I have my own protection against Psychic Vampirism, I have my little nasty spirits with me and they protect me against this and some other things too ;)

No need to forgive, all is well.

I like your word choice i.e. mental puke up, lol. You have to be careful when working with people you dont know. Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups. Text is very impersonal, I would rather speak and be able to communicate with all the senses, but this forum is a great tool. I appologize as well if I said anything which left you wondering or made you upset Z.

How was the magician seriously misguided?

You'll have to forgive my initial response as I did not know the details of the staff or the ritual involved in charging it. To assume makes an ass out of me and u :lol: *nervous cough*

For quite a few years I have collected things from my friends, not purposefully but simply on a whim. When I come across these things I get instant flashbacks of situations or character traits involving the person that the item belongs to. Alot of times when I am needing to do work for friends, I will have one or all of those items handy in order to absorb certain habits that would be useful throughout. . . For example, my husband's guitar pick, Brittany's earring, and the "graffiti" that Eileen left in one of my notebooks have served well as items of "familiarity" they help me get over a nervousness I have about meeting new people. . .

Unfortunately this worked against my advantage last Friday when my husband and I decided to meet up with a seriously misguided magician. . . he made out like he knew what he was doing and we were way too easy to trust him after focusing on the items of familiarity but the night and events within were most definitely a bust. . .

PO, "(I find that when I try to affect other people, positively or negatively, it is beneficial to maintain a difference between psyches)" <-- This is exactly why the night was a bust. . . and bringing this fellow's psyche into our own was a bad idea, it seemed like I had a three day hangover after the mental puke-up.

Funny, potato is a term of endearment between my fiancé and I.

Steal was probably not the best word choice there, but you got the jist of what I was saying. I have received excellent results with this technique. This tends to naturaly take place as you have said, but in other instances, I have summoned the habit which reminds me of the person, habitualized it, and then let it call them to me.

I have thought about taking Vincent Denofrios character from Law and Order Criminal Intent and turning it into an archetype for divination. Modeling myself after the character so that his super sleuth abilities become my own. Finding connections where none seem to reside and such.

You spoke of ways to deal with accepting undesirable traits into yourself. I had to develop these abilities at a young age. I was terribly empathetic when younger and this led to taking on other faults. I would literally meld with others to the point that I would remind other people of the person I had melded with constantly. I have since learned how to shut this off and use it willfully, but it does still occur at random sometimes. Just a few months ago I began speaking like another guy at work and my sense of humor began to match his. No one seemed to notice except me and after addressing the problem, it vanished in a few days. I had sensed resistance in him towards me and unconsciously remedied the situation with matching my personality to his habitually. All in all, the tension has subsided between us so I would consider it a good thing. The best way that I have found to deal with something like this is to have a good handle of metamorphosis and habit manipulation. Thanks for the response.

The sigil which resides on the staff is very detailed and I have never suffered any ill fate from the ward. I have had it for four years and consider it an old friend. aside from warding, the staff also acts as a reminder for me to not use others in the ways a vampire would and also as a reminder to perform observances during monasticisms. I appreciate the concern Zero-one, but the measures of the staffs function have been considered in detail. No need to worry friend, I have a solid grip on the appropriation of my descrimination.

I would like to thank everyone here at the vortex, I have received such excellent and educated responses which would benefit any practitioner.

Frogs, Ducks, Kelidoscopes,
~Anomaly~

I dunno that I'd say I've "stolen" something from someone in order to invoke them later (if that's what you mean) and I definitely think "stolen" is not the best word to use in this case (nor do I assume it was your intent). I've certainly assumed or taken on personality traits of other people to 'get into character' when I wanted to in/evoke them somehow or otherwise increase certain traits in myself (using the other person as an exemplar for how I'd like to be). This would be for people I didn't personally know (godforms, role models, etc.) rather than people I do.

For people I do know, I usually have enough of an idea of what they're about to be able to do what I want. Although I have reason to affect someone else with a ritual I plan to do later this evening, I'm not so sure I want to be bringing part of this person into my psyche though (I find that when I try to affect other people, positively or negatively, it is beneficial to maintain a difference between psyches)...

