Vampyres and Vampirism
I think that in the years that I have been writing Diario de un Brujo, I never touched on the subject of vampirism and vampires, perhaps because I always considered it a complex subject to be treated without falling into the banal, or the absurd, but I think the time has come to talk a little about the subject.
To begin with, this will be an article that may or may not have continuity over time, that is, we can talk about it again later, we will see how the topic evolves, but initially here we are going to talk about vampirism from the magical perspective/initiation, and although I will mention different groups of vampires, I will not delve into some of these, first because I cannot speak about what I have not experienced myself, and it would be disrespectful both to those who read me and also to those who do others types of practices or are otherwise identified. Fortunately, we are in the information age; therefore, for those who want to know more about other kinds of vampires, there are always books that talk about them.
The categories that I will not delve into are the vampire lifestyle, that is, people who wear certain types of attire, usually have fang implants, wear contact lenses, etc. These are usually admirers and identify with a culture for its aesthetics and a series of issues, many have nothing to do with the esoteric world, and honestly, I do not have much to say about it, beyond what I have seen some other times and I only keep the memory that they have very interesting outfits and are people with a great sense of aesthetics. The next group that I am not going to talk about is sanguineous vampires, that is, those who drink blood, and I am not talking about people who do it illegally, I am talking about those who do it as a private practice between two or more people of a consented way, once again, I have neither the experience nor it is part of my practices, so beyond what I have read, both in books and in forums, I have nothing to add.
My focus in this essay will be on two types of vampires: The Psychic and the Energetic, which I am already saying are two different categories and here I will try to explain why, even though it may seem the same, there are big differences that they make them different things, with different results. As always, here we are talking about complex issues, that even in the world of the occult people do not usually agree on, but as I always say, you have to have an open mind, not be dogmatic, the truth is not one and it is as relative as people have had an experience in this regard, this is subjective and it is necessary to understand that perhaps we see them in one way and another sees it in another, in any case, the plurality makes the matter rich.
It is worth clarifying that not all people who identify with vampirism or see themselves as vampires do magic, or are part of the Left Path many do not and it is another way of interpreting things. Here I am going to focus on vampirism as a magical practice and as a path to apotheosis/self-deification; all other possible views and interpretations are left out.
Having said that, I think it is necessary to start talking about psychic vampires, usually, these are people who unconsciously tend to absorb the emotional energy of other people, and there are a lot of models of psychic vampires, many are charismatic and charming, but being with them for long periods produces a strong feeling of tiredness, it is common to feel drained by these people, to the point that we don’t feel like doing anything, we just want to sleep and not much else. When a person is exposed for a long time to this type of psychic vampire, it usually has consequences, many people get sick, or look bad for a long time. Some psychic vampires are not within our plane, I am talking about creatures from the astral plane that can adhere to the person’s auric field and feed on it, the effects are usually even more disturbing if a long time passes. This last phenomenon happens for various reasons, usually, it is because the person is sensitive to the energies that are on the other side of the veil and does not know it, or does not know how to handle these abilities, is exposed directly to this and is » hits” something, the other option could be that the person has been “playing” with the occult without knowing what they are doing, for example using an Ouija board, another option would be that the person is under the influence of a psychic attack or curse. In any case, for everything there is a form of liberation, in the case of psychic vampires, we can do protection rituals if we have to deal with the person, we can create energy shields around us so that they cannot absorb anything from us, in others cases, there are specific rituals that can be performed, these are part of the necessary psychic defense that any magician or aspiring magician should know. A simple book that deals very well with the subject is “The Magical Shield: Protection Magic to Ward off Negative Forces.” by Frater U.D.
Now, some people do know their condition as psychic vampires, some books have been written on the subject, and many allude to having a kind of condition, an energetic imbalance from birth. There is honestly nothing to prove that this is so, beyond the self-perception and subjective experience of these people. I think some people have a more natural predisposition for some issues, and a certain facility for others, but that neither gives them a gift nor an energetic anomaly as some of these people suggest.
Then we meet the energy Vampyres, those who decide to become Vampyres, work with Vampyre magic, and make this their initiatory/magical path. Once again, there is no single truth about this, and although the different authors and exponents of the matter share many things, it seems that none wants to agree with the other, not to mention the groups and orders, all claim to have the truth or be the «authentic» and the others mere copies. We cannot be surprised by this, the same situation has been happening in other branches of the occult and magic, but in the end, if the experience is personal and individual, what matters are the results, the authenticity that many of these people mention is only a facade.
