This ain't the Love Boat, Captain!

Looks, it's the Knave of Knives, or Page of Swords, from Robert Place's Vampire Tarot. She's called the Nightmare of Life in Death, and she comes from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner,' first published in 1798 in Coleridge's pivotal collection 'Lyrical Ballads.' It only ushered in the Romantic Period! It's from this poem that the phrase 'albatross around my neck' originated. But it also happens to be the very first appearance in English literature of a vampire. (The first vampire in English prose was Lord Ruthven. Nightmare Life in Death came earlier.)

You probably read 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' in high school, unless you went to a state school in the UK after GCSEs came in, in which case you probably only read Simon Armitage and whatever other bits and bobs were in your AQA handbook. (I'm no fan of the  methods and curriculum of English teaching in the UK, which is why I quit.) If you're American (or went to a grammar school), you may have vague memories of reading a LONG, sing-song poem with the words 'Water, water everywhere nor any a drop to drink.' That's the one.

Lesbian Vampire Killers of 1871

The Page of Cups, or Knave of Holy Water,  from Vampire Tarot by Robert Place, is represented by the fictional character Carmilla, from the novella of the same name by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Published in 1871 and inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem 'Christabel', the novella introduces the first lesbian vampire. So! All those 60s and 70s horror flicks like 'Vampires' (1974) , Lust for a Vampire (1971) and Blood and Roses (1960) were not just sleazy exploitation films -- they come from a long tradition of lesbian vampires, a tradition that predates the creation of Dracula (which didn't appear until 1897). In fact, the first screen lesbian vampire appeared in 1936 in a film called 'Dracula's Daughter', and Carmilla herself appears for the first time on the silver screen in the above-mentioned movie 'Blood and Roses'.

The 1871 novella 'Carmilla' concerns itself with the (seemingly) 19-year-old young woman called Carmilla who is taken into the home of narrator Laura, after Carmilla is involved in a carriage crash just outside Laura's home. Carmilla's mother says she is on urgent business and cannot delay, and Laura's father agrees, after Laura's urging,  to allow Carmilla to convalesce in their home.  Bad plan. Find a full plot summary here: Carmilla Plot Summary. And if you want to go all out and read the whole thing, it is online here:  Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. If you don't have time for either, allow me: Carmilla and Laura become constant companions. Laura finds Carmilla both beautiful and repulsive. Laura has disturbing dreams. She and Carmilla do quite a bit of kanoodling (as much as 19th century literary sensibilities would allow), though not always willingly on Laura's part. Laura discovers a portrait of one of her own ancestors, Mircalla of Karnstein, painted in 1698, who looks exactly like Carmilla. Carmilla begins to bloom with health while Laura fades. A family friend, General Spielsdorf, tells a tale of how his own niece had had a friend called Millarca who bloomed while the niece faded, and finally died from it. He had seen Millarca draining the niece of her last drop of life blood. The General and Carmilla recognise each other and fight. She wins and runs away. Then Baron Vordenberg, vampire killer, turns up, they hunt Carmilla in her lair and drive a stake through her heart. The End.

Now, how that can be the Page of Cups is up to Robert Place to explain. He writes, 'The card represents someone or something that is alluring and magically influential but that may not be what he or she seems.' Not very Page of Cupsy, but we'll go with that.

The First Vampire in English Prose - Lord Ruthven

This week we'll look at court cards from Robert Place's Vampire Tarot. Today's card is Lord Ruthven, the Knave of Garlic Flowers (or Page of Pentacles).

I wanted to share Lord Ruthven with you because he dispels the belief that the 'original' literary vampire is a hideous monster, and that the sexy, seductive vampire is a more modern development. Lord Ruthven (pronounced 'Rivven') comes from very early in the literary vampire world. In fact, he is the very first vampire portrayed in English prose, featuring in a novella called 'The Vampyre' by John Polidori, written in 1816 and published in 1819. That is nearly 80 years before Stoker's book 'Dracula' appeared (1897). So let us hear no more about handsome vampires being a contemporary invention for little girls in their early teens. It just ain't so.

