Did you know that Abraham Lincoln fought against Vampires?

"I cannot speak of the things I have seen, nor seek comfort for the pain I feel. If I did, this nation would descend into a deeper kind of madness, or think it's president mad. The truth, I am afraid, must live as paper and ink. Hidden and forgotten until every man named here has passed to dust." ~Abraham Lincoln in a journal entry from the book, "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter"~

 Like Christmas and Valentine's Day, I struggle with the whole partying and celebrating ritual that goes on today. It's not that I don't appreciate the struggle that occurred over a hundred years ago for the right of "individual freedom." But I also feel greatly saddened that we Americans in particular still keep the original natives here locked away on reservations denying them their voice and legal justice or the shame we don't want to address with slavery. But, I don't want this post to get too depressing or preachy. So, I'm going to do a book review based on a true hero of mine, Abraham Lincoln who refused to look away for individual freedom.

The book I'm talking about is not a book focusing on dry facts on the Civil War  although that's the background and major action point pointing to Lincoln. Rather the book focus' on Lincoln's role of wiping out a certain group of Vampires who opposed him personally and politically. Huh??? I knew I had to read this  book, "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer" written by Seth Grahame-Smith. as soon as I heard about it. Combine the supernatural with a person I admire and you've got my attention. You may have read or heard about Grahame-Smith's other parody supernatural-horror book, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!" which I haven't had the pleasure of reading yet. I absolutely LOVED this book and if you have any interest in the supernatural realm and history, go get it! 

Grahame-Smith manages to tie in Lincoln's horrible childhood, with a father who couldn't couldn't take care of his family financially or emotionally and the toll it took on them all. To prevent financial ruin, Lincoln's father makes a deal with an evil Vampire. The day that the Vampire comes to collect his part of the bargain, Lincoln's father instead sacrifices his wife's life in order to save himself. A young Lincoln witnesses this horrible transaction and with a helpless agony watches the Vampire kill his mother. Here's where Grahame-Smith had proven how good an author he is, because he manages to weave historical facts with fiction. Lincoln  then vows to wipe out every vampire he meets to avenge the mother he was extremely close to. On his path, a Vampire named, "Henry" introduces himself to Lincoln and shows him that not all Vampires are the evil demons, Lincoln is out to exterminate. Actually, he is the supernatural equivalent of Lincoln with his belief on killing his own kind that kill for pleasure or profit as well as ending slavery. Henry tells Lincoln about the Vampires who are perpetuating both slavery and killing for sport.  Here's a short fun, promotional video for the book. I want to state that I think there was nothing funny or light about slavery, the war or the depression that almost sucked the life out of him, the same way, certain Vampire's can.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

"The true rule, in determining to embrace or reject any thing, is not whether it has any evil in it; but whether it has more of evil than of good. There are few things wholly evil or wholly good. Almost every thing ... is an inseparable compound of the two; so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded." ~Abraham Lincoln~

In the book, we learn about the Vampires role in the Civil War as well as the historical path Lincoln undertook against slavery and uniting the North and South. Grahame-Smith has obviously done a lot of research in such a way that by the end of the book, I actually started to believe that history happened the way it was written in this book. I bet if you read it, you would start to believe the same way I do. Well, maybe not, but I do recommend this book if you have an interest in the historical times of Lincoln as well as the Undead.

Ending on a more serious note, there is an online program called "Let's Say Thanks" where you can send a personalized postcard to soldiers overseas thanking them for what Independence Day first stood for. I don't believe or support the war that we're involved in, nor do a lot of the Soldiers who are involved. However, I absolutely respect and honor all soldiers and feel this is some small way of letting them know.

May each of you have freedom from any type of slavery, internally or externally that threatens you. This is my Fourth of July postcard to all of you.

Playing for Change

Practical/Magic

While I was trying to decide what to write on for this weeks post, I kept thinking about Luna's post from last week, about her Grimiore, or Book of Shadows. She mentioned that it might be more practical for us to keep our Book of Shadows as a file on the computer, "But still," she says, "I like having something pretty that can be passed on." I can get behind that idea - I love feeling my own book in my hand, I love the immediacy of it, and I am deeply in love with the idea that I am doing something that people have done for centuries - writing down my thoughts, discoveries and observations onto paper with ink.

I ponder this link to the past a lot. As modern Pagans, we are trying to walk an ancient path, but this is complicated by the modern world. We can keep our journey book on the PC; several pagan themed apps are available for the iPhone, including a Voodoo doll app, a tarot app, a Wiccan Ritual Calendar app; we can take classes in Witchcraft, Magical Herbalism, Sorcery, over the internet. Where is our ancient past among all of the shiny new tech of the future?

Not to mention that so much ancient wisdom has been lost over the centuries, we are forced to reexamine and extrapolate so much in order to fill in the blanks. We read and study and google, and yet, so much is still left to our own imaginations. I can't help but wonder what we are creating for the future, these amalgamations of old and new. I think, though, that this is also why Paganism, in it's different flavors, appeals to so many people now: We are watching the ancient past evolve into a bright future. Our link to ritual, magic, other worlds, folklore... these things give the cold, tech filled void of the present and future a meaning. Our rituals, our recipes, our methods of gathering herbs or building ritual tools - the things passed from one of us down to another. These things may seem impractical, and yet they bind us to one another, as well as to our past and our future, as a culture. I find that idea really beautiful, and it helps me understand better my own motives for somewhat esoteric way that I have chosen to exercise my faith.

Does it matter if we keep our spells in the computer? Or that we use our iPhones as a script prompt for our rituals? I'm not certain. In terms of spirituality, we may be living in our own Brave New World on a certain level, and perhaps we must make some things up as we go. A few centuries ago, Christians feared that science undermined the value and teachings of their God. The ancient Celts wrote almost nothing down, though they had a written language - was this because it was a dishonor to the knowledge that was being passed down? Or because keeping something in writing meant that you didn't actually have to learn it? I don't think anyone can really say. It does seem possible, however, that both of these cultures stood at a threshold of the future and felt the need to protect, strengthen and preserve a sense of spirituality. Maybe keeping our leather bound grimiores and other methods of maintaining or ancient collective spiritual histories in the face of these other, more 'practical' methods is our own way of preserving the spirit, the sacred link that connects us all to the Creative Forces of the Universe.