Psychic Vampirism

Among the most popular theories to explain the persistency and universality of vampire myths, the idea of psychic vampirism traced the belief in the vampire to various occult, psychic, or paranormal phenomena. Such explanations have their origin in folktales that identified the vampiric entity as a ghostly figure rather than a resuscitated body-or even further back to ancient times and the earliest vampirelike figures who were described as evil gods or demons, such as the Greek lamiai. Such entities were closely related to the medieval incubus/succubus.

Psychic explanations of vampirism emerged in the nineteenth-century on the heels of psychical research, a scientific discipline that assigned itself the task of investigating experiences formerly assigned to the realm of the occult or supernatural. It attempted to discern which experiences were illusional, which had ready psychological explanations, and which were paranormal or psychic. Psychical research borrowed many terms from spiritualism and occultism as a part of its early working language. While vampirism was not the most popular topic for discussion among spiritualists and occultists, it appeared occasionally and seemed to need an explanation from the perspective of the occult worldview.

Astral Vampirism: Among ritual magicians and theosophists, vampirism was explained as due to the astral body. It was their understanding that each person had not only a physical body, but a second body, usually invisible, which was often seen separating from the physical body at the moment of death. This astral body accounted for such phenomena as ghosts and out-of-body experiences. Henry Steel Olcott, the first president of the Theosophical Society, speculated that occasionally when a person was buried, the person was not really dead, but in a catatonic or trance-like state, still barely alive. Citing the experience of yogis who could slow their breathing to an indiscernible rate and survive without air for many weeks, Olcott surmised that a person could survive for long periods in the grave. In the meantime, the person would send his or her astral double to suck the blood or life force from the living and thus gain nourishment. This explanation, to Olcott, seemed to explain why a body that had been buried for weeks or months would be dug up and appear as if it had recently gorged itself on blood. It was his belief that the blood or life force swallowed by the astral form passed immediately to the organs of the physical body lying in the tomb, and then the astral body quickly returned to that corpse.

Olcott also commented on the practice of burning the corpse of a suspected vampire. He argued that vampirism, and the possibility of premature burial and vampirism, made cremation the preferable means of disposing of the physical remains of the deceased. Cremation severed the link between the astral and physical body and prevented the possibility of vampirism. Olcott's original observations, including his preference for cremation, were later expanded on by other prominent theosophical writers such as Charles W. Leadbeater, Arthur E. Powell, and Franz Hartmann.

Hartmann traced the astral vampirism theory back to the alchemist Paracelsus (1493-1541), though Olcott and his mentor, H. P. Blavatsky, seemed to have developed the theosophical position directly from the work of pioneer psychical researcher Z. J. Pierart. Hartmann, who related several vampire stories in the pages of the Occult Review, developed his own variation of astral vampirism in his theory of an "astral tumour." He saw the vampire as a force field of subhuman intelligence that acted out of instinct rather than any rational thought. He differed from Olcott by suggesting that the vampire was malignant, but since it lacked any intelligence, was not morally evil.

Two modern versions of the astral vampirism hypothesis have been articulated. In the 1960s parapsychologist Scott Rogo, based upon broad reading in both vampire and psychic literature and his attention to some of the more exotic psychic occurrences, posed the definition of a vampire as "a certain kind of haunting which results in an abnormal loss of vitality through no recognized channel." Vampirism was not due to a living agent, but to a disassociated portion of the human that remains intact and capable of some degree of human consciousness after death. This remnant eventually dissipated, but that disintegration was postponed by its ability to take life from the living.

Martin V. Riccardo, founder of the Vampire Studies network, suggested that astral vampirism may account for many of the reports of vampirism. He focused, however, upon the activity of individuals who sent their astral bodies to attack their sleeping neighbors. Riccardo cited a detailed case reported by occultist Dion Fortune, author of a volume on the prevention of various negative occult experiences, Psychic Self-Defense. Fortune discovered that some of her neighbors shared a nightmare attack attributed to the same person. Fortune confronted the person, who admitted to having magical powers and to harming others.

Vampiric Entities: Among the "I AM" Ascended Masters groups that have grown out of the original work of Guy Ballard, a somewhat different emphasis on the vampire theme has been evident. These groups posited the idea that over the centuries, humankind created a large number of what were termed "mass entities." Through calling up negative realities, thinking about them, and feeling violently about them, they called these mass entities into existence. Every time a person gave attention to one of these mass entities, it drew strength from that individual and became more powerful in altering the course of humanity. The legion of mass entities went under names like war, pestilence, and fear.

These mass entities acted like vampires and, as one of the Masters speaking to the members of the Bridge to Freedom asserted, it was the task of those related to the Ascended Masters and their cause to dissolve the "vampire activity of the mass humanly created entities." The work of dissolution was accomplished through decreeing, the particular process of prayer utilized by the "I AM"-related groups.

The Church Universal and Triumphant under the leadership of its Ascended Masters Messenger Elizabeth Clare Prophet, identified a number of disincarnate mass entities, including drug and tobacco entities, insanity entities, sex entities, and entities aligned against the church. One set of entities was termed Halloween entities, which included the horror entity named Dracula (female) or Draculus (male). The church has given its members a ritual of exorcism of these entities.

Magnetic Vampirism: The most common form of psychic vampirism, however, did not involve an astral body. Magnetic vampirism was the sapping of life force by one person from another. The idea of magnetic vampirism was based on the commonly reported experience of a loss of vitality caused by simply being in the presence of certain people. Hartmann referred to psychic sponges-people who unconsciously vampirized every sensitive person with whom they come into contact. He believed such a person was possessed by a vampiric entity who continually drained both the energy of its possessed host and all of his or her acquaintances. Scott Rogo, author of In-depth Analysis of the Vampire Legend, cited the case of clairvoyant Mollie Flancher who, because of some unrelated condition, was kept under careful observation for many years. It was noted that any animals that she attempted to keep as pets soon died, and those close to her speculated that she had sapped them of their psychic energy. Anton LaVey (1930-1997), founder of the Church of Satan, taught church members about psychic vampiriam and how to avoid it as a key element in the Church's ego development program.

"Address by Believed Archangel Zadkiel." The Bridge 7, 7 (October 1958): 16-23. Fortune, Dion. Psychic Self-Defense. London: Aquarian Press, 1952. 212 pp.
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LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon, 1969. "Names of Disincarnate Entities and Possessing Demons." Livingston, MT: Church Universal and Triumphant, 1987. 2-page leaflet.
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Powell, Arthur E. The Astral Body and Other Astral Phenomena. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1927, 1973. 265 pp.
---. The Etheric Double and Allied Phenomena. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1925, 1969. Ravensdale, Tom, and James Morgan. The Psychology of Witchcraft. New York: Arco Publishing Company, 1974. 200 pp.
Rogo, Scott. "In-depth Analysis of the Vampire Legend." Fate (September 1968): 70-77.