Customer Reviews

The Psychic Vampire Codex: A Manual of Magick and Energy Work

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

In The Psychic Vampire Codex, Michelle Belanger discusses the experience of being a psychic vampire, and also gives instruction on various aspects of a vampire's abilities. The main focus in all of this is the Vampire House she started, House Kheperu. Despite this, there is much value in this book for non-Kheprian psychic vampires, as well as -and maybe not so surprisingly- for anyone who works with subtle energy. In this book, she demystifies the psychic vampire and reveals it for what it is: a condition or state, whether desirable or undesirable; not a choice.

She starts the book out introducing herself and her personal story, as well as stating that a lot of this work is intended for use by those psychic vampires who are Kheprians. Then she gives a history of the psychic vampire (or psi-vamp) movement, and then about her own efforts in it. She dedicates an entire chapter to an introduction of the actual Codex, including how to use it, defining certain aspects of her wording, and which parts are applicable to whom (Kheprians, other Psi-Vamps, and anyone working with energy).

Then comes the Codex itself, the heart of the book. In this, she gives practical instruction for the psi-vamp about using their abilities, how-to's on various types of feeding, and even the nature of their need for energy. Indeed, she does define the basis for psychic vampirism as a need for energy stemming from, most often, a lack of ability on the part of the psi-vamp to live off most types of subtle energies. This imparts that need to supplement these energies with the vital energy of other living things, most often other human beings. She even postulates that this can give the psi-vamp various psychic abilities naturally that others without that need might have to work for. She even introduces two aspects of working with energy which, while I'd never heard of before, I found I had done many times before in exercises like the Circulation portion of the Qabalistic Middle Pillar exercise.

After the initial Kheprian and psi-vamp focussed parts of the book, she moves on to energy work. And in this part I was most impressed, as I'm not a psychic vampire and couldn't necessarily make the most use out of the Codex. In this section on energy work, she really provides a complete set of basic to intermediate energy working skills along with practical intruction. I think that a few aspects of the energy work as presented by Belanger were depicted in a slightly limiting way. For example, she instructs on how to do a house cleansing, and tells you to do the cleansing with your hands. I've done cleansings by moving energy with my thoughts. Now, while I thought Belanger's approach to things like that were *maybe* limiting, I can see how it would give more focus, and simplicity for those just beginning. The only other beef I had with the energy work she presented was in her treatment on the section on heightening energy. While the discussion about the concept was good, I just didn't feel there was enough practical instruction from the viewpoint of energy working. But overall, the entire portions of the book dedicated to energy work were spledid and are incredibly useful. I've worked with energy for years, and I learned quite a few things from this book.

For the book overall, I really appreciate Belanger's efforts and I applaud her work. She wrote this book in a really nice conversational style that does not get even remotely condescending. In addition, she doesn't dumb it down nor confuse the reader with obscure words and phrasings. From the aspect of energy work, it's not really for the brand new beginner who has had absolutely no exposure to the concepts of subtle energy and working with it. It can, however, definitely be used by the beginner who has at least become familiar with how to move energy. Like I said, I learned a few things from this work, and I considered myself intermediate. This book is more than worth the price.

If you're interested in knowing about psychic vampirism, if you're looking to advance your skills with energy work, or if you're looking for both; get this book!

agree that Belanger is pompous and maybe a bit of a media whore...But all and all this is a good book. It came out at a time where there was very little literature for otherkin let alone psychic vampires that wasn't "anti-parasite" For anyone that knows the information in this, the book might be a little long winded but it's a great book for beginners.

Where does one begin? This book is about 90 percent Michelle martyring herself, and 10 percent truth.

To begin, she whisks us very briefly through the 90's Vampire movement. I do mean briefly, when it comes to providing deep facts. Merely, she paints a picture of the vampire culture having to hide. That is already common knowledge to most interested in a book like this.

She definately enjoys painting a picture that she began this movement of Psychic Vampirism, yet it existed far beyond anything she still knows. She isn't the originator, only someone who decided to share her own views.

