The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Its been a while since I have actually started a post. So here we go.

When one begins this life, they are cared for presumably, one grows into who ever he or she is to become through their juvenile years, into their teens, they develop a sense of self. Then into their twenties, with all the struggles of finding a life worth living, then getting into a routine by thirties, and setting things in place for what they want afterwards.

However what of those who know they have the paths they walk which go sideways from the above?

What of those people who are marked by their respective arts and get out there and live the way they believe, particularly, those who have their sanctums built into their houses, what made them get to that point?

What of those who are never far from the streets they travel? whose art has guided them around obsticles and put them in situations which test the mettle of their souls?
What are they then? Are they really vampire? are they really mages/wizards/sorcerers? Are they anything more really? then men and women who strive to be the best and get a life they want from the cold, empty we live in, and the sorts of things one does come across?

This question becomes more along a social analysis, how does one determine their path? is it what they walk because they are told? One they choose? what realistic desires should one have that they work towards?

so for you to ponder, what is it, you desire? why do you live the way you do? and are you really going for what you want? or do you find a stopping point? some line where you draw it in the sand and say I am this, But no more?

If you do this, then have you done so because you are tired? have you done this because you lack another way to be? Have you done this because it is all you want? to get to a point where you can say this is the culmination of what i have been? Or are you simply looking for direction to take the next step?

There are alot of questions in this, and ill try and sum it up quickly. Is that not what being a vampire is? what being a mage, or witch, or what ever else one can be, ontop of being a man, or a woman? That they live each day as it comes? to get a measure and a handle on their own eternity? that tommorow doesn't matter because it will come by the actions of the day?

Does this make us who we are? Are we measured by our selves of what we think to the first part of the questions we ask day to day? Or are we measured by our actions and the choices we have made to walk the roads we do?

Or is it that regardless of what we do, and what we believe we come to some eternal path which is ours, that we must walk it, not just sit back in a chair posturizing what it is that makes us the men and women we seek to become? That measure of a life will come at the journeys end?


Hope you enjoy this perspective, because I feel it does ask the questions of self, which puts one in their right directions? what do you think?

a little bit of all of it, like a web. Everything seems plausable in my opinion, and from research it does seem there are conditions which support more then others.

So, which was more influential for you... peers?

Leo

Not so much peers, as they will do what they do in their best interest. At the end of the day, i feel in most cases its a matter of how we determine for ourselves the paths we take based on our belief, and our own concepts of self in relation to the path we walk.

different strokes i guess. i know i dont plan much for the future because i look around and dont see much of one.

i think parents have a major influence on personal growth, peers give influence, but with out the negative and positive influences from them you wont realise who you are?

finding your self is a life long thing i dont think ya can truely know wo you are till life has run its course, and then once its nearing its end you hear friends and familys thoughts and then know what kind of person you were actually rather than what you though.

There have always been people who ' march to the beat of a different drum '.

The cause ? I think that would range from curiosity to madness depending on the influences brought into play during the formative years etc.

But in your own path, which do you find?

Being content to live each day as it comes is often much easier said than done.

It's taken me alot of years to understand the value of striving to do just that.

My pathway is always smoother when I allow my natural curiosity ( with certain safeguards ) to lead the way.

thats how it usually works isn't it?

when you just kinda give in to those intuitions, and feelings which provide a road map to your path.

eveer find you migrate around the country and travel more then most when you do this?

Only through books, tv, etc.

I left home early 16, and though not able to travel much I have often been struck by the fact that I have met people through work and socially that come from all over the world.

That's the one thing I would have missed had I stayed home.

The richness and diversity of other cultures amazes and delights me.

Are we collectively dispersed in such a way, would those we meet hold a portion of our relative self?

that is a good part of the question, what do you think?

If we present or selfs in a relative fashion, I could see that being so.

Some imprint harder on others though.

Others are a more subtle presence.

I like the subtle people.

