Anyone dream of vampires?

.traveller.

Or is it just me? I dream of vampires about once or twice a year, and I just had my yearly nocturnal visit last night. Thing is, I don't know WHY I dream of vampires.
Some commonalities of the dreams:
I am trying to protect them.
There is the threat of possible harm, but no direct danger.
I am not a vampire in these dreams.
The vampires are never people I know.
There are always a group of 5 to 8 of them.

I just don't know what to make of these dreams. Beware of Bloodsuckers?
 

BrightEye

.traveller. said:
Beware of Bloodsuckers?
I would say this is unlikely if you are protecting them as you say. I've only had the other kind of vampire dreams: they pursue me and try to suck me dry, make me one of them and take me away from what I love. In this variant I guess the bloodsucking would apply, like an emotional draining. I would say the key is in the answer to the question: why are you protecting them?
 

.traveller.

BrightEye said:
I would say the key is in the answer to the question: why are you protecting them?

That's a very good point. I feel like they need my help, so I help them. What's odd is that I don't fancy vampires, I see them as parasites, so why would I be driven to help them?? *ponders*
 

BrightEye

.traveller. said:
What's odd is that I don't fancy vampires, I see them as parasites
Maybe you are just trained to see them that way. Your unconscious may have a different opinion. I don't know how strong your dislike of them is, but if it's strong it might be worth thinking of what people refer to as 'denial'. Maybe you are unconsciously attracted to them, and whatever it is they represent for you is trying to get your attention.
 

caridwen

There are vampire tales going back as long as we have historical records from every culture and society. The type of vampire it is really depends on the country of the person for example, Chinese vampires hop with their hands out because they have rigor mortis. There are ancient tales of Eastern European vampires (where Western myths originate) who eat their shrouds and there are even factual reports of corpses with part of their shroud in their stomach.

The Romantic image of the vampire is mainly due to Bram Stokers' Dracula and one of the first modern vampire stories, The Vampyre by John Polidori which was first attributed to Bryron but was partly based on him.

The Victorian vampire was mainly to do with repressed sexual desire and the idea that blood can be a sexual turn on. Women weren't supposed to have sexual desire so it was blamed on some other, some ghoul of the night who appeared in their dreams much like the succubus.

There is of course the psychic vampire, a mortal who sucks the energy out of others and may not know they are doing it. I have known quite a few of those in my time.

So think about as others have said, what vampires mean to you. Jot down a few notes and then think about the people in your life to whom this may apply or problem areas in yourself that this could relate to.
 

.traveller.

Thank you both. I am still thinking things over. They used to scare the piss outta me when I was a child, which led to fascination as a teen into my early twenties. After that, I guess I just got bored of the subject. The thought of the undead has always given me chills, I once had a dream that I was being chased by zombies around my bed (okay, so they weren't moving very fast but it was still a pursuit). I have to say my real revulsion/fear is directed at zombies, vampires always seem so very human to me and therefore vulnerable.

The very idea of a hopping vampire is incredibly disturbing :bugeyed:

Of course, there may be some truth to what my mother said about it... the day after I had the dream, we found out that my father's brothers are coming for a visit at the end of the month. :p
 

mdawn

Maybe the point is that you don't have to like someone to defend them or rather that you don't have to agree with everything they do to recognize that they need your support in some way.
Also, since you dream something similar a couple of times a year it may be helpful to journal what is happening in your life around the times the dreams occur to see if there are any triggers to the dreams, such as a common person, situation, or feeling. If nothing else your vampire chronicles could be very amusing in a couple of years... :p
Good luck, I hope you are able to figure this out!
-mdawn-
 

Nevermore

I dream of vampires too, but usually not unpleasantly, oddly enough. Sometimes my dream of a vampire will come when I've been dealing with too much work, sadness, madness, frustration...
One of my best remembered vampire dreams was that I married a vampire, he was charming and understanding and instead of blood, he was sucking the bad stuff out. Romantic. That sounded kinda sleazy when I woke up and thought it over, though.
The one bad vampire dream I remember is that someone I loved was turning into a vampire and I understood when I woke up: that person was an energy/ sane mind sucker. I think, since you think of vampires as parasites, it could mean that there is a relationship(s?) where you are taking care of someone, but the relationship is not very rewarding to you, and although they're not a big threat, they are draining all the same because you work for them. Or maybe they're just unwelcome presences, who knows.
As for the the hopping vampire with rigor mortis, EEEK!
 

cosmic_bubble

i've had a couple of these dreams this year - but i'm fighting the vampires rather than protecting them :)

it's usually coincided with me having lots on my mind and being a bit over-burdened...

are there things in your life (people or otherwise) that are sapping your energy or taking up your time, and you're letting this happen rather than letting them go? maybe? :)
 

.traveller.

I've been really wracking my brain trying to find a connection between the dreams and my life, and I think I have finally made some progress.

From what I can remember from the timing of the past dreams and my current situation, there seems to be a connection between being involved with groups of people where I didn't (don't) get much out of the association, and the "serving the vampires" dreams. These weren't work related, but more volunteer or social responsibilities. The dreams seem to follow the waking realization that these associations were just a drain my time, as well as a burden. There has also been the feeling of "threat" if I don't play along.