adrenochrome

The world is changing, evolving and, some would say, getting smaller. The old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has been broken down, allowing independence for the Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, et al. The Baltics are reestablished as seperate countries, most with EU membership. The Balkans are back, and the Czechs and Slavs now have a country each. The EU is enlarging quickly and recognising the rights of many old and new communities. Surely now is the time for the EU to finally act and recognise the independence of the Basque lands and people from their Spanish and French occupiers.

The Basques, known in their own language as Euskadi, have existed since paleolithic times, pre-dating the Indo-Europeans. They have their own language, still taught and extensively used, their own religious history (based around earthly Gods; Mari and Sugaar primarily), and have faced more persecution than almost any other peoples.

Why should an English man care about the Basques, and what business is it of mine to poke my nose into the affairs of France and Spain? A valid question, but which can easily be answered. History, morality and conscience.

When Roman Catholicism turned away from fighting Saladin in Jerusalem, and instead started targetting Christians for eradication, the Basque people aligned with the Templar ethos prevalent at that time in Southern France and the Pyrhennes, and allowed protection to Jews, Muslims, Cathars and other Christian faiths. As a consequence of this, the church persecuted the followers of the Basque religion under heresy and witchcraft trials.

During the 1930s, Franco attempted to assimilate them, and Hitler used the territory as a proving ground for new weapons technologies in the build up to the second world war. When the war itself was underway, the Basques aided the Allies in carrying out guerrilla warfare against the Germans occupying France, and supplying information to London. These actions were appreciated by many artistic people, notably Picassos ‘Guernica’ painting and Hemingway in his novel ‘For whom the bell tolls’. Unfortunately, politicians have decided successively to be completely ungrateful for this assistance, although in 1979 the Spanish government did allow the people some level of autonomy. France, however, has no such provision for the territorial part of the Basque homeland within its boundaries.

The Euskadi have a language that is not related in any way to the romance languages, though does have a similarity with Welsh, especially when heard spoken. They embrace many european sports, most notably football and rugby union, and have long played Jai Alai (or, pelota).

There are seven autonomous regions to the territory, which cover the old Pais Vasco and parts of Navarro and Aquitaine. Predominantly its industry has been based on iron and steel, with agriculture outside of the major cities. As such, there is quite a bit of wealth in the area, which explains Spains retiscence to allow freedom to the land.

Graciously, following the world wars, Britain gradually gave up its empire; a reward for the support given by non-European peoples to our cause in those bloody conflicts. It is time that Europe thanked the Basques for their individuality, morality and support.

President Sarkozy is currently trying to bring a peace to the Middle East, and recognition for the Palestinians, alongside safety for Israel. This is highly commendable behaviour, but I hope that upon his return to the Elyssee Palace, he can open dialogue with Spain to finally free the Euskadi, and deliver Euskal herritarok (Basque independence).

In Europe, we have all learnt that you must talk to terrorists, as despicable as this idea may seem to Americans. People such as Yasser Arafat, Martin McGuiness and Nelson Mandella were all regarded as terrorists by their governments, but were brought to the table and have helped to bring peace and stability, albeit a task that is still ongoing in certain arenas. End the Basque occupation and division, and there would be no more ETA. No more bombs, kidnappings and disruptive action. ‘Peace in our time’ may be possible across Europe. There is little doubt that the Euskadi would wish to be a part of the EU and UN, and certainly Europe would benefit from this.