Some call that social anxiety, a good pretense can moderate small groups through that. It balances the sociogeist, people that want the spotlight, and seldom do anything once they get it. They are not bad people (until they begin arguements) they just developed in an environment that they had to be aggresive socially. Because jerks play a role in tolerance. We can remember jerks quicker then random encounters.

Could it be reasoned that those who accept our "stamp" in exchange have a greater potential for a re-aquaintance?

People tend to avoid "me" centered people. Though we do want to know how we relate to others.

I would say that is a very plausible occurrence. Where someone who can relate more to one idea will return, if that relation to them is there, assuming the link is large enough.


it would then bridge into a psychic connection which can last anywhere from a couple hours to years and life times, with that sense of De Ja Vu, "oh didn't we meet in a former life" or something like that.

but its all a matter of what we do with those connects when we can make them, esp now since we can talk to people all over the globe, and only have chance meetings through venues such as this website.

So being concise in ones exposer to social settings is staging the greater likely hood of meeting relate-able people?

from what i have seen when applying that.

I do form a stronger bond with people and get rather interesting reactions if i can control the amount of relativity between myself and them.

Some say they feel like they have known me for years, others lifetimes...and yet there are others who fear and do not want to know....those are the fun ones when their own inner struggles turn outward and react violently with an external stimuli. This seems to be a common thing in witches and reki teachers.

When a persons interest in a sub culture is trivial, or grandized oddity for spectacular entertainment, they stand out. They also fuel others with that "mock" interest.

yes, but at the same time, those being not apart of a cultural tradition which is alive and active through the individual being them self they tend to invite more negative stimuli not necessarily by the choices they make but how they portray their path. forgetting that in all situations they are as Soulshroud said in another thread "ambassadors" to the paths they walk.

That could be presentation by pretense. people that feel the need to present themselves as more devoted, I find they usually proclaim so much more then they know. So that when they are in the presence of someone who actually studied, and basic inquiries are made, the persons "false impression" becomes faded.

which leads to awkward situations when they have students present and know nothing when the time comes to prove their worth. Their lies are brought to naught, which makes them exposed for the charlatans they are; simply because they didn't dare crack open a book which might explain something to help them.

and not to forget they tend to get violent.

They tend to disagree a lot, yet present no compelling support for their position.

Which thankfully has the repulsive effect to their charade.

By Proxy this confronts self titling. Presenting ones self " Grand Persona"
Doesn't titling need an accountable presenter, usually a board of some sort, reviews a persons Learning, and studies, along with rites of passage, then place them for contention to a title and so forth..

Yes, however what is the resultant upon your own growth if by your nature you can break down someones lie, and they are seen for what it is. How very Antinomian, the luciferian current through and through.

Yet it makes it look that despite what you have done to a community leader is debase that individual by nature of you holding power they don't makes the rest of the community feel like fools for following the natures of the lessor. Being king frog in a pond only means so much when someone from the ocean flows into the circles.

The simple question is "Who bestowed a title on you?"

It would also make sense to expect a general presentable knowledge be articulated by such titled persons.

Would be converts have questions, just like skeptics.

So when a question is met with abject posturing, that is very discouraging to an intellegent person.

especially when those who present a concept for others to accept, allude that what they believe is stunningly obvious..

haha exactly, so then it goes back to how does one measure themselves? Through what means does one find their path, if such resistance to them is met with the same discouraging mindset as those who get stuck in this abject posturing. Where they think they are all big and bad, and then something new moves into town, and they realize they are not.

its not conducive to a forum which is supposed to be open to different things.

Or a equally compelling account of such things is presented, one that is presented against only reactionary rebutal. I am open to well presented concepts, fact and fiction alike. But when something that has base in fiction is adjusted to suit a "factual" presentation.. I am not impressed.

The soul purpose of those who do so is usually found to be one of twittery.

i very much agree with you on that one.

Do not fasely represent yourself.

Twittery im going to have to remember that one.

However when one fasely represents themselves they miss the oppertunity to progress with one on their path, denied of chances for future development. So they are measured by their reactions, if that is all that is left for them, then that is all they will become.

So limited in possibility.

