The Vampire is a mythic creature associated with both bloodsucking and eroticism. Vampires require blood, which they get by biting the neck of their victims during anocturnal visit. The female victim has been portrayed in the paradoxical circumstances of wanting to repel the vampire while at the same time welcoming the erotic nature of the connection. The Vampire returns every evening to his source of life until there is no more to be had. The parallels between human lust and vampire blood-lust are rich: as the Vampire satisfies his thirst for blood, his host grows increasingly helpless and submissive, eventually being drained of any capacity for self-protection. Symbolically, this relationship speaks of the power dynamics that frequently drive male-female relationships, in which the male drains the power of the female for his own psychic survival, and, once bitten, the female submits even though this will eventually take all of her power. (In some relationships, of course, the roles can easily become reversed.)

Beyond the sexual level, we sometimes form psychic attachments to others because we desire their energy, a desire that manifests through a need to have the “other” take care of our survival, and a fear of being abandoned. What has been defined as a co-dependent relationship could easily fall under the Vampire template. You may find it hard to identify yourself as a Vampire, yet it is essential to review this archetype personally. Patterns of behavior such as chronic complaining, overdependency, holding on to a relationship either emotionally or psychically long after it has ended, and chronic power struggles are all indicators of Vampire patterns. Holding on to someone at a psychic level is as real as holding on at the physical. 

Interest in the Vampire archetype has reemerged through the literary and entertainment fields. It may well be that the archetypal opening of humanity’s psyche during the past five decades has resurrected the Vampire, empowering it with a force on the psychic plane of consciousness that was not engaged prior to this time.

Films: Bela Lugosi in Dracula; Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire.

Fiction: Dracula by Bram Stoker; The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice; “The Vampyre: A Tale” by John Polidori.

Religion/Myth: Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad the Impaler (in fifteenth-century Wallachia - modern Romania - a bloodthirsty count who reportedly impaled and beheaded his enemies); Langsoir (Malayan vampire, a woman who died in childbirth and now assaults infants and children).

Work Cited

Myss, Caroline.  Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential.  New York: Three Rivers Press,

     2002,2003.  419-420.  Print.

 

Doing battle with a vampire ...

INSPIRED POETRY 

This month I am moved to share this Navajo Prayer.
It goes like this:

In Beauty, I walk.
With Beauty before me, I walk.
With Beauty behind me, I walk.
With Beauty above me, I walk.
With Beauty beneath me, I walk.
With Beauty all around me, I walk.
With Beauty within me, I walk.
It is finished in Beauty.
It is finished in Beauty.

How 
Do I
Listen to others?
As if everyone were my Master
Speaking to me
His
Cherished
Last 
Words.

-       From The Gift by Hafiz

BAT/Rebirth, Listening Intently

Key Concepts when Bat is Present:

•  Honor tears; they cleanse the soul.
• Use your ability to give support and energy where needed.
• Clean negativity from your environment.
• Replenish parched spirit, body & mind.
• Find peace and joy in taking time to give to yourself.

Originally, Bat was not a flying creature.  She had webbed forefeet and roamed the earth seeking earth-bound insects.  Looking to the skies and the freedom they represented, Bat took the leap and used those webbed feet to glide.  Eventually those feet evolved into winged hands, and Bat realized her dream.  Along with this rebirth came new skills, like sending sound as a pressure wave and reacting to its echo in 6 millionths of a second guiding his flight and locating insects 50 feet away.  

Our message from Bat’s rebirth is that we have the power within us to become anything we want.  But we must recognize that there is a period of gestation for any rebirth, and in this time we must face our fears and continually repeat our efforts until we are reborn.  As Bat takes comfort in the community of caves, remember to enjoy friendships to ease the effort of this renewal.  Also, honor the rebirth process by taking care of yourself, cleaning negativity from your environment, recognizing that when you become something new, you will let go of the old, and with this comes feelings of loss.  Honor your tears; they are cleansing your soul and replenishing a parched body, mind, and spirit.  Giving to yourself assures that you have plenty to give others.  Providing support and energy to those around you who are also in the process of rebirth completes the cycle.

With her new abilities, Bat had to stretch her senses and expand into a new way of being.  Our lesson is to seek the stillness that allows us to listen deeply as we expand our way of being in the world.  Everyone around us holds an important message, and it is only when we are in the open state of listening that we receive those often hidden messages that we most need right in that moment.

Here is how the concept of rebirth evolved in the lore of Bat in the Americas, from Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams and David Carson:  “Steeped in the mystery of Mesoamerican tribal ritual is the legend of Bat.  Bat embraces the idea of shamanistic death.  The basic idea of ancient initiations was to break down all the former notions of ‘self’ that were held by the shaman-to-be.  This could entail brutal tests of physical strength and psychic ability and having every emotional ‘buttons’ pushed hard.  The final initiation step was to be buried in the earth for one day and to be reborn without the former ego in the morning.

This ritual is very similar to the night of fear practiced by natives of Turtle Island.  In this ritual, the shaman-to-be is sent to a certain location to dig his or her grave and spend the night in the womb of Mother Earth totally alone, with the mouth of the grave covered by a blanket.  Darkness, and the sounds of animals prowling, quickly confronts the initiate with his or her fears.  As the darkness of the grave has its place in this ritual, so does the cave of Bat. Hanging upside-down is a symbol for learning to transpose your former self into a newborn being.”  

The Universe is always asking us to grow and become our future.  To do so, we must die the shaman’s death.  Remember, if we resist our destiny, it can be a long, drawn out or painful ‘death.’ The path to our destiny is to use our talents to the fullest.  This is vitally important, because we each hold the future of generations to come in our hands.  What we do today – the efforts we put into our evolution – affects the next seven generations.

Taco Pizza

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound ground turkey (I cooked 1 pound and used the remaining meat for taco salad the following day)
• 4 ounces tomato sauce
• 4 tablespoons taco sauce
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 small pre-made pizza crust
• 1 taco seasoning packet for the meat
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Shredded lettuce
• Diced tomatoes
• Dollop of sour cream

 Preparation

1. Cook ground turkey thoroughly and add taco seasoning once done
2. Mix tomato sauce, taco sauce and cumin in a small bowl
3. Cover small pizza crust with sauce. Then add cooked meat and cheese.
4. Cook pizza per crust packaging instructions (usually about 10 minutes).
5. Once cooked, remove from oven and add lettuce and tomatoes and top with sour cream. For each of these three ingredients add as much or little as you desire.