Vampire

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person/being. In the Theosophical literature this mythological concept is used symbolically to refer to people that in one way or the other absorb people's vitality.

Disembodied vampires

Elementaries

People killed suddenly or by accident may become disembodied psychic vampires. In one of The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett the Mahatma K.H. wrote:

If sinful and sensual they wander about — (not shells, for their connection with their two higher principles is not quite broken) — until their death-hour comes. Cut off in the full flush of earthly passions which bind them to familiar scenes, they are enticed by the opportunities which mediums afford, to gratify them vicariously. They are the Pisachas, the Incubi, and Succubi of mediaeval times. The demons of thirst, gluttony, lust and avarice, — elementaries of intensified craft, wickedness and cruelty; provoking their victims to horrid crimes, and revelling in their commission! They not only ruin their victims, but these psychic vampires, borne along by the torrent of their hellish impulses, at last, at the fixed close of their natural period of life — they are carried out of the earth's aura into regions where for ages they endure exquisite suffering and end with entire destruction.

Of these entities, Mme. Blavatsky wrote: "They are the Vampire shells, the Elementaries who live a posthumous life at the expense of their living victims".

Pisachas

Another kind of psychic vampire is what in Hindu folklore is called Piśācas (literally, "eater of raw flesh"). They are said to be creatures created by humanity’s vices, having the power to assume different forms at will. They feed on human energies and can possess human beings and alter their thoughts. The term is occasionally used in a more general way to include all the ghosts, goblins and vampires that haunt cemeteries and ruins in India.

In the Theosophical view the pisachas are known as "shells", that is, the Kāmarūpa plus the remnants of the fifth principle left behind in kāmaloka after the Ego entered in devachan. Mme. Blavatsky explained the following:

The three higher principles, grouped into one, merge into the state of Devachan . . . and the eidolon of the ex-Personality is left alone in its new abode. Here, the pale copy of the man that was, vegetates for a period of time, the duration of which is variable and according to the element of materiality which is left in it, and which is determined by the past life of the defunct. Bereft as it is of its higher mind, spirit and physical senses, if left alone to its own senseless devices, it will gradually fade out and disintegrate. But, if forcibly drawn back into the terrestrial sphere whether by the passionate desires and appeals of the surviving friends or by regular necromantic practices-one of the most pernicious of which is mediumship--the “spook” may prevail for a period greatly exceeding the span of the natural life of its body. Once the Kamarupa has learnt the way back to living human bodies, it becomes a vampire, feeding on the vitality of those who are so anxious for its company. In India these eidolons are called Pisâchas, and are much dreaded, as already explained elsewhere.

Vampires and Séances

One reason why the Theosophical literature discourage participation in séances is because they attract different kind of entities, among them psychic vampires:

Student.—Why are visitors at a séance often extremely and unaccountably tired next day?

Sage.—Among other reasons, because mediums absorb the vitality for the use of the “spooks,” and often vile vampire elementaries are present.
Student.—What are some of the dangers at séances?

Sage.—The scenes visible—in the Astral—at séances are horrible, inasmuch as these “spirits”—bhuts—precipitate themselves upon sitters and mediums alike; and as there is no séance without having present some or many bad elementaries—half dead human beings,—there is much vampirising going on. These things fall upon the people like a cloud or a big octopus, and disappear within them as if sucked in by a sponge. That is one reason why it is not well to attend them in general.

Embodied vampires

C. W. Leadbeater said that some people, due to a lack of elasticity in their etheric body, act as "a gigantic sponge, always ready to absorb any amount of specialised vitality which it can obtain". They are sometimes called "unconscious vampires" because they do not do this as a conscious and willful act:

Again, there are many people who are unconscious vampires; without being in the least aware of it, they draw out vitality from those who are near them, so that if one sits and talks to such an one for a little while, one feels utterly exhausted and incapable of useful work. If such a person were helped by the strength which he draws from his healthier friends, one might at last regard it as an act of charity to allow him to deplete one; but the fact is that these unfortunate people are themselves incapable of retaining what they take, so that they gain nothing from the transaction, while their hapless victims lose health and strength.

Regarding to how they can be helped, C. W. Leadbeater wrote:

The only thing that can really be done to help a confirmed unconscious vampire is to supply the vitality for which he craves in strictly limited quantities, while endeavouring, by mesmeric action, to restore the elasticity of the etheric double, so that the perpetual suction and corresponding leakage shall no longer take place. Such a leakage invariably flows through every pore of the body on account of this lack of etheric elasticity-- not through a sort of tear or wound in the etheric body, as some students have supposed; indeed, the idea of anything in the nature of a permanent tear or wound is incompatible with the conditions of etheric matter and the constitution of the etheric double.

As to the protection against them, he says that to create "A strong [etheric] shell is one way of guarding oneself against such vampirism, and there are many people for whom at present it may be the only way open".