They seek to restrain others from advancing. They want more people "gaa Gaa.." over their shallow presentation. They also attract others who wish to appear devoted purely for social appearance.

where those who truely are, show them for the pathetic lie they appear.

Most cannot help but be a product of ones own enviorment. I am sorry but those are the facts.

Those that stray, that find something else , "off road" so to say, find fullfillment from the so-called norm.

Be happy with what or who you are...somewhere in this vast universe there is a place for you , and a reason for you existing.

i very much agree with you there,

however it comes from "off-roading" as you put it, where i have traveled the streets and lived in a majority of places where had i stayed in one area never would have the world expereinces that i have.

It comes down to how you want it, and what you do to get it.

You know ~Infernal~, I have been pondering the same thing since I was about 10 years of age. I had my paths open to me and yet I chose a couple of differant ones. Not nessessarily the ones that I had planned for, since I was a bit procrastinate in my decision making.

Though I am very much a spiritualist, I was wanting to become a monk believe it or not. But, through my travels as well as lifes experiances this journey was moot. I was crushed between two differant worlds and only one of those worlds could I possibly grasp.

I am vampire not because I believe myself to be vampire and walk the path spiritually, or live the lifestyle...Which I do not. But because I am vampire. The path chose me, not the other way around. I could have become a monk, but to be a vampiric monk? Hmmm...

Alot of thought always comes into play with undetermined circumstances. Based on certain lifes experiances one would come to preconcieved notions and have theoretical ideas, but to come to conclusions and responses that are physical for those ideas is quite another story altogether.

Basically in a nutshell, you can dream of becoming a scientist, but when vampire is in your blood...That is where one has no choice in the matter since that is in fact who they are. The scientist would just be a chosen path and not a determined path. Preconcieved without choice in the matter.

Very thoughtful post. All I have to add is:

Some are who they are because of what they chose to be, some choose who they are and not what they are, this is for anyone, vampire, human, witch whatever.

I think often about the society's rules which we are forced to follow, the influence we get in our lives, if we are what we are because we are like that, or we simply be become someone, I guess it can be both.

I am always unsure of everything, only about one thing I am sure: I don't want to be.

Very well stated ~Deathnitegirl~, the question then seems to be then, which would you rather be...Sure or unsure? pertaining to...Let us call it "Destiny", or prechosen path.

I believe our life is made up of the choices we make. Every decision we make -be it a good one or a bad one, makes up the stones of the pathway of our lives.

I always tell my children - you must take responsibility for your actions and choices - you made the decision - own it!

Now there are certain things that happen in your life that are beyond your control - but how you choose to let them shape you it is still YOUR choice.

I grew up with a crazy mother who used to beat us. I could have decided to be a mother who beats my kids, I could have decided to feel sorry for myself and shut myself off from the world or to never trust another person - but I CHOOSE not too.

So, every choice and decision you make, lays another stone on your life's pathway - if you choose not to live a certain way anymore - then you have laid your path in a different direction but you are the only one truly responsible for your path.

When paths a constructed it dictates a passage. Some get so into shallow mazes, they think they are progressing, but they are only retreading beaten ground, the "unknown" once revealed, is just repackaged and represented for the pilgrims entertainment.

Some people like to present themselves as extensive travelers, when in actuality they seldom step off their treadmills.

I have always concidered it a choose your own adventure book, save for real life scenerio. A differant path by the differant choices made. Remarkable since the dimensions have those paths clearly slated so not matter what, the choice the individual makes is always the right one, unless of course the individual gets that butterfly feeling in their stomach of not to do something they think is wrong.

I always think of the several possible outcomes before I actually make any decision. I see the world as a mirror image of itself and detail it in a sort of fantasy scenerio. Like for instance if I am pissed of, I would think of what would happen if I slit someones throat and the possible outcomes of the consequence. Then I decide that the aftermath life is not for me, so I remain a bit passive more than taking the aggresive aproach.

I always look in the mirror and think to myself that every decision I make is my own, that there is no power over me save for what the universe decides...But, since I am part of the universe, then it is still my decision for all scenerios to take their course.