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I. The Charge
We are the many-born. We are the immortal. We have been known by many names throughout the ages, though few have understood the truth of our existence.Endlessly, we die & are reborn, changed yet unchanging throughout the ages. We move from lifetime to lifetime, taking up bodies as garments. We are watchers & we are wanderers. We seek knowledge & understanding above all. Long ago we strove the sunder the life of our body from our roving minds, for it grounded us. It held us back. It bound us to a single span of days. Through a ritual of death & rebirth, we severed our living ties & gained immortality. Now we are freed of the life of the body, but we are irrevocably tied to the life we cut away. It sustains us & empowers us. We thirst for life & we feed upon it. It is our greatest weakness & our greatest prize.
II. Beginnings
Eternal, we wander the eons, moving to the rhythm of our own inner tides. Freed from the most fundamental of cycles, we are nevertheless beings bound by cycles. Our heightened awareness of the world & ourselves around us forces us to acknowledge natural rhythms that others simply ignore. As the day waxes & wanes, we can feel it, & we know that the true realm of magick is the night, for that is when we wax in power. As the moon grows gravid & slim, we feel it, & we know, too, that there are more complex rhythms of power tied to her phases. As the wheel of the year turns round, we feel the wild times, the apogees & nadirs of power. The dark time of the year is our time, as are the threshold times when we celebrate Samhain & Beltane. These days are our Im Kheperu, Day of Transformation, and our Im Sekhemu, the Day of Double Power. As beings poised on the threshold of many things, the energies of these holidays affect us profoundly. At these times we enjoy our greatest power, but in balance, we also pay a stronger price. Waves of energy rise and fall within us, and when in their grip, our hunger burns. Forever, we are active elements moving through passive worlds. Our rules are our own. We accept no others. We define who we are and what we shall become. There is nothing in our lives, which we cannot control if we but choose to. Our memories are carried like gems within our souls. Over the lifetimes they build and crystallize until we can take them out and gaze upon them as we choose.
Life sustains us, but death defines us. We are the many-born. Our conception was in death, and each death now brings us a new beginning, forever without end.
III. The Catalysts of Change
We are essentially avatars of death. We are part of the vital force of change and potential rebirth, which moves the universe. We are tools of the destruction, which brings regeneration. We are harbingers of change. We are catalysts. We are bound to change those around us, to shake them from their complacencies, to challenge them, to wake them up, to make them think, to question themselves, their world, and their limits. We bring them fear. We make them uncertain. We challenge their narrow perceptions of the universe—how it works, and their place in it. And some of them we touch deeply, changing them on a profound level of being. We lift them up beyond the blind masses and give them a seat among the Awakened. Those that is worthy of our revelation become as our children. They assume the mantle of power that is our
legacy. With our instruction, they can come to wield that power with ease and understanding then go forth to bring change of their own.
IV. Awakening
We are neither wholly born nor wholly made what we are. The choice for us to become was made long ago. From that time onward, we have been reborn again and again, carrying within us in every lifetime the seed of what we are. Sometimes we forget ourselves, and wander our lives like sleepwalkers, only half-aware of our true natures. Yet sleeping or awakened, we are
born with the potential for transformation. Awakening is a process of expanded awareness. Anyone with gifts and talents of a subtle nature undergoes an awakening in their life. This is when they come into their own, finally accepting what has been latent within them since birth. For us, the process can be traumatic, as the existence we awaken to opens us up to a host of strange thoughts, sensations, and experiences, which lie outside the limits, accepted even by other Awakened. Awakening is the alchemical forge in which we are transformed from dross to spiritual gold. It is the recalling of a part of our Selves that has become clouded over time. It is becoming more than the little self of this lifetime, grasping the totality of who we were and who we are to be—our Essential Self. Some of us have greater potential than others. Some are born with an instinctive understanding of their potential and they may gradually come to realize that potential on their own. They recall without prompting and their power is great. The bulk of our numbers are born ignorant to what they are. As they grow and mature, there are subtle hints of the latent power, but fear and self-doubt generally keep these from being acknowledged and accepted. Such as these must be awakened to their true selves by another of our number already familiar to our ways. There are two rituals of initiation. The Lesser Initiation is an exchange of feeding, which occurs between the teacher and the initiate. The initiate is drained deeply, often for
the first time. This heightens his awareness of his energy body and will often catalyze him into realizing his potential in the next few days. The sensations that this process inspires are usually too intense to ignore or explain away. If fed from deeply enough, his instincts will overcome him and he will feed from others in order to replenish his depleted system. The Greater Initiation involves a ritual death and rebirth, which occurs on both the physical and spiritual levels for the initiate. It is visionary and Shamanic in nature and forces the initiate to face himself and all that he has been within the boundaries of his own soul. Like all deaths and rebirths, this ritual strips away old identities and assumptions. The little self of this lifetime is subsumed into the greater Self, and the initiate is irrevocably changed. This rite is reserved for only the strongest minds,
for any who are weak or filled with fear may not survive the initiation. Their minds can be blown away like dry autumn leaves in the face of the totality of who they are.
