 
Psychic Vampires are not the Goth types or the too-many horror movie fans acting
out a character. They are real, sometimes unwitting, people-your boss, your
neighbor, your mother-who sap the strength and energy from you like a run around
the block uphill. Here's a collection of articles by various authors on spotting
psychic attacks, avoiding them, and rebuilding your lost energy. Please be
reminded, the daily is best read on digest or individual emails, as egroups does
a distasteful job of keeping the format intact. Energy Vampires by Christine Schoefer
Energy vampires do not drink blood. They do not favor gloomy windswept castles
or sucking orgies in misty graveyards under the full moon. These are individuals
who imbibe other people's life force as if their own depended on it. With their
plump cheeks and brightly colored clothes, they pass easily as ordinary folks.
Odds are that you will not even notice when they strike. But you will notice the
lingering effects: lassitude, depression and the loss of your emotional spark.
These are the ones who want too much of you and have devised elaborate
strategies for obtaining it. It could be the nonstop talker who drains your
spirit on a date, the friend who calls you to share another chapter in her
endless saga of misfortune, the good-looking stranger who corners you at a
party. You know the ones -- after spending time with them, you feel as though
someone has hit your dimmer switch. You assume it's stress or fatigue, and as
you desperately gulp down that double latte, you reproach yourself for not
getting enough sleep. But sleep is not the issue -- an energy vampire is
draining your psychic battery dry. Though they usually have no awareness of what
they are doing, energy vampires are crafty and relentless creatures. They seek
you out, court you and pursue you; they will snare you with blatant, titillating
lies to get what they want. They come in four distinct types: Talkers, Poor
Me's, Shadows and Diggers. While all share an insatiable hunger for others' life
force, they have different modes of operation. The first kind, the Talkers, are
actually the most benign. They will tire you out and steal your time, but they
do not go after your soul. Often striking and dramatic in appearance, they seem
to have gathered more than their share of impressive deeds and adventures. But
they need your energy to make their own come alive. You are the mirror that
reflects what they have experienced. Your presence verifies the Talker's
existence like an echo confirms a sound. Since they only want to hear
themselves, they don't actually interact with you and they never ask questions.
If you find your eyes glazing over when your friend tells you about a close
encounter with piranhas -- or the 10th close encounter with piranhas -- you are
probably playing host to this type of energy vampire. You will attempt to escape
by drifting away. But the part of yourself you let go is the piece snatched by
the Talker. Poor Me's are easiest to spot because they wear their neediness like
signature accessories. They appear diminished somehow, with a droopy posture,
perhaps, or a concave aura. They wallow in their belief that life has beaten
them up. They may not look like predators, but be aware: They hypnotize you with
their helplessness and trap you into staging guilt-motivated rescue attempts.
But these efforts are futile; no amount of sympathy or gesture of compassion
can, in the end, alleviate the pain with which they identify so deeply. They may
be attentive as you outline sources of support and avenues for change, but they
will not pursue your suggestions. It is your energy that props them up, not the
prospect of change. Shadows have an altogether original appearance and strategy.
Often quite flashy, they lure you with attention, flattery and praise. These
energy vampires invade your aura in a desperate attempt to inhabit it
themselves. In a group setting, Shadows like to spin webs among participants,
collecting loyalties with gossip and praise. When they do not get what they are
after -- which they never do -- they crucify you. Like parasites, Shadows live
vicariously; they draw sustenance from your enthusiasm, your ideas, your
creativity. They accomplish this by delving into your private life with
countless questions. I was flattered at first when a new acquaintance showed
great interest in my writing, emulated my style of dress and copied my
hairstyle. But when she started befriending my friends, alarm bells rang in my
head. Before long, her presence felt as stifling as someone's hot breath in a
crowded elevator. I had to shake her off. Diggers are the most devastating type
of energy vampire. Their bite sinks deeper than that of Talkers, Poor Me's and
Shadows, and the symptoms are harder to treat. Diggers work at the soul level.
They siphon your energy by filling you up with their private darkness. Like
Shadows, they will bait you with questions and charm you by paying rapt
attention to your revelations. Then they push deeply into you and, once inside,
they tap into your insecurities to sow doubt and dissatisfaction. This is the
"friend" who asks you about your new job or lover. Her empathy
encourages you to reveal your concerns, but once she has found the weak spot in
your story, she will work that until it overwhelms everything else.
Mysteriously, you come away from the conversation feeling less: less happy, less
certain, less loved. And the Digger has absorbed all that you have surrendered.
Like Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's tale, the energy vampire cannot be satiated
by anyone. And so the task of feeding themselves, which leaves others depleted
and diminished, becomes a never-ending labor. Need in itself, of course, is not
a bad thing. Reciprocal exchange of energy and love is what friendships and
partnerships are built on. But energy vampires never reciprocate. Contact with
them is more like a psychic assault than an exchange. Because they have no
awareness of what they are doing, they feel no guilt or remorse. It is up to the
victim to stop the psychic Dracula. If you find yourself surrounded by energy
vampires, beware -- you may need them as much as they need you. If you always
put friends' desires before your own, rescue acquaintances from drowning in
their melancholia or fall strangely ill after the departure of demanding
houseguests, you may be an unconscious target of an energy vampire. Like the
sleepwalking victims of Stoker's Count Dracula, you need to wake up. You cannot
defeat energy vampires with rosaries or necklaces made of garlic. But you can
follow the basic lesson taught in self-defense courses: Cultivate awareness.
Recognize their presence when they appear in your circle. And then avoid them.
Because energy vampires are real
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