Article
Published by The Vampire Network on the 31st of December 2017The Old is Made New Again
The Return of Mentorship, Kinship and Personal Exchange in the GVC
Many of us have heard the cry/plea for elders. And while we have several leaders within the community who excel at what they do, for some, especially online, teaching has turned into a rote exercise. Repeating traditional knowledge, regurgitating the 'old ways', or simply passing on a book that someone else wrote decades earlier.
When new vampires come to us for guidance, they inevitably stumble and ask a taboo question. Can I feed from myself? How do I find a donor? How do I know if I'm a vampire? These newbies are met with an assault of static answers:
You've been watching too much True Blood.
Real Vampires don't do that.
You have the wrong group.
Buy this book.
Read this website.
Here is a FAQ.
These are the rules.
This is the standard.
Overwhelmingly it seems, the new generation of vampires need more than 'the standard'. In fact, these well-intentioned answers most often lack the one thing vampires actually need - connection and kinship with the vampires giving them. There is often nothing personal in these answers: we deliver static facts and directives and paradigms to random names on a screen and move on with our day.
As indicated in recent discussions, groups, and polls, the new generation of vampires want personal, real-time opinions and experiences - not recycled words that may or may not still apply. There can be a severe lack of personal touch in how we pass on vampire knowledge today: the convenience of the internet and social media has replaced voice to voice and face to face contact. For a community that celebrates blood and energy transfer, at times very little organic transfer takes place.
We reminesce about better times, a time of closer-knit communities, sires and fledglings, mentors and family, truth and tradition, and the magic of those early years. But increasingly move further away from it.
If the newest generation of vampires is to thrive, they need engaged and accessible teachers, personal stories and examples, and shared experiences and tangible exchange - the kind of invested personal mentoring that many of the eldest in our community received themselves in a time before messengers and social media.
There are some leaders who do this now who don't receive the exposure or laudits they deserve and/or remain relatively unknown - far from the reach of new vampires desperately seeking mentorship and kin.
The Darkened Mirror is a website and forum community overseen by Lady CG (an experienced elder in the community known for her inclusiveness and 'no frills' attitude) that will be fully resurrected in early 2018.
Blood Nations/Unity is also attempting to provide the same type of personal exchange, through gatherings and events.
In 2018 House Draconem will be expanding into an inclusive court with mentorship in mind, and it is our hope that others will continue to follow in this direction of offering more mentoring and personal exchange - a resurgence of the kind of interpersonal sanctuaries that used to define our community, and can again.
If you are looking for a mentor or mentorship community, please contact us and we will do our best to connect you with one within the GVC.
Credits
This article is the property of
The Vampire Network (2017)
