Greetings fellow Vampires.
Since Ive been diagnosed with Narcissistic personality disorder I can´t help but draw many parallels between Narcissism and Vampirism.
I want to make it clear that every concept mentioned in the title (Narcissism, Vampirism and Occultism) has helped me to not only come to a better understanding of myself but has also given me tools to change where necessary and overall helped me to progress towards a better version of myself. My goal, therefore, is not to bash any of these concepts but rather start a discourse about the conjunction of said terms.
With that out of the way let me present the similarities Ive found so far:
Emergence of Vampirism/Narcissism
Vampirism: While the jury seems to be still out on whether Vampires are born or made, most sources seem to agree that if one isn´t a born Vampire[1] one will develop the trait around puberty to late adolescence[2].
Narcissism: The personality disorder seems to form due to a combination of genetic and environmental influences (in childhood)[3]. A diagnosis however can only be established at age 18+[4].
Discussion: Both Vampirism and Narcissism have their causes either pre-birth (genetics) or in early childhood. The fact that a diagnosis can only be made after years 18 and up doesn´t mean that the disorder isn´t present, it merely means that diagnoses aren´t established before that age because the personality is still forming[5].
I think it´s fair to conclude that Vampirism and Narcissism form and emerge roughly at the same age-brackets.
An illness? / Drawbacks
Vampirism: What most sources on Vampirism do agree on (though not all) is that a Vampire needs to feed[6][7]. The most popular reason for this is that the Vampire has a damaged or modified energy/chakra system and either has trouble taking in energy the common way, loses taken in energy quicker or in general just needs more energy than the average human being[7]. If vampires don´t feed they may become lethargic or even depressed[8]. Another drawback is that people subconsciously notice being fed upon and therefore distance themselves from the Vampire [9].
Narcissism: Narcissists need other people to give them attention and admiration[10], failure to acquire those often leads Narcissists to engage in self-calming and self-stimulation behaviour, which often takes the form of various addictions[11]. Their manipulative behaviour (which is used to garner the above mentioned attention and admiration) often has the same effect on people as the Vampires feeding does: it pushes them away and Narcissists often end up lonely and/or despised[11].
Narcissistic personality disorder is also of course a personality disorder and therefore, by definition, considered a mental illness[12].
Discussion: While Narcissism fits the clinical critera of an illness, Vampirism obviously doesn´t as the medical community has no interest in studying it. To me Vampirism sounds like it could be called an illness and even if we don´t wanna call it that it certainly has many parallels to one.
Drawbacks not only exist for both groups but they are also strikingly similar:
- both need to ‘feed’ and if they don´t, problems arise (behaviour thats aimed at distraction but often has negative consequences (e.g. addictive behaviours like drug consumption or overeating))
- social isolation can happen to both and consequences of that can be the same (e.g. depression)
- Both are “damaged”. Either through a damaged energy system (Vampirism) or a weak sense of self-worth
Feeding
Vampirism: As alluded to above Vampires need to feed regularly and as most of you already know, these and many other forums have various guides on how to do that. The most common method is to envision tendrils penetrating the aura/skin/deeper layers of your target and then draining them through said tendrils. Long-term targets (which are fed upon regularly and who can be consenting or not) are called donors.
Narcissism: In order to fill up their low self-worth, Narcissists “elicit a constant stream of attention or narcissistic supply from others”[13]. This can go as far as the Narcissist violating all personal boundaries of the target [13] in order to get their needs met.
The aforementioned stream of attention is facilitated through creating a facade that paints the Narcissist in a positive light. Examples include appearing wealthy, smart, charming or confrontational. Reactions from other people are then collected as Narcissistic supply[13].
Discussion: Both groups use some sort of feeding mechanism. While the one that Vampires use is more occulty (i.e. unseen), there can be a lot of overlap as this passage from “The ethical psychic Vampire” shows: “Feeling hungry? Rile up your lover. Cling to a friend. Flirt with that guy who you know likes you, although you have no intention of actually delivering the goods [charming/using sexual tension]. Argue about abortion rights with someone who has very strong feelings about the subject [confrontational] […]”.
While diving into several sources it became apparent to me that Narcissists and Vampires are almost identical here, the only difference being occult feeding techniques like tendrils vs mundane techniques like manipulation. They both aim at the same thing though: feeding on energy/admiration.
Advantages/Abilities
Vampirism: There are a lot of lists online on what Vampires are good at. Focusing on non-occult advantages we mostly have stuff like being charismatic and charming. I also found websites claiming that they usually have a higher than average intelligence and that they can use their advantages to outshine non-Vampires in various areas of life (usually only when well fed), like being more successful in what they do, for example career-wise.
Narcissism: Narcissists are also often seen as charismatic and charming. After all it´s one way of wooing people in. Due to their need for presenting themselves as perfect and due to often having low empathy, Narcissits are also often very successful in their buisness life.
Discussion: If we exclude occult abilities that are often attributed to Vampires (super-human strength, etc.) I again see a 1:1 match here between the two groups. In fact they seem to be so incredibly similar here that I find it hard to add any more words to this section.
Closing thoughts
What do you think?
Has the occult community been searching for a way to deal with an illness that is usually resistant to therapy (and has only been an official diagnosis for 40 years now)?
Is Narcissism equal to Vampirism but with occult stuff added on top?
Is Narcissism one of several conditions that uses Vampire-like techniques?
None of the above?
[1] The Psychic Vampyres are the Real Vampires – V.K. Jehannum
[2] The ethical psychic Vampire, Raven Kaldera (p.8)
[3] Narcissistic personality disorder - Wikipedia
[4] https://www.psycom.net/personality-disorders/narcissistic/
[5] https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/personality-disorders/what-are-personality-disorders#:~:text=Diagnosis%20of%20a%20personality%20disorder,their%20personalities%20are%20still%20developing.
[6] Psychic Vampyrism – V.K. Jehannum
[7] The ethical psychic Vampire, Raven Kaldera (p.6)
[8] The ethical psychic Vampire, Raven Kaldera (p.11)
[9] The ethical psychic Vampire, Raven Kaldera (p.13,14)
[10] Narcissistic personality disorder - Wikipedia
[11] Therapie-Tools Schematherapie, Faßbinder, Schweiger, Jacob
[12] https://medlineplus.gov/personalitydisorders.html#:~:text=Personality%20disorders%20are%20a%20group%20of%20mental%20illnesses.
[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_supply