alot for some family members to take on..

Zaar: My mother and my sister are both aware of my vampirism... My sister is married to my best friend, who is a sanguine vampire as well...After telling them about my being gay and being pagan, this was just another 'thing' to them..They accepted it fully ..I admit, this is a very rare thing...

Silver: Wow..That is so great :o) I wish more people could be so accepting like that..Hats off to your family for being so very supportive of you..Oh indeed it is!

Zaar: Well... My father... A Methodist Minister... Is still dealing with it rather badly, but he is primarily stuck on the sexuality issue..

Silver: Is it because of his beliefs that he is not handling it well?

Zaar: Very much so... More of that structured way of thinking I spoke of...

Silver: Well, I don't want to put anyone down or anything, because I realise for some, these things are alot to take in, and I understand that, but isn't it far more important that you are happy? I mean, love is such a rare thing in the world, that however it is found, if it is genuine, it should be seen as a blessed thing.. Not something vile or ugly..

Zaar: I feel so, and so does a great number of the family, though they won't admit it openly, due to their beliefs... But to him, it is take the Word verbatim or not at all... True... There is so little love left in the world, why knock where it comes from or from who it comes?

Silver: I'm really sorry honey :o( Life is too short to worry about issues like these..

Zaar: *smiles* don't be... I am confident that he will come around in the end...

Silver: For your sake and his own, I hope you are right :o)

Zaar: After all, even in his Bible, it says that in the final judgement that God is not going to ask 'who' you loved, but how much did you love..

Silver: This is true, you are right, and who is to say that this is not a balance against overpopulation, directly caused by divine intervention..

Zaar: True enough...

Silver: Ok, just to sort of move on from a somber note here, upon awakening, did you encounter others like you that had gone or were possibly experiencing the same as what you were going through?

Zaar: When I was awakening, there was a woman, Ashanti Whitemantle, a member of a pagan organization that I was involved with, who recognized in me the same traits that she had... She taught me that I was NOT just a screwed up individual, but a person with a REAL and very physical condition..She taught me not to be ashamed of it as well..Even back then there were people trying to get it recognized for what it is...

Silver: Well, I'm sure that vampirism has always been around, like many things, but perhaps people didn't know what it was and probably just attempted to ignore what was happening to them, and I really feel for those people.. It must have been very difficult back in the day..And no doubt, there were many burned as witches as well for doing things to other people that were just slightly off the mark or what have you..How do you feel about houses which promote vampirism as a belief or fetish?

Zaar: I can't say that they are wrong... That would go against my beliefs... But House of Mystic Echoes recognizes vampirism as a physical condition, not a belief, nor a fetish... Although, it can and has been used to promote both...

Silver: 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?

Zaar: I think that the idea of traditions is a way for some Houses to lord over others, unfortunately... Instead of aiding each other, they see themselves as above other Houses... We are, after all, attempting to do the same things... Bring a vast and varied community together..Granted, I can see the need for 'rank' within a House to keep it from just being another gang, but to use these ranks as a way of 'one upping' another House is just... childish... Not sure that thats the word I want to use, but its the only one I can think of that fits..

Silver: Yes and it's difficult enough without adding all the glamour into it that has no real place there in the first place, and this is where the younger crowd are drawn in, hoping to find something a little closer to the Hollywood version, I believe.. And I understand the latter part of your answer there and agree..

Zaar: The glamour and pomp, I can deal with easier than the purposely misleading information...

Silver: But see, those who promote the glamour and pomp ARE purposely misleading, though I see what you're trying to say here as well :o)

Zaar: There are a great many ways to use pomp and glamour to teach truth, but misleading information is damned hard to combat..

Silver: Well said, indeed..Some people come to the VC in doubt as to whether they are suffering from vampirism..is there a way they can know for certain they do suffer from it?

Zaar: A 100% correct way... None that I know of... There is a vast difference from being simply gifted with psychic abilities, to actually having a condition which drains your body of life giving energies which you must in turn take from others, the elements, or the psychic aether to replenish your own..I know it won't be found in a book, a game or a movie...But I don't know of a sure fired way to determine other than research...And each person must make that final determination for themselves... We can say, 'you sound like you may be a...' but that doesn't mean that it is gospel..The great thing is there is NOW a lot of information on sites such as the Vampire Church, that can help individuals pinpoint where they are and what they might be..

