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Raven Williamson
Vampires- info reposted here from a forum discussion.

* Posted by Raven Williamson on October 7, 2009 at 11:48am in The Vampires Lair

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DISCLAIMER: This article is presented as information about real vampires for educational
purposes. The information presented in this is article should not used as a checklist to determine
if someone is a real vampire or not. Having any of the qualities described within this article does
not make someone a real vampire.
All other explanations (i.e., medical, psychological, environmental,etc.) should be explored before
assuming that one is a real vampire.
Also, the information presented in this article is general in nature, and does not go into any
details. Further research into any specific topics is encouraged by the author.

Real Vampires?

What is a real vampire? What are the different type of vampires and their differences?

This article originally started out as a response to someone asking those very questions in a
discussion group that I am a member of.
These questions are frequently asked in many different discussion groups by many different
people, usually by those that are new to the vampire community. Depending on where one asks
these questions
or to whom one asks these questions, one will get many different answers. The answers I will
give are my own understanding and my own opinion based on my own personal research.

There are often discussions about mythical/fictional vampires that most are already familiar with
from myths, books, movies, television and role playing games. There are also sometimes
discussions about energy/astral beings (which do not have corporeal forms) and creatures(such
as demons) with vampiric qualities, however such beings and creatures are not considered to be
true vampires. In actuality, there
is only one type of vampire: real vampires. Real vampires are individuals (mortal living humans)
that have a genuine need for life force energies from outside sources because their bodies either
consume energy too quickly or do not produce sufficient life force energy to sustain them.
Real vampires are then further classified by their feeding methods, but some will say that the
different feeding methods are different types of real vampires.

"Types" of Vampires

Some will say that there are two main different methods of feeding on life force energy; sanguine
and psi; and that all other forms of feeding are subcategories or specializations of psi feeding.
Others will say
that each feeding method is a different form of feeding, hence different "types" of vampires.

Sanguine vampires (or sanguinarians) are vampires who feed by drinking blood. However, it is
not the blood itself that they are feeding on.
It is the life force energy contained within the blood. Blood drinking is arguably the most potent
form of feeding on life force energy, and many sanguinarians can thrive for many weeks from a
single feeding.
(A single feeding is often about an ounce or two of blood taken from a willing donor.)
Sanguinarians often describe blood drinking as a very fulfilling, very powerful and somewhat
intoxicating experience. It also tends to be a rather intimate form of feeding.

Psi (or psy) vampires are vampires that feed psychically on life force energies. Psi feeding (in any
form) can be done from an individual (most often a willing donor) or from the ambient energies of
a group or crowd. However, psi feeding can also be done from a person without the person
realizing that they are being fed from, although many may consider it to be unethical to do so.
Generally though, the person being fed from is not harmed by the feeding in any way. It should be
noted that there is no difference between a psi vampire and a psy vampire, other than the
spelling. As for the difference in spellings, the only conclusion I have been able to reach is that
psi is an abbreviation of psionic, while psy is an abbreviation of psychic.
However both terms, psionic and psychic, refer to psychic phenomena.
Psi vampires used to be referred to as psychic vampires, but the field of behavioral psychology
has co-opted the term psychic vampire to describe a person who has a psychological need for
attention
and will do whatever they can to get that attention from anyone and everyone, leaving those that
interact with them feeling drained. Psi vampires avoid using the term psychic vampire to
differentiate themselves from the behavioral psychology psychic vampires. Some will also refer to
psi vampires as pranic vampires, derived from the term prana, a sanskrit term literally translated
as life force energy.

Empathic vampires are vampires who feed on emotional life force energies from the emotions of
people. There are those that will say that vampires that feed on negative emotional energies
(anger, fear, etc.) are negative/chaotic vampires and are a subcategory/specialization of empathic
vampires.
Others will say that negative/chaos vampires are separate from empathic vampires. The reason
is that empathic vampires will usually feed on whatever emotions a person is feeling without
necessarily causing those emotions.
However, often negative/chaos vampires will cause situations where negative emotions and
chaotic energies will be stimulated and then feed off of those energies.

