fear-eaters, and how to get rid of them
by kahokuthanks to taiaka for adding some valuable input!
fear-eaters (sometimes called "wraiths") are entities (mostly demons) who feed on a certain type of emotional energy. in most cases they are not incarnated, but human (looking) fear-eaters are not unheard of.
getting emotional energy is not easy. either you skim a crowd with similar emotions (e.g. at a demonstration, a concert, or even in an early morning train), or you focus on one target. the first isn't as satisfying as the latter though. when dealing with one target, however, it's not enough to simply stand next to someone who has this emotion you're looking for. it has to be directed at you, or at least caused by you. (for some reason, the power of having caused the emotion is also an important part of it.)
a fear-eater has to provoke fear in its target. sometimes undirected fear works (have you ever felt like panicking, although there seemed to be nothing really? it may have been a fear-eater), but the best results are achieved by really freaking someone out. the typical fear-eater would appear in a dark corner, or (which seems to be easier) in a dream, usually as a black creature (for some reason the shape of a man with a hat and coat is very common) with a terribly eerie feeling to it. sometimes you'd panic just by looking at it; in other cases it may manifest a terrible face to scare you. they work with all kinds of tricks, and they know exactly how to scare people. they may even enter your thoughts and alter them to show your deepest fears.
if a fear-eater finds a "good" victim, it may stay with it for a while, or even for a long time (several years), and it will increase in strength if fed on a regular basis. it can even cause physical harm when it's really strong!
the best way to get rid of a fear-eater is not giving it what it wants. in many cases it won't spend much energy on getting you back, it will go and look for an easier victim. but there are exceptions. one fear-eater i was asked to help with didn't want to give up its prey, it was a hard fight.
just stopping to be afraid is nearly impossible, even if you know what you're dealing with. you will have to find a way to get stronger (or strengthen the person who is being attacked) and face the entity. very often, converting the fear into anger is a good thing. for other people, rationalizing the fear away does the trick ("this is just a poor being, desperately trying to get my attention..."), others will use shielding or cleansing techniques (if the person doesn't know much about this, don't worry. tell them to draw a protective circle with salt water or whatever you can come up with - it's all about the belief that it will help). it's fairly easy if the targeted person is religious. praying helps a lot at strengthening a mind. for really severe cases, every diocese has an exorcist, they usually know how to get rid of a "demon".
other methods for keeping a fear-eater out (also usable as a precautionary measure) involve removing all mirrors, chairs, and shoes from your bedroom, placing copper coins on the tops of your window sills and door frames, or applying brick dust using the old houdoun tradition of marking entry ways. taiaka's "clean your house" ritual is another great way to prevent malevolent beings from entering your domicile.
it's also helpful not to regard it as a person, not to give it a name, and not to listen to it when it speaks to you. it will tell you lies or even threaten you, just ignore that. fear-eaters want to get attention; not giving that to them will further strengthen the victim and weaken the attacker. in case of a fear-eater entering its victim's thoughts and appearing as a shadowy kitty with terrible features, it was enough to give the thought kitty a thought slap and laugh at it.
as easy as it sounds, you'll have to find an individual way for each encounter and target in order to get rid of a fear-eater.