There is no disputing, however, that Lord Ruthven is a thoroughly nasty bloke. He does not strive with guilt or long for the light. He's no Louis or Angel. He uses his beauty and charisma to prey on hapless women, and he has a vindictive streak which makes him enjoy lengthy and complicated ways to inflict mental pain on his victims. He doesn't just pounce on them on the street and drain their blood. He also encourages vice in practice though seems to abhor it in manner. There is something about his pallid skin and dead grey eyes that horrifies, but women (and men) find themselves irresistibly attracted to him despite this. He, however, is choosy.

'The Vampyre', having been written in 1816, isn't exactly effortless prose, but if you are interested in the vampire in literature, I urge you to read it. Here it is: The Vampyre. For those who are not interested, a plot summary:

Aubrey, a young Englishman, meets Lord Ruthven, a man of mysterious origins who has entered London society. Aubrey accompanies Ruthven to Rome, but leaves him after Ruthven seduces the daughter of a mutual acquaintance. Aubrey travels to Greece, where he becomes attracted to Ianthe, an innkeeper's daughter. Ianthe tells Aubrey about the legends of the vampire. Ruthven arrives at the scene and shortly thereafter Ianthe is killed by a vampire. Aubrey does not connect Ruthven with the murder and rejoins him in his travels. The pair is attacked by bandits and Ruthven is mortally wounded. Before he dies, Ruthven makes Aubrey swear an oath that he will not mention his death or anything else he knows about Ruthven for a year and a day. Looking back, Aubrey realizes that everyone whom Ruthven met ended up suffering.Aubrey returns to London and is amazed when Ruthven appears shortly thereafter, alive and well. Ruthven reminds Aubrey of his oath to keep his death a secret. Ruthven then begins to seduce Aubrey's sister while Aubrey, helpless to protect his sister, has a nervous breakdown. Ruthven and Aubrey's sister are engaged to marry on the day the oath ends. Just before he dies, Aubrey writes a letter to his sister revealing Ruthven's history, but it does not arrive in time. Ruthven marries Aubrey's sister. On the wedding night, she is discovered dead, drained of her blood — and Ruthven has vanished.

So we see a kind of cautionary tale about a deeply evil being who encourages licentiousness, gambling and other vices of dissipation, seduces the innocent and libertine alike to their ruin or even death. The vampire is the dangerous outsider, the foreigner who comes in to our orderly, peaceful system and causes havoc.

He's not a monster who climbs walls. That was Dracula, and he wasn't the first. He wasn't even the second. That was Carmilla. More about her in the next post.

WINNER of the Vampire Tarot!!

Congratulations to

LOUISE UNDERHILL!

Winner of the Vampire Tarot

by Robert Place!

I wrote all your names on slips of paper and had my husband stir his hand around in the bowl and draw one. So congratulations to Louise!

Thank you to everyone else who liked my Facebook page and kindly left comments. I hope you continue to visit me here--and you never know when there'll be another give away. :)

Have a blessed full moon. 

Giveaway - The Vampire Tarot

Uh oh!! Our final draw from the Robert Place Vampire Tarot is The Tower (cue crashing music from 'Young Frankenstein').

The companion book by Robert Place references the scene from the novel Dracula which for me is one of the creepiest in the book: the scene where Jonathan Harker looks out the window of his high tower in the castle and sees Dracula crawling headfirst down the castle wall like a lizard. It is the moment when Harker has the rude realization that Dracula is not a human being, and his beliefs about reality completely shattered. It is one heck of a Tower moment in young Harker's life.

