The Teachings of the Strigoi Vii (Pages 27 to 36)
Strigoi Vii (Which translates from Romanian to mean "Living Vampyre") is a set of teachings and traditions wrapped in a philosophy which explores the vampyric condition as a spiritual path, magical art and personal experience. The term Strigoi Vii was chosen as a subtle term as an alternative to the word "Vampire" or "Real Vampire" which Father Sebastian feels is outdated and cliché. This is also an effort to bring a term to define the common frequencies of tradition and teachings started in Gotham Halo (New York City) and that exists worldwide today.
In Modern times the Strigoi Vii strongly manifested as a collective in a small group of covens in New York City, one of which was the coven Sahaja (Now known more publicly as House Sahjaza) until about 1996, when this community took an evolutionary jump and virtually metamorph due to various circumstances circa 1996. Carried on in through the House of Sahjaza the teachings were slowly spread and developed in an experiment which became known as the Sanguinarium movement and Strigoi Vii teachings. Incorporating and being influenced by many other traditions Strigoi Vii teachings, including chaos magic and teachings of Michelle Belanger of House Kheperu, Strigoi Vii was again brought to the surface with the release of V (Now in a second edition entitled: Vampyre: Liber Jahira, "Black Veil") by Rakasha Books in Fall 2003.
The Black Veil and the Strigoi Vii Covenant are the basis of Strigoi Vii moralities, ethics and express our codes of common sense and honor. Very similar in concept to the samurai's code of Bushido and is simply was common sense written in words by some of the magisters of the Sanguinarium.
Strigoi Vii is mainly about what we call The Equilibrium, which is a balance in all things. This includes light and dark, good and evil, Male and Female, up and down, Positive and Negative. We strive to balance our reality as well as accepting and celebrating our primal natures.
Reincarnation is a central aspect of the Strigoi Vii, that for many of us our very souls are modified in ancient times and contain an altered solar plexus. The Benefits of this modification resulted in a better connection and awareness of the subtle realities, sensitivity to pranic energy (Life force), a deeper recall of past lives and a stronger potential to awaken our Dragon Within (Higher self and true will). The side effects of this modification resulted in a Solar Plexus which requires a higher intake of pranic energy, thus symptoms of what some would call vampyrism have manifested.
Strigoi Vii acknowledge, although their souls are different, their souls and the Dragon Within are tied to the physical sensory reality which we call the Maiiah (the Hindu word for the Great Illusion). Thus the physical body must be maintained like that of any other human and they can be shot, become ill, etc. Vampyrism is a condition of the soul and subtle bodies, not of the physical body we wear in the Maiiah.
Elorath is the collective Will, soul and egregore of the Sanguinarium those of similar legacies, it is built from the group soul, group will and practice of our traditions, philosophies and teachings. It is not a god or to be defined with gender, image, color or personality traits, to do so would deify Elorath and give birth to a god form.
The Dragon is our deeper and higher self, manifesting in the Maiiah in ancient reptilian part of the brain. The Dragon represents our Will and our dharma (Self Determined destiny which we must discover). Strigoi Vii as a path involves awakening this Dragon Within and achieving an equilibrium of Twilight.
Strigoi Vii teachings have evolved with adapting the principle from chaos magic that belief that "belief is a tool" and a system which helps us interact with the Maiiah. There are many different belief systems, which are similar to computer programs, however we are all interacting in the same operating system (Maiiah) of physical laws and common perception. This similar to some people pay prefer Microsoft Word, while others wish to use Word Perfect, but we still are using the same operating system to obtain results. Using the techniques of chaos magic and adopting and moving between paradigms, there is no limit for the potential rituals, mixing of philosophies and open mindedness of a Strigoi Vii. Strigoi Vii is not a religion, it however as a spiritual path can interact with many paradigms and many Strigoi Vii adhere to the left hand path traditions of Dark Paganism, Discordianism, Lucifarianism, Taoism, Thelema, Cainus Lupus, Tiamatism and others.
Strigoi Vii, although they must feed on human pranic energy (life force) through a ritualized system. Due to the ethics which have evolved within Western culture and society and possible karmatic consequences we have developed our feeding process into a system which the Synod calls "Communion."
The basic ethics of the Communion (Our word Strigoi Vii use for ritualized feeding from human prana & life force) are that we only take what we need, surface communion is only a tasting, while deeper communion can only be done with consent from the donor. We never feed from mentally or physically ill, children or the elderly. Strigoi Vii is about exchange and balance, we are not thieves or parasites.
