Holy Water

I've discovered a great series of books by Charlaine Harris. They're comical mysteries revolving around vampires. I can't stand romance novels (If you've got it, why bother? If you don't have it, why bother?) and I've never touched an Anne Rice novel in my life, but these really appeal to me.

Anyway, in the course of my reading, I got to wondering about silver: If vampires and werewolves don't like silver, what sort do they find unnacceptable? Sterling (.925)? Solid? Or is a more watered down version OK in fighting the undead?

And crosses: If vampires don't like silver, you'd think sterling crosses would be the haute coutre. But how big? And should people who believe in vampires wear a dog-collar necklace of crosses just to be safe? When I was a kid, I remember watching this one horror movie with my best friend which made a big impression because of this one scene: In it, the hero holds up a cross and the vampire laughs at it. "Do you really think it's the cross that stops me?" the vampire asks. "No! You don't believe in it, so it has no power over me." I always found that a very significant theological point, actually.

Of course there are no such things as vampires... right? ;o)

Well, there are always the fruitcakes who think they're vampires just because they want to be. But real vamps who are the walking dead, sleep during the day and feed on people at night? No.

Of course, if there are real vampires, you can try dousing them with Holy Water, too. Which leads me to ...

What is Holy Water?

Holy Water is primarily either a Catholic or Wiccan convention. It's basically just blessed water.

But in the Catholic church, it's "Made Fresh Daily"! I can see the Pope visiting the Holy Water Factory each morning and standing over large vats of water, making The Cross sign and mumbling some latin words. How effective it is probably depends on how effective he is, right? But other Catholic church honchos do it too (Bishops, etc.) I don't know if a simple parish priest can do it, though. Perhaps they're not high up enough in the hierarchy?

Wiccans believe you can bless it yourself and consecrate it, but only under certain circumstances: doing it under the full moon, adding salt, and going through a little ritual of their own.

So which is better and do either of them work?

As the movie vampire said, perhaps it all depends on what you believe.