For those of you, who have read my first instalment in this series of literature postings, you shall be familiar with the association between the Templars and Gothic architecture; so it seemed only right that I should now give time to the English Gothic novel. Whilst I use the term English, it should be remembered that Bram Stoker was born in Dublin. He did, however, move to London and work at the Lyceum Theatre long before beginning his serious fiction writing career. It should also be remarked upon that the Victorians were very interested (even intrigued) by death, and the lengthening of ones lifespan. Books such as ‘The Mummy’ and ‘Frankenstein’ had already cashed in on this interest in the afterlife, and had particularly Egyptian and scientific influences. Both Egyptology and Science were traditionally regarded as going against God, and as evil. Certain Christian sects still do not allow doctors to treat them nowadays.
By 1897, English society was perfectly ready to embrace another tale of immortality, and the battle between traditional (Catholic) good and (Templar/Protestant) evil. Chuck in a good dose of life-beyond-death, a taste of sensuous eroticism, a historical, nostalgic sense of drama and blood-letting, and every Victorian lady would be gripped! Bram Stoker gave them all this and much more, and we can continue to enjoy the same today. Of course, Bram did not invent the Vampire; instead, he took all that the Occult, Paganism and the Catholic Church had ascribed to Vampirism, and bundled it into a single European gentleman: the suave, wealthy, well-bred, and charming Count Dracula - everything a Victorian lady of standing would desire in a prospective husband.
We should examine some of the known details and documentation on Vampires, before examining Dracula himself (as the embodiment of many of these traits), and where Bram may have encountered them. The reader may well be surprised by the amount of writing on the subject in the 250 years PRIOR to the famous novel. The earliest known writings on Vampires is found in the Torah of Judaism, in ancient China, and in writings of the Greeks. I shall commence with the Torah, as this particular text is still the basis of an incredibly large modern day religion. Many people today will be unaware that Adam had a wife before Eve, but that this particular lady refused to be subservient to her husband, so God excommunicated her, and cast her out. Lilith, as she was called, was clearly the first ever feminist. She felt that being beneath Adam during the act of sex was unbecoming as she was his equal. She was cursed by God, and is portrayed as the killer of young children, and drinker of their blood. There has been a lot recently written, and shown in films like ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ & ‘Da Vinci Code’, about sex within religion, so it would seem insulting to the reader to mention this aspect of gnosticism and Templar life regarding feminine equality and the sexual act (needless to say that the act prefered by Adam is still known to this day as ‘Missionary Position’!).
The Incubus/Succubus is also known as a creature that sucks ones lifeforce from a person during the sexual act, and I’m sure many ladies may feel that their partner is hardly alive after fulfilling the act, if not actually dead! The removal of the male seed, and the metaphor of the seed as a form of life, or lifegiving, ia also very clear. It is opportune to mention that Bram is really an abbreviation of the authors first name, Abraham. The ancient Greek writers had told stories about a variety of living-dead types, who kept themselves alive by imbibing the lifeforce of the living through different techniques, including the drinking of blood. These beasts lived within the realms of the Underworld, but could on occassion, pass to Earth. These creatures were known as Vrykolakas. I mention these creatures, as, in 1645, a famous study of these creatures and the writings about them was published by Leo Allatius, and Bram may well have been familiar with this text. Now, briefly, to the East, and the love of Oriental writers for the ‘Kiang Shi’, who took on the life force through blood consumption from the living, to continue their existence. In Japan, this Chinese fascination has continued today, with many Vampires appearing in Manga magazines, and anime movies. Whilst it is unlikely that Mr Stoker would have encountered the ‘Kiang Shi’ in his research, I have included this example to show that this kind of story has been about us forever, and across all societies. As a final footnote on these ancient texts, it should be noted that a Vampire named Algul appears in the ‘Tales of the Arabian Nights’.
