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By Dr van Neümig
Published at Imbolc 2001

Throughout recorded history and probably back beyond that, the idea of the psychic vampire has haunted mankind’s dreams. Strange mystical, mythical creatures who lurked in the darker recesses of the human mind, these beings were thought to sap the energy of living mortals, reducing them, unless stopped, to shadows of their former selves. People who, for no apparent reason, became continuously tired, listless and lethargic were often thought to have been visited by vampires or evil spirits. The medieval Christian Church, always eager to give shape and form to such things as a means of keeping their congregations in line, called them incubi and sucubi, male and female forms of the evil demons (medieval psychic vampires) to which they added a sexual context. Anyone having dreams of a sexual nature were said to have been visited by either an incubus or a sucubus who planted the sinful ideas in the minds of weak mortals as a means of ensnaring them.

The psychic vampire is, of course, a very close relation to the more widespread and “popular” blood vampire that appears in literature, film and popular drama, the epitome of which is Count Dracula. The principle remains the same from physical blood-lusting vampire to psychic energy-grabbing vampires in that the Count drains the life force through the actual physical blood whereas the psychic vampire is more subtle, draining the life force by destroying the “will” of its victim. In many ways, the typical vampire scenario such as Count Dracula, casts the vampire in the role of ultimate incubus. It is a creature of the night (darkness), evil in “human” form. Its victims are invariably young, attractive women, although it is not averse to the odd male now and again should the need arise or should there be no other available source. Like its cousin, the Psychic Vampire, (who is not so fussy as to the gender of its victims) Dracula and his ilk are after your immortal soul...

© EyeWitness to History

The seeds of the hysteria that afflicted Salem Village, Massachusetts were sown in January 1692 when a group of young girls began to display bizarre behavior. The tight-knit community was at a loss to explain the convulsive seizures, blasphemous screaming, and trance-like states that afflicted the youngsters. The physicians called in to examine the girls could find no natural cause of the disturbing behavior. If the source of the affliction was not attributable to a physical malady, the community reasoned that it must be the work of Satan. Witches had invaded Salem. In February the village began praying and fasting in order to rid itself of the devil's influence. The girls were pressured to reveal who in the community controlled their behavior. Three women were identified and examined. One, Tituba (a slave), confessed to seeing the devil who appeared to her "sometimes like a hog and sometimes like a great dog." Even more troubling, Tituba confessed that a conspiracy of witches permeated Salem Village.

In March the afflicted girls accused Martha Corey. The three women previously denounced as colluding with the devil were marginal to the community. Martha Corey was different; she was an upstanding member of the Puritan congregation - her revelation as a witch demonstrated that Satan's influence reached to the very core of the community. Events snowballed as the accusatory atmosphere intensified and reached a fever pitch. During the period from March into the fall many were charged, examined, tried and condemned to death. The hangings started in June with the death of Bridget Bishop and continued through September. As winter approached, the hysteria played itself out as criticism of the procedures grew. In October, the colonial governor dissolved the local Court of inquiry. The convictions and condemnations for witchery stopped. Nineteen victims of the witch-hunt had been hanged, one crushed to death under the weight of stones and at least four died in prison awaiting trial...

Himmler's Fortress of Fear: Rumours of prominent Nazis' involvement with the realm of the occult have persisted for decades. Nick Brownlow and Jonathan Turner visited the SS headquarters at Wewelsburg Castle to unearth the truth behind SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler's vision of an ancient and noble Aryan prehistory that verified the superiority of the Master Race.