Zhep'r is our word for transformation, metamorphosis and evolution. This is the same word at the Temple of Set's Xeper (to become) and the Kheprian word Kheper (to transform). We strive for eternal transformation and growth, without which we become stagnant and limited.
the Twilight is the ultimate balance of our daysides and nightsides. The Nightside is our magical and spiritual side, while the Dayside is our mundane experience of family, the Maiiah, taxes, work, ect. A balance of these two is known as the Twilight Condition, which is required for fully awakening the Dragon Within.
In esoteric tradition Strigoi Vii often address each other as a form of recognition as sister (soror) or brother (frater) in correspondence, within Sanctums or at Quabal. When saying hello the term "ave" is often used for hello.
Most Strigoi Vii have frequency or focus of energy known as a Road. which include Councilors (Kitra), Warriors (Mradu) and Priests (Ramkht). All Strigoi Vii have the traits of all three roads, however it is more often than not one road is dominant in an individual. Each individual has traits which interact with the Maiiah and the Subtle Reality in a different way. A few of us even mixed traits of different roads, however most Strigoi Vii first initiate into a primary road. When three Strigoi Vii of different roads or taking the roles of different roads an energy fulcrum can be generated which can result in dramatically increased Will and pranic energy. Thus Ritual is a powerful tool among the Strigoi Vii, ritual brings us together as a Family, builds a vortex and exercise of energy work, encourages creativity and is an expression of theatrical drama.
A common view amongst the Strigoi Vii are that deities are simply expressions of natural spiritual currents in the currents in the Subtle Reality and psychological manifestation in the Maiiah, with human beliefs have charged with a mask of personality, name, gender, human traits and ego. Since Maiiah is generated by our Dragons so our consciousnesses can interact is it only perceived to be a linear path, when in fact it is relative. When collective of people project in the same direction and use the same explanation with adding this mask, a god form of energy is born and thus you a god is created or recharged. God Forms are thus expressions of mankind and our collective behavior then results in a deity or gives these currents a God form. We can interact with these energy forms, become empowered by them and in ritual and appease them with offerings to receive favors, support or focus.
Strigoi Morte, are our disembodied brothers and sisters who exist in a completely subtle form. They have through secretive means managed to avoid the Second Death of the Subtle body. Strigoi Vii are lovers of flesh and all the wonders of life, the Strigoi Morte are in between incarnations or cannot or have chosen not to incarnate for various reasons. They can often join us in ritual and offer us their perspective, skill at energy manipulation and help us cross the Bridge Between Worlds, however, it is our duty to provide prana for them in this disembodied state, as without a body in the Maiiah to generate prana, they cannot maintain their awakened state as well.
Since the Strigoi Vii are lovers of flesh, they indulge in the basic pleasure of the Maiiah such as celebration, culture, art, performance, literature, sex, love, dance, passion and success. This is not an excuse to run rampant, as over indulge only results in overloading the senses. Balance is important and with these pleasures comes their opposites of pain, fear, anger, hatred, disappointment and suffering.
Our History and origins go deep into the mists of the past, during the Shamnistic Aoen (which the age of the Strigoi Vii manifestation, the Kheprians refer too as Sep Tepy), when man accepted nature and the currents as it was. During the dawn of civilization and beginning to questioning the reality which we have forgotten how our higher selves created. At this time the bridge between the Maiiah and the Subtle worlds was easily crossed for the shamans, they experimented with various magic’s. Soon we awakened our first Dragons through the modification of our subtle bodies.
Halos is a Strigoi Vii term for geographic area in which there is Sanguinarium activity. Each is named after a historical feature or personality trait of the geographic area. For example the Gotham Halo of New York City takes its name from the old Dutch word, "Gotham" and the Thrumanti Halo takes its name from the Original Roman province which existed in the Ruhr area of Western Germany.
Festivals much akin to Strigoi Vii holidays, there are two main holidays recognized by the Strigoi Vii which are the Endless Night Festival (Halloween /Oct. 31st) and the Dragon Festival (Beltane, April 30th). These represent the transitions to the dayside and nightside of the year as well as a celebration of the various aspects of our teachings. The minor festivals include the Crimson Festival (Valentines Day / Feb. 14th), the Maiiah Festival (the Summer Solstice / June 21st), the Baste Festival (Lamas, Aug. 1st), and the Night of Immortal Stars (Yule / Dec. 21st).
The Strigoi Vii consider themselves members of the Left Hand Path (LHP) which focuses on an inner divinity and includes Buddhism, Satanism, Quakerism, Taoism, Gnostic Christianity and Chaos Magic, thus starting "Let my Will be done!" While the Right Hand Path (RHP) includes religions such as Catholicism, Islam, Wicca all of the religions which say "Let thy Will be done!"
