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GothikAngel
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Post subject: Strigoi Vii
 Posted: Jan 05, 2006 - 04:31 AM
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Senior Member
Joined: Nov 07, 2005
Posts: 164
Location: Romania
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I have recently decided to start writting articles on different subjects. I had this interest for quite a while and when the oppurtunity showed up through Rowen's site, I decided to attempt this. So this is actually my first article and I thought it might be of interest for some of you. Feel free to comment/criticise. Anyway I hope in time I will improve my writting skills.
Strigoi Vii
Strigoi Vii seems to be a term that one comes across very often when browsing around occult/vampire sites and communities. I thought I would shed a little light on the historical background and exact terminology.
The origin of this term appears to come from the Latin word strix, strigis = a screech-owl, which, according to the belief of the ancients, sucked the blood of young children (source: online latin-english dictionary from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/).
The actual term “Strigoi Vii” is in Romanian. I will try to give now a little insight into the actual Romanian meaning and the traditions associated with it.
Here are a couple of definitions according to the Romanian DEX (source: online Romanian dictionary http://www.dexonline.ro) strigoi, strigoaie =(In superstitions)1. The soul of a human (dead or alive) which transforms during the night in an animal or in a phantom-like manifestation, causing harm to those he meets. 2. Person born under an unfavorable zodiac sign, who has links with the devil and deals with spells and charms.
3.(Romanian Mythology) ghost, werewolf.
In fact I would say that the strigoi is referring to the spirits of the dead and strigoi vii is indeed referring to spirits of the living (Viu, vii = alive, living in Romanian). During my research I have found a very interesting concept: Strigoi Vii is actually the spirit of a living person that (usually during the persons sleep) detaches itself from the physical body (without the awareness of the person) and let’s say “roams” around but once again the activities associated with him are of a negative nature.
In the Romanian tradition on the date of 29th November it is celebrated the Eve of St. Andrews’ Day or as it is more commonly called “Noaptea Strigoilor” meaning “The Night of the Strigoi”. It is in my opinion the most well known pagan tradition in Romania. In is considered a frightening night in which the spirits of the dead rise from the tombs, the “Strigoi Vii” leave the physical body and together they produce mayhem all around them. It is a night when the beasts, especially the wolves, roam around eating the cattle and the witches absorb the life force of the animals.
Because of this reason a series of spells and protection rituals are carried out, here are a few examples: 1. Crosses out of wax are put on the horns of the animals, the animals are then encircled in poppy, 2. Chunks of salt are buried at the entrance to the stables and protective/blessing spells are chanted. 3. The dishes are turned upside down and all around the houses and stables candles are lighted. 4. Crosses out of garlic are made and hanged at the doors and windows.
It is also a night when love and luck spells are done (the girls are supposed to eat a specially baked bread and they will find out who their soul mate is.), but also spells to harm the enemies.
It is said as well that weather conditions from this night will tell how the following winter will be: A full moon and a clear sky announces a “soft” winter while on the other hand a full moon and snow or rain announces a rough winter with lots of snow.
As a conclusion I would like to say that the “Night of the Strigoi” is a special and I would say unique night in the Romanian folklore. It is a night charged with many energies and the thing I like the most is that in many places in my country the traditions are still kept and this night has turned into a celebration. It is nice to see that pagan traditions are still carried on from generation to generation.
GothikAngel. |
_________________
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
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In_Odium
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 05, 2006 - 05:32 AM
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Senior Member
Joined: Feb 25, 2005
Posts: 181
Location: Texas
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| Hmmm...... I'd never know....... informative though, thank you. |
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Larae
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 05, 2006 - 10:05 AM
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Site Admin
Joined: Jan 29, 2004
Posts: 2507
Location: Northern Virginia
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| This is a really great article GothikAngel. You really placed alot of research into it and presented it well. Do you mind if I add it to the article section of DE as well? I would hate to see it get pushed out of view on the forum as things do here. |
_________________
"When you live in reaction, you give your power away. Then you get to experience what you gave your power to."
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corpus
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 05, 2006 - 05:52 PM
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Senior Member
Joined: Jan 22, 2005
Posts: 478
Location: lost vegas
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| Applauds.. Very good research. |
_________________
what is pain without pleasure...
