Temple of the Vampire & there Right-Hand Path

The ToV, not unlike any other Right-Hand Path cult, has infected the minds of people
who were at one time otherwise sensible people. As you read and let the information
sink in you'll come to realize the appalling similarity between Christianity and the
religion purveyed by the Temple of the Vampire. You'll begin to understand that the ToV
is not simply a harmless organization that is selling a cute belief structure with a
vampire aesthetic. The ToV is selling Right-Hand Path mind control blanketed in
seductive layers of black.

Introduction to the Temple of the Vampire

The Temple of the Vampire (ToV) is presently viewed as a Left-Hand Path organization.
They presently enjoy the support of, Rev. Peter H. Gilmore's, Church of Satan. Many
people who are attracted to the darker side of philosophy and spirituality have sought
entry into the Temple. It is the opinion of this author that the ToV does not represent
even the basic principles of the Left-Hand Path. This article seeks to put the ToV in its
proper frame.

Members of the ToV are taught that there are two perspectives that the member must
employ in order to achieve a state of knowing, which they refer to as the Twilight. The
first mindset is called the Dayside. In it the member utilizes a reality tunnel not
dissimilar to Satanism or what is generally called the Left-Hand Path. Within such a
mindset the member is supposed to question all things; exalting reason and science over
blind belief. The member is supposed to be in the Dayside anytime he or she is not
attempting to practice the teachings of the ToV.

The other perspective employed by the membership is referred to as the Nightside

Perspective. Within that frame the member attempts to test the teachings of the Temple
of the Vampire. The mindset is one of faith and obedience to doctrine. Therein the
member attempts to find the truth within the teachings by testing what is said. As an
example: If a member wishes to know whether drawing lifeforce from humans is
possible he takes on the mindset of someone who blindly believes everything the ToV
states and then attempts to do the action.

The ToV is [supposedly] adamantly against any of its members blindly believing in
anything that is stated in its published works in keeping with the understanding that
nothing can be known through faith but only through what can be verified. However, let
the record show that its adherents quite often accept the grandiose claims of the
organization. Such claims that members have demonstrated a blind belief in (with a
disregard for evidence, facts and history) are as follows:

There is life after death, but it can only be attained through communion with certain
beings (Undead Gods).

The ToV is the only path to immortality.

Vampires created all religions to keep mankind spiritually ignorant.

Vampires oversee the Illuminanti, Masons, Royal & Sovereign Order of the Dragon,
Catholic Church & other powerful and secretive organizations.

Vampires control the world.

There is going to be a massive culling of humans in the near future. Loyal members of
the ToV will rule the humans who survive the culling alongside the Undead Gods.

Members of the ToV control powerful corporations.

By following and practicing the teachings of the ToV and being loyal to the Undead
Gods a member will come to have the ability to take on a new body after their present
body dies.

The ToV doesn't actually need the money it generates from selling memberships or
goods, they just require it as a test of sincerity and loyalty.

Before I detail the comparison of the ToV to other Right-Hand Path religions and cults it
will do the reader well to understand the amount of money that members must pay to
achieve certain positions in the organization. Before initiating their present marketing
plan, Lifetime Membership in the ToV had cost $5.00. Lifetime Membership use to
grant the new member the ability purchase any of the five Vampire Bibles, ToV jewelry,
annual journal and monthly newsletter. Active Membership grants the member the
ability to become graded and thereby receive titles.

Their present sales plan is as follows:

1. A person can become a member by purchasing The Vampire Bible for $35.00 (hard
cover) or $20.00 (soft cover). The Vampire Bible numbers around 20 pages. Much like
the Church of Satan and its supposedly elite ranks, anyone is free to become a Lifetime
Member and carry the ToV Membership Card so long as their money is green.

2. The member must now pay $100.00 annually for Active Membership. Active
Membership will grant the member the ability to get graded, purchase The Vampire
Predator Bible and carry the title of Vampire Initiate.

3. The Vampire Predator Bible (book 2 of 5) and the subsequent Vampire Bibles use to
be sold for $25.00 each in the past. It is possible that figure has risen or fallen by a few
dollars. After purchasing The Vampire Predator Bible the member can have an
application for the degree of Vampire Predator graded for the price of $25.00.

4. Here or elsewhere in the course of the member's membership he or she may have
purchased the official ToV ring or medallion for $50.00 each. The member may have
also purchased several issues of their monthly newsletter titled Lifeforce which is sold
for $10.00 an issue. Each issue usually numbers between 5 and 8 printed pages. The
paper utilized for Lifeforce is basic 20 lb. computer paper. The annual journal called
Bloodlines is sold for $50.00. Bloodlines usually numbers 20 - 30 pages.