The question of energetic/magical vampirism is an extremely controversial thing, even among practitioners of the left path; the controversy comes around the ethical questioning of these practices. For many, a Vampyre is a being without any code who will try to drain you as soon as he can, and in this life, I have had the pleasure of meeting many Vampyres, and I have to say, in many cases it is true. I remember two people I met years ago, both magicians, both active practitioners of vampirism, I invited them to my house to chat and spend the afternoon, and one of them made the brazen attempt to absorb energy from those present, and without taboo, he said it as if he asked for a glass of water, the other, was more discreet, with whom I had dealings later, although he also did his things. Was what this person did ethical? It depends on the eyes of who, the magical ethics within the Sinister Path, something that I will delve into in a future entry, are relative to each person. Perhaps for him and for his way of dealing with his in life, because he did what he had to do, in my case, as a colleague, I see it as disrespectful.
Many groups and writers on magical vampires try to establish an ethical code in their practices, for example, Michel W. Ford, says: «The Vampyre should not feed on other Magicians/Vampyres» this is his ethical appreciation in what he teaches, Don Webb says: «It is better to exchange energy than just take energy,» here we see another statement where there is an ethical idea of how to deal with vampirism. Of course, these are just some ideas, others simply completely ignore ethics and argue that man is a predator by nature, and following a Vampyre paradigm proposes just that, feeding on the other, without rules or restrictions.
But what is a vampire? Once again I allow myself to take Webb’s definition that tells us: «A vampire is a self-created being energetically,» a very interesting definition if we take into account that the Vampyre works with energy, takes it, transforms it, he manipulates it, directs it. In turn, the vampire seeks to achieve immortality; of course, here we are talking about the transcendence of postmortem consciousness and not physical immortality, although I have heard rumors of an organized group of vampires who have a great interest in cryogenics and quest for corporeal immortality. I am not aware of this, so I can neither affirm nor deny that it is so, but I suppose that with so many possible interpretations of one thing, it is also possible that there are people who want to achieve this. What I do know is that the energy Vampyre uses his power to achieve as much as possible of his longevity in this life. But continuing and delving deeper into the question of what an energy Vampyre is, we can speak in general that they are magicians, who mostly follow the left path, and who have found in magical vampirism a path for their personal development and evolutionary, both on a mundane and spiritual level. Here the archetype of the Vampyre is used as a model to follow, seeking to awaken its powers. Once again we have to make an exception here, many times we find fantastic things that have to be seen rationally, for example, the Vampyre can be made invisible, it should not be taken, it is not that the person disappears, but rather manages to manipulate his energy to go completely unnoticed in a crowd or the eyes of a single person, the same can be done in reverse, the Vampyre handles glamour and can enchant or hypnotize with his gaze, once again, the Vampyre can project energy onto a person and through his psychic/energetic abilities he can produce a kind of «hallucination» in the other, causing him to temporarily see something or feel something, something that seems real even though it is not. They also use their voice to convince and manipulate, that is, they use language to perform what is known as lesser magic. Other abilities are purely astral, such as shapeshifting, which is, transforming into an animal, flying, or entering other people’s dreams, flying in through the window and having sex with someone and feeding on them, or building entire spaces in the astral. For everything, you need to be logical and use reasoning.
Because this is a choice, and the Vampyre goes through an initiation ritual that turns them, there isn’t much room here for fantasies of immortal beings who are Vampyres from thousands of years ago or tales of the like. Once again, you have to be very careful with this, since we are talking about a mythological creature that lends itself to all kinds of crazy things.
Like any magical path, you have to study a lot, and above all, you have to practice a lot. I consider that people who want to work with this form of magic and make this their initiatory/spiritual path must have great maturity, it is not a path for beginners, nor is it for very young people, some experience is required before magic as in life. In my opinion, ethics in this type of trial is an essential thing, I don’t think everything goes and silly absorbing energy from anyone in front of us, not only is it unethical, it’s stupid. First, people do not usually have a large flow of energy, when a Vampyre «feeds» on someone, what is done is to violate the person’s auric field, it is most similar to a psychic attack, the person usually feels bad after this, it is not that there are no consequences for the other. Second, draining someone’s energy can also be a problem for the vampire, learning the art of energy alchemy takes years of practice, so taking energy from someone who is physically or mentally ill is not clean energy, What do you think is going to happen to you? This is like having sex in an orgy and not using protection. Not to mention that if one tries to do this with a person who is resistant to attack or is otherwise an occult practitioner and knows the bare minimum of psychic/magical defense, not only will the Vampyre not be able to feed, they will take a hit. This is why it is necessary to have experience and, above all, an ethical work code. Which? Well, the one that one believes is convenient for one, and above all, assuming that our actions have consequences, but when one is self-responsible for what he does, we already know it in advance.
I end this essay by saying, energetic/magical vampirism is a very powerful initiation pathway, and in the right hands it can be incredible. For those who want to know more, I recommend that you buy Don Webb’s book «Energy Magick of the Vampyre» which is an excellent manual and a great starting point for those who want to work this paradigm from a coherent, ethical place, and in perfect harmony with the Left-Hand Path.
Daemon Barzai