Sexual vampires are vampires who feed on the life force energies generated from having sex,
especially the excess energies generated at the moment of orgasm. They can do so psychically
and/or from
bodily fluids. Female sexual vampires are sometimes referred to as succubi (singularly,
succubus), and male sexual vampires are sometime referred to as incubi (singularly, incubus).
Some will also refer to
sexual vampires as tantric vampires. Others will refer to sexual vampires as pranic vampires.
There is sometimes debate within the vampire community if referring to sexual vampires as
pranic vampires is correct or not as there are some within the vampire community that refer to psi
vampires as pranic
vampires, which could lead to some confusion when talking about pranic vampires. Those that
support referring to sexual vampires as pranic vampires argue that pranic energies and prana are
two different things, and that pranic energies are energies related to sex while prana is just life
force energies.
There are those that think the use of the labels tantric and pranic in reference to sexual vampires
is an attempt by some within the vampire community at political correctness who feel that the
term sexual vampire is derogatory and/or offensive or simply think that tantric and pranic "sound"
better than sexual.
It is also possible that those who use tantric or pranic when talking about sexual vampires are
doing so to differentiate them from any link to behavioral psychology which seems to also be co-
opting the term sexual vampire to describe a person who has a psychological need for attention
(much like a psychic vampire) through sex.

Soul vampires are vampires that are able to feed directly off the energy of a person's soul. As a
result of soul feeding, soul vampires will sometimes gain some or all of the abilities of the person
they are
feeding from. Soul vampires will also sometimes receive memories, thoughts and desires of the
person that they are feeding from. Soul feeding is a very intimate form of feeding, even more so
than sexual
and sanguine feeding. Soul vampires are also sometimes referred to as soul devourers.

Elemental vampires are vampires that are able to feed on the life force energies of the elements;
earth, wind, fire, and water. Some will say that elemental vampires are elementalists who are able
to
manipulate elemental energies and then convert those energies into consumable life force
energies. Others will say that elemental vampires feed directly from elemental life force energies.
There are also those that will say that vampires who feed on life force energies from plants and
animals are also elemental vampires. However, there are those that distinguish such vampires as
nature vampires.

Another method of feeding often considered a subcategory or specialization of elemental feeding

is electrical feeding; the indirect feeding on energies in electrical fields and lightning. Others will
distinguish such vampires as electrical vampires.

Astral vampires are vampires that are able to travel through the astral plane and feed off of the
life force energies of other entities within the astral plane, and/or they are able to materialize in
astral form and feed off the life force energies of people that are usually asleep.

Dreamscape vampires are essentially astral vampires that are able to enter into a person's
dream, and feed from the life force energies within the dream. They can be invisible observers in
the dream, or they can manifest themselves within the dream. Some are able to influence the
course of the dream.

Magickal vampires are vampires that are able to feed on and manipulate magickal energies.

Vampires who only use one method of feeding are referred to by the way that they feed (i.e.,
sanguinarian, elemental vampire, sexual vampire, etc.). Vampires who are able to feed using
some but not all psychic methods but are not able to feed sanguine are referred to as adaptive
psi vampires. Vampires who are able to feed using all psychic methods but are not able to feed
sanguine are referred to as eclectic psi vampires. Sanguine vampires that are also able to feed
using some but not all psychic methods are referred to as adaptive vampires. Sanguine vampires
who are also able to feed using all
psychic methods are referred to as eclectic vampires.

Other "Vampires"

There are several groups of people that are often mistaken for being real vampires that are often
associated with the vampire community.

One such group of people are referred to as leeches or energy leeches by some within the
vampire community. Such individuals are people who have developed the ability to manipulate
and feed
on life force energies in many of the ways vampires feed, however such individuals usually do not
have a genuine need for the life force energies that they feed on. They manipulate and feed on
life force
energies for the feelings it gives them; usually a sense of euphoria, power and intoxication.
Leeches can become addicted to the life force energies they feed on (much like a drug of some
kind), and
feel that they need the life force energies because they will go through withdrawals when they do
not feed for a period of time. They will sometimes call themselves vampires, and will sometimes
try to be
involved with the vampire community. However, their apparent need for life force energies does
not make them vampires, as the withdrawal symptoms will go away with time. For real vampires,
physical effects felt from not feeding get worse with time. It is often very easy for real vampires to
realize when an individual is an energy leech and not a vampire.

There are also vampire lifestylers, which are often involved in vampire communities and can often
be mistaken for being real vampires. Vampire lifestylers are people that dress and live a life
similar to that of mythical/fictional vampires. They try to emulate the Hollywood and fictional
image of a vampire as much as possible:
- having pale skin from staying out of the sun and/or the use of makeup
- adopting nocturnal lifestyles; wearing fashions seen in movies, television shows, and described
in books (most often gothic, victorian, and/or leather and usually in dark colors)
- wearing fake fangs
- wearing WildEyes contact lenses to make their eyes look vampiric (most often, Black-out, Cat
Eye, Wildfire, Red Hot and White-out styles)
- adopting the use of "old world" language patterns
- decorating their homes to emulate gothic and/ or victorian styles resembling the homes/lairs of
vampires seen in movies, television shows and described in books, sometimes including a coffin
that they sleep in.
- some will even go to the extent of drinking blood although they have
no need to do so.
In most cases, vampire lifestylers are regular humans that have chosen to live the lifestyle of a
vampire. However, it should be noted that there are also real vampires who choose to live the
lifestyle of a vampire (for example, Don Henrie from Sci-Fi Channel's Mad Mad House).
It is often very easy for real vampires to tell the real vampire lifestylers apart from the human
lifestylers.

