Foundational Beliefs of the Rosethorn Coven

On this page we offer small taste of the Rosethorn Way, the beliefs & systems we hold within the Rosethorn Coven. Of course, most of our teachings are reserved for our Coven’s Students and Citizens. However, despite the secrecy we protect our inner workings with, it is unwise for you to dedicate yourself to a Coven whose beliefs you’re unfamiliar with. Thus, we offer this glimpse into our internal lore.

Vampyre

Within our Coven’s internal teachings, we recognize vampyres as individuals with an innate energetic and spiritual connection to the vampyre current. For a general view of what a vampyre is, see this article.

As Rosethorn Vampyres, we see vampyres as having an innate nature about them, their soul holding a vampyric nature in some way. We see our vampyric nature as an opportunity for growth and excellence. We see the golden edges around our shadows and the power we can hone from what others shy away from. Too see more about our point of view, see this blog

We are not victims of our nature and we recognize the unique power it brings.

 

Witch

Our Inner Coven is tailored around the exploration of vampyrism through the lens of a practitioner of traditional witchcraft. Rosethorn Vampyres have a shared reverence for our own version of “Vampyrecraft” or the practice of witchcraft specifically tailored to the Vampyre Current. 

Our Vampyric nature is intrinsically entwined with our spiritual nature and it lends us a unique perspective on our own modern chaotic and vampyric rendition of traditional witchcraft. 

Our nature as Vampyre is not only connected to but affected by the natural ebbs and flows of the corporeal world, the celestial world, and the otherworlds or realms beyond the veil.

As a Coven, we favor specific spirits that we work with together as a group, but nobody is limited to any set beliefs nor groups of spirits. We see the divine in all things as animists.

 

The Rosethorn Current

The Rosethorn Current is the collective shared witch blood of our Coven. It is the energetic signature all vampyres who traverse our course systems become exposed to. It is a recognizable vibe that people can feel when they’re around us. It’s the sudden noticing of more crows in your life after you start hanging around us or the noticing of roses all around you. It’s the sudden waves of wisdom that hit you from random sources when you research with us. 

Corvid birds are creatures that all come with their own magic and wisdom, as are roses. Each teaching us stories about ourselves and of the world. We learn from them the stories of the stewards of the hedges crossed for sacred insight. 

Our Core Values

To embark on a journey with us means to agree to live in a way that reflects our Covenant. The Rosethorn Covenant is the baseline Code of Honor from which we operate. It is the Pact we make to the Coven and to each other to uphold a shared level of ethics and honor amongst our chosen Coven family. Our Coven members are expected to uphold our covenant to the highest degree.

Vampyres of the Rosethorn Vampyre Current are Vampyre Witches who recognize that our vampyric nature is a boon to our lives not a bane to our existence. We recognize the significance of our gifts and revere the rituals and processes of our vampyric upkeep as something sacred rather than an inconvenience.

Each initiated member of the Coven makes a conscious choice to commit to our pact, our beliefs, our systems, and our goals; to include assisting each other to reach our highest potential. Our Coven requires an atmosphere of trust, honesty, loyalty, and service to one another. As an initiatory Coven with rich bloodline ancestry backing us up, we are a family of the blood, dedicated to the development of each other through spiritual and vampyric experience and expression. Through shared learning, ritual, guidance, and veneration of spirit and sabbat, we celebrate the Rosethorn Vampyre Current and give sacrifice to the River of Blood together.

Beliefs & Traditions of note

  • As a Coven, we deviate our days of power from most of the 8 main Wiccan Sabbats. Many of our “Sacred Holidays” are creations of our own to celebrate the energetic ebbs and flows of the seasons that are unique to us. That doesn’t make them any less powerful. We just chose to celebrate the year in our own way.
  • Though our philosophy and belief structure is modern, unique to us, and still in its budding phase, it is influenced and backed by our forefathers, vampyres who are part of the first “Royal Bloodlines of Gotham.”
  • We believe in the sacred bonds and bounds of the promises we make and the oaths we take. Coven Honor & Personal Integrity is at the top of our list of oaths.
  • We communicate with many types of spirits and beings. These include Deities, Daemons, Familiars, Intermediary Spirits, Ancestors, and the Mighty Dead.
  • We are animists, we believe just about everything can and does have a spirit or supernatural presence infused within it for one reason or another.
  • We celebrate the 13 dark moons of the year as our Esbats.
  • We do not believe in Karma the way mainstream society does nor does the rule of three mean much to us. We do however believe that the full content of your actions & character can cause you to gain or lose favor in life. The Law of the Harvest… You reap what you sow.
  • We recognize connectivity to all things past present and future through the Web of Wyrd.
  • We believe in Divination & Psychic Ability — that it’s possible for us to tap into resources of energy and knowledge that otherwise would not be known to us by mundane means.
  • We believe in and engage in Vampyrecraft to bring about the changes we wish to see in ourselves or the world around us. Vampyrecraft is witchcraft that is specifically tailored towards vampyre current practice and needs.
  • We take oath breaking as an egregious sign of disrespect. We bend over backwards to ensure the transparency of our actions and expectations, so we will not tolerate those who disrupt our aura of peace and trust.

