The Sanguinarium is a movement and subset of the real life vampire subculture which is an international network of businesses, orders and individuals who adhere to a specific set of traditions, philosophies and outlooks related to the vampire

Vampire

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...

 mythos and was founded in the mid 1990s by the Fangsmith and esoteric author Father Sebastiaan

Father Sebastiaan

Father Sebastiaan is an American, event coordinator, host of the Endless Night Vampire Ball events, co-founder of the Ordo Strigoi Vii, founder of The Sanguinarium social network and a personality in the vampire subculture....

What differentiates the Sanguinarium from the rest of the vampire subculture is that it promotes a private and underground network of individuals including Black Swans and Strigoi Vii practitioners, instead of blood drinking and psychic vampirism which are more commonly known to the public. The Sanguinarium focused on "vampyre philosophy" and is not a role-playing, fan or literary group. Black Swans are those drawn to the philosophy, imagery and lifestyle, but do not necessarily practice vampirism. While Strigoi Vii practice an esoteric form of vampirism and form an inner circle known as the Ordo Strigoi Vii

Ordo Strigoi Vii

Ordo Strigoi Vii is an international intiatory fraternal esoteric order which is a part of The Sanguinarium movement and the vampire lifestyle...

. Members of the Sanguinarium use the older spelling of vampire with a "y" as in vampyre. There are many orders and groups within the Sanguinarium movement overall embrace the positive aspects of the vampire archetype in what they call "vampyre virtues" or "Red Veils" such as mystery

Mystery

Mystery, mysteries, or mysterious may refer to:-Religion:* Sacred mysteries, supernatural phenomena associated with a divinity or religious ideology* Mystery play, a form of medieval European dramatic theatre dealing with religious themes...

, sensuality, aesthetics

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...

, romance

Romance

Romance or romantic may refer to:* Romance languages, a family of languages originating in south-western Europe.* Romance , a genre of medieval and renaissance narrative fiction* Romance , a type of ballad or lyrical song...

, performance art

Performance art

In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...

, absinthe

Absinthe

Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel...

, dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

, transhumanism

Transhumanism

Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human...

 and immortality

Immortality

Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...

.

The Sanguinarium holds several major public international gatherings known annually which are known as the Endless Night Vampire Ball which take place in New Orleans every Halloween weekend and in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in April. Endless Nights is a mix a burlesque performance, masquerade ball

Masquerade ball

A masquerade ball is an event which the participants attend in costume wearing a mask. - History :...

and rock concert and celebrate the various vampyre virtues as practiced by members of the Sanguinarium.

Further reading

• Belanger, Michelle A. The Psychic Vampire Codex: A Manual of Magick and Energy Work. 30 November 2004. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-1578633210
• Sebastiaan, Father. Vampyre Sanguinomicon: The Lexicon of the Living Vampire. 1 Novomber 2010. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-1578634804