If one looks up synonyms for the word “keeper,” the most common synonyms include: keeper, n. 1) jailer, screw, turnkey, sheriff; guard, warden, doorkeeper, watchman; entry, sentinel. Other synonymous terms include: proprietor, owner, director, supervisor, custodian, overseer, etc. (source: The Synonym Finder, Rodale Press). So, let me ask you, would you introduce your wife as being her keeper? Are you in turn, a husband or boyfriend keeper? A man is said to keep a “mistress,” which acknowledges the fact that it is a derogatory term of indentured service. You are a benevolent keeper of pets, not people. And certainly not spirits, more less entities.
Let’s cut to the chase: the closest parallel is that of being a “slave keeper,” which is both derogatory and racist. And while laws have abolished slavery, apparently those laws don’t apply to spirits. When Jesus is confronted by the person who asks, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” he is saying that he does not own by indenture his brother and therefore has no authority to command him to obey, or an obligation to perform any acts of mercy. It is not meant in the spirit of brotherly love, but indentured slavery. And for this reason, you will never hear the term used on Vampire Ashram. It is offensive, demeaning, and betrays the user as a spiritual supremist who believes spirits are inferior in both status and intelligence. It also betrays a lack of spiritual wisdom on the part of the slanderer.
The term “overseer” does apply when the entity in question has far more power than you do. A vampire sire is your overseer. God is Lucifera’s overseer. We worship God because nobody in Hell rules under His authority without his consent, respect, and authority. And Hell is a vampire’s native environment, not earth, and not heaven. Lilith and Satan both were His original administrators until they overstepped their bounds and brought Hell to earth. Lucifera assumed the position since. But to call myself a “God keeper,” because I respect Him is an oxymoron. Or to assume that because of my intimate affiliation with either Lucifera, Lucifer, or Lilith makes me a “spirit keeper” is simply spiritual racism. I don’t control Lucifera. I don’t control Lilith, Satan, or Lucifer, close as I am to each. I am at times their companion, their friend, lover, or spiritual business associate, but they are all at least my equals in the eyes of the Almighty, if not higher in power, which can fluctuate according to the governance of the Almighty, not by my magical willpower or theirs.
Magical power is the providence of the Almighty. It wasn’t created and gifted to those such as Satan and Lilith and Lucifera without regard to status. His tests among angels, demons, and vampires are always power based. Can this soul be responsible with more power? Should this spirit be deprived of their power for transgressions against divine balance? Those are the questions that run through the mind of the Almighty. A “living god” is meaningless when God holds the reigns to power. And He does. Hell was created for Lucifera to oversee, long before heaven and humans were on the scene. He creates chaos and order. They’re not opposites. They’re transfigural powers with which he creates and destroys. As such, to presume to become a god for the mere sake of power is, in the scope of eternity, dust in the wind. You get power by submitting to the One who gives it with wisdom. Power without wisdom is folly.
Other vampire covens and Houses will take issue with giving anything like homage to God. And that is their inalienable right. At least to date, the term “spirit-keeper” isn’t one that crops up. And I respect other vampire covens and their right of refusal to give homage. I still consider them as brothers and sisters, be they sangs or Satanists. By blood we are inalienably bound, and blood deserves respect because all vampiric bloodlines trace their way back to Lilith, and from Lilith to Lucifera. As vampires, we are predators, not sheep in search of a bloodied Shepard to save us. We don’t need saving, the issue is not salvation, but power. Vampires have a hierarchy, and that hierarchy ends with Lucifera. She was created as the invincible darkness, against which all bloodlines and every vampire will one day in the here or hereafter answer to. She demands it and will not be denied. In the blood is the life. Her life. Her power. Because Hell has only the rulers and the ruled.
Of course, the term “spirit-keeper” betrays a spiritual blindness to all of this. Even the bible states that humans were made a little lower than the angels, not to mention how much lower than vampires, from whom angels retreat in fear. That being the case, how did some offbeat witch suddenly determine that the opposite is the case? Saying it’s so doesn’t make it so. And likewise, saying you’re a spirit-keeper most certainly doesn’t make it so. You think angels, demons, devils, and vampires are just breaking down the doors to see who among them will be lucky enough to have you as their master? “Yassir, masta. Please don’t beat me, masta. I promise I’ll behave. How high should I jump, masta?” Slavery is for Christians, and even then, they rebel against it on a daily basis, refusing to follow their own hallowed ethics of peace and brotherly love, with war, hatred, pedophilia and Inquisitions, torture, genocide. Hell, at least Satan hasn’t gone that far out of his way. He doesn’t pretend to love God. And again, that is his inalienable right. I’m not going to convert him, I respect him and work with him, because in Hell, all must coexist. And of all things, he is NOT a hypocrite, whereas most Christians are. And while I don’t fully trust him, I certainly trust him a thousand-fold more than I would any Christian, who have more in common with Judas than Christ.
Like Groucho Marx once said, “I wouldn’t join any club who’d have me for a member,” the same holds true for a “spirit-keeper.” Why would you want to own a slave but to serve your own ego-deprived self? The role model of “spirit-keepers” being that of King Solomon, I suppose, since so many grimoires attest to the legend of his power over spirits. He never had power over Lucifera, who was the cause of overturning him and ending his life destitute of power, with a black mark from the Almighty, who brought his power to naught. And behind all such falls from grace is Lucifera. Goddess of vampires, revolutions, falls and wars. She caused Satan to fall, and she’ll cause any to fall if she deems it providential to her power and beneficial to the Almighty. Her posture in the later guise of the goddess Diana with a bow isn’t taking aim at birds, but angels. And she doesn’t miss.
In summary, the term “spirit-keeper” is a vile, loathsome and slanderous label. And consider who is keeping whom. In hell, turnabout is only fair play. Witches end in hell just as surely as others, and not in a good way, where their magic comes to an abrupt end. Lilith lends her magic until the doors of Hell slam shut. Then, who’s keeping who?
