Books and Films as Vampyric Magick

by Don Webb, author of Energy Magick of the Vampyre

The Vampyre is a modern myth drawing its form from books, films, and even television. This may seem illegitimate to a traditional thinker, who would prefer hoary antiquity or “real” mythology. That seems to suggest that humans were only allowed to make myths until a certain date when the “No More Myths” memo was put out by the Myth Bureau. But what does it mean that modern sources are used?

There are three answers to this question:

1. Film and writing constitute a ritual.
2. Film and writing reflect deeper currents.
3. Film and writing are accessible to the magician.

Let’s explore each of these.

Film and writing constitute a ritual. A ritual is a method to effect a magical change in the world. Rituals require a separation from “normal” or mundane time and space. Their purpose is to effect a change in the subjective universe of the participant that will cause a proportional change in the objective (or consensual) universe.

A ritual must have a purpose. Either it illustrates and reinforces the reality of the participant, or it changes that reality to better suit the participant’s desire. A ritual could involve thousands of humans or just one. The method of a ritual involves creating a trance state, performing an action by passing through a series of imaginative states, and sending the resultant gestalt into the universe and returning to normal time.

Think of a movie goer. He or she puts aside time and money to sit in a darkened theater. He or she has chosen their companions on an emotional basis. Normal time is ended when the lights are brought down. Special foods sacred to the occasion may be consumed thus literally incarnating the message into the bodies of the viewers. Upon the end of the film the assembled go forth – to discuss the film among themselves or recommend it to their friends. Some films (for example, The Rocky Horror Picture Show) are so strong ritualized viewers actually re-enact them. Others literally change mass perception. Can you think of Dracula speaking without hearing the voice of Bela Lugosi? In terms of impact, a great movie can beat a Mass.

Now are all films (of novels or short stories) created equal? Of course not. Yet the personal effect of any given one may be a literal turning point in the life of a reader or viewer. Once a particular film opens certain gates to a viewer’s psyche, they will seek films of the same genre with a religious zeal.

When writing Energy Magick of the Vampyre I did polling of thousands of people as to their favorite vampire movie – and thousands wrote back they couldn’t pick just one. They had returned again and again to the genre drawn by a mysterious need. The effect in the psyches of so many creates a deep source, one that is effective in dreaming and magick. This is as effective as campfire stories or often re-written ancient scrolls.

Film and writing reflect deeper currents. One of the most fascinating aspects of the magical life is the well-known principle that one’s deepest breakthroughs seem to be mirrored in popular media. Depending on the age of the experiencer this can be a life-affirming synchronicity or a doubt-causing coincidence. However, certain films or books seem to have a lightning rod effect.

As I was writing Energy Magick of the Vampyre – long before I had mentioned this to anyone – my sleepy little kindle book of vampire fiction A Velvet of Vampyres, which sold (maybe) a copy a month these days, began selling. In popular occultism some films, such as The Exorcist or Rosemary’s Baby, are perfect expressions of the zeitgeist. This doesn’t reflect the publicity budget nor the film’s quality (according to film critics). The films produced exterior phenomena, like fainting theater goers and bizarre coincidences. If a church (or a “cult”) or a new psychotropic drug had the same effects, the headlines would be 28 pt. type. I am not saying the writers involved are mindlessly channeling the “current” – but I note that certain books and films take on a strange life of their own.

As human myth making engages itself there are signs. Some are easy to see like Lugosi’s “becoming” Dracula. He believed himself possessed of hypnotic powers. Or the fact that despite the court order to destroy all copies of Nosferatu Max Shrek lives on in a Facebook meme. Books and films have an uncanny ability to present themselves to the right humans at the right times. The mythic power of even “trashy” cinema can’t be overstated. Movies even become the background for furtive sex in a richer magic set-up (darkened space, forbidden and transgressive) than can be set-up by serious tantrics.

Film and writing are accessible to the magician. This is the flipside to the above. If a magician wants to affect the collective unconscious, they can gain immediate access through writing or film making. The classical magician with his dagger and cup sending his will out through workings is a rank amateur compared to the film maker or novelist.

If I want to give you a taste of the Vampyric current I can do dozens of Workings or just lend you a copy of C. L. Moore’s “Shambleau” ("Shambleau" Read by the author C. L. Moore: Side A of LP - YouTube), which is perhaps the best Vampyre story ever. I get you to read it, and then later say, “Ok the last line? You get it?” So, I or you or anyone with talent can craft a story, which will be read/heard/watched in a trance state (because science shows this is how we read/hear/watch), and if I or the writer/filmmaker bombard you with the correct series of images, sounds, and smells I will produce the effect magically I wish to have in you. The magick is perfectly Vampyric.

First, I must produce the effects in my imagination and if I do so at the correct intensity I can write down the words. Then as you, my willing victim, pick up my words and re-read them the effect is remanifested in you. If I did it especially well you will find victims of your own – lending them the dog-eared copy of your paperback or posting your ardent review on Facebook. We don’t even question our desire to pass on the words to another; it is a perfect Vampyric compulsion.

Even now, if you paused to listen to the Youtube link I gave you, you are considering whom to share it with. It may be a high-grade Vampyric seduction (“I’ll send this to Kathy; she will get goosebumps at the end of it!”) or a low-grade Vampyric broadcast (“I’ll share this with everyone on my social media feed”). You might argue that C.L. Moore isn’t a Vampyre, or that the text wasn’t created as a Vampyric Working – really? Miss Moore was desperately trying to break into print. When she sent this (her first story) to Weird Tales slush pile, it was forged out of a lifelong desire to be a writer as well as strong financial need. Editor Farnsworth Wright was so excited to read it that he gave his staff the day off in WT’s Chicago office calling it “C.L. Moore” day. After this he declared that C.L. Moore was his favorite writer – and recall he had H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and Edmond Hamilton in his stable in those days. In fact, “Shambleau” lead to C.L. Moore meeting her soul mate Mr. Kutner and her marriage, her kids, etc.

Writing, film making, or other art is a direct way to practice the Vampyric exchange on willing, intelligent victims who immediately become your servitors seeking to find the best victims too. The Vampyre uses her words, song, images to send her Will into the worlds.

Now you may be off-put at the use of the word “victim.” But this is the Secret of Vampyric Magick. Unlike the psychic vampire who drains every poor human that stumbles across their path leaving a trail of sickness, depression, and headaches, the Vampyre not only chooses her victim but prefers the Vampyric Exchange. Both victim and Vampyre are refreshed, energized, and set very slightly out of the time stream. The Vampyre (for the most part) chooses the willing victim who swoons with a touch (or more than a touch) of ecstasy. The willing victim takes in part of the Vampyre’s otherworldly nature, which may feel like mystery, or seduction, or just plain happiness. The signs that the victim feels open even loving to the Vampyre is because the Vampyre has pierced the soul-dulling socialization that coats, controls, and drains (without exchanging) energy from all civilized beings. The Vampyre is never a threat to others unless she needs to be. Then the exchange is much more one-sided.

There! I said it. Suddenly you are in the presence of a human that is both taking and giving you energy, but you realize that it is a human who could just take. You feel more alive because I have momentarily awakened you, and you feel more energy than when you started reading this blog post to” kill” time. If you like this feeling and desire to cause in others, I think you may enjoy my little book.

I bid you welcome.