Another group of people that are sometimes involved with the vampire community and mistaken
for being real vampires are blood fetishists. Blood fetishists are regular humans who engage in
blood play (cutting, blood letting and blood drinking) usually, but not always, within a BDSM
setting. Although blood fetishists will often drink blood, they have no need to do so.

Yet another group of people that try to be involved with the vampire community are perhaps the
most despised group of people by the vampire community; role players. The most predominant
ones are the role players that play Vampire: the Masquerade by White Wolf Publishing.
However,role players can be anyone who chooses to play the part of a vampire in any role
playing game (RPG). What usually happens is that the role players begin to feel that they are the
characters that they are playing.
The lines between reality and role playing become blurred for them, and they begin to think and
believe that they are vampires. Then they try to get involved with the vampire community, and try
to pass themselves off as real vampires. However, they usually immediately expose themselves
as role players by using RPG terminology and ideas (such as the different types/races of vampire
clans (brujah, ventrue, etc.), claiming to be immortal, being a member of a certain clan/house,
etc). Or, they come to the
vampire community thinking that it is all RPG, and then find much to their disappointment that the
vampire community is a very real community with a low tolerance for role players. However, it
should be noted that sometimes playing role playing game may trigger the awakening of a latent
vampire, and that there are some real vampires that also play role playing games for recreational
reasons.
Society also tends to misuse the idea of vampires, and will sometimes refer to people as being
vampires or exhibiting vampiric traits and behaviors.
For example:
- an accountant and/or phlebotomist may be described as a "bloodsucker"
- an attractive woman dressed for a night of clubbing may be described as "vamping out"
- a person in a bad relationship may say that their mate is "draining the life out of the relationship"
- references to feeding such as, "we all feed off of each other"
(Incidentally, try doing a Google search using the exact phrase with the quotes. The results are
rather interesting, none of them having anything to do with vampirism or vampires.)
- the phrase, "they are trying to bleed me dry" or "they are bleeding me dry" often heard during
contract negotiations
- "they must be a vampire because they stay up/out late all the time"; "they are like a vampires,
they work at night and sleep all day"
However, in most cases, the people referred to in such a manner usually are not vampires of any
kind nor should they be mistaken to be vampires.

As mentioned earlier, the field of behavioral psychology has co-opted the terms psychic vampire
and sexual vampire to describe a people who have a psychological need for attention and will do
whatever they can to get that attention from anyone and everyone, leaving those that interact with
them feeling drained. In most cases, these people are not real vampires.
The drained feeling that people experience when interacting with these people comes from
having to tolerate an often uncomfortable and unpleasant situation, but not from an energy
feeding.

There is also another psychological condition within the field of behavioral psychology known as
clinical vampirism, or more commonly referred to as Renfield's Syndrome, based upon the
fictional character of Renfield from Bram Stoker's Dracula. Those that suffer from clinical
vampirism, in most cases, are not real vampires either.
Renfield's Syndrome is described as a pathological and delusional disease,fetishistic and
compulsive in nature, where a person (usually a male) experiences a psychological need for
blood with a strong sexual
component. Generally, those that suffer from the syndrome often go through a progression of
stages beginning with auto vampirism (drinking one's own blood) and progressing to vampirism
(drinking the blood of others). The compulsion of the vampirism stage may lead a person to
committing criminal acts to obtain human blood, such as stealing blood from hospitals and blood
banks or going to the extreme of killing someone.

Another group of people that are often mistaken for being real vampires are criminal
vampires,sometimes referred to as vampire killers or psychotic vampires. These are individuals
that have committed criminal
acts that are considered vampiric in nature, generally anything having to do with the drinking of
blood or the criminal claiming to be a vampire.
Some of these individuals may be in the final stage of clinical vampirism as described in the
previous paragraph. In most cases though, criminal vampires are individuals that are obsessed
with emulating fictional vampires, either from watching movies and television shows about
vampires, reading (usually fictional) books about vampires, and/or playing vampire characters in
RPGs. However, it should be noted that it is possible that some criminal vampires may have been
real vampires. It has not been proven either way whether any criminal vampires were real
vampires or not.

Symptoms/Characteristics of Vampires

What are the symptoms of vampirism?

