SAVA Under New Management

On Friday 26 October 2018, the South African Vampyre Alliance (SAVA) was handed over by its incumbent Regent, Octarine Valur to her successor. The Regent’s statement below was circulated within the SAVA before being also sent to the FOSAV group and also to the SA Pagan Council (SAPC) and SA Pagan Rights Alliance (SAPRA).

Regency Shuffle At SAVA

Following Lunah Valur Eir’s shock resignation from House Valur and from her position as Praetor to the Regent of the SAVA some weeks after announcing the closure of Coven d’Eir, a new successor has been appointed to the position of Praetor.

Seraphim Valur Nereza, also of the late Coven d’Eir and previously serving as Secretary to the Regency, today assumed the role of Praetor.

Another housemate of the erstwhile Coven d’Eir, Dagan Valur Nightalon, has assumed the role of Secretary to the Regency.

The Regency of the SAVA now consists of Octarine Valur (Regent), Kay Valur Vakir (Praetor), Seraphim Valur Nereza (Praetor) and Dagan Valur Nightalon (Secretary).

Congratulations to the new appointments!

Due to inactivity, the social Orders formed last year as committees to address social functions within the SAVA have been nullified. SAVA members will be encouraged to participate in group activities or projects on an ‘as needed’ basis.

The Magenta Dragon – by Christina Engela

Most in the South African Vampyre community who have done a little research into the history will know that this community’s recorded history began in May 2010 with the foundation of House Valur. Most will know that the community only began growing and taking form with the founding of the South African Vampyre Alliance (SAVA) in June 2011, but little if anything is known about the community in the time before that.

Sometimes though, one finds little gems that shine a new light on what we already know. This being the case, we examine the recollections of one of the community’s earliest builders from before 2010. Also, we will examine the initial overlap of Vampyre culture with other subcultures and societies at the time – in this case, South African Pagan culture. We will also examine the role played by vampyric Pagans in laying the groundwork for the growth and formation of the VC independently of the Pagan community in SA – and the important role these events played in the subsequent relationship between the Pagan and Vampyre communities. First, a little background.

April Fool’s Day

An article posted on SAVN on 1 April entitled “Amy Mah To Succeed Octarine Valur” by Kay Valkir was an April Fool’s Day prank. We trust that the article in question will be seen as such. To clarify, Lady Octarine Valur has no intention at this time of stepping down as Regent of the SAVA… and neither does she have a stamp collection.

We trust that no panic was caused by the announcement and wish all our readers a very amusing April 1 2016!

Amy Mah To Succeed Octarine Valur

It was announced late yesterday by the Regent of the SAVA, Lady Octarine Valur, that she would be stepping down in favor of Lady Amelia Mah who would be assuming full control of the South African Vampyre Alliance as well as all its associated groups, sub-organizations and online resources.

As Regent, Lady Mah – who owns a large number of OVC Facebook groups – would also represent the interests of the SAVA in all international VC representative bodies currently attended by Lady Valur.

An open letter to the South African Vampyre Community – by Octarine Valur

I am Octarine Valur. You may have heard of me, you may have heard a few interesting things about me. Some of them may even be true. I’m called the founder of South Africa’s VC. I’m called ‘Regent’ of the SA Vampyre Alliance. Some have called me ‘despot’ and some have even mocked me by calling me ‘Queen’. You may wonder which of these things is true, and you may be wondering what the SAVA is about.

Despot? Queen? No. I am neither of those things. Anyone who knows vamps, knows that getting a group of us to face in the same direction at the same time is like herding cats. Not all of us would agree about anything at the same time or in the same way, and neither would all of us get along or see eye to eye. A strong leader gets things done, a passionate leader holds on until it is.

I am Regent of the SAVA, yes. I founded the SAVA, yes – after spending several years in search of the elusive South African Vampyre Community online, and of finding nothing more than a handful of solitaries interested in becoming something more, something bigger, and more real and significant. An actual community. A family.

That’s what the SAVA is about – making the community around it into a family. The SAVA is an organization started in May 2011, and its purpose was to build the SA VC, beyond the isolated little FB groups and offline solitary vamps scattered across South Africa – to create a thriving network of real-life Vampyre covens, courts and social groups. To some degree, SAVA has succeeded.

Today we have at least one House in our community, House Valur and its two covens, d’Eir and Veritas – and the SAVA and its various projects are our legacy. Today, thanks to the efforts of the SAVA, vampyric Pagans can participate openly in Pagan groups and within the Pagan community with understanding and without fear of prejudice. Thanks to the SAVA, the SA VC has a face and a voice. Despite the criticism brought against us over the years, our critics have never delivered anything worthy of compare to the SAVA.

This is to let you know – the Awakened of South Africa – we are here. We’re here for you, and we’re not going anywhere. Take our hand – join us in making the SA VC better!

The Future of the SA VC – Decided

The survey launched on last Friday has now closed. As promised, the results are tallied and posted below for transparency.

Despite the survey being linked to and distributed across all known South African VC groups as well as cross-posted to in local Pagan groups and even a few international VC groups, and several admonitions to complete the survey, the number of responses received in this week was only 25.

The SA Vampyre Academy Reiki Survey: How It Came About

I’ve always been curious about what we as self-identifying Vampyres are – and as a vamp myself, what it is that makes us different from other people – if we are at all different – and if so, if there is a way to identify us by these differences.

For a while I have been consulting various Reiki practitioners – face to face and online, for a variety of different reasons. In July I was chatting to a Reiki practitioner who has become fairly well-known in the local VC as a Reiki healer specializing in the care of Vampyres or ‘vampyric people’ as some prefer to be called.

The topic came up about how a Reiki healer might be able to tell the difference between a Vampyre and a non-Vampyre, and if a random Reiki healer might even notice a difference between the two.

House Valur Announcement: Consolidation Into Family

[It is my honor and pleasure to share this here – Val]

As of today, members of the esteemed House Valur will act as one family within the Vampyre Community.

In what is hoped to be the first example of its kind in the South African Vampyre Community, the House membership will consolidate its VC-related assets into one grouping, creating something not unlike a conventional family structure, and harking also after similar House/Coven structures abroad.

Taking The SAVC To New Heights – by Lunah Valur Eir

The Voices of the Vampire Community – better known as the VVC, has again added new members from South Africa to its membership.