They crowd our imagination. They hide under our beds.  They lurk within the dark recesses or our primal

unconscious.   You can't run, you can't hide - it's going to get you.  The beast, the ravager, the Lusus Natura.

What is it, and why do we fear it?  What is it's name?

We have always had our Fiends.  They have long fixed the romantic imagination of priest and poet alike.  At

one time we called them Trolls, later they were named Demons, and then they were Witches who brewed evil

potions.  Still later, the Monster was said to be the hungry Wolf, the Bogeyman, or the Godzilla of Cold War

terror.  Finally, some called it human ignorance and intolerance.  For a time, they tried to tell us that monsters

don't exist at all, that everything about the universe was either known or would soon be known.

But now we know better.  We have made our reacquaintance with the Beast.  We have learned its true name.

Now we understand the expanse of eternity, its unimaginable infinitude, the chaos of its structure, and our

won petty insignificance.  Now we have admitted the magnitude of the problems we face and our seeming

inability to affect change on the scale necessary to save us.

Today we have caught a glimpse of reality, and have seen the truth behind the veil. We have come full circle

and rediscovered the Fiend.  We have regained our ancient heritage.  We have found that to which we have

given so many names - the source of our mortal terror.

We have found the enemy...and it is us.

 

We are searchers, forever looking for the uncomfortable truth of our human condition, searching within

ourselves for that which is unclean, uncertain impure - for that which has no name.  By looking at the monsters

we create, we gain new insights into our "darker half."  These fiends express what we are at the deepest and

most inaccessible levels of our unconscious.    Since time immemorial, they have given us a connection to our

animal self, the fulfillment of an unadulterated emotional vitality, and the promise of a brutal justice.

The vampire is the quintessential fiend, for the vampire is so much our own reflection.  Vampires feed as we

feed, by killing, and through death can feel the same dread, guilt and longing for escape.  They are mapped in

the same cycle of fast, feast and purge.  They, like us, seek redemption, purity and peace.  The vampire is the

poetic expression of our deepest fears, and the shadow of our most primal urges.

Just as the hero of legend must descend into the pit of Purgatory to face the tormentor, overcome personal

weaknesses, and finally he cleansed in order to return home with the gift of fire, so must we descend into the

depths of our own soul and return to life with the secrets we have won.  That is the real journey of

Prometheus.   It is the meaning of the myth.  Only by embarking on such a journey can we discover out true

selves and look into the mirror.

The lure of this promise of spiritual connection is well-nigh irresistible.  But, in the end, it is a most disturbing

undertaking.  You must take heed and step carefully - for no journey is ever without its perils.  Do not look

into your own soul, unless you are willing to confront that which you find there.

So remember:

There are no such thins as monsters....