As this hub is regarding the Templars and their fellow gnostics, it is I feel, time to allow the Roman Catholic Church to enter the affray. The first RC reference to Vampires can safely be ascribed to Pope Innocent III, who referred to such evil characters in 1215, although the church’s official stance on Vampires was not properly communicated until 1489, when these beasts appear among the list of devils and demons which only the church has the ability and authority to combat, in the Malleus Maleficarum. These creatures seem to harken back to the Apocryphal tales of Lilith, who sought refuge from Adam among the devils around the Red Sea. Their inclusion has roots within Catholic doctrine from before this time. One of the church’s attributes of the Vampire, is that its body does not decay after death. Ironically, this is also a step in the proof of Sainthood! For fans of the film Nosferatu, where Fritz Lang has deftly intertwined the association of the Black Death with Vampirism, and an old tale from Bremen (to reset the story in post-World War I Germany); the change from Whitby to Bremen is not a chance one. Apparently, in 10th Century Bremen, the Archbishop, St Libentius, excommunicated several sailors. Many years later, the grave of one of these sailors was disturbed, and the body found not to have decayed. This so disturbed the locals, that the latest Archbishop had to pardon the sailors, so their souls could leave their bodies, and the corpses decay naturally. This concept of excommunication meaning that the soul could not leave the body, but instead to be trapped, again reinforces the idea that only the church held the power to combat Vampires.
The Roman Catholic church stayed steadfast in its teachings on Vampires until the middle of the 18th century. That it had changed its stance at this time, still required many further years before being absorbed by the average Catholic person living after that period. It was Dom Augustine Calmet, in 1746, who first started the ball rolling against the church on the existence of Vampires, and the long-term effect was so slow in coming, that Voltaire was astonished to attend a discussion on the existence, or not, of Vampires at the Sorbonne!I suggest that I have now spent sufficient time painting a historical context for the novel, though have left one particular person out of the picture; for it is with he that many people falsely relate the eponymous character. I take you on a journey, across Europe and time, back to 1431, and the birth of a young boy in Romania: Vlad the Impaler, governor of Transylvannia under Emperor Sigismund, and member of the Teutonic ‘Order of the Dragon’, regarded by the Wallachians as ‘the Evil One’. The term Dracul has been given 2 strong meanings, though which you choose to believe, I shall leave to the reader. It could refer to his being within the aforementioned order, as Dracul is the Romanian word for Dragon, or, it could be the Wallachian word for Evil. Both apply to Vlad, though alas, he is not the inspiration for the novel’s Count. The pertinence of Romanians has more to do with the term Romany, and the fact that Romanian could also be used to describe the gypsies whose persecution by the church, and protection by the Templars, has already been addressed in the first hub. Within the novel, it is of interest to note that these gypsies (known as the Szgany) are the keepers and protectors of Dracula. A hint that Bram Stoker regards these people as noble, contrary to the church’s stance, is contained in the final chapter where Van Helsing remarks that the leader of the gypsies was ‘a splendid looking fellow, who sat his horse like a centaur’, bestowing respect, and a mythical accent upon the man. It is, in fact, from the very mouth of the church’s hero, Van Helsing, that we glean the Templar tendencies of Bram Stoker. Having now entered the realms of the novel itself, I should examine that most Christian of the characters, and so, ladies and gentlemen, I introduce Abraham Van Helsing.
I have already mentioned that Bram’s first name was actually Abraham, and all the history and aplomb that the Jewish and Christian faiths have bestowed upon that name, Bram donated to his hero (if you, in fact regard the vampire slayer as the hero, not the adversory). There could hardly be a name that holds so much within it, as Abraham. A name as old as time, a devoted man, and father of a nation. As for the surname “Van Helsing,” a number of possibilities have been suggested. It may derive from Dr Hesselius, the fictional narrator of Sheridan Le Fanu’s famous Vampire tale “Carmilla” (1872). Given Stoker’s familiarity with Shakespearean plays as manager of the Lyceum Theatre, the origin is possibly “Elsinore” - the Danish town in which Hamlets’ castle is located. This is a bit of a stretch, but possibly reflects the similarities between Van Helsing and Hamlet. A third consideration is Van Helmont, an ancient alchemist mentioned briefly in T J Pettigrew’s On Superstitions Connected with the History and Nature of Medicine and Surgery (1844), one of Stokers known source-texts for Dracula. The last of these texts may raise a few eye-brows, although Bram Stoker’s name appears several times within lists of members of the ‘Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’,