I personally, and some others, dislike the term symptoms when referring to vampirism as it makes
vampirism sound like some kind of disease or illness, which it is not. Some also refer to
vampirism as a condition or energy deficiency, but I personally, and some others, frown upon
those terms as well, because it gives vampirism a negative connotation.

No one knows nor has been able to determine what causes vampirism.
The leading theory is that vampirism may be a combination of genetic, physiological and
metaphysical causes. One will often see vampirism referred to as a condition, and then compared
to some other physiological conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

I personally prefer to refer to symptoms of vampirism as vampiric traits, characteristics and

abilities. However, possessing any or all of these traits, characteristics and abilities does not
make one a
vampire as many of these same traits, characteristics and abilities can be accounted for by other
reasons. All other explanations (i.e.,medical,psychological, environmental, etc.) should be
explored before assuming that one has those traits due to vampirism.

The key factor in determining if one is a vampire is going to be if one has a genuine need for life
force energies from outside sources and their traits, characteristics and abilities are tied to their
vampirism.
Also, not all vampires will have all traits, characteristics and abilities.
Each individual vampire is different and may have different traits, characteristics and abilities from
each other. Just as every individual is different, every vampire is different. Some will have more
abilities
than others. Some will have more limitations than others.

Physical characteristics:
- pale skin
- sensitivity to sunlight physically (i.e., sunburn easily) and/or visually
- visual sensitivity to any light source
- better night vision than day vision
- eye color changing with mood or for no apparent reason
- heightened senses
- unaccounted for strength (i.e., stronger than one should be without working out) and quick
reflexes
- often feel hungry and/or thirsty despite an adequate food diet
- extreme cravings for certain types of food or extreme cravings that can not be satisfied with food
- often feel run down, fatigued, tired despite an adequate food diet and activity levels
- frequent headaches for no apparent reason
- do not require very much sleep
- able to heal quicker than others
- often get sick with "flu like" symptoms with no medical explanation when they go without feeding
for a period of time

Mental characteristics:
- strong willed; independent nature; confident
- intellectual/highly intelligent
- well learned/educated, although not necessarily school educated
- predatory nature
- dark nature
- prefer nighttime over daytime; i.e., nocturnal nature
- moodiness/mood swings/quick tempered
- mental and/or personality disorders (diagnosed by a medical doctor)

Psychic abilities (although not necessarily psychic feeding methods) and metaphysical
characteristics:
- empathy
- telepathy
- mind reading
- see and read auras
- extra sensory perception (ESP)
- clairaudience, being able to mentally hear things from a distance
- clairvoyance, being able to mentally see things from a distance
- clairsentience, having knowledge that one can not explain
- audiovoynace, being able to see and/or hear spirits and possibly communicate with them
- telekinesis
- pyrokinesis
- astral travel/astral projection
- psychometry
- invisibility, although not as in the Invisible Man kind of invisibility; the kind of invisibility where
one can blend into a setting, room and/or crowd, and not be noticed by anyone looking for them.
- precognition/visions
- past life memories, especially vampiric past life memories
- immortal soul and a belief in reincarnation
- experience déjà vu quite frequently
- able to sense other vampires (often referred to as "vamp radar")
- involved in "alternative" religions (such as pagan, wiccan,satanic, etc.) or have "alternative"
spiritual beliefs
- most are either born vampires or experience an awakening to their vampiric nature later in life,
usually in their teen years but it can happen later in life

The above lists are not all inclusive lists, as I may have missed some characteristics and abilities,
but those are the ones that I couldthink of at this time. These lists of vampire characteristics and
traits
should not be used as a checklist to determine if one is a vampire

Differences between Real Vampires and Mythical/Fictional Vampires

- Real vampires are not undead creatures. Real vampires are living humans.
- Real vampires are not immortal. Real vampires are mortal humans.
However,
some vampires may believe they have immortal souls, may believe in reincarnation and may
have past life memories.
- Real vampires are not demons. They are humans.
- Real vampires are not superior to humans. Real vampires are humans with a need to obtain life
force energies from outside sources. They are perhaps different from most humans, but not
superior.
- Religious symbols do not ward off or bother real vampires by simply being held up at them.
Beating or hitting a real vampire with said religious symbol may be a different story.
- Holy water does not affect real vampires other than it gets them wet,
and getting them wet might annoy a real vampire.
- Real vampires in general are not necessarily evil, although some may choose to be. Religious
preferences among real vampires will vary by each individual vampire. Some will choose to follow
a certain religion, while others will not follow any religion. While some real vampires will
choose to be satanic, not at all real vampires are satanic or devil worshippers.

