The paradigm of chaos magic and the vampyric thirst

Note: This is written for the curious as well as for Psi Vampyres through the experience of a Psi Vampyre and chaos magician. This is not to convince the reader of anything but to shed light on what 'results' and 'practical' mean through the lens of magic and psi feeding.

Results Oriented Magic

Chaos magic is a results driven practice. It is about achieving ones goals and desires through spellwork and ritual. On the outside, it doesn't look much different then any other form of magic. What seperates it from the rest is the approach. It isn't about faith and devotion to the Old Gods. It isn't about healing or enlightenment. It is about getting things done. Much like traditional witchcraft, chaos magic is less about the ceremony and long orations to dead gods and more about taking everyday object and enchanting them to get a better job, to get a crush to kiss you, and to curse an abuser. It is action at a distance.

What differentiates chaos magic from other forms of witchery is its freedom to adapt to what works and not be held down by any one tradition or method. Look to the future not just the past. Briefly, this doesn't mean that you just take from one culture and practice and hodgepodge it with another. It means taking the time in work and study of a single paradigm for a certain amount of time until you are comfortable in that method of casting. It means getting to know the gods of the tradition, the rituals used to invoke these gods, and the traditional methods of sorcery within said tradition. This creates a bond with the tradition that you carry with you to your next experiment.

This takes time and effort, not reading a book, casting a spell or two and considering yourself adept. It is reading the book and applying the book as if it were sacred. Phile Hine calls it 'magical obsession.' To get the mind and body completely involved to the point it is all that you consume on a magical basis. Almost every tradition has the basics of breathwork, meditation, ritual, incantations, tools, and philosophy that defines it and makes it unique. The purpose is to get intimate with these concepts so they become a part of you on a visceral level not just an intellectual one.

The role of the chaos magician is to fine tune these skills so they create results in your life. Invoke a god of fertility to help your love life flourish not to find inner solace. Invoke a goddess of destruction to get a bad manager fired, not for shadow work. Of course, you can and should use magic for inner transformation, but the objective of paradigm shifting is attaing tangible results per chosen system. Once you are skilled in the chosen tradition, keep the methods that have served you best, that have created real change in your life, and discard the rest.

With the paradigms tools in your toolbox, you can move on to the next paradigm.

Since you have taken the time to get to know the paradigm on such an intimate level you don't need to worry about losing it. It becomes a part of your practice. It becomes a part of you.

Results Oriented Vampyrism

Now that you have an idea of what results should look like on a magical level, what should they look like for you as a Vampyre? The first thing to acknowledge about Vampyrism is the condition of feeding and the adjacent concerns of what happens when you don't feed and how to deal with it. Vampyrism can be considered just another paradigm, but for many of us it is much less a paradigm and a very real aspect of who are, be it in mundane life or spiritual practice. Remember for those new to this whole thing, not all Vampyres are spiritual, some are very much the opposite and have no care for magic or the spiritual. Please keep that in mind as you read on.

Throughout the years there have been many suggestions on what an after effect of feeding should be. These are not universal, they are largely based on personal experience. Psi feeding, like magic, is not a science but an art. At the current stage of our scientific evolution we do not have the proper machines and programs to test psychic phenomena, so personal accounts are the best we have at the moment. What I have found to be the most telling of a good feed are as follows, in no particular order:

- Feeling more awake even if I have not slept well

- Less agitated with a calm warmth

- A subsiding of fatigue or other physical ailments, even a jolt of vitality

- A brightness and expanded awareness

- Clear headed with a calm mind

A journal is your best friend and fortunately in the age of technology most of us have a smartphone with a free Note or Document app!

Journal results and failures. Journal questions and theories. If you have an actual pen or pencil, doodle your perception of energy and what it looks like when you are feeling the hunger, when you are feeding, and post-feeding. Journal any insights, glyphs, or words that come to you. Doodle glyphs and phrases that help you concentrate when you are feeding or need to keep yourself contained so you don't accidently feed on an unsuspecting human. Go over this journal once a week and compare notes. After a few months of consistent journaling you should have a basic idea of the methods that work best for you.

For example, I don't use tendrils when I feed. I find it more taxing visualizing them, concentrating on extending them, connecting, siphoning, disconnecting, etc. I do what I learned in qigong and fill my space and intend my extended energy body to pick up the detritus that is the freely given energy of people, or ambient feeding. Sometimes I will imagine a swirl of energy debris coelescing into a spiral and being absorbed through my crown, my nose, my mouth, my pores, or a pendant. Sometimes I will place sigils or colors I associate with feeding on my extended energy body and program it to pick up energy. I find this works better for spellwork then for feeding, though, but it is one way to play with energy.

What about if you can't feed? If you are getting irritable, have no access to a donor or a crowd, and feel like a fly on a spiders web or a tiger in a cage?

Sometimes it just takes patience while dealing with these effects until you next go to a public place or have the fortune of a donor. Another thing to keep in mind is sometimes Vampyric hunger can be exacerbated with lack of hydration, lack of nutrients, or a bad mental health day. I turn to the acronym of HALT

Ask yourself, "Am I...":

Hungry (or thirsty)? Grab a snack

Angry? Journal, go for a walk, exercise

Lonely? Text a friend, watch a comfort show

Tired? Take a nap, meditate

If that doesn't help, sometimes orange juice, caffeine, or a multivitamin can help alleviate the hunger. Wierd, but it's effective. In psychic circles I've heard orange juice and bananas (Vitamin C and potassium) help regulate the neuromuscular fatigue of heavy practice. Electrolytes is another possible help. This is also where you can play in the realm of magic and learn to feed through distance using a scrying mirror or lucid dreaming, but this you can look up on your own time as distance feeding is an article in itself.

Conclusion

Just because you think something is true doesn't mean it is. Belief doesn't dictate reality but it is fundamental in making magic work and processing the strange. Psi Vampyrism is a strange phenomena. Truth be told, I scoffed at it when I first heard about it but as time went on and I checked back on my journals, read the literature, and compared experiences with other Psi Vampyres on forums I found an annoying truth - I was what I scoffed at.

Annoying truth aside, don't take anything at face value. Maybe you are not a Vampyre but are curious, the same suggestions apply for learning, applying, and journaling. Be safe and smart on your journey, but don't be afraid to laugh and play. Vampyrism can be a real joy killer at times, but with patience and experience you can learn to mitigate the suffering and find your own truth of what it means to be a Vampyre.

Sources and Suggested Reading:

Liber Kaos, Peter J Carroll

Pseudonomicon, Phil Hine

Kaos Hieroglyphica, Anton Channing

Psychic Vampire Codex, Michelle Belanger