Our Lore

Simplified…

Our lore revolves around the tale of a young maiden who is charged with the divine quest to foster a sacred garden. This sacred garden blooms into a menagerie of color, but a specific rose becomes the target of her attention and affection.

This rose becomes the center of the maiden’s work. While she takes care of the whole garden, she dotes upon this particular rose, later learning that this rose will have a heavy influence on her life physically and spiritually.

It becomes the maiden’s duty to tend to this sacred rose, dedicating her life to the exploration of its bounds and the protection of its sanctum. Through the maiden’s journey of study and growth, sacred knowledge becomes unlocked to her due to her devotion and sacrifice to the garden, and especially the ethereal rose.

 

Our Lore

Simplified…

Our lore revolves around the tale of a young maiden who is charged with the divine quest to foster a sacred garden. This sacred garden blooms into a menagerie of color, but a specific rose becomes the target of her attention and affection.

This rose becomes the center of the maiden’s work. While she takes care of the whole garden, she dotes upon this particular rose, later learning that this rose will have a heavy influence on her life physically and spiritually.

It becomes the maiden’s duty to tend to this sacred rose, dedicating her life to the exploration of its bounds and the protection of its sanctum. Through the maiden’s journey of study and growth, sacred knowledge becomes unlocked to her due to her devotion and sacrifice to the garden, and especially to the ethereal rose.

 

Our Guides

Our Corvid Watchers

Liminal creatures able to collect wisdom as they fly between the realms. Harbingers and Protectors of the Corvus Vampyre Current.

In many belief systems, birds of the Corvus or Corvid family are highly regarded as legendary and powerful creatures. They are mischievous, sociable, and expressive creatures. Spending time in [brilliantly named] flocks to protect one another or to band together to mob raptors. Wherever there is civilization and Corvids sharing the same space, there are folkloric tales being weaved about them. From guardians and bringers of boon to harbingers of death with tongues of devil’s blood, Corvids are often magnanimous creatures whose messages are not to be ignored. Our Inner Coven follows the stories of Corvids, learning lessons from both their myths and their Earthly behavior. It is a common occurrence for Corvus Current Vampyres to end up with a Corvid familiar spirit during their time and journey with us.

“One who, having derived little from his ancestors, has through providence become the architect of his own fortunes or one of an enduring constancy of nature.” – Raven Heraldry by M.I.T.

“She of the Sanguine Rose”
Keeper of the Rosethorn Gateways,
Lady of the blood soaked portals between Worlds

She of the Sanguine Rose is guardian spirit of the portals between the living and other. She is a wanderer of the Netherworld, and a Patron of the Forest of Shadows.

Blessed is She of the Sanguine Rose, Keeper of the Rosethorn Gateway. Harbinger of the journey between realms.

Araena the Weaver
Steward of the Web of wyrd

Araena the Weaver is an intermediary spirit being that lives on the corporeal world tending to her section of the Web of Wyrd.

Hark the weaver, blessed acolyte of the Keepers of Destiny.

Common Symbols

Seven Pointed Star

A multifaceted symbol that aligns with our “other” nature as well as the Coven’s 7 tenets.

Rose

A symbol of love and devotion but also the unraveling nature of our studies.

Rosethorn Star

A symbol of She of the Sanguine Rose and her dominion over the Rosethorn Gateway.

Corvids

The harbingers of the Corvus Current, the liminal Watchers of the many realms. Guides, Protectors, Familiars.

Bats

Creatures of the night, able to use senses beyond sight to see what is hidden in the dark. Symbols of new beginnings and unveiling the secrets to new levels of initiation.

Blood

We use blood literally and symbolically. We feed on blood, we use blood in magick. We understand its power and we utilize it well. We also talk about our corvus witch blood. The energetic lifeblood we invite as part of ourselves when we initiate into the Corvus Current.

