Psychic vampire

A psychic vampire is a person[1] or being[2] who claims to feed off the "life force" of other living creatures.[1] Psychic vampires are represented in the occult beliefs of various cultures and in fiction.[3] There is no medical recognition or scientific consensus supporting this claim.

A 2007 scholarly survey carried out upon people claiming to be vampires, either psychic or sanguinarian (blood drinkers) that showed anecdotal evidence of a higher than normal incidences of certain illnesses and conditions such as anemia, fibromyalgia, and hemophilia. Whether or not they actually suffer from such conditions was not evaluated by medical professionals.[4]

Contents

Alternate terms

The term psychic vampire is sometimes abbreviated psy-vamp (or psi-vamp). Alternate terms for these entities include energy vampire, energy predator, energy parasite, and energivore, as well as psionic vampire, pranic vampire, and empathic vampire.

Terms used to describe the substance or essence that psychic vampires take or receive from others include: energy,[1] qi (or ch'i), life force, prana,[1] and vitality.

Emotional vampires

Bernstein uses the phrase "emotional vampire" for people with various personality disorders who are often considered to drain emotional energy from others.[5][6][7]

Energy vampires

The term "energy vampire" is also used metaphorically, to refer to people whose influence leaves a person feeling exhausted, unfocused and depressed, without ascribing the phenomenon to psychic interference. [8][9]

Dion Fortune wrote of psychic parasitism in relation to vampirism as early as 1930, in her book, Psychic Self-Defense.[10][11] Fortune considered psychic vampirism a combination of psychic and psychological pathology, and distinguishes between what she considers to be true psychic vampirism, and mental conditions that produce similar symptoms. For the latter she names folie a deux and similar phenomena.

The term psychic vampire was popularized in the 1960s by Anton LaVey and his Church of Satan. LaVey wrote on the topic in his book, The Satanic Bible, and claimed to have coined the term.[2] LaVey used psychic vampire to mean a spiritually or emotionally weak person who drains vital energy from other people, or a paranormal entity within such a person, allowing the psychic draining of energy from other people. Adam Parfrey likewise attributed the term to LaVey in an introduction to The Devil's Notebook.[12]

Others have defined a 'psychic vampire' in the more traditional sense. Michelle Belanger has written a book entitled The Psychic Vampire Codex, which defines a psychic vampire as a person, who, from limited ability or complete inability, are unable to generate their own "life force", and must feed off of others, not just as an ability, but to stave off uncomfortable physiological symptoms, such as headaches, dizziness, irritability, etc. They do not claim to be 'immortal' in a conventional sense, although many do claim to have recall of past-lives. Michelle Belanger has also edited a book called Vampires In Their Own Words a collection of essays by many claiming to be psychic vampires. The authors range in beliefs, ideas, interpretations, and religious and spiritual beliefs. There is also a section written by those who are not members of the psychic or blood-drinking vampire community.

A modern literary interpretation of the process of transitioning from a normal human to an energy vampire, a being made from pure energy which no longer requires a physical body, can be found in "Dr" Silvia Hartmann's book "Vampire Solstice"[13] 2006 as a metaphor for processes of actually existing energy exchanges.[14]

The terms "energy vampire" and "psychic vampire" have been used as synonyms in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, as part of an occult revival.[15]

Role in modern vampire subculture

The theme of the psychic vampire has been a focus within modern vampire subculture. The way that the subculture has manipulated the image of the psychic vampire has been investigated by researchers such as Mark Benecke[16] and A. Asbjorn Jon.[17] Jon has noted that, like the traditional psychic vampires, those of vampire subculture believe that they 'prey upon life-force or 'pranic' energy'.[17]

Sexual vampires

A related form of psychic vampirism is known as sexual vampirism, where one is said to be able to feed off sexual energy.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d A Vampire's Life? It's Really Draining: Forget 'Twilight.' These Folks Pale in Comparison to the Stereotype. By Monica Hesse, Staff Writer, Washington Post, November 24, 2008, Page C01
  2. ^ a b Robinson, Eugene (November 1986). "Anton LaVey". Birth of Tragedy. http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/BOT.html. Retrieved 2007-03-31. 
  3. ^ (Frost 1989, pp. 16–18)
  4. ^ Joseph Laycock (2009). Vampires Today: The Truth about Modern Vampirism. Praeger Publisher. ISBN 9780313364723. http://books.google.com/?id=_KZePgAACAAJ&dq=psychic+vampire+laycock. 
  5. ^ Bernstein, Albert (2000). Emotional Vampires. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0071352598. http://www.albernstein.com/id55.htm. 
  6. ^ Borchard, Therese. "5 Emotional Vampires and How to Combat Them". Psych Central. http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/10/27/5-emotional-vampires-and-how-to-combat-them/. 
  7. ^ Baldino, Rachel G.. "How to Beware of Emotional Vampires Intent on Draining You of All Your Precious Emotional Strength". Sixwise.com. http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/06/05/31/how_to_beware_of_emotional_vampires_intent_on_draining_you_of_all_your_precious_emotional_strength.htm. 
  8. ^ Watch out for energy vampires, by Dr. Judith Orloff, CNN, March 11, 2008
  9. ^ O'Farrell, Peggy (23 September 2004). "'Energy Addict' puts positive spin on life with nutrition and exercise". Cincinnati Enquirer. http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/09/23/tem_energy23.html. Retrieved 2009-09-14. 
  10. ^ Fortune, Dion (2001) [1930]. Psychic self-defense. Samuel Weiser. ISBN 9781578631506. OCLC 44926949 
  11. ^ Charles and Collins, Carr; The Story of Dion Fortune, Thoth Books, 1998, ISBN 1-870450-33-7, p150,
  12. ^ Davison, Carol Margaret; Simpson-Housley, Paul (1997). Bram Stoker's Dracula: sucking through the century, 1897-1997. Dundurn Press Ltd.. p. 310. ISBN 9781550022797. http://books.google.com/?id=brj7yfaBkPAC. "LaVey defines psychic vampires as "individuals who drain others of their vital energy... They fill no useful purpose in our lives, and are neither love objects nor true friends." 
  13. ^ Vampire Solstice DragonRising Publishing, ISBN 1 873 483 929
  14. ^ Energy Vampires Are Among Us by Dr Silvia Hartmann, 2009
  15. ^ DeNio Stephens, Holly (1997). "The Occult in Russia Today". In Glatzer Rosenthal, Bernice. The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pp. 468. ISBN 080148331X. http://books.google.com/?id=Kumg5iYYkWkC&pg=PA370&dq. 
  16. ^ Mark Benecke and Aleksandra Blak, 'Vampire Youth Subculture in New York City', presented as a conference paper at the Second World Dracula Congress (Poiana Brasov, Romania: 24–28 May 2000).
  17. ^ a b A. Asbjorn Jon, 'The Psychic Vampire and Vampyre Subculture', in Australian Folklore, 12 (2002), pp,143-148 (p.145) ISBN 1-86389-831-X
  18. ^ (Frost 1989, p. 31)

Further reading

External links