A psychic vampire is a person[1] or being[2] who feeds 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 scientific or medical evidence supporting the existence of psychic vampires, or even the bodily or psychic energy they allegedly drain.[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, energy eater 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[]
American author Albert Bernstein uses the phrase "emotional vampire" for people with various personality disorders who are often considered to drain emotional energy from others.[5][6]
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. [7][8]
Dion Fortune wrote of psychic parasitism in relation to vampirism as early as 1930 in her book, Psychic Self-Defense.[9][10] Fortune considered psychic vampirism a combination of psychic and psychological pathology, and distinguished between what she considered to be true psychic vampirism and mental conditions that produce similar symptoms. For the latter, she named folie à 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.[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]
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.[15] A mythological example of a sexual vampire would be a succubus or a rokurokubi.
See also[]
- Asura
- Huli Jing
- Obake
- Odic force
- Pranayama
- Rakshasa
- Succubus
- Vampire lifestyle
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 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
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Robinson, Eugene (November 1986). "Anton LaVey". Birth of Tragedy. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
- ↑ (Frost 1989, pp. 16–18)
- ↑ Radford, Benjamin. "Vampires Among Us: From Bats to Psychics". Live Science. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ↑ Bernstein, Albert (2000). Emotional Vampires. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-135259-8.
- ↑ Borchard, Therese. "5 Emotional Vampires and How to Combat Them". Psych Central.
- ↑ 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 978-1-57863-150-6. 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 978-1-55002-279-7.
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.
- ↑ 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. p. 468. ISBN 0-8014-8331-X.
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 A. Asbjorn Jon, 'The Psychic Vampire and Vampyre Subculture', in Australian Folklore, 12 (2002), pp. 143–148 (p.145) ISBN 1-86389-831-X
- ↑ (Frost 1989, p. 31)
Further reading[]
- Frost, Brian J. (1989). The monster with a thousand faces: guises of the vampire in myth and literature. Popular Press. ISBN 978-0-87972-459-7.