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.
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.
Psychic vampires proper fall into two main categories:
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.
For more information about psychic vampires, see the following:
Darkness of the Light
Nocturnal Visions
Psychic Vampires
Vampiric People's Resource Page
My Psi-Vampire Page
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.
Blood Vampires
Other Types of Vampires
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