GET A FREE VAMPIRE TAROT
I have ended up with an extra Vampire Tarot deck. It is the deck only, no box or companion book, but it is a complete deck. If you would like to be entered into a draw to receive this Vampire Tarot deck, please like my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/readingsbyrowan and come back here leaving a comment saying you've done so. If you have already liked my page, THANK YOU. Could you share my page or perhaps your favourite post so far on your own timeline, and come back here and comment that you've done so?

I will draw at random during the full moon on Sunday 17th November.

Good luck!

Splash a little holy water on your jaded soul

Today's card from the Vampire Tarot by Robert Place is the Knight of Cups, or Knight of Holy Water, in this instance. The figure on the card is Joseph Sheridan LeFanu, an Irish author and writer of the novel Carmilla, published in 1872. It was this book that inspired Bram Stoker to write about the supernatural. Carmilla is considered the most important vampire story after Dracula. (An interesting side note about Carmilla...people tend to think lesbian vampires are a product of the shlocky early 70s horror flicks, but Carmilla, one of the earliest literary vampires, is a lesbian, so this notion has a long lineage.)

According to Robert Place's brief notes in the companion book, Le Fanu's style 'introduces psychological insights that were innovative at the time,' and so the card is said to represent someone who has insight into the unconscious and people's hidden motives. In other words, a sensitive type.It must have been pretty tough to come up with a character from Dracula or vampire legend that would fill the bill of Knight of Cups. I guess this link, tenuous though it may be, will serve.

I myself will always associate Knight of Cups with a particular character from the film American Beauty, the boy called Ricky, who spends his time mooning about on the sidelines of life, filming plastic shopping bags floating about on the breeze, and proclaiming life to be so beautiful that sometimes he feels like he 'can't take it'. I've provided a link many times to the clip in question, but I find it so perfect for the Knight of Cups that I can't resist showing it again:

Maybe I've drawn this card today to remind me to try not to be such a cynical butt hole. ha ha ha ha Seriously, though. Sometimes maybe seeing fathomless beauty in a bit of trash blowing around might make a nice change. (And with the level of litter picking our council provides, may as well try to get something positive out of all those blowy crisp packets, eh?)

An apple a day: listening to the Hierophant

This is Van Helsing in his study, his books littering the desk top, contemplating the golden crucifix with which he not only defends himself and the others from the vampire Lucy, but also fends off Count Dracula himself. In Robert Place's Vampire Tarot, he represents the Hierophant.

The Hierophant is a much-maligned fellow. So many people dislike the card because of its associations with the Pope, organized religion, and authority in general. I must admit I don't understand this at all. I feel no rebellion toward either organized religion or authority, though I subscribe to no organized religion and often mistrust the information provided by so-called authorities. I still don't mind the Hierophant card when it comes up in a reading.

In a reading, the Hierophant may point toward social conventions or institutions, such as marriage, the teacher-student relationship, or doctor-patient relationship. It may point toward people who have more knowledge than ourselves in particular areas, people such as surgeons, lawyers, philosophers, mathematicians, computer programmers, and yes, even theologians and clergy. The Hierophant might even be interpreted to mean conventional wisdom, which we find in all sorts of sayings, like 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away,' or 'A stitch in time saves nine,' lessons learned by experience and passed on through tradition.  Van Helsing of course would be the Hierophant in the Vampire Tarot, and the novel Dracula, because he is the expert of vampire lore and has the most knowledge about vampirism. All the characters in the novel turn to his expertise and authority, and he does not abuse their trust. He represents the best of the Hierophant.

Today I take advice from tradition and take a break from my newly adopted daily ashtanga yoga practice. The tradition is to practice 6 days a week. So it's time for a break. I wonder what other areas of my life today will see me turning to tradition or authority, or taking advice from a source that probably knows more or 'better' than I do about a subject.

Step away from my hoard. Grr. Arr.

The 4 of Garlic Flowers (also known as 4 of Coins or Pentacles) greets us today from Robert Place's Vampire Tarot. This card obviously carries the usual RWS meaning of protecting one's material possessions, or being protective of one's position in life. It is a place of fear, a place of not wanting to lose what you have, even if it means placing limitations on the possibility of future growth.

