Astrosymbolism in Vampires
I went to the movie theater to watch Sinners last week, and thought a lot about vampires during the screening. In the film the vampires are fought using very tropey Hollywood vampire-slaying methods: wooden stakes, garlic, beheading, etc. It was only when the vampires were all killed by the sun rising at the end of the movie that it occurred to me that there was a very obvious astrological correspondence between these methods of harming/slaying vamps and the classical planets.
☉ Sunlight
What started this list and is the most obvious correspondence is the connection between sunlight and the sun. Like shadows, vampires disappear at daybreak.
The Sun is associated with the center, importance, warmth, presence, visibility, royalty, leadership, and life.
☽ Silver (bullets)
Vampires can be killed, or at least weakened with silver bullets. Silver in projectile form is significant in that Diana, a goddess associated with the moon, is also a god of archery.
The moon symbolizes darkness, madness, hysteria, the unconcious, rapid change, night, transformation, it controls the tides, it can be full or new, it changes colors and appears to change size depending on the night, where the sun is stability the moon is flux. The Moon has the most effect on the unconscious and conducts the wild world of the psyche. It also provides a window into the world of chaotic nighttime forms.
☿ Beheading/Invitation
I wanted to mention beheading because of the story of the planet Mercury and its association with the brain and the spinal column, which would obviously be severed in decapitation. There is also the story of Hermes slaying the giant Argus by cutting of his head with a sword. The Tarot symbol of a sword with the air element, which accounts for the nature of Mercury, also appears.
It might not have suited Mercury anyway to be just one thing, so I do have another mercurial vampire myth. Mercury rules travel, and therefore hospitality. Mercury or Hermes is a liminal god, ruling “pass through places”, like thresholds and gates. The fact that a vampire cannot enter a place uninvited shows a weakness to this mercurial principle. Mercury also rules agreements and contracts. Invitation falls under this influence.
♀ Mirrors
A vampire cannot look at itself in a mirror. The mirror is the most prominent symbol of the planet Venus, its glyph depicts a bronze mirror or a handheld mirror. This is obviously a symbol of vanity and beauty, but also suggests requital, the mirror returns light. Unrequited love is an ill-natured Venus. Perhaps the vampire has no light to offer in the first place, no love to give.
♂ Garlic
Garlic is sulfuric. Sulfur is vitality, the life giving principle in alchemy. It is fiery. If you have every eaten a raw clove of garlic, you will have felt this intense energy first hand. Roman soldiers would frequently eat raw garlic before battle, and attributed the stuff to Mars, god of war. Mars the planet rules creative energy and vitality, which vampires being dead, obviously have none of.
♃ Wooden Stakes, Religious Symbols
Jupiter rules religion. Religion in its ceremony and ritual. Religious objects, especially as they are ornate and intricate reflect Jupiter in his pomp and circumstance. Jupiter obviously rules priests for these reasons, the energetic opposite of a vampire being a monk.
Jupiter is also associated with wood, or rather is known by the name Wood (木) in Chinese astrology. Jupiter the god is also associated with Oak, a common wood in ghost stories for fashioning a stake for vampire slaying purposes.
♄ Immortality
This one seems counter intuitive, I know, but immortality is one of the true weaknesses that vampires suffer. Saturn rules death and endings. Saturn’s curse on vampires is by denying this much needed aspect of being: not to be. Vampires experience the “ennui of life”, a kind of longing for death that makes them miserable for eternity if they aren’t killed by humans by one of the methods above.
By looking at vampires through this astrological lense we can see that they represent a kind of antithesis to the human soul, in which the planets dwell and do their part to shape. The vampire is not only soulless but is offended by everything within the soul, an anti-soul. When a person becomes a vampire in a movie their personality immediately changes. They often become nonchalant, deceptive, selfish, and boring. They lure others to them through illusions and tricks and suck on their blood, only a secondhand vitality which can never really replace the real thing. Vampirism can never give the full experience of life.
Excellent piece