Hi folks

Today, I thought I’d take time out from my ranting criticisms, to tell you all about my birthplace, a very under-rated and historic town in the Northwest of England.

Rochdale, about 9 miles north/northeast of Manchester, is shrouded in history and culture, and this year its football (soccer) club celebrates its 101st anniversary. Staying with Rochdale AFC for a brief moment, they have never won anything, are possibly the most friendly team in the whole of English football, and was once voted the club with the best pies in the league.

Anyway, that’s enough about football, let’s move on to politics, and the great impact that Rochdale has had on the world, though never really receiving the credit it deserves. Rochdale is the birthplace of ‘Communism’, and to that end, once had a street in Moscow named in its honour. In 1844, before Marx and Engels had even learnt how to clean their teeth, never mind write their communist manifesto, Rochdale had established the ‘Co-op’, an organisation that still flourishes across the UK today. The ‘Workers Co-operative Society’ was created to help the families of the men, and later women and children, working in those ‘dark, satanic mills’ mentioned in William Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’ lyrics. The shop was basically owned by its customers, and any profits accrued during the financial year were re-paid to the customers in the form of a dividend, based upon how much they had spent in the shop. The movement spread across the mill towns of the Northwest of England, and almost one tenth of Manchester city centre is still taken up with the Co-ops Head Offices, which have branched out into insurance, banking, and funerals! The movement is still the only financial institution in the UK to have a moral policy over lending.

Rochdale has also been the birthplace of many great entertainers, film and pop stars, and one famous barmaid! The first, and perhaps best known, of this band of tremendous celebrities was one Grace Stansfield, who attained stage and silver screen fame under the abbreviated name, Gracie Fields. ‘Our Gracie’, as she is still affectionately known, has a newly refurbished theatre named in her honour in Rochdales town centre, not far from the colourfully decorated and famous Town Hall, and during WW2 was one of the great ‘forces sweethearts’, performing live close to the front lines for our troops. About 60 years later, another Rochdale Stansfield searched the world looking for her baby, the one and only Lisa Stansfield, whose fame and quality singing even led to her dueting with Barry White, before the great stars death.

Perhaps inspired by the ‘Gracie Fields Theatre’, several wonderful tv and film actors/actresses have followed in Gracies thespian footsteps, most recently, the English Rose, Anna Friel, who shot to fame as one half of the first lesbian kiss on British tv, during her role in Brookside, a soap opera based in Liverpool. Far too good an actress to remain in the realms of soap operas, Anna has gone on to star in many theatre and film roles has just completed 9 episodes of ‘The Jury’ for Fox T.V. in New York, has been a great success in the tv series ‘Pushing up daisies’ and has completed filming ‘Perfect Strangers’ with Rob Lowe.

Okay, Soap fans out there, what is the most famous pub in Britain? Yes, Coronation Streets own ‘Rovers Return’, and one of its most famous barmaids, Bet Lynch was played on screen by Rochdales own Julie Goodyear. Additionally, the sixth Dr Who, Colin Baker, lived in Rochdale for a long period of time prior to travelling time and space!

Whilst there have been several economists and unionists to be born in Rochdale, I shall not bore people with those figures, who can easily be traced via any of the numerous websites devoted to Rochdale. However, there are two important figures in the towns history whose names have spread farther afield than the others. The town features in the famous Domesday Book, compiled by William the Conqueror and his son during the twenty years after 1066, under the name ‘Recedeham Manor’ although the area was first settled about 5000 years ago. It was one of the Salford Hundreds until 1638, when it became part of the lands of one Lord Byron the famous and magnificent poet.

Possibly the biggest thing to ever come out of Rochdale, was the tremendously charismatic Liberal MP, Sir Cyril Smith, who represented the town throughout the 1980s and 1990s. A wonderfully large and jovial northerner, his name will remain associated with the town for decades to come.

On either side of this metropolis of class and culture, it is unrivalled, by Oldham (the ‘Home of the Tubigrip’) and Bury (claims to have invented the ‘Black Pudding’, though this is contested!). Clearly, Rochdale could well have been the inspiration for the old adage, a rose between two thorns.

So, the next time you’re planning a trip to the UK, ignore London (it’s full of French people nowadays), and Stratford-upon-Avon (the bard was really Christopher Marlowe), and make the short journey up the M6 motorway (they even have trains and coaches going into and from the town), and visit the Mecca of history and culture that is Rochdale.

All the best for the festive season (even if it is a big con based on the Persian Demi-God Mithra, venerated by the Romans as Mithras), and a joyous New Year to all and sundry.