Psychic Vampires or Psi-vampires
This is a multi-layered and somewhat conflicting category. The most
succinct way I can describe human living psychic vampires is the
following: psychic vampires are living people who feel a pronounced need
to enhance their natural state of being by drawing, absorbing, "draining"
or "feeding on" some kind of "energy". Most psychic vampires claim that
the kind of energy they require is life force, or "pranic energy", that is
to say, a specific type of energy produced by living things and the
biosphere as a whole. While this is the most common "energy" craved by
psychic vampires, other types of "energy" that are identified, and
differentiated from "pranic energy", include sexual energy, psychic
energy, emotional energy, magickal energy, negative energy, astral energy,
and atmospheric energy (for example, thunderstorms), and there are others
mentioned, as well. These "energies" are given conflicting and overlapping
definitions, however, and the explanations of what "energy" is, exactly,
and how the psychic vampire uses it tend to vary from one individual to
another. Most psychic vampires "feed" primarily from other human beings,
but a great many report being able to "feed" from non-human living things
and from other sources. In some cases, this is an emergency substitute,
but some psychic vampires attempt to "wean themselves" away from human
sources altogether for different reasons. Some psychic vampires hold (and
this is simply their opinion) that it is more "evolved" or advanced to
progress beyond feeding on humans. (See the section on Nonpersonal
Energy Hungerers.)
Some psychic vampires report an ability to absorb "energy" from
material sources, including fresh vegetables, rare meat and blood.
Although many psychic vampires have an interest in blood-drinking, they do
not seem to crave or lust for it as do blood vampires. It remains an open
question whether psychic vampires who have an interest in blood, but who
do not actually drink it, may not be reacting to the power of suggestion,
and feel interested in blood because they self-identify as vampires and on
some deep level associate vampires with blood. But this is a question that
psychic vampires themselves will need to puzzle out. (See Psi-Blood
Feeders for a discussion of psychic vampires who crave blood.)
Like blood vampires, psychic vampires feel that they must "feed" on the
energy they require on a regular basis, and many report physical feelings
of discomfort if they are denied access to a source. Symptoms of "energy
deprivation" include extreme fatigue, depression, mood swings, immune
system suppression with an increase in illnesses, uncontrollable
"draining" of non-targeted sources, negative reactions from others close
to the psychic vampire, insomnia and anxiety. Psychic vampires often
discuss methods of finding energy sources and "feeding" reliably and
harmlessly, and these methods vary to a high degree. I could not give a
fair representative sampling, but some examples include psychic vampires
who "feed" during sex, those who "feed" on large crowds, those who draw
energy from the natural world and visit parks or wilderness when "hungry",
and those who "feed" by finding people in highly energized states and
either calming or further provoking them.
Unlike blood vampirism, psychic vampirism may be diagnosed either
subjectively by the vampire or objectively by observers. Symptoms that one
is a psychic vampire oneself include mood swings, dizziness, alternations
between high energy and fatigue, headaches, a distinct feeling that one is
pulling or drawing energy or emotions from other people, and similar
feelings. But more and more people are being "diagnosed" as psychic
vampires by other self-defined psychic vampires, on the grounds of
numerous criteria. These include observed effects of the suspected psychic
vampire on others (fatigue or depression in the presence of the psychic
vampire, a sensation of phantom "tendrils" or attachments, a sensation
that something is being pulled or drawn out of the body or aura) and
direct psychic perception of the aura or energy field of the suspected
psychic vampire.
Psychic vampires are developing a completely independent subculture of
their own and have their own acknowledged leaders and their own
vocabulary. They are also developing a consensual agreement on what being
a psychic vampire feels like, both to the psychic vampire and to others
around him or her, especially psychically sensitive others. Some psychic
vampires identify what they call an "energy signature" that allows them to
interpret whether another person is a psychic vampire, as well as what
specific type they are and how they function. Such signatures are often
read and interpreted during direct contact over such media as online chat
or the telephone. Training methods adopted from modern magical traditions,
standard psychic development disciplines, meditative paths such as Taoism
and other sources are being introduced to help psychic vampires learn to
control their "feeding" and learn to "manipulate energy". There are an
increasing number of websites aimed specifically at psychic vampires and
their concerns.
Conscious psychic vampires are fully aware of what they
are and have identified as psychic vampires at least on some level. While
they may not be able to completely control their "draining" tendencies,
they do try, and seek methods of learning how to do so more effectively.
When they have achieved at least some feeling of mastery, they often offer
to teach and support other nascent psychic vampires by sharing what they
have learned. They tend to have strong and volatile personalities.
Unconscious psychic vampires do not understand what they
are, and tend to wander through life in a state of blissful ignorance or
denial. They may or may not be aware of the effect they have on others,
although they can see the results. Unconscious psychic vampires may
stumble across a vampire website or other forum and experience a
shattering moment of truth when it all clicks together. They may also be
"diagnosed" by conscious psychic vampires and urged to face what they are
and learn to control their tendencies. Of all vampires, unconscious
psychic vampires tend to be most noticeable to ordinary people, who see
them as clingy, attention-seeking, demanding, inconstant individuals. In
some cases, these assessments are not supported by actual behavior, but
are a materialist's rationalizations of the psychic perception of the
vampire's energy draining, for which the average person has no context.
Either way, unconscious psychic vampires do tend to have rocky and
difficult relationships, home lives and personal interactions until they
come to some kind of understanding of what they are.
Psi-Blood Feeders
During the past year, several vampire writers observed that the vast
majority of self-defined human living vampires in the online community
report both psychic vampire tendencies and a greater or lesser interest in
drinking blood. For some, psychic vampire energy feeding is a possible
substitute for blood-drinking; for others, the situation is the reverse.
There appears to be a continuum running through the middle area between
"pure" psychic vampires (psychic vampires with no craving to drink
blood, although they may have some interest in it or even be blood
fetishists) and "pure" blood vampires (blood vampires with no psychic
vampire tendencies that are perceptible to themselves or others, although
they may have psychic ability). HLV's falling within this continuum
do experience some degree of blood craving at the same time that they
experience definite psychic vampire tendencies. Whether these two
tendencies alternate in predominance or remain in balance with respect to
each other varies with the individual.
Issues faced by these psi-blood feeders are similar to those faced by
both blood-drinking and psychic vampires. Symptoms of blood/energy
deprivation are essentially the same as those of moderate, blood-craving
blood vampires and those of psychic vampires. Psi-blood vampires share
similar concerns related to finding "donors" or energy sources and benefit
from training programs designed to control psychic vampire abilities.