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GothikAngel
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 05, 2006 - 11:03 PM
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Senior Member
Joined: Nov 07, 2005
Posts: 164
Location: Romania
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Thanks a lot all of you. It is really encoureging to see such positive feedback from you.  Larae it is absolutely no problem, you can can add it to the article section as well. I orginally intended to post it over there but being my first article I wanted to see what kind of feedback I would get from the other members. |
_________________
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
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Duir
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Posted: Jan 06, 2006 - 12:12 PM
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Member
Joined: Mar 17, 2005
Posts: 80
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
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Great article, GothikAngel! Good work, a lot of interesting information.
Duir |
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Sethanikeem
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Posted: Jan 06, 2006 - 07:22 PM
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Junior Member
Joined: Oct 23, 2005
Posts: 26
Location: NE Ohio
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Very well done. A good resource to expand even further upon this material is a book by folklorist Harry Senn titled The Were-wolf and Vampire in Romania. It is through references to this book that Sebastiaan/Father Todd discovered the word "strigoi" and adopted it for his OSV.
The text, admittedly, is hard to come by. My university library had a copy of it on hand, which is where I originally discovered it. I've since tracked a copy of my own down through a rare book dealer I work with. I wrote an extensive article on Senn's work in my recent book Sacred Hunger, but there's also a smaller piece about the qualities of living and undead strigoi on my site here: Boundaries of Life and Death.
Thanks again for sharing such timely and useful information!
--M |
_________________
Seek Your Own Truth
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LeadWatcher
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 07, 2006 - 03:31 AM
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Senior Member
Joined: Sep 28, 2005
Posts: 197
Location: bucharest, Romania
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| I'm confused... I see here a combination between ghosts, zombies, vampires, weres, out of body experiences...and these are very different things. My opinion is that this is a superstition, starting from a true fact but deformed by the fears of the people. They could not understand these things and they mixed them up, to say so... Traditionally this is a night in which the evil spirits dwell on earth, among the living. People thought them to be the spirits of the dead ones that, because of certain reasons, which GothicAngel numbered, are restless... But sprits dwell among us all the time, this is an occasion in which they are celebrated and people attempt to ward them off, help them find peace... This is a long lasting tradition and it is encountered in many cultures, from Romanians to Mayans... |
_________________
None are inocent. There are only those weak enough to think they are and those strong enough to reveal in the knowledge that they are not!
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denyseshivarati
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Posted: Jan 08, 2006 - 07:54 PM
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New Member
Joined: Aug 14, 2005
Posts: 5
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 Jai Guru Dev (Victory to the Supreme Consciousness), This article on the "Stigoi vii" was simply put, OUTSTANDING! I really appreciate it when someone takes time to research and share to the group.
with a deepest respect for the Vampyre, Denyse Shivarati
Ohm Shanti, Ohm Shanti, Ohm Shanti |
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DarkAngelFire
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Post subject:
Posted: Jan 09, 2006 - 07:48 AM
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Senior Member
Joined: Apr 03, 2004
Posts: 410
Location: CO
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KUDOS!!  This is a VERY good article. I would like to add to the books that were recommended....another good book that touches on this topic is Konstanios(sp?) book on Vampires, can't remember the exact name, but when I can go back into the classroom I will edit my post with the name.
Ok, the name of the book is Vampires, the Occult Truth, by Konstantinos. |
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Sooner or later the thirst always wins.
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BlackDove
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Post subject:
Posted: Feb 03, 2006 - 08:43 PM
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Senior Member
Joined: Jan 11, 2006
Posts: 355
Location: Canada
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| I have never encountered the term Strigoi Vii before but in reading your tid-bits... I am wowed... it was amazingly interesting, informative, and very well put. Thank you for your knowledge! |
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NachtZehrer
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 01, 2006 - 03:43 AM
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Joined: Mar 01, 2006
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I am of the coven Strigoi, though the Vii at the end is somewhat outdated as far my coven is concerned, vii as you say living was an old term amongst vampires used as an insult- as if you to say one is not trully undead. My coven does not maintain the old beleifs regarding undeath damnation, but as far we can tell- vii would be an insult to one's, for lack of a better term, vampirelyness.
Strigoi actually means blood drinker in the archaic romanian tongues and is often confused with moroi which is romanian for undead, or zombie. Strigoi and Strigoiaica (fem) have been transformed into all manner of folklore and legend as you covered extensively. My coven's heraldry reflects the myths and legends told of the strigoi in romania describing us as 'demon birds' - that would be what you are refering to as phantom-like manifestation- the heraldry however consists of twin cresent moons and twin wolf heads in a background with the skeleton of a owl with its wings extended for the native headquarters in romania, and a bats skeleton for the differnt branches of the coven.
The myth came from an early useage of psi cloaks and barriers that ancient strigoi employed, making them appear as if they had wings and moved in an ethereal manner.
the strigoi are somewhat argumentative on the subject of Noaptea Strigoilor, some say its the 29th of november which is also the eve of st. andrews day and some say it is the 27th, which is the day that all strigoi are born on- according to myth. my coven doesnt really give a crap about the day you were born but we do 'celebrate' the 27th
I learned all this from my coven scribe so if anyone has any quesitons about the coven of strigoi, our traditions or anything.
great job though on your write up on strigoi |
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LoneNights
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Posted: Mar 01, 2006 - 05:30 AM
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Posting Stockholder
Joined: Sep 15, 2005
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 Nice work GothikAngel , very nice work.
~LoneNights~ |
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Eyes that see past surface into the spirt. I may not always like what I see but it is truth.
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ransim
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 01, 2006 - 01:47 PM
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Moderator
Joined: Feb 11, 2004
Posts: 216
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| NachtZehrer wrote: | I am of the coven Strigoi, though the Vii at the end is somewhat outdated as far my coven is concerned, vii as you say living was an old term amongst vampires used as an insult- as if you to say one is not trully undead. My coven does not maintain the old beleifs regarding undeath damnation, but as far we can tell- vii would be an insult to one's, for lack of a better term, vampirelyness.
Strigoi actually means blood drinker in the archaic romanian tongues and is often confused with moroi which is romanian for undead, or zombie. Strigoi and Strigoiaica (fem) have been transformed into all manner of folklore and legend as you covered extensively. My coven's heraldry reflects the myths and legends told of the strigoi in romania describing us as 'demon birds' - that would be what you are refering to as phantom-like manifestation- the heraldry however consists of twin cresent moons and twin wolf heads in a background with the skeleton of a owl with its wings extended for the native headquarters in romania, and a bats skeleton for the differnt branches of the coven.
The myth came from an early useage of psi cloaks and barriers that ancient strigoi employed, making them appear as if they had wings and moved in an ethereal manner.
the strigoi are somewhat argumentative on the subject of Noaptea Strigoilor, some say its the 29th of november which is also the eve of st. andrews day and some say it is the 27th, which is the day that all strigoi are born on- according to myth. my coven doesnt really give a crap about the day you were born but we do 'celebrate' the 27th
I learned all this from my coven scribe so if anyone has any quesitons about the coven of strigoi, our traditions or anything.
great job though on your write up on strigoi |
Admittedly this is the myth and legend section, but Nacht much of what you're writing comes off as if you're speaking of facts. So I'm going to play devils advocate and ask you to clarify what you're saying, because much of this comes across as fantastical and unbelieveable.
Psi cloaks & barriers? Ancient Strigoi which you speak about as if this is some group that has existed for a very extended period of time beyond just in folk mythology. Sorry but I rarely entertain people claiming to be something other then human for very long unless they're willing to provide some hard fact preferably scientific behind it. Especially if they're claiming to be non-human and part of some ancient organization I've never heard of before. |
_________________
"All creation has the promise of heaven,
And still you travel the road to hell. "
House Eclipse
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NachtZehrer
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 01, 2006 - 10:21 PM
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New Member
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I meant to give a description of the myth my coven explained to me. hehe and I'm 17 - not at all trying to insinuate that I'm an ancient being that isnt human. the coven gets eccentric when they talk about how old they are and no I dont beleive that they have roots in the ancient romanian mythology, rather that whoever started the coven adopted the folklore for somereason or another.
Psi-vampirism is a topic I know very little about, but the ones I know clame that the concept has been around for much longer than most beleive, and they would also go as far as to say it might have caused alot of the folklore surrounding vampires- but again I am nothing short of novice in this area.
sorry if I was too unclear,
DE is the first place beyond my immediate aquaintances I have discussed these things so perhaps I am not yet adept at expressing myself here
I always enjoy being challenged tho
`nacht |
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Sybilla
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 02, 2006 - 04:19 AM
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Administrator
Joined: Apr 04, 2004
Posts: 2913
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| Thank you, NachtZehrer, for making more clear that you were referrring to the 'myth' your coven refers to. I'm glad you understand why we have to be careful of some who might come expressing fantastical beliefs. I think I saw you made some reference to 'Austria' and wondered if you are, in fact, in Austria. Anyway, we appreciate you making it more clear what you meant and look forward to hearing from you. Vampyrism has widespread beliefs and the subject of psy vampyrism is something we all can learn about from others and their beliefs. |
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om namah shivaya
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