May 21, 2005:

Unintentional psychic vampires fit two important criteria. First, for a few possible reasons, they do not produce enough of their own lifeforce or psychic energy to feel well or, in some cases, survive. Second, they unconsciously develop and use the ability to take energy from others to gain the amount of lifeforce they need (or their bodies think they need).

Konstantinos, Vampires: the Occult Truth, pp. 138-9.

Konstantinos suggests that unintentional psychic vampirism is commonly caused by fear in face of physical illness. Someone has cancer; in their panic they begin unconsciously draining from those around them the life energy which they instinctively believe they require for their own survival. This kind of "attack" commonly happens during sleep, but is possible at any time. Additionally there are certain flavors of dark occult adepts who intentionally cultivate similar practices seeking a kind of pathetic post-death spiritual continuance. These however are rare, while the unconscious version is not uncommon.

Defense is simple, involving strengthening the ethereal body against minor external assaults. Similarly to many other "magical" practices this is done in the imagination, typically following one or more ritual sequences which prepare the operator's consciousness.

While Konstantinos focuses on physical illness as most common cause, it seems reasonable to generalize to emotional illness also. The root would be the same: panic in face of dimly-perceived inadequacy. This would offer an occult explanation of many kinds of predatory personalities, particularly, I think, those who are addicted to the control and abuse of others.

What interests me in this logic is the observation that many victims of this kind of "drainage" become over time resigned or even committed to the relationship. An occult theory of codependency in general, of Stockholm Syndrome in particular.

These relationships must be so much more difficult for family members than for lovers, since family members often believe themselves to be unfree. Someone I love very much has this kind of relationship with her abusive sister. All her life this victim has been exhausted. She walks slowly, as if carefully preserving the last trickle of juice from a nearly-drained battery. She wants to rest all the time. I used to think it was junk food and lack of exercise but now I wonder whether these bad habits aren't symptoms rather than causes, where the underlying cause has been the slow drip of life energy from herself to her dominating sibling. My father's children showed the same signs, as do many who are "depressed" in the everyday sense of listless, tired, down, and unfocused.

I had a similar experience. In my case it was even semi-conscious. I imagined I was contributing my "life energy" willingly, as a gift, to nurture a beloved through a dark period in her life. Now I wonder in retrospect if that wasn't the classic Stockholm self-delusion, where the core of the relationship had always involved involuntary energy exchange which eventually became so debilitating that the relationship had to end. Once by my choice, in "self-defense"; once by her choice, when she felt — unconsciously — that there was nothing more to drain. At which moment I promptly collapsed.

This thinking supports the view that evil results from fear. It also supports the view that evil results from narcissism, since these "vampires" would unconsciously imagine they have the right to what doesn't belong to them. Either way, these are predatory relationships.

Does Konstantinos' view that defense is simple apply to codependency? Probably not. Within a relationship based on dominance, the movement toward self-defense would almost certainly be perceived by the "vampire" as threatening. There would probably be an immediate escalation. What would happen then? The outcome would depend, I'm guessing, on the energy level of the victim and her willingness to fight. Ultimately, I think, the victim will have to end the relationship.

That's not easy. For me it required years. The connection persisted over a whole period of my life, retarding recovery from my collapse. At last I broke free via a shamanic ritual called "soul retrieval". Today I speculate that the lost "soul fragment" acted as an open pipe, facilitating drainage without my knowledge. As the ritual concluded I felt better immediately. Remarkably, the person I'm thinking of contacted me not long after, after years of separation. I think she missed her energy supply.

Note also the parallels between Konstantinos' descriptions of vampiristic phenomena and UFO literature. The malevolent vampiric entity on p. 168 even uses the word "communion" to describe the relationship between its group of entities and the victim. If the victim in that story were to undergo hypnotic memory retrieval, would he see surrounding his bed a group of small, gray-skinned creatures with large lidless eyes?