In Central Germany's Alma valley, a striking 17th-century castle overlooks the picture-postcard scenery that stretches in every direction; jutting majestically above green trees and bathed in sunshine, it looks more like something out of Cinderella than a former Nazi headquarters. And yet the story of Wewelsburg Castle is irretrievably intertwined with the insanity and cruelty at the very heart of the Third Reich. In 1933, SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, the second most powerful man in Germany, chose the stronghold as the site of a new Nazi Mecca, a place he planned to transform into the very "centre of the world". His efforts to turn this vision into reality would claim the lives of over 1,200 people. Over the years, Wewelsburg has become a symbol of the alleged Nazi obsession with the occult. (See FT81: 37-40; 175:34-35; 48-52) Some have claimed that Himmler chose the site because it lies on a nexus of 'ley' energies; others have suggested that bizarre rituals were carried out there by cults within the Nazi party. It has even been alleged that the castle's North Tower was such a storehouse of powerful magical energies that all attempts to destroy it at the end of the war were in vain. While the reality is considerably more mundane than some of these outlandish theories would have us believe, it is ultimately no less bizarre. Wewelsburg lies in Westphalia – "the land of Hermann and Widukind", as Himmler himself put it. Himmler had been considering two other sites as centres for the SS, but after viewing Wewelsburg on 3 November 1933, during a tour of the Reich, he made his decision that same night...

A ouija board is a medium through which messages are supposedly communicated by the dead to or through the players of seance. Ouija boards are also known as "witch boards" and "talking boards." The nickname "ouiji" or "weejie" is also used quite a bit. The word "ouija" is actually a combination of two words, the french word "oui" and the German word "ja." Both words mean "yes" in english.

Many Spiritualists and investigators into the occult have held that the board is a means for making direct contact with the dead and that the messages which are spelled out are from the dead. Others have held that the messages are suggestions from the unconscious mind or the result of muscular tension and unconscious direction of the hand. The playing pieces consist of a game board (like a Monopoly board) and a pointer, called a planchette.  The game board has all the letters  of the alphabet written on it. The numbers 0-9 are also usually included, along with yes/no and hello/goodbye spaces.  The layout of a typical board looks like this: The pointer is made of plastic or glass, and either points to the letters with one end or has a clear window embedded in it through which one can view the letters.To play, two or more people lightly touch the pointer and concentrate on a question. Now, first place your fingers (this works best with a friend, by the way) gently on the glass and concentrate. Than after having asked the relevant question, the glass will start to move and point to various letters, which will form words and sentences and provide with the answer to your question .The pointer may work as the result of tiny involuntary physical movements, and the messages you see are coming from your subconscious or psychic mind...

Aleister Crowley was born October 12th, 1875 at 36 Clarendon Square, Leamington, Warwickshire, England as Edward Alexander Crowley into a wealthy and religious family at the height of the Victorian era. Crowley despised and rebelled against his family at every turn, even renaming himself 'Aleister' to avoid sharing the same first name as his father, who passed away when Crowley was 11.   Like many naughty young boys, Aleister entertained himself through several activities, notably creating a "homemade firework" with which he nearly killed himself, as well as torturing a cat in several horrible ways to test the "nine lives" theory. He dispensed of his virginity at age 14 with the help of a maid. At 17, he contracted gonorrhea with the help of a street walker.

Crowley went on to attend Cambridge University, where he apparently studied alpine climbing, living in the manner of the privileged aristocracy and having a great deal of sex with both men and women. He also began working in the Diplomatic Service, but as Crowley himself said "the fame of an ambassador rarely outlives a century", and Crowley wished to make a greater imprint on the world.   Having had this epiphany, he began searching for more lasting pursuits and in 1898, at age 23, Crowley began his path of magical enlightenment by joining The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Led by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers other members included such notables such as William Butler Yeats, Maud Gonne, Constance Wilde, (the wife of Oscar Wilde), Arthur Machen, Moina Bergson, Arthur Edward Waite, Florence Farr, Algernon Blackwood and possibly, though records for their membership are shaky, Sax Rohmer and Bram Stoker.   The Golden Dawn's contribution to the Western Magical Tradition is definitely worth noting, because it was their synthesis of the Kabbalah, alchemy, tarot, astrology, divination, numerology, Masonic symbolism, and ritual magic into one coherent and logical system which led them to influence countless occult organizations to come...