...which certainly does happen whether I want it to or not when one meets someone with a strong personality, or involves themselves with an egregore. I oft find myself memetically licking up these sorts of things and, when undesirable, there are various ways to deal with it. These could range from a fairly simple, "stop hanging out with these losers" to "just stop doing that." Generally, these are simple enough where one doesn't need to rely on a formal banishing ritual.

This sort of memetic absorption is something that I would use for people I do know. I think NLP types call this "modeling." It's definitely something that is often done incorrectly (especially when done entirely subconsciously) but a little bit of observation and critical thinking can make the leap from "this guy acts this way and he's successful in a way that I want to be so I'm going to act that way too" to "she's got her shit together, so I'm going to go back a couple layers and see what underlies these traits of hers."

It should be much easier to use the second case since you know what trait you want and what leads to that trait, as well as how to best effect it in your own life.

I like your idea for the staff, initially it is a great choice for an emblem of protection.

Be careful, though, because charging protection with pure hatred would entail a constancy of negative reactions to all regardless of whether or not they are psychic vampires.

Well, from a psychological point of view, the staff could have possibly caused me to avoid these people just as much as they avoid me, but either way, I receive the same result.

From a magical point of view, I charged the staff with as much hatred and fear that I could muster, so the staff in itself does not have many manners when dealing with these types of people. The staff is a classic sigil, it looks like a three foot stake and reminds people of killing vampires. I have charged it with two monasticisms and used it in a hand full of rituals. I have a theory that even the most unknowing of the vampires know on a subconscious level. I even think they are proud of it, so the stake just acts as a reminder to them that on a sub conscious level Im aware that they are doing what they are doing.

I had a few people in mind when I created this staff...

I like the projection of energy which you did on the train. I usually just visualize a brick wall between myself and the person whom I do not want to talk to while sucking all of my energy back into myself. Dont give anything away, make them work for it.

Do you ever steal habits from people just in case you need to contact them one day? this could work for banishing as well.

Thanks,
~Anomaly~

That's cool - I wasn't sure if you used the staff/stake as a walking stick or not (or however else you'd carry it) and was curious.

Speaking of stake, I do like the symbolism, not necessarily of the 'vampire' bit, but specifically "pinning" or otherwise attaching your energy to a place (or even symbolically with your alter as a defense mechanism that works even if you're not in the immediate proximity).

Re: crossing wrists - thinking about it a little more, it can be an awkward position while standing and possibly uncomfortable while sitting (where I primarily use it). An easier version is to cross your arms over your chest - it doesn't seem to be as effective and it can send bad signals to people in the room (many people regard this as a guarded posture).

I had occasion to try this out the other day while on the train...didn't do anything for the jerk playing his music too loud, but I was able to at least concentrate enough to read. In this case, I also took a few deep breaths and visualized a 'shield' or blue protection sphere around me (and happened to be reading the Auric Strengthening bit from HOCM at the time).

Unfortunately, I recently became aware of a couple vampire-type people coming back into my life. In one case, a simple "fuck off, you're not welcome here" (stated thus - no need to be ambiguous!) should suffice, so no need for anything fancier, but in the other...social obligations will require more tact as outright hostility would poison a lot of relationships.

I am curious as to the particulars of the creation of your staff. Did you create it for the general purpose of protection or was there a particular individual in mind? How did you choose correspondences, etc. (if at all). I tend to use hoodoo-style mojo hands/trick bags, etc. rather than more traditional tools, but certainly would like to create some.

Hello Suenteus Potato,

I do not always carry the staff around with me, only during monasticisms, but it is quite the power object. I keep it next to my alter when not carrying it and use it in ritual sometimes.

Crossing your ankles and arms and breathing, setting an aura of protection and such. I have found there to be sneaky vampires afoot at times, dangerous and troubled folk. I will try this next time, but honestly, I have not encountered one since the creation of this ward, it causes them to avoid me as it should.

Humbly Chaotic,
Anomaly

Do you carry this staff around with you?

I've found that crossing my ankles/hands and breathing is usually enough to protect myself. Or, throwing the vampire off their "script" should disrupt them long enough to get your bearings back.

OH yes- in fact, I seem to run across more who *don't* know what they're doing than those who do. I just shield and ignore for the most part. I love toys and tools- the staff sounds kewl. :D