Into the Mailbag!

Dear fuckface:

Who in the sky-fucking hell do you think you are? You aren't a Carthian any more. What makes you think you can dictate some kind of platform to us?

-No love
(Didn't sign his name. Quel Surprise)

Me. I'm nobody. I'm just some guy. I used to write books about stuff that I thought maybe the Carthians ought to know about.  I was a fan of helping fellow Carthians get an education. A vast number of fellow Carthians gave zero fucks about any of my efforts.  The only people who seemed to be actively upset about what I was doing were the Invictus. So what does that tell you?
In any case, the only thing you need to know about who the fuck I am, is, that I am the guy that was ASKED. A guy who has read my work, reached out to me, asked me questions that he'd been turning over in HIS brain-pan, and got me thinking along the same lines.  I'm the guy who cared enough to share what he'd thought up based on his own experience. I am not some dude walking down from the mountain with the clay tablets of the LAW in his mitts. As I mentioned from the outset chimpy, No one can change the Movement by himself. He can only change himself and hope to inspire others by example.

BTW: I should mention that I receive this exact same email from members of the OD who wonder why I'm wasting my time on this. I should mention that the language is a good deal more formal.

PS: I will say, no one does invective like my former covenant. "Sky-Fucking" is brilliant and I will look for ways to use it in future. So, thank you for that.

Dear Mr Berkowitz:
Why Pillars? Why so many?What's the point of living a moral and ethical existence as a vampire?
Nina

Pillars, because we need something to help hold us up.
So many pillars, because we're vampires and we need special help.

That last question though...
That's the good one.

Morals and ethics are necessary. More necessary than people think they are. Ethics enables you to govern your behavior so that you can live with other people. Morals enables you to govern your behavior so that you can live with yourself.  Some vampires aren't convinced that they need to govern either one. ALL of those vampires inevitably end up destroyed either by us, or by the humans.  But usually, not without committing some viscera-curdling atrocity or otherwise jam-fucking the commonweal first.
Remember kids. It's THEIR world. not ours.  In fact, I may have to make a pillar out of that. Vampires who forget that cause all manner of problems, and eventually, all those chickens come home to roost.

The Eighth Pillar: Ritual and Tradition are only as full you make them.

Symbols have power. 

Words, said in the right way and at the right time have power. 

Music has power. 

Poetry has power.  

These things move the heart and if you do not move the heart, nothing will flow.  The mind can be afire with a new idea or a vision of the world to come, and yet, if the heart is not moved, that fire will fade like dreams on waking.

Understand: We have an entire lobe of our brain that is tasked with and dedicated to, making up crazy shit. If you cannot harness it’s power you become a prisoner in a cage of your own making.

The Sanctified get this.  The Crone get this. Even some of the Ordo Dracul get this.  

Ritual has a place in our unlives.  It can fill certain needs and connect us to our history and our traditions.

Yes. Traditions. I said it.  and I didn’t even say it like i’d say, “Crabgrass” or “Herpes” or “Scientologists”.   Traditions have a place in our society, until they don’t anymore.

See. The problem is, that ritual and traditions are only as meaningful or as important as we make them. When the world changes on us, there is that tendency to hang on to the old ways because they are comfortable and familiar. Because they may still mean something to us.

But if we don’t communicate WHY they are meaningful to us, and why they are still relevant to the next generation, then we have no call to castigate them for not feeling the same things WE feel.  We can go through the motions, but without meaning and context and connection, traditions become dead. 

So. I don’t get excited when I meet carthians who don’t give a fuck about the Chain. Maybe it wasn’t explained to them. Maybe it wasn’t important to them. Maybe they never got the memo. All of these things are possible in a largely rudder-less society.

So if nobody ever explained it to you, Let me help out:

The Chain is an opportunity.

You will meet many Carthians over the course of your unlife. No two are alike, except for those weirdoes who go in for that whole mind-meld shit.  When you run the chain two things are happening. Introductions, to be sure, usually a listing of skills and abilities, services that one is willing to put at the disposal of one’s brothers and sisters. So your rolodex...do people even still USE rolodexes?   In any case, you get to find out what people are good at, and advertise your own expertise a bit.  This is important, ritual or no.

But the other thing that is going on, is a willingness to share who we are by saying what we are looking to do. The ability to stand, look one another in the eye and share your plans, the merest tip of the iceberg of your hearts desire, differentiates us from every other covenant out there.  We are unique in this regard. 

Sure. there is always the danger that another vampire might use your goals against you. Happened to me.  But would I trade security for honesty?

I don’t know as I would. 

And the reason for that is that occasionally my words, my plans, my goals, my oratory, my understanding has inspired others. Inspired them to follow their own path, or inspired them to follow mine.  And I know, that there have been times when the fiery passion or quiet wisdom of another has inspired me.

Put no faith in a ritual that does not stir your heart. But look for ways to stir that heart, ritual or no.