In the 19th century the West began to buzz with tales of vampires and werewolves. At that time the crumbling Ottoman Empire gave Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania back to Europe. Once these territories were regained, Europeans began to discover a world that had been forgotten for more than five hundred years. Before them appeared a world of barbarous magic, as yet untouched by Christianity.
The Balkan Slavic peoples had a rather complicated history. Over time, shamanic and voodoo-like beliefs became layered over images of the Fates, trolls and elves and various Christian teachings, and with the arrival of the Turks, Turkish, Arabic and Persian beliefs as well. These religions contained elements of Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Sufism and more.
Folk magic in these countries had not only a broad historical foundation but also a rich store of magical experience.
Herbalism, natural medicine and ceremonial magic were quite well developed at the time. Love herbs, healing for people and animals, driving away and summoning spirits, the silver bullet against vampires and werewolves, Christian prayer and the sign of the cross against ghosts and revenants – all of this comes to us from Balkan Slavic beliefs.
- The discovery of Balkan Slavic mysticism meant that more and more stories, fairy tales and tales were created, and books were written, about the mysterious forces of those lands.
People identified humans with animals, and so the embodiment of the werewolf arose. A werewolf is a person who turned into an animal at night, usually a wolf or a bear – hence lycanthropy as the name for the phenomenon. The transformation takes place at the full moon. It is believed that a person becomes a werewolf against their will: because they were punished for something, made a pact with the Devil or were themselves the victim of a werewolf.
As scientists know, a human being cannot turn into a wolf. The transformation is, however, possible on a psychological level. There are people who really do discover something animal in themselves in rhythm with the phases of the Moon. We then call this lycanthropy and regard it as a mental illness; such illnesses often have a genetic basis.
The legend of a human turning into a werewolf is only a legend. Vampirism is another matter.
Vampirism may have a physiological basis. There is no need, however, to reach back to archaic cults in which drinking blood was part of the ritual. Vampirism is recognised as a mental illness, frequently found among city dwellers, who identify with vampires and drink the blood of other people.
The archaic vampire is a living corpse that, for various reasons, has found no rest and drinks human blood by night.
The most famous legendary vampire was Count Dracula, the hero of the novel by the Irish writer Bram Stoker. The Count loved the blood of beautiful women, young people and children, whom he carried off to his castle. In Romania there really is a 15th-century castle that is shown to tourists as Dracula’s Castle. In reality it belonged to Prince Vlad III, who was notorious for devising strange tortures for captured Turks, which earned him the nickname Dracula, meaning “devil”.
In our own times we know the term “energy vampires”. It refers to a personality with an energy deficit, who consciously or unconsciously draws energy from other people or living beings.
First published (Polish original): 5 August 2012. Written by astrologers and esoteric specialists working with our editorial team; edited and translated for HOROSCOP.SPACE. © All rights reserved.
