Do vampires have any religion or path?

I was wondering if there is anything like an "official" religion that real vampires follow. Like a spiritual path, group of tenets or established dogmas, as in the pagan community where witches follow Wicca and other witchcrafting traditions, mostly drawn from the European celtic culture. Same goes for Shamans and Druids, everyone in the occult society seems to have their own tradition and religious practices to follow. But what about vampires?

I can't talk much about it, but from my own reading and personal observation and talks in goth clubs and bars here in the US, most people that entitle themselves as vampires are mostly Satanists, and by this I don't mean people that worship Satan or evil but practitioners of Satanism as a Left Hand Path tradition as proposed by Anton LaVey.
And the few that don't actually act like the devil himself and all spooky Satanists, tend to be Atheists, which also causes me some doubts and leaves me to think... are not vampires self-proclaimed as beings of deep thought and a highly connection with the spiritual world?
If so, how come they are mostly not highly religious people? I would honestly expect the opposite...

Jonathan

That is... well... because they are not vampires.
You are right to expect the opposite, because the opposite is right.

However, there is no official religion that vampires follow. There is no strict rules, guidelines or dogmas. The close that I can find to a true vampiric tradition at heart, that is not a new-age path, but something established and believable, is Asetianism.

Asetianism is an ancient tradition, with roots in Ancient Egypt that dates all the way back to the Sep Tepy, an era of the "Gods", before Dynastic Egypt. Many vampires tend to identify with that tradition, because well, Asetianism was created by vampires. The first immortal bloodline in history - the Asetians. They have a highly developed system of predatory spirituality and vampiric magick, which allures highly to vampires. But not only vampires follow it, many otherkin tend to enjoy the depth of it and blend in the tradition, one way or another. I might write a small introductory post about Asetianism one of these days and publish it on the category about the Aset Ka's tradition. I just need to find a free time and the mind to do it.
Anyways, if you never heard of it, you might be interested in getting some basic information, but nevertheless highly philosophic, from the official website of the Order where the Asetians blong: http://www.asetka.org

About what you said, I can understand what you mean. Many self-procclimed vampires are Satanists or Atheists. And some don't even know what they are. Well, that's because most of that people are not really vampires, but people that simply adapt the archetype. That is even more common where you live. In the USA the vampire community is filled with that kind of people, making it really hard to distinguish the real occultists from the role-playing people. In Europe we have a longer tradition of magick and the occult, and our vampiric community is actually quite more secretive and mature. But you can find interesting people in both places, at least if you know where to look.

Where from in the USA are you anyways?

Maktub

From the heart of New York. Supposedly a city of vampires... lol

Thanks a lot for the insight Maktub. I was not fully aware of the Asetians tradition. But I am reading on the link you gave and find it most interesting. Seems like a mature tradition. Great artwork and symbolism by the way.
See, thats the kind of stuff that I can't find here over the US, you know what I mean? I will get more into this tradition and their concepts and comment more on it later.

But tell me, you ended up not fully answering me, are real living vampires beings of a strong spirituality and religious people, in any way?

Jonathan,

Karnath said partially what I was about to say. Asetian vampires and related bloodlines are very spiritual people with an intense connection with the metaphysical. They are very deep people, following an also deep tradition.

As for vampires in general it actually depends. But most real vampires, and not merely people that chose the archetype, tend to be also quite religious people.
Maybe sometimes you can't see that in the people that you meet at the goth and party clubs, but as yourself stated, those are not really the true vampires out there.

Maktub.

From my conclusions:
Concerning Asetians, the traditional Kemetic system is the first true religion of Mankind (Earthly Plane). Through comparative religious studies one can find multiple and parallel connections back to the original Kemetic system thus enforcing the original connection to Kemeticism.
Kemeticism being a polytheistic system allows for a monotheistic principle to unfold. Unlike most other religions (Abrahamic especially) the primeval consciousness of the Universe - Amon / Atum, as the enabler of all the other Gods / Goddess is not thought of as a monotheistic God. Amon is a duality that gives birth to all the principles of the Universe and it is these principles that manifest on our Earthly plane as something we (Mankind) can fathom, they are Gods & Goddesses.
A non-Asetian vampire, of course free to choose and follow any religious path they wish, I think would be better off following their primordial path, the Kemetic system.
All vampire paths come from Aset and all other paths eventually lead back to Aset.

Thank you all for the answers and insight.

I understood that if we trace back the vampiric traditions it all leads us to Kemet and to Asetianism, being the Asetians the first vampiric bloodline.

But now I was wondering, are there any other traditions around the globe that would also make sense for a vampire to follow? Probably nothing as deep and ancient as Asetianism, but any other well established system for vampires?

Jonathan

Jonathan, if you are looking for serious, well-established traditions with a strong metaphysical component as well as spiritual framework, I would have to say no, there are no traditions out there as vampiric and true as Asetianism.

However, there are other systems, that although modern have been in use for a long time. A good example of this is the American house known as the Temple of the Vampire. They have a vampiric system of their own, highly ritualistic, that aims in the use of vampiric magick to achieve personal power. It is a different view of vampirism, since it is not based in vampires as a condition of the soul, but actually as humans using vampiric magick and empowerment based on the archetype. Unfortunately they are too into money schemes, where members are demanded considerable amounts of cash to be part of their rankings. So in this way, again, we cannot parallel them with the Aset Ka who's membership is never attached to any money, payments or anything alike. Actually in the Aset Ka, membership can only be done through direct invitation by the Order higher ranks.

As for your question on other traditions, I have met vampires following Buddhism and many other non-vampiric traditions. So I believe whatever truly fits your Soul should be your path.

Maktub

The Ancient Kemetic religion is the true path for Vampires. And Asetianism is their own secret religion.

Call them Sethians, Asetians, Keepers or humans into the scene, all those paths and ways entwine in Asetianism as one single religious doctrine of mysteries.

The proof is that even Sethians that fight the Aset Ka since the beginning of times use a magickal and spiritual system driven from Aset's Asetianism. To me that says it all...