Common Practices

  • Energy Work
  • Hedge Crossing
  • Apothecary Keeping
  • Spirit Communication
  • Divination 
  • Moon Observance
  • Energetic Sorcery
  • Necromancy (Death magick, not animated corpses)
  • Energy Work
  • Hedge Crossing
  • Apothecary Keeping
  • Spirit Communication
  • Divination
  • Moon Observance
  • Energetic Sorcery
  • Necromancy (Death magick, not animated corpses)

 

Important Notice about our beliefs


PLEASE understand…

The Vampyre Community as we know it is a modern construct based on a lot of shared personal gnosis between a handful of individuals in the late 80s/early 90s. While the VC has existed since the late 60s and even before, the consciousness of the current vampyre culture sprang to life in the transitional period between the 80s/90s. The forefathers of the VC as we know it today used tv, movies, roleplaying games, 19-20th century occult orders, some nightclubs, and the perfect storm of the goth and vampire culture having society by a chokehold to come up with a new variance of spiritual, energetic, and lifestyle practice that aligned with what they called being a “vampyre.” They built community, etiquette, and rules of engagement around this practice and thus the VC as we know it was born. Some of the traditions many in the VC hold dear were inspired by occult orders like the O.T.O. Order of the Vampyre, Temple of the Vampire, Golden Dawn, and things of that nature. A lot of well known VC traditions have humble beginnings as gameplay and tribal social dynamics amongst inner city New Yorkers but have grown and evolved far beyond what it was in the 90s and early 2000s. But still, the traditions regarding language, decorum, spirituality… basically anything discussed that is relevant to the Vampyre Community’s sociology and culture doesn’t have many origins older than the 1980s.

Moral of the story…

All of it is modern. All of it is the personal gnosis of the few that became the shared personal gnosis of many. These stories spread through groups of people until it became a worldwide subculture. The VC didn’t truly spread its wings until the 90s. Some of it is aligned with (their perceived version of) ancient practices, or co-opted veneration of previously unrelated spirits and deities, or sometimes they chaos magick their way all over the occult with their practices… All of this is valid if it works for them, but none of it is truly ancient. Nowadays it’s a lot of modern retelling of older but still modern practices. There is certainly influence from ancient witchcraft and Eastern energy medicine techniques like Traditional Chinese Medicine (among other things), but it’s all still modern reconstruction.

None of this is inherently bad nor does it discredit what we’re doing here nor does it discredit anything within the VC.

But we’re not making any illusions about what’s going on here or how these things came to be either. The sooner you understand that it *all* came from someone’s imagination. People having been tailoring existing occult principles to fit the needs of the vampyre the whole time, and a lot of people could benefit from coming to terms with that fact. The quicker you can move on and understand the power that lies between the lines of the metaphor and metaphysics presented, the quicker you can start focusing on honing your personal power. Instead of figuring out which is the “right” or “true” way, you should be looking for the way that resonates the deepest with what you feel and aligns with you. (or blaze a path of your own when none of it aligns) – leaving others alone to do the same.

No matter what ancient origins, past life stories, whatever people project as their personal narrative… It doesn’t matter because in the world as we know it today, the vampyre community is young. We’re here because we defy societal constructs and find kinship together within the Vampyre Current for one reason or another. But how the Vampyre Current manifests in our lives is often unique to us. and that’s part of what makes it beautiful.

None of us have all the answers. Nobody can tell you the “one true way” or “the right way.”

 

All we ever aim to do here is to provide a collaborative space, insight, and tool sets for LIKE MINDED CORVUS CURRENT ORIENTED vampyres and allies to partake in, nothing more.

Common Symbols

Seven Pointed Star

A multifaceted symbol that aligns with our “other” nature as well as the Coven’s 7 tenets.

Rose

A symbol of love and devotion but also the unraveling nature of our studies.

Rose Septagram

A symbol of She of the Sanguine Rose and her dominion over the Rosethorn Gateway.

Corvids

The harbingers of the Corvus Current, the liminal Watchers of the many realms. Guides, Protectors, Familiars.

Bats

Creatures of the night, able to use senses beyond sight to see what is hidden in the dark. Symbols of new beginnings and unveiling the secrets to new levels of initiation.

Blood

We use blood literally and symbolically. We feed on blood, we use blood in magick. We understand its power and we utilize it well. We also talk about our corvus witch blood. The energetic lifeblood we invite as part of ourselves when we initiate into the Corvus Current.

