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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] As of yet there is no medical recognition or scientific proof supporting this purported phenomenon, although there was a 2007 scholarly survey carried out upon people claiming to be vampires, either psychic or sanguinarian (blood drinkers) that showed anecdotal evidence (which is always highly suspect) 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]
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]
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.[6][7]
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, the Balkans and rural South America. Some North American Indian cultures, such as the Hopi, also share this belief.
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.
Dion Fortune wrote of psychic parasitism in relation to vampirism as early as 1930, in her book, Psychic Self-Defense.[8][9] 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.[10]
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"[11] 2006 as a metaphor for processes of actually existing energy exchanges.[12]
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.[13]
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[14] and A. Asbjorn Jon.[15] Jon has noted that, like the traditional psychic vampires, those of vampire subculture believe that they 'prey upon life-force or 'pranic' energy'.[15] Jon also noted that the group has been loosely linked to the Goth subculture.
Vampire "Houses", cults and religions
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. [16]. Some of these groups have formed organisations such as the church of the vampire and the Temple of the Vampire.
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.[17] It has been suggested that Succubi may be defined as being such beings, but since they are generally defined as being demonic in nature, this connection is tenuous in nature.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/23/AR2008112302158.html A Vampire's Life? It's Really Draining
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Robinson, Eugene (November 1986). "Anton LaVey". Birth of Tragedy. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
- ↑ Template:Harv
- ↑ Joseph Laycock (2009). Vampires Today: The Truth about Modern Vampirism. Praeger Publisher. ISBN 9780313364723.
- ↑ Albert J. Bernstein Emotional Vampires: Dealing with People Who Drain You Dry (2002)
- ↑ Watch out for energy vampires
- ↑ {{cite news|url=http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/09/23/tem_energy23.html 'Energy Addict' puts positive spin on life with nutrition and exercise]
- ↑ 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,
- ↑ (1997) Bram Stoker's Dracula: sucking through the century, 1897-1997. Dundurn Press Ltd.. “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. The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pp. 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).
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 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
- ↑ Template:Harv
Further reading
- Frost, Brian J. (1989). The monster with a thousand faces: guises of the vampire in myth and literature. Popular Press. ISBN 9780879724597