– vampires and werewolves, kindred soul-losers?

– vampires and werewolves, kindred soul-losers?

There has been much written about werewolves and vampires.  At present it is hard to find a movie, book, or TV show that does not focus on or at least allude to such creatures.  However, their origins are difficult to follow.  Much of the lore of the intertwining of humans and animals occurred during prehistory, that is, prior to written records.  The notions began with animistic or pantheistic theologies in which all creatures were assumed to have some level of human-like understanding and behavior.  These oral traditions gave way over many centuries to written accounts.  Unfortunately these written accounts were authored by people who were neither familiar with nor believed the myths.  We are left with tales written down by learned scholars and clergy with definite preconceptions to uphold rather than a necessarily accurate record of the myths themselves.  The earliest writings were not meant for consumption by common people but rather for royal record-keeping and theological teachings; meant only to explain the myths as remnants of pagan, demonic beliefs and to instruct scholars and clergy on how to guide the common people in divesting themselves of those erroneous beliefs.  This basically turned earlier spiritual beliefs and activities on their head relegating them from local spirits largely dealt with in one's own home to distant authority figures not there when you needed them.  

The monotheistic religions were earth-shattering by giving humans dominion over nature; in one philosophical/theological leap wiping out all fairies, sprites, and spirits.  However, they didn't tell people how to take control over nature, nor how to appease it without using the old rites and spells.  The many individual observations and facts about nature did not conform to a monotheistic worldview except intellectually.  They were individual events that were disjointed.  Yet, on a day-to-day basis the populace needed to deal with the uncertainties of nature in real time.  Therefore they held on to some of the older stories and secretly continued the rituals that had always gotten them through their daily fears.  While many of the myths were being intellectually or theologically debunked by disaffected scholars, some portions remained in oral traditions. 

Once the printing press (circa 1440 AD) made laic treatises and fiction available for a wider range of readers, vampires and werewolves became the subject of popular fiction.  Stories of uncontrollable passion always capture the attention of readers and no creatures convey this better than vampires and werewolves, in large part because humans can be turned into them.  These new thrillers had to capture the imagination of the reader, i.e. had to sell, and so more earthy characteristics were brought forth, many that scholarly and pious authors had not committed to ink, at best had only alluded toward.  These traits had a basis in the oral traditions and therefore these fictions became a sort of a written record for the old myths.  Yet, by this time animistic theologies had been largely discarded and the oral traditions were known as fairy tales, generally meaning tales to instruct little children.  Much was left to be explained anew in this new fiction, and it was, using the language and interests of the times. 

In effect, the legends and myths were rewritten again and again according to the needs and interests of the writers, not those of the original story-tellers.  This makes it difficult to discern origins from more recent additions. Moreover, the pantheistic, animistic beliefs of our more distant ancestors were never a single world-view, just all the disparate experiences of people encountering the world around them.  And yet shining, darkly, through all of the stories about vampires and werewolves is the irreconcilable polar opposition between civilized behavior and uncontrolled rage and passion.  It is easy to assign ideas about vampires and werewolves to the wild imaginations of uneducated people.  But even the most amazing hallucinations, the wildest dreams, have some basis in real experience.  Moreover, we are personally still very much aware of the conflict between uncivilized rage and civilized behavior.  Since the myths, the experiences, of our ancestors, and ourselves, have been rewritten/reimagined multiple times, we must take care not to overplay any particular detail in any one of these stories.  Details found in only one or a few stories may relate to a very specific time, place, and/or incident that would be difficult for us to confirm.  Still, we can look for a common wellspring from which the myths, the fairly tales, and modern stories come and analyze them to understand how humans think and feel.  

Analyses of the fairy tales and the myths they touch upon has been the subject of many books; too many to reference here. Some with the intent to discredit, some to confirm, some just to document.  And they keep coming.  Clearly the many grand attempts to disprove or to prove have not yet succeeded in resonating with all of us, all of the time.  So, we will look at these reviews and their data and using a different approach to let us appreciate and reconcile what we must believe.