The Truth About Astral Vampires

[Author's Note: At University (in the early 2000's), I took a Sociology class on the myth and symbolism of Witchcraft, and as part of the class, I ended up writing a paper on the mythology and folklore of vampires, which then lead me into a paid gig writing vampire articles for a while. So I've decided to share these articles of vampire myth and folklore here ~ C ]

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Astral vampires are a strange breed that I've learned about just recently. They're kind of like dead vampires (but, you ask, aren't vampires already dead?! yes, but this is like a ghost of a vampire). Astral vampires are invisible. They are like an evil entity trapped between the physical world and the, well, astral plane.

I do not know if these beings are actually 'vampires' as we know them, but they do attack humans like the vampires we know through books and films. The astral vampire is a 'spirit' of a vampire and seems most closely associated with psi or psychic vampires since they do not actually psychically attack people. A person who is a psi vampire sucks or drains energy from people and things instead of blood (therefore no physical marks like teeth marks are left). How they usually feed is done by imagining and focusing on psychic 'tendrils' that go towards a target and drain them. It is said when psi vampires die, they usually try to find another host (i.e. another body to inhabit). This is kind of like a form of reincarnation I guess). If they do not find a host within a short period (such as 24 hours) they are 'doomed' to spend eternity as an astral vampire, on the astral plane.

How do astral vampires prey? Well, for one thing, they may already be living in a house, even before someone moves in! And if you go to bed at night and wake up feeling drained and tired (and I don't just mean because you stayed up late the night before and indulged too much) that possibly means you've had an astral vampire pay you a visit in the night! There can also be groups of these types of vampires that feed on people while they sleep, but they can only take as much as they need, and not so much out of the person that they can't function the next day. Because of this, they don't feed on a person every night but skip a night or two for that person to replenish their energy.

How astral vampires get this needed energy from a 'victim' is they either 'stand' beside the bed, or 'float' over the top of their energy source. Sometimes, depending on how strong they are, can be further away from the bedside but still somewhere in the room.

When these 'vampires' (I actually hesitate to call them vampires because they are obviously some kind of malignant spirit but not necessarily a vampire) are beside or over a person, if that person is awake, they claim to 'feel' a presence (sometimes like someone sitting on their chest and that they cannot move - this is also referred to as the 'Old Hag Phenomenon' or a 'hag attack' which was associated with witches in the 17th and 18th century but which is something that is quite common today and that most people have probably had an experience of this sort but has not mentioned it to anyone for fear of being thought crazy. There are certain populations (such as people in Newfoundland, Canada) for some reason who experience this phenomenon quite frequently. Some young adults have experienced it more than once. Some believe that this phenomenon is attributed to 'lucid dreaming' but if so, how could so many people in different countries all over the world, be having the same kind of dream? Some people can 'see' some kind of shadow or form in the room when the vampire is present. As well, some people claim to see the face of someone they know in the vampire while it is feeding on them. This may be to make sense of something that does not make sense to the person, as it is not a natural and everyday occurrence (but as I just mentioned, it may be a 'natural' occurrence because so many people have experienced this). Ascribing to the vampiric creature the face of someone familiar to the person makes what is happening a bit easier to cope with - instead of being 'attacked' by an invisible, faceless entity.

All in all, I think the astral vampire is one of the strangest types of creature to exist (if indeed it does). This may even be a modern occurrence and may be becoming more frequent in today's society than throughout the ages.

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Check out some more of my vampire lore below: