Have you ever finished working at a long term care facility, hospice or palliative care unit or facility and felt not just tired from the long day - but drained of energy? Like your soul or aura or even your cells feel heavily fatigued? It may not just be that you walked a lot or talked to many patients, clients or family members; it may actually be that in addition to the usual things that make one tired at the end of a long day in healthcare, other people have been unintentionally 'stealing' your life force. I know, sounds crazy - I thought it was as well when I first encountered it back in 1996 as a CNA doing clinicals in nursing homes. Having been studying different beliefs and religions since I made Confirmation from the Roman Catholic Church when I was sixteen; I was curious about energy work in my youth. So, I started digging for an answer. Many books later - I found the term Psychic Vampire - I thought, 'Yeah right!' Until I started to learn about it.
Turns out there are both Intentional and Unintentional Psychic Vampires - those that knowingly and willingly drain your lifeforce energy and those that are unaware that they drain lifeforce energy. Turns out, people who are either very sedentary, unable to move on their own or are constantly in a state of 'low' lifeforce energy (i.e. - people who are close to death, are actively dying, are chronically ill or have a terminal diagnosis that is taking a long time to play out) will unknowingly drain the lifeforce energy from people who have a strong or 'high' amount of lifeforce energy. After reading about the phenomenon, it made complete sense to me. The people that I was working around everyday were draining my energy levels. Not on purpose, but because their own lifeforce was making any and every effort to stay rooted to this Earthly plane. Being someone who likes to share information - I tried telling my classmates and the LPN's and RN's about what I had read. Some, knew exactly what I was talking about; others, looked at me like I had lobsters coming out of my nose.
After reading about the phenomenon, it made complete sense to me. The people that I was working around everyday were draining my energy levels. Not on purpose, but because their own lifeforce was making any and every effort to stay rooted to this Earthly plane.
So, is there a solution to stopping this from happening to you? Absolutely! The first thing one needs to do is to be aware of someone else's energy levels. Most of us who work in a healthcare setting are already what I would call 'empaths' - those who are able to feel other people's energy and/or moods/feelings just by being in their presence. If this is something that you do not actively practice, that's ok - because our bodies have a built-in empathy detector; it's called your 'gut feeling'. Ninety percent of the time, when you get a gut feeling about something - you're usually correct, even if your brain doesn't know it right away. Think about it - the cells in our body emit an energy level, every cell is vibrating with protons, electrons and neutrons that create 'energy fields' or even electromagnetic fields. It's that sense that someone is looking at you when your back is turned, the sense that someone is about to touch you just before their skin makes contact with your body or that gut feeling that says 'something's off'.
Sometimes you can tell that someone's energy is low just by looking at them, without using the unseen sense that we all possess. Once you know, you're half way there to protecting your own lifeforce energy. The first step is awareness of your surroundings. Next, before you touch or start actively working with the patient, client or family member - imagine a barrier between the two of you, white light works best - or a 'screen' that filters the energy coming from the other person. Your barrier should be permeable, otherwise you'll close yourself off completely (which isn't usually conducive to working in healthcare), but it should be something that protects your body, a guardian at the gate so to speak. Once your guardian is in place, you can proceed to work with your client, patient or family. But, energy exchange is a two way street, just like verbal communication. Monitor the energy level between the two of you, be cognizant of the ebb and flow and make adjustments to your guard as needed. Another thing to make sure of before you begin is to be 'grounded'.
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Grounding yourself before an encounter, before you even enter the space is one of the best things you can do to stop unintentional energy drain. Imagine yourself rooted, like a tree whose roots gain nutrients from deep within the Earth or a mountain, who has stood the test of geological time spanning eons. It also helps to carry a stone in your pocket; any stone will do, as it represents grounding to the Earth Plane - but for extra protection, a tiger's eye, rose quartz or hematite can work very well. Personally, I use a tiger's eye and a screen of white light. Lastly, after a long day of talking with people and using your gifts of empathy to enhance someone else's life - ending the day with a Mindfulness Meditation, Chakra Alignment or sitting quietly and releasing the day's energy into a lighted candle is a good way to clear yourself of any unwanted tethers that an unintentional energy drainer may have attached to you. For more information on energy work I recommend looking up: Cutting Energy Cords and Kundalini and the Chakras and for further reading on Psychic Vampires (both Intentional and Unintentional) I recommend the author Konstantinos (see references as well for more reading material).I hope this was informative and useful for all. I will be exploring a plethora of topics with my blog ranging from religion to energy work to how to address problems that you may come across in Doula work, different meditations I have learned over the years, stories from my 30 years in the medical field and more. If you have a topic you'd like to hear more about - feel free to reach out to me via email. May the Goddess watch over you always and the Sister Moon guide your paths - for now, Blessed Be.
De'-Niece the Death Mid-Wife - Having the Time of Your Death: A Death Mid-Wife Service
References
Paulson, G.L. (2002). Evolution in the Lifetime A Practical Guide. Llewellyn Publications.
Konstantinos. (2002). Vampires: The Occult Truth. Llewellyn Publications.
Edwards, S. (2015). Love and the Brain. Harvard Medical School. https://hms.harvard.edu/news-
Lang, M., Krátký, J., & Xygalatas, D. (2020). The role of ritual behaviour in anxiety reduction: an investigation of Marathi religious practices in Mauritius. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1805), 20190431. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.
Solan, M. (2022, December 1). The real power of placebos. Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.
