Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis

by Seán Manchester

 

It is not correct, in my experience, to understand that the corporeal form "never leaves its resting place," though I am aware of this theory being postulated by some. It can indeed stray beyond its earthly confines and might even do so by way of metamorphosis. Salt, a substance used in Christian ceremonial for the blessing of holy water and much else besides when attempting to present a barrier to demonic intrusion, can be applied around the afflicted area to deter this from happening, but other items ought to be included, eg holy water, white candles, silver crucifixes and, most powerful of all, the Host (the Body of God).

The corporeal form, through its demonic agency, does have the supernatural ability to dematerialise and rematerialise outside the parameters of its tomb. This is extended to all manner of metamorphosis, as described in my book. So it can "assume other likenesses," and retain more than just the spectral appearance of an apparition when it returns to the corporeal from something else, whatever that something else might be.

 

 

Due to the words I uttered during a lengthy evocation and exorcism ceremony at the Great Northern London Cemetery some three decades ago, the vampire took the form of what I at first thought to be "a misty vapour stealing towards me." The ritual continued for almost an hour before "an uncanny change" in my environment occurred that led to "the outline of a figure on the grave before me." Whether or not it was metamorphosing into what I was about to behold, the next manifestation was indeed a diabolical abomination "the size of a large cat" which "scurried back and forth in the most terrifying manner around the perimeter" of salt interspersed with cups of holy water. This form was impaled as the exorcism reached its climax. It straight away began to metamorphosise back to a corporeal state, albeit now God's true dead, requiring reinterrment and the prayers for the dead. The formula I used is found in the pre-Vatican II Rituali Romano. 

I thoroughly recommend the works of Montague Summers; particularly The Vampire: His Kith & Kin and The Vampire in Europe. There will be much found within these volumes to satisfy most people's curiousity. My own The Vampire Hunter's Handbook contains sections on antidotes and exorcisms, exhuming and invoking, tradition and blood lust. This, too, might prove helpful and go some way to addressing the nature of deterrents.