Ordo Strigoi Vii

Ordo Strigoi Vii

The Ordo Strigoi Vii is a loosely organized vampire association founded by Father Sebastian (b. Aaron Todd Hoyt), a.k.a. Father Sebastiaan Tod Van Houten. According to Sabastiaan, he learned about vampires in the mid-1990s while working a Renaissance Faire. A Romanian associate at the faire gave him a copy of The Vampire Bible published by the Temple of the Vampire but hinted at a Romanian origin for a vampire he beheaded. Following his contact’s death in 1996, Sebastian founded the Ordo Strigoi.

Father Sebastiaan and the Ordo Strigoi Vii have roots in the role-playing game community. Sebastian was involved with a role-playing group called the “The Long Black Veil” which mixed the writings of Vampire: the Masquerade and then fellow-gamer Michelle Belanger. In the early days of the Ordo Strigoi Vii, he took the rules of players in Vampire: the Masquerade and published them as a set of guidelines for real vampires. These rules were later extensively edited by Belanger and emerged as the Black Veil, a set of rules now widely acknowledged by contemporary self-identified vampires.

As Sebastiaan played at being a vampire and learned about reputedly real vampires, he began to organize a vampire community in New York, using the name The Sanguinarium as an umbrella name. The Sanguinarium, which slowly morphed into the Ordo Strigoi Vii, began to network with vampires and vampire groups across the United States.

While resembling the Temple of the Vampire in some aspects, Sebastiaan tried to create a much more open and accessible group. He modeled it on a think tank where people could gather do discuss their vampiric nature. He also absented himself for periods of time so it did not become centered on him. Members seek development of their potential and personal evolution and work at cultivating “the dragon,” an individual’s highest potential. Members also attempt contact with disembodied entities, the “strigoi morte,” former human beings who now survive as something like a ghost or thought-form. Included among these disembodied entities is a collective thought-form called Elorath. Though not a deity, Elorath has some deific characteristics. The Ordo Strigoi Vii believe that vampire are pre-selected by specific characteristics, but basically are made, as they work to develop their vampire nature.

Father Sebastiaan currently (2009) resides in Paris, France. He has authored one book, with vampire researcher Katherine Ramsland, that was sold with a metal replica of the modified ankh with a bat that is the symbol of the Ordo Strigoi Vii.

Sources:

Sebastiaan, Father. Vampyre Almanac 2000. New York: The Sanguinarian, 2000. 144 pp.

Oregon Dark Shadows Society see: Dark Shadows Fandom