Believe it or not, there are even some real vampires that are Christians.
- Silver does not bother most real vampires. Some are allergic to silver.
Others will use silver for its metaphysical properties to control and/or focus shielding and/or
feeding techniques.
- Yes, a real vampire can be killed if one drives a stake through its heart and chop off its head,
but so will most regular humans if one does the same to them. Also, real vampires do not turn to
dust or rapidly decompose when one kills them. By the way, killing a real vampire is murder, and
will result in a person being arrested and put in jail.
- Real vampires do not change or morph into any other forms, such as wolves, bats, mist, etc.
- Real vampires do not have superpowers. Some may have heightened senses and abilities
though.
- Real vampires do not fly, unless they are in some kind of flying device like a plane or helicopter.
- Real vampires do not burst into flames in sunlight. However, some real vampires are sensitive
to sunlight and will sunburn easily. Other real vampires enjoy the sun, and can elementally feed
from the sun.
- Real vampires do not sleep all day and stay up all night. Although many real vampires have
nocturnal natures, most also have daytime lives that they must deal with as well. However, most
will stay up well
into the night and sleep for a couple of hours before resuming their daytime lives.
- Real vampires do not have to sleep in coffins, and they do not need to have their native soil with
them when they sleep. However, real vampires may choose to sleep in a coffin for personal
reasons. I understand that they are quite dark and very quiet, allowing for a very peaceful sleep.
- Real vampires do not "turn", "embrace", "sire" or "change" someone into a vampire. There is no
such thing as a vampirism virus, and one can not become a vampire by being bitten or through an
exchange of blood. Real vampires are born vampires and may be vampires from birth or they
may experience an awakening later in life, usually during their teen years but it can happen later
in life. At best, some real vampires may be able to trigger the awakening of a latent vampire,
which is often misconstrued as a
turning.
- Real vampires are not bloodthirsty killers. They do not feed on and kill victims. Most real
vampires feed from willing donors in safe manners, never risking harm to their donors. Even for
real vampires who feed from people that do not realize they are being fed from, although it is
considered unethical by most, they will not feed in a manner that causes harm to the person
being fed from.
- Real vampires cast reflections. Some even enjoy looking at their reflections.
Some enjoy it too much. Others do not enjoy looking at their reflections.
Just like most people.
- Real vampires do not necessarily dress to look like vampires seen in movies, television, or
described in books. Some may do so by choice.
Others may choose to look gothic. Others will dress however they want to and wear regular
clothes.
- Real vampires do not have fangs, although some may choose to have their teeth shaped to look
like fangs or wear fake fangs. Some people have naturally occurring fangs, but that does not
necessarily make them a vampire.
- Real vampires are not able to enthrall a person simply by looking at them. However, some real
vampires are able to effectively seduce or charm people using various methods (such as NLP
and hypnosis).
- Real vampires do not live in fancy mansions in households with other vampires, nor do they live
in mausoleums/crypts. However, some real vampires may choose to live with each other as
roommates/housemates.
Others will form covens, courts, houses, orders, and/or organizations to gather and be with other
vampires.
- Real vampires are not automatically rich, and do not have fancy possessions.
Many real vampires have to work regular jobs for a living.
- The lifestyles of real vampires are not romantic and glamorous like those seen in movies,
television or described in books. Many vampires lead regular lives, have families, have to pay
rent/mortgages/bills, and deal with everyday things like everyone else.

Again, the above list is not an all inclusive list, as I may have missed some differences, but those
are the ones that I could think of at this time.

Conclusion

In this article, I have defined what a real vampire is, explained the different types of vampires and
their feeding methods, described people often mistaken for real vampires, listed characteristics of
real
vampires, and the differences between real vampires and mythical/fictional vampires.
However, I want to make it clear that there is no definitive way or "test" for determining if one is a
real vampire or not. Determining if one is a real vampire is a personal journey, and should not be
taken lightly.
One needs to do research and eliminate any other explanations (i.e., medical reasons for certain
characteristics) before assuming that they are a vampire. A person needs to determine for
themselves if a real vampire is simply what they are or what they desire to be.

If a person desires to be a vampire, then one needs to determine what the motivation for that
desire is as usually that desire will go unfulfilled.
If they are not already a vampire (i.e., a latent vampire), then they will not be able to become a
vampire no matter how much they may want to become one. However, they can still become
involved with the vampire community as a vampire supporter and/or donor. There are many
people involved in the vampire community who are not vampires, and they are able to contribute
to the vampire community.

As mentioned before, the information presented in this article is general in nature, and presented
for educational purposes. Any areas of specific interest should be further researched.

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