5. Moving along, the member will be encouraged to achieve the degree of Vampire
Priest/Priestess. To do so he or she must purchase The Vampire Priesthood Bible. After
studying the book the member will have to pay a $25.00 application fee to enter the
Priesthood of Ur and sign an oath swearing their loyalty to the group.

6. Having achieved the degree of Vampire Priest/Priestess the member will be

encouraged to attain the next degree of Vampire Sorcerer/Sorceress. To do so he or she
must purchase The Vampire Sorcery Bible. After studying the book the member will
have to pay a $25.00 application fee.

7. If it has been over a year since the member acquired Active Membership, he or she
will have to again pay $100 to sustain that level of membership.

8. Having achieved the degree of Vampire Sorcerer/Sorceress the member will be

encouraged to attain the next degree of Vampire Adept. To do so he or she must
purchase The Vampire Adept Bible. After studying the book the member will have to
pay a $25.00 application fee.

The above sales plan was for a member who was involved for over one year actively.
According to the outline above the member will have given the ToV $400.00 - $585.00
or more over that period. Every time an additional year of Active Membership is added
also add $100.00 to the sum. Given that the quality of their materials is appallingly low,
the ToV's profit margin must be incredible. While the revenue generated is pennies
compared to Christian cults it is still substantial in light of the value of their goods.

Next we shall compare the similarities between the ToV, Christianity and the Right-
Hand Path in general. This is of prime importance to any advocate of Satanism or the
Left-Hand Path because the ToV is presently placed within the same basket as Satanism
and the Left-Hand Path. Many LHP practitioners are unfortunately unaware of the truth
of the ToV and thus refer to it as 'Satanism/LHP with a vampiric twist'. Hopefully the
outline below will shed some light on why that is false.

1. Christian cults encourage their members to go out into the world and save souls by
converting people to Christianity. This increases the number of people who are members
of a Christian church and thus increases their treasuries through tithes and offerings.
Members of the Christian organization are taught to feel a certain degree of guilt or
shame for not converting others.

The Temple of the Vampire encourages its members to seek out 'those who are also of
the Blood of the Family'. This increases the number of people who are members of the
ToV and thus increases their treasury through the selling of The Vampire Bible.
Members of the ToV are taught to feel a certain amount of guilt for not saving 'those of
the Family who are yet unaware of their heritage'.

2. A sense of urgency to save souls is invoked in members of the Christian church by

instilling the idea that there is going to be a great war between good and evil called
Armageddon and anyone who isn't saved will die and go to Hell...or at least won't have
a chance to live forever in Heaven or Paradise.

The ToV instills a sense of urgency to convert people in its members by pushing the
belief that there is going to be a massive culling of nonmembers called the Final
Harvest. Anyone who isn't a member of the ToV may end up getting culled or simply
eventually die because they aren't an immortal ( i.e., a member of the ToV).

3. In William Bramley's The Gods of Eden he outlines the elements of what he terms a
"Custodial Religion" as well as what makes a "Maverick Religion." The circumspect
practitioner of the Left-Hand Path will readily understand that 'Custodial' is
interchangeable with 'RHP' and 'Maverick' is interchangeable with 'LHP.' Below is a
comparison between Bramley's attributes for 'Custodial' religions and the teachings of
the ToV. Bramley's opposing attributes for 'Maverick' religions follows each
comparison. For this outline I am sourcing pages 107, 108 and 109 of the chapter
"Maverick Religions" in The Gods of Eden by William Bramley

Custodial: "Source or inspiration of teaching is said to be a god, angel, or supernatural

force; not a human being."

ToV: Teachings come from the Undead Gods.

Maverick: "Source or inspiration of teachings is said to be an identifiable human being."

Custodial: "Belief in a single Supreme Being, or God, is a principal cornerstone of faith.

(In earlier times, worship of many human like "gods.")"

ToV: Belief in many gods referred to as the "Undead Gods". Members revere the
goddess Tiamat in particular.

Maverick: "Belief in a Supreme Being is usually tolerated, but is a minor or nonexistent

part of doctrine. Emphasis is placed on the role of the individual spiritual being in
relation to the universe."

Custodial: "Physical immortality is an important or desired goal in many Custodial

religions."

ToV: Physical immortality is of prime importance to members and it is taught that only
the ToV possesses the means to achieve it. Members are taught that the physical body is
only a vehicle and through 'Vampiric transformation' a member can come to have the
ability to 'skip from body to body.' Such a transformation can only come about by being
loyal to the ToV and the Undead Gods.

Maverick: "Spiritual freedom and immortality are sought. Endless existence in the same
physical body is deemed unimportant or undesirable."