It is from this hoard of Count Dracula's that he funds his move to England, where, yes, he does meet the beautiful Mina, but also meets his death. So maybe in that instance, protecting the hoard instead of spending it would have been a better idea. The 4 of Coins is not always a negative card. Sometimes it really is a good idea to sit and protect what you've got, where you are. Self-preservation has its advantages -- like keeping oneself preserved! It's striking the proper balance of self-preservation while still allowing room for new experiences and growth that's the challenge.

It's Tuesday and I'm off to the not-so-preferred work place, so basic survival seems to be the order of the day, for sure.

Lusty Ligeia

Looks like I got my wish for a court card to show you from the Vampire Tarot by Robert Place (St Martins Press 2009). This is the Knave of Stakes, or Page of Swords, and the character is Ligeia, from the Edgar Allan Poe story. 'Ligeia' was always one of my favourite Poe stories. It was first published in 1838, and is really quite sick! Poe was a bit obsessed with the notion of a beautiful young woman dying and awakening in the tomb, having been buried alive, or in some way rising from the dead. You can read the whole story here, and I do highly recommend it. But if you just want the low-down,  Shmoop is a wonderfully funny tutorial site which has provided this summary. Basically, the narrator of the story was once in a relationship with the beautiful and mysterious Ligeia; she dies, he marries again (opposite in every way to Ligeia), the new one dies, and he is sitting at her deathbed high on opium when she rises in her shroud and the body has been transformed into Ligeia! (Cue spooky music).

For some reason, Place's companion book calls 'Ligeia' a poem, but it most assuredly is a short story, and one which I taught back in the olden days, when I was a teacher of American literature.

 In the short story, Ligeia is portrayed as a statuesque beauty, with glowing black eyes, wild black hair, pale skin, brilliant teeth, a very sharp intelligence and willful spirit. Her dying words are of overpowering death. Apparently, she finds a way - by reanimating the dead body of her lover's blonde-haired, blue-eyed wife. In the Knave of Stakes card, we see Ligeia moving toward us, unwinding Rowena's burial shroud as she advances. Her skin is so pale it is lavendar, her eyes rimmed in red, her lips and her sharp pointy fingernails are brilliant red. Her face looks a bit dewy and sweet compared to my image of the lusty Ligeia. Place says, 'This card represents someone who is beautiful, passionate, and possessing a strong will.'

Now, I like to compare court cards to fictional characters, and I usually associate Page of Swords with Lisa Simpson. Thinking about it, I suppose Ligeia does have some things in common with Lisa. They both are very bright. They both think outside the box. They both latch very passionately on to their causes, are tenacious in that respect. Just Lisa doesn't tend to come back from the dead to reanimate another woman's body, but then she's only 8.

I wonder in what capacity I will need to call upon my inner Ligeia. Will I need to play devil's advocate? Will I need to find the most expedient means to my own ends, even if they go against the norm, or even what the average person would consider within the realm of possibility? I hope not. It's Monday, for goodness' sake. I'm not ready for that kind of aggro.

(By the way, if you don't know how to pronounce the name, it is 'Lye - JEE - ah.')

Fangs for the memories

A few weeks ago I finally decided to order Robert Place's Vampire Tarot. It was just a serendipitous thing. I quite like vampires in general, though I find most vampire tarots too gothy and adolescent. But I'd been reading Stephen King's Salem's Lot (his second, and in my opinion, scariest book), and happened upon LeFanu's post. The deck arrived in its well-known stuck-together-in-a-brick state, and I dutifully peeled all the cards apart and snipped the corners off as I went. Then to my shock I discovered three cards were missing! St Martin's Press has no customer service at all. So I emailed Robert Place asking him for advice -- and he posted me the three missing cards himself! What a star!
So now my Vampire Tarot set is complete, and I think I'd like to take a look at it this week.