Initiated Members of The Vampyre Coven practice a style of spirituality that celebrates our liminal and paradoxical nature.

To be liminal means to be transitional.

It’s the act of occupying a position at, or on both sides of a boundary or threshold. It is the space between worlds. It’s the space between the physical realm and the astral realm. It is the aether in which energy moves. You become liminal as you traverse to astral realms and you have things like out of body experiences. Vampyres & Witches are liminal creatures in many ways. We occupy space between reality and myth, human and beast, corporeal and ethereal. Collectively, we are always evolving. We are always transitioning and our liminality is one of our greatest strengths but biggest weaknesses. Our community’s liminality causes such a rift between what everyone believes that it becomes impossible to have important conversations out of fear of offense. The work we are doing with our Coven is how we fight losing our history. It’s how we grow stronger and more in control of our liminal journeys.

To be paradoxical is to be seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possible.

I’ll give an example from my own personal practice. There were a few years where I spent a lot of time trying to ponder whether or not the deities I work with were real. Am I petitioning real omnipresent sky beings? Or am I tapping into the godform energy created by collective belief over thousands of years? It wasn’t until a dear friend told me that he is perfectly happy living with paradoxical thoughts on his spirituality that I gave up this internal debate. Why not treat it as both? The godform energy from thousands of years of belief is undoubtedly a powerful force to tap into and pull into ritual. Treating deities as energetic beings to invoke to pull some of that into you and your work. What better way to do that than venerate them as real Gods? The doubt I cast on myself through this internal debate was doing nothing but hurting the faith I had in my own practice. Choosing contentment in the paradox and using both sides of the coin allowed me to move on from this limiting frame of mind and transcend it. 

Our Paradoxical nature is ever present in the varied collective experiences had throughout the vampyre & occult community. 

The fact that you’ve made it here means that you’ve in some way had interest in or are curious about vampyre witchcraft. On the contrary, there are entire sects of the Vampyre Community that believe such practice is bullshit and not what they experience as vampyres at all. Our two sects have two completely contradictory stories of the origin of our vampyric nature. Is either group wrong? Nope. Our paths are all valid. Such is the paradox that is a constant subject of struggle in all esoteric communities. No way is the “right” way because all of these ways are right for those who partake in them responsibly.  

Initiated Members of The Vampyre Coven practice a style of spirituality that celebrates our liminal and paradoxical nature.

To be liminal means to be transitional.

It’s the act of occupying a position at, or on both sides of a boundary or threshold. We stand in the space between worlds. It’s the space between the physical realm and the astral realm. It is the aether in which energy moves. You become liminal as you traverse to astral realms and you have things like out of body experiences. Vampyres & Witches are liminal creatures in many ways. We occupy space between reality and myth, human and beast, corporeal and ethereal. Collectively, we are always evolving. We are always transitioning and our liminality is one of our greatest strengths but biggest weaknesses. Our community’s liminality causes such a rift between what everyone believes that it becomes impossible to have important conversations out of fear of offense. The work we are doing with our Coven is how we fight losing our history. It’s how we grow stronger and more in control of our liminal journeys.

To be paradoxical is to be seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possible.

I’ll give an example from my own personal practice. There were a few years where I spent a lot of time trying to ponder whether or not the deities I work with were real. Am I petitioning real omnipresent sky beings? Or am I tapping into the godform energy created by collective belief over thousands of years? It wasn’t until a dear friend told me that he is perfectly happy living with paradoxical thoughts on his spirituality that I gave up this internal debate. Why not treat it as both? The godform energy from thousands of years of belief is undoubtedly a powerful force to tap into and pull into ritual. Treating deities as energetic beings to invoke to pull some of that into you and your work. What better way to do that than venerate them as real Gods? The doubt I cast on myself through this internal debate was doing nothing but hurting the faith I had in my own practice. Choosing contentment in the paradox and using both sides of the coin allowed me to move on from this limiting frame of mind and transcend it. 

Our Paradoxical nature is ever present in the varied collective experiences had throughout the vampyre & occult community. 

The fact that you’ve made it here means that you’ve in some way had interest in or are curious about vampyre witchcraft. On the contrary, there are entire sects of the Vampyre Community that believe such practice is bullshit and not what they experience as vampyres at all. Our two sects have two completely contradictory stories of the origin of our vampyric nature. Is either group wrong? Nope. Our paths are all valid. Such is the paradox that is a constant subject of struggle in all esoteric communities. No way is the “right” way because all of these ways are right for those who partake in them responsibly.