Custodial: "Adherence to doctrine, based upon faith or obedience alone, is stressed."

ToV: While the ToV supposedly advocates questioning all things members are gradually
assimilated into blindly believing their teachings.

Maverick: "Observation and reason are held to be the proper foundations for adhering to
a doctrine."

Custodial: "Severe or fatal physical punishments are sometimes employed or advocated

during the religion's history to deal with nonbelievers or backsliders."

ToV: Members are taught that being disloyal to the organization will result in death due
to not being able to achieve immortality. The ToV takes credit for the creation of all
religions and claims to control the world. Therefore they take credit for the atrocities of
all religious wars and religiously motivated crimes.

Maverick: "Physical punishments or duress are very mild to nonexistent. Severest

punishment is usually formal exclusion of an individual from the religious
organization."

Custodial: "Belief that being born in a human body, either once or many times through
reincarnation, is part of a broad spiritual plan which will ultimately benefit every human
being."

ToV: According to the ToV, after the physical body dies (first death) the person lives on
for a short time and their spirit will too eventually cease to exist (second death) unless
they have practiced the teachings of the ToV. The ToV claims to be responsible for
spreading and implanting the idea of an afterlife in other religions. They claim that it
benefits them to have people believe in an afterlife and die in the second death.

Maverick: "Belief that there is no hidden spiritual purpose to human existence and that
the process of death-amnesia-rebirth causes spiritual decay."

Custodial: Belief that there are "higher forces," "gods," or supernatural entities which
control people's individual or collective fates. Human beings have no control over those
forces and can only yield to them."

ToV: The present state of the world is a product of the Undead Gods. The fate of the
world is in the hands of the Undead Gods. Unless a person is by chance 'of the Blood'
their fate is to be enslaved by the Undead Gods and they are doomed to die as a mortal.

Maverick: "Belief that all people are ultimately responsible for having created their own
conditions in life, good and bad, by their own actions and inactions, and that all people
can ultimately control their own destinies."

Custodial: "Belief that only one Supreme Being alone created the physical universe."

ToV: I am not aware of the ToV's belief concerning the creation of the universe.

Maverick: Belief that everyone has something to do with the creation and/or
perpetuation of the physical universe.

Custodial: "Human suffering, toil, and enslavement are part of a broader spiritual plan
which will ultimately lead to salvation and freedom for those who obediently endure it."

ToV: Human suffering, toil, and enslavement is a product of the Undead Gods. It is
necessary that humans remain enslaved to erroneous belief structures so that members
of the ToV will benefit by ruling alongside the Undead Gods after the culling of
humanity; the Final Harvest.

Maverick: "Human suffering, toil, and enslavement are social ills that have no
constructive purpose and stand in the way of spiritual salvation and freedom."

Custodial: "Spiritual recovery and salvation depend entirely upon the grace of "God" or
other supernatural entity."

ToV: Spiritual salvation depends entirely upon the grace of the Undead Gods.
Immortality cannot be achieved without ritualistically giving up your lifeforce to them
on a regular basis and swearing absolute loyalty.

Maverick: "Spiritual recovery and salvation are entirely up to the individual to achieve
through his or her own self-motivated effort."

4. The Christian is taught that their god is always watching their every action and
judging them accordingly. This induces paranoia in adherents and helps to keep them in
line.

In the Temple of the Vampire its members are taught that they are being watched. ToV
books and publications are littered with the line "We are watching!"

5. In Christianity, it is taught that humans are too imperfect to rule themselves. This is
illustrated in the idea that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is only meant for the
Christian god and his angels (Genesis 3:22).

The ToV teaches that humans naturally want to be ruled and must be kept spiritually
ignorant. They claim that religions were created by the Undead Gods to serve that
purpose by keeping people unaware of the supposed reality that they are 'food for the
Vampire.'

There are numerous other contradictions, comparisons and absurdities but I do not think
I need to preach on. It might serve the reader well to purchase the A&E video that
features Nicholas Strathloch, who is (or was) a ToV official. The video can be ordered at
the following URL:

http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=12536&browseCategoryId=&locatio
n=&parentcatid=&subcatid=

You'll see Mr. Strathloch amidst a variety of other people I refer to as 'moldy gothic
cheese'. Being a Vampire Adept, one would think that his 'Vampiric Will' is strong yet he
still doesn't seem to have gotten a handle on his eating or smoking habits. You'll also
notice that he creates a small cut on his lover's back and licks the droplets of blood that
arise from the man's wound like so many Lestat wannabes. After watching the video
you will realize that an association with the ToV is an embarrassment.
Sincerely,
Luckymojo.com