Therein lies a massive problem with this book. If we listen to Michelle, she began this movement, to the point of liberating a culture. She saved the modern vampire.

On top of it, her "energy workbook" is actually written for her own Vampire "house". So while reading over well known techniques one can learn in coffee houses, she keeps throwing her houses name into each segment of teaching. As if to tell you "We made this".

No, Michelle. You didn't "make" this movement. You didn't make anything new at all. You simply neglect to give credit to those who came before you, and who still exist today, snickering.

To anyone who wants a book on Psychic Vampires, you should take this with a grain of salt. And buy it used, if you buy it at all. I don't even think it was worth 13 dollars just to read such an egotistical book.

The vampire subculture has been growing for a long time now, and while a few books here and there have tried to look at the culture and history of movement, none delves as deeply or is as honest as this book. In it, the reader is taken beyond the usual romantic view of the classical myth of the vampire into the subculture and practice of psychic vampires (or vampyres, though the author uses the former spelling to eliminate confusion). While the first section gives a detailed overview of the history the vampire subculture over the last 25 years, the meat of the text is the Codex itself...a series of short articles which outline the psychic and magical practices of a psychic vampire House.

Most interestingly, the energy work outlined in the Codex applies far beyond just the workings of psychic vampirism itself. The practices can be applied and/or modified for non-vampiric workings as well. Discussed are such universal concepts as chakras, meditative breath, forms of deity - things which any seeker has probably read before. The difference is the lens through which the concepts are viewed. This shows a different angle, something beyond the obfuscated texts. While the old (and most of the modern texts) explain the concepts in relationship to Deity, Guides or Higher Self, or universal energy forms, this work shows the complex nature of energy work between active participants. This subject, rarely covered in such depth, makes this volume one worth having, even if one is NOT a psychic vampire. It could be used in healing or other energy work. The nuances are discussed, expounded upon, and then reviewed...as well as the consequences of misusing such practices. Ethics are everpresent in the text.

This one is worth your time. It is no romance novel, nor is it an expose. It is a useful compendium of techniques, history, and perspective which is rarely seen in print these days.

I have just finished this book. Belinger speaks very abstractly of many kinds of energy perception and exchange. The vagueness of her writing is understandable- she is struggling to put into words the intuitive perceptions that she has (supposedly) always had of non-physical realms. And she does mention that there are no terms for these perceptions in our materialist Western culture.

So why am I still not convinced? She likes to keep her terms a bit too abstract. If energy exchanges such as surface feeding, deep feeding, ambient feeding, take place in the real world, then I would have loved some real-world examples. In the passage on surface feeding, she describes the "tendrils" that draw energy from another person. I know that this is just a visualization. But she could have applied this taking of energy to many situations in life. Instead she just makes up her own terms without bothering to provide context, or any kind of rational evidence to convince us that these are real experiences, not just her own BS.


And the thing about a vampire's eyes changing color according to their mood- Ha ha ha ha! Sorry, but I cannot trust a supposedly factual source that is insightful one minute and nonsense the next.

This kind of inconsistency continues throughout the book. She tells us, "find your own truth" .....perhaps this is how she justifies not giving scientific proof, of anything, and capitalizing random words to make it more like a holy book for her "Family"? I don't even ask for physical proof- a few feeding antecdotes would have helped me understand psy-vamps better.

I am disappointed by this book. I really wanted to learn about reading energy, reincarnation, how psychic vampires behave in the world! I read less of that, and more about her own sketchy theories on these subjects, and some annoying cult that she belongs to.

Belanger reminds me of this creative, but slightly bossy friend of mine from first grade. I remember this girl explaining to us, with amazing charisma and conviction, how to hunt for ghosts.

