Psychic Vampires

They are not supernatural beings; they are people who operate within the imbalance of a psychic exchange.

Welcome,

Today marks day twenty-eight of Field Notes on Archetypal Patterns.

When I was deeply embedded in spirituality and the wellness industry, I’d roll my eyes each time I heard a certain term thrown around. Psychic vampires paint an immediate image in the mind, and certainty can conjure various examples of people and power dynamics.

Although I got it and had my fair share of these interactions, I sometimes felt as if these highly charged ideas were deflating, as if the soul were being drawn out of the word.

Maybe it was alive in the zeitgeist, which I find pretty telling if we take the time to follow that thread. Perhaps it’s the misuse of the term, kind of how everyone is all of a sudden a narcissist; I feel like back in the day we did the same thing with the term psychic vampires. Either way, the essence is real, yet the applications sometimes feel a bit insufferable for a culture that loves to pathologize every interaction.

Archetypal Pattern: Psychic Vampires

I cringed at the idea of including it in my latest book… until the universe did what it usually does: smack me square in the brow with an intense real-world encounter—the thing I was contemplating dancing with.

I’ve learned it rarely goes well when I argue with the universe, so here’s an excerpt on psychic vampires from my new book Esoterica: The Shadow Worker’s Codex

“Psychic vampires are people who are locked into a certain energy pattern, more specifically, one that equates to some degree of energetic depletion. This might look like one person unconsciously or deliberately feeding on the resources, talents, or time of others.

They are not supernatural beings; they are people who operate within the imbalance of a psychic exchange. They can be dependent, responding to an unmet need, or looking to fill a void within themselves.”

— Dr. Melissa Kim Corter

Lately, I have been reminiscing about a significant learning period of my life. This season weaseled its way into my writing, unintentionally. It was a time I tried to forget, mostly because it had so many infuriating elements.

One comes back to a time when I was misled by a spiritual teacher, a perfect example of a psychic vampire.

This form of psychic vampirism was unique compared to the typical draining behavior attributed to these individuals. This individual had a strange magnetic quality, now having learned what I have about psychopathic individuals and personality disorders, I can track some of those deeper patterns at awork.

Specifically, in terms of superficial charm, he was glib and had a huge ego. He was manipulative and evaded personal responsibility. Despite all of this, he positioned himself as a healer and had the following. He was always booked with sessions in our mutual clinic.

Looking back, it looked like the same client, repeatedly. Forty-something-year-old woman, recently divorced, trying to find herself again. She wanted to improve her self-worth and heal something from her past; unfortunately, this left her vulnerable to him, and that was how he exploited her.

One day, I had brought a concern to my elder. I was deep into a multiple-year apprenticeship with her when I was having strange symptoms. She led me through an intense soul retrieval process.

Without ever even telling her about this individual, she saw him in my field and began describing his energy. The color drained from my face as I began to see intense, vampire-like imagery moving through my conscious awareness; all of them had his face.

I felt like I was watching a movie as his face shapeshifted from a normal, average-looking male into a vampire-like creature, blending warlock and vampire traits. He was wearing robes and holding my light. I felt like a shell of a human being because he was siphoning my life force energy from my body.

This might sound a little crazy if you have never had a soul retrieval or shamanic journey, but I promise you it is intense work that forever changes you.

Also, I know the power of images and how to work with them mythically and symbolically to unpack what might be hiding out within the intense forms, similar to how I work with nightmares.

That day, the mask fell, and I saw him for who he truly was. It was like someone had ripped off my blinders. I suddenly felt very afraid of him and didn’t want to see him ever again. Unfortunately, I had work commitments that involved him.

This experience taught me something that still haunts me to this day. There are highly skilled, intuitive people who are empathic and really good at what they do, but choose to exploit others' wounds. They are talented and know it, but they are also ego-oriented, which means their actions are driven by the ego rather than the soul.

They can sniff out our blind spots, are completely uninterested in healing, and create a lot of chaos for those who are unfortunate enough to meet them on the path. This type of psychic vampire draws on resources. They might be money, material items, connections, opportunities they would otherwise not have, without some form of ‘supply’.

Once I finally untangled myself from this individual and removed myself completely from their orbit, all of the dirty details came out of the woodwork. I found out he was using a fake name. I found out he had manipulated multiple people, using their Social Security numbers to finance a few of his various schemes.

One woman was pissed at me for leaving because she was deeply embedded in his façade and had given him more than five thousand dollars to fund another one of his ‘good ideas’. It blew my mind seeing just how many had fallen for his lies and stories.

To be honest, I was a little shaken up by all of it. I was just starting to get my business off the ground and began questioning everything. It’s a weird position to be in if you have never had one of these experiences before. You now have this knowledge and information; you don’t know what to do with it, but then at the same time, not everyone wants to know.

It made me sick to see how he was supported by the community, and when some of the details emerged, people still wanted to see him as some holy healer and let him into their spaces. So many women were harmed.

It makes me sick to think about, because even today he still operates as a healer, getting away with the same old stuff. He just keeps scheming and moving about the world.

I want to share some of the things that were signs that I missed or completely dismissed within myself, in hopes it will help or even validate something or just one person. First, it’s important to think beyond the moment you are with someone.

How do you feel AFTER you leave their presence? This simple, subtle detail is significant; for me, there was always a strange sense of relief. Part of me felt like I was being watched or observed, but I wasn’t conscious of it until I looked back.

With more dramatic encounters, you may feel more intense aftereffects such as confusion, exhaustion, or feeling oddly unlike yourself. If you start feeling a mild sense of disorientation, like there is something kind of off, there is. On some level, your nervous system is providing you with this information.

There can also be more blatant feelings, like noticing you feel less confident in yourself or are questioning your own perceptions, especially if these things feel like they are increasing. These are patterns of behavior, but they can also be responses to someone else’s problematic behavior.

Another sign is the presence of magnetism, charisma, or charm. Many manipulative people have a remarkable ability to make others feel seen, special, or uniquely understood… very quickly.

They know exactly what someone needs to hear. Exploitative charm creates dependency. I created a motto- if I feel as if I am being charmed, I am also being disarmed.

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