Silver: True, very true..Sometimes people ask us how we take in energies, can you describe how you gain them and how you feel once you have?

Zaar: Wow... Tough...Being primarily sanguinary, my first choice is through the blood... It only takes about an ounce, but I can feel the energies and know that I am absorbing them directly...When I am feeding elementally or psychically, I can 'see' the energies around me, and I pull them in, sort of like being a giant sponge...I feel the difference almost immediately... I feel less sluggish, more alert, and calmer... Not so anxious..A friend of mine says, that I look as if I have enough energy to take on the world after a feed..She can also tell when I need to feed..Then I feel lethargic... as if it takes twice the energy just to get out of bed and go through lifes little tasks...For me there always has been... Dark circles under the eyes, a gray palor (as if I were sick), even my hair seems lifeless and flat..And trust me... When you have the length of hair I do... Lifeless and flat is not a good thing..Also I tend to slouch more, when I am hungry...

Silver: Ohhh man, I know the need for twice the amount just to drag yourself outta bed sometimes.. I can't make some understand this.. And one thing I get rather alot from some out there, is "why do you not meditate on the universe and pull in energy from the divine"?

Zaar: That would be GREAT... IF it worked that way... Divine energy can only be used for divine purposes, as a mentor of mine once said... Purposes of the divine are NEVER selfish... Healing another is an example of Divine purpose..

Silver: I believe that as well.. There are many I work with over distances and try to give to them as much as they give to me..

Zaar: Meditation is a great tool for preparing ourselves to draw in energies for 'feeding' but it is only an aid, it is not the means to do this..My mentor called it 'switchboarding' - creating connections of energies that pass between individuals over distances..

Silver: I am glad you explained this, because at least now those who doubted before, and have now seen another person's explanation as to why certain things do not work, maybe now they will have a better understanding :o)

Zaar: Sometimes it takes a second person's perspective to get the point across..

Silver: Indeed! If someone who was questioning their vampirism came to you, what advice could you offer them?

Zaar: The best advice that I was given... If you doubt you are a vampire, try going without a feeding... When you see that the energies don't come, you will know that you need to feed... Then you have your answer...

Silver: ~Shudders~

Zaar: But personally... I feel that once you know, you always know, and no matter what doubts you have, it will always be there... It is after all a physical condition..

Silver: It truly is indeed...Ok...One last question :o)

Zaar: Fire away..

Silver: Where do you see your house in the next 5 years?

Zaar: I see us right in there with other Houses of Honor, like the ones you belong to and House Kheperu... Teaching and continuing to grow with the community..The one thing we need to remember, is that we are all at different stages of learning and acceptance... As long as we can recognize this, we will all continue to grow..

Silver: This is an important thing really.. I think it helps to have several good houses that all focus on the same thing, being vampirism, yet have their own facets within the house for their members..

Zaar: Very true... It's these facets that combine to make the community whole..

Silver: Yes it is and it lends its own uniqueness and as you say, allows for growth on several levels..Well Zaar, I have enjoyed speaking with you :o) Very good luck in the coming years with your house, it sounds fascinating :o)

Zaar: My thanks, and the pleasure was all mine...

Silver's Final Thought:

The great thing about the vampire community is the fact that it is multi faceted - It caters not only for those with the actual vampiric condition, but also to our spiritual growth, which I find to be just as important, while also providing quality information to those simply searching for knowledge, whether they be vampiric or otherwise.. It is therefore a great thing when we have houses out there that are what is known as a house of double power..They present help with real vampirism, and also help for the spiritual growth of their members, and recognise that the two topics are not one and the same, but two different parts of the whole, which is where I have come to call this multi faceted..Truly this is what our community has become..

Each day, is a new opportunity to aid other people in some stage of their growth within this very diverse community..It is not always an easy task, but there are always rewards..To watch someone come along that was scared and unsure of what was happening or where they were going or even going to end up, to becoming a more confident person, and learning more about themselves and the ins and outs of who they are and why things are so different in their lives, is a wondrous thing..This shows that we are accomplishing much here..And so I would like to end it this month on this note -

"Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day"...

- Sally Koch

Well everyone, as usual, I hope you have enjoyed this interview, and that it will help to bridge the gap for many people..This continues to be our wish..Until next month..

Dark Blessings~

Silver

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