Psychic vampire
A psychic vampire is a person[1] or being[2] who feeds off the life force of other living creatures.[1] Sort of like a Jew, but fictional. Psychic vampires are represented in the occult beliefs of various cultures and in fiction.[3] As of yet there is no medical recognition or scientific proof supporting this purported phenomenon, although there was a recent[when?] scholarly survey done of people claiming to be vampires, either psychic or sanguinarian (blood drinkers) that showed anecdotal evidence of a higher than normal incidence certain illnesses and conditions such as anemia, fibromyalgia, and hemophilia. Whether or not they actually suffer from such conditions were not evaluated by medical professionals.[4]
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.
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.[5][6]
In mythology
The concept of psychic vampirism appears in the mythology of many cultures, just as do blood-drinking vampires. Regions where belief in psychic vampires is common include Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and rural South America. Some North American Indian cultures, such as the Hopi, also share this belief.[citation needed]
Modern interpretations
The concept of both 'vampire' and homologously 'psychic vampire' can be interpreted to represent the issue of social parasitism applied to spiritually or emotionally weak persons; those who appear to "drain" strength from others.[citation needed]
Dion Fortune wrote of psychic parasitism in relation to vampirism as early as 1930, in her book, Psychic Self-Defense.[7][8] 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.[9]
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 as a necessity, to maintain their youth, beauty and vitality, lest they wither away.
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"[10] 2006 as a metaphor for processes of actually existing energy exchanges.[11]
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.[12]
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[13] and A. Asbjorn Jon.[14] Jon has noted that, like the traditional psychic vampires, those of vampire subculture believe that they 'prey upon life-force or 'pranic' energy'.[14] Jon also noted that the group has been loosely linked to the Goth subculture.
Vampire Houses
Thanks to the internet and the modern new age and pagan movements, religious and spiritual views that are very alternative to mainstream views pop up all over the place. Often these people of abstract views like to form together and make groups. ([15] ). Some of these groups have formed cult like organisations with high entry fees and a social hierarchy system such as the church of the vampire and the temple of the vampire. Many of these groups have just become friends that feel they have something in common, but a few have gone on to try and be a positive influence on the community and to give back and improve the image that vampires have obtained, like House Kheperu. ([16]) Many of these groups have come to call themselves covens like their wiccan brothers and sister, but a term that remains a vampire one is the idea of a vampire "house".
The Vampire houses often to organise themselves to be like family to one another without too many cult induction methods and interesting relations develop. This shows us that while the predominant material when it comes to psychic vampires is based on defending oneself against people unaware of what they are doing, there is a lot of people that are aware and cannot change that about themselves. These people are trying to turn that in to a good thing and numerous books are publish expressing this vampirism from a more morally aware point of view. Such as Michelle Belanger's Psychic Vampire Codex and Raven Kaldera's The Ethical Psychic Vampire.
Related concepts
A related form of psychic vampirism is known as sexual vampirism, where one is said to be able to feed off sexual energy.[17]
See also
Footnotes
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Robinson, Eugene (1986). "Anton LaVey". Birth of Tragedy. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ (Frost 1989, pp. 16–18)
- ^ Joseph Laycock (2009). Vampires Today: The Truth about Modern Vampirism. Praeger Publisher. ISBN 9780313364723.
- ^ Watch out for energy vampires, by Dr. Judith Orloff, CNN, March 11, 2008
- ^ O'Farrell, Peggy (23 September 2004). "'Energy Addict' puts positive spin on life with nutrition and exercise". Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
- ^ Fortune, Dion (2001) [1930], Psychic self-defense, Samuel Weiser, ISBN 9781578631506, OCLC 44926949
- ^ Charles and Collins, Carr; The Story of Dion Fortune, Thoth Books, 1998, ISBN 1-870450-33-7, p150,
- ^ Davison, Carol Margaret; Simpson-Housley, Paul (1997), Bram Stoker's Dracula: sucking through the century, 1897-1997, Dundurn Press Ltd., p. 310, ISBN 9781550022797,
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.
- ^ Vampire Solstice DragonRising Publishing, ISBN 1 873 483 929
- ^ Energy Vampires Are Among Us by Dr Silvia Hartmann, 2009
- ^ DeNio Stephens, Holly (1997). "The Occult in Russia Today". In Glatzer Rosenthal, Bernice (ed.). The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 468. ISBN 080148331X.
- ^ 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).
- ^ 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
- ^ Konstantino's Vampires the Occult truth
- ^ Michelle Belanger's Psychic Vampire Codex
- ^ (Frost 1989, p. 31)
References
- Frost, Brian J. (1989), The monster with a thousand faces: guises of the vampire in myth and literature, Popular Press, ISBN 9780879724597