Excellent book. The author explains at the beginning what Psychic Vampirism is and what it's not. She clears up misconceptions and describes situations/people that either resemble, think they are, or want to be vampiric. Since I don't have any experience with Psychic Vampires I can't say whether what she says is accurate, but I do have alot of experience studying human nature and can say that based on that, what the author writes on the subject is credible.
What really impressed me about this book was that it is exactly what the title claims: A Manual of Magick and Energy Work. This is a straightforward, clear, concise, no-frills manual on how energy works and how to work with it. As one just beginning to explore and work with energy, this book was extremely informative, eye-opening, and answered a lot of questions I had on the subject. No imperious, irrelevant, or baffling mystical language here, just useful presentation.
For information on Psychic Vampirism, energy work as relates to Psychic Vampirism, and energy work alone, I highly reccomend this book.

It reeks of role playing games taken way too seriously but is so internally inconsistent as to be gibberish. The author herself in writing her self-aggrandizing work betrays the very code of ethics she espouses (and apparently made up after playing Vampire: the Masquerade) when she writes "This lifestyle is private and sacred. Respect it as such. Do not make a sideshow of yourself."

I enjoy this book. I had read the reviews, and some say that this book doesn't have anything practical, but, it does, only that the author doesn't give it to you in baby food. She doesn't say "Do this or Do that" ... You just have to take it on your own. If you don't have experience working with energy then, I don't think this book is a good start.
There are some times when the author gets too "Me, myself and I", but hey!, it's her story, and I think it's a fun and good one to read.

The reading of this work was a bit disappointing. I was aware that this book aimed to be a simple introduction to psychic vampirism, but even for the purely beginner student of the occult or psychic vampire discovering himself, I found this book to lack a lot in depth, spirituality and metaphysical approach. Instead of it, the author presents us with many of her personal theories about vampirism, but failing to justify or validate any of her opinions with metaphysical knowledge. Despite that, she is a good writer and the reading is quite fluid. It is a book that can be read in a matter of a few days, and that is an asset not for any author. I have yet to read more books by Michelle to comment further on it, since this was my first.

Another thing that I found a bit disappointed about this work is that the author literally spends the whole book referring on how she nearly created the vampire community in the USA and how she gave voice to vampires and spread their word. I find this to be a bit limiting, and a bit of ego-driven literature, which I was not found of. Actually the whole light and superficial feel of the book gives it a very un-vampiric energy. I have seen Michelle before in several TV shows and to be honest, her image, ways, beliefs and all are a bit off when it comes to how a real vampire is. She always ends up sounding too fluffy and basic, when vampirism is precisely the opposite of all that.

If anyone is maturely and seriously interested in real life vampirism, but more into learning about their spirituality, beliefs, practices of magick, condition of the soul and their history... how they got here, where have they been, and ultimately about their secret world, which remains in the shadows of common human society, and not out there in TV shows and movies, to all of that people I would advise you to read the Asetian Bible by Luis Marques. Although we should take some pieces of the high magick included in it with a grain of salt, it presents a far more solid, deep and inspirational work about vampirism than Michelle does. Ending up to present a tradition from vampires and their own magick and practices far more trustworthy and believable than what is shown in the Psychic Vampire Codex, that I would say it merely skims the surface of how deep vampirism can go as an occultist practice or path.

To end this review, I have to say that I have been checking on some other reviewer's comments and around some less open-minded online forums, being aware of how Michelle is the owner of a group of frenetic fans, leading some new-age cult in the US. So I please ask you to accept my opinion. I am not here to insult anyone or to present any biased truth, but merely to express my own feedback on a book I read, which is the whole purpose of a review. So if someone can't handle with other opinions different than their own, they should really recheck their basic concepts of ethics, tolerance and spiritual growth.

Lana Malikah

This book came recommended to me by someone I revere and respect in hopes that it would help me understand energy and the world around me. All of this is going to sound very hokey, but I am assuming that you are braced for this if you are looking into purchasing this book. It has helped me a lot; I really appreciate it and it has brought to light things that have helped me feel healthier and have reduced a lot of extra stress on my shoulders. This book will not be for everyone, but it certainly was for me.

It is a nice thick paperback with a sleek cover and good binding that came as expected and undamaged.