V. Potential
We often associate with the Awakened or with those who hover upon the threshold of Awakening. We prefer the company of those who can interact at least to some degree with the level of reality that is our constant daily experience. By our very natures we awaken those around us. Even those not of our kind can be affected by the Tran formative effects of our presence. We draw out latent powers and provide a burden of proof for individuals who have otherwise rejected their own
natures due to self-doubt. We can use this intentionally if we choose, though it will always occur to some degree, whether intentional or not. Sometimes we mistake a Potential of our own kind merely for one of the Awakened. If such an unrecognized Potential is fed from, the effect, though
unintentional, is equivalent to the Lesser Initiation. The Potential feels himself undergo a change and is driven to feed from others. Such accidents cannot be abandoned. Confused as to their true nature, ignorant of their power, they wield that power nonetheless and can cause much damage to themselves and others if left to struggle on their own. Still others have Potential, but it is too weak to ever fully be realized in this lifetime. Others are too unstable to survive the initiation. They are best left to sleep so they will come to maturity in their own time. If forced to
awaken, they are merely shadows of us—weak in power, unstable in mind, whose powers are likely to fade unless constantly put to use or manipulated by their mentor. Sometimes a feeding vessel may manifest the symptoms of vampirism, but this is merely a sympathetic state brought about through prolonged or obsessive contact with one of our own. Such a one’s natural reserves are depleted to a point where they cannot recover their vitality on their own. Given time, however, and separated physically and / or emotionally from the dominating personality, such a person will gradually recover and return to a normal, non-vampiric state. In some cases, the afflicted person does not wish to give up the state of sympathetic vampirism. If the person understands even a little of what has happened to him and wants the condition to continue, he can maintain this quasi-vampiric state indefinitely and may even eventually come to be mistaken for one of our number as he will accept that he is nothing else.
VI. Other Awakened
There are many beyond ourselves who have the potential for power. They also undergo a process like our Becoming, which consists primarily of an expanded awareness and an awakening to their greater Self. These are commonly referred to as the Awakened. Their
ways and their powers are diverse. Like us, many of the Awakened follow a particular archetype. They use this archetype as a symbol to define themselves and their powers. They have a fundamental connection to the energy of this archetype, and although human in body, they are something more in spirit. Angels, witches, the Fey, Shifters, these are but a few of the archetypes that may be followed. Like us, it may be that such individuals are responsible for inspiring much of the folklore that gave rise to the archetype in the first place and now, in a less spiritually open time, they have only the buried grains of truth lingering in the folklore to fall back upon to define them. Like us, they are human and other. They are spiritual travelers who take up bodies as garments. We should always treat them with respect, for ultimately, we serve common goals. You will be attracted to the Awakened in much the same manner that you are drawn to Potentials of our kind. Much is unspoken and unconscious. Trust that your greater Self is guiding you, for it knows and understands what may not always be accessible to your conscious mind. Like us, the Awakened can perceive and manipulate the many layers of reality. Although they call themselves by many names and they follow many diverse paths, most of the Awakened draw their power from the positive, generative forces of reality. Thus, they sometimes fear us when they first encounter us. This fear arises from ignorance. Though we are darkness and
they are light, we all work toward the same goal. We each in our way bring awareness to the world, catalyzing those with potential toward Awakening. When we come upon one who is verging upon Awakening, it is our duty to guide and instruct them. Do not mistake every Awakened being for a Potential of our kind. Nor should you attempt to push those not of our kind into accepting our ways and our arts. Serve your function as a catalyst, helping them toward their path but not seeking to define that path for them. Ultimately, they must walk their path alone.

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