Tulpas are imaginary friends that become real. In some cases, these thought-forms can seek revenge on an enemy or their creators. Get the scoop after the jump.

Tulpa Background

Briefly, tulpas come from Buddhist beliefs that got modified in Western society.

In a nutshell, it means a ‘mind-made body.’ If you put enough focus on your thoughts, they can become real. It makes sense because a core tenet of Buddhism is to control your crazy thoughts. It also makes me think about creative visualization.

Per Wikipedia and the Occultist, William Walker Atkinson:

…thought-forms as simple ethereal objects emanating from the auras surrounding people, generating from their thoughts and feelings. He further elaborated in Clairvoyance and Occult Powers how experienced practitioners of the occult can produce thoughtforms from their auras that serve as astral projections which may or may not look like the person who is projecting them, or as illusions that can only be seen by those with “awakened astral senses”.

Atkinson, W. Walker. “The Human Aura” (1912). Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulpa on August 3, 2019.

It’s Not a Ghost

These entities have nothing to do with the dead: They’re created by a living person or a group of very focused people. That means protective techniques that work against ghosts, spirits, poltergeists and demons will fail. We should treat them as monsters.

Unfortunately, tulpas come with a variety of specter-like abilities … and you have no way to defend yourself.

Except one.

Tulpa Manifestation

Before we get to clearing tulpas, you should understand how one manifests.

In most cases, it’s a gradual process. The thought-form takes shape over a period of time. It could take weeks, months or years for it to collect enough psychic energy to physically manifest.

There are two cases in point: Philip; and Slender Man.

In the Philip Experiment, it acted like your typical ghostly communication, but it was pure fiction. The parapsychologists invented the spirit, so that makes it a tulpa.

As for Slender Man, it was just an urban legend in a forum, but its fans may have brought it to life.

Thought-Form Characteristics

At first, a new tulpa may seem like a common ghostly haunting. You’ll get knocks, shadows, footsteps and (maybe) things moving around your house. It’s letting you know it’s coming, which boosts belief-energy, and helps it manifest.

However, there’s a few ghostly phenomena you won’t get:

• Cold spots
• Hot spots
• EMF changes
• Whispered EVP (tulpas will talk normally)

Once the tulpa manifests, it’s real. It has a solid body, blocks light, and picks up objects, like a hatchet. But, it does have one interesting power: It can teleport wherever the creator wants it to go.

And that can be a problem.

In most cases, tulpas are safe. They exist only for the person who created them. So that means a friendly creature or humanoid to play with. There’s a reason why it’s kids that make most of them.

But, if you create one from negative emotions (fear, hate, revenge or jealousy), it will turn on its creator. Negative-energy tulpas will kill.

How to Clear a Tulpa

There’s one way to do it, and one way alone. You have to change your thoughts about it. Here’s what can kill a tulpa:

• The creator stops believing in it
• A weakness gets added to the belief and you kill it
• The creator dies

I’d say focus on the first two options in the list. Now, once the creator stops believing it, the tulpa dies an agonizing death over a period of time. That time frame could be a few days, weeks or months. It’s not clear.

This puts the creator at risk. Tulpas become violent when this happens. By scaring its creator, it gives a big jolt of belief back into them. And that energizes the tulpa.

This is why I think Slender Man is a tulpa. If no one believed in it, you wouldn’t have people committing crimes in its name.

That’s another reason why I’m wary of what will come out of Creepy Pastas next. The Internet: It’s great at scaling beliefs to millions of wannabe believers.

Tulpas in Pop Culture

• Mordecai (Supernatural S1 E17)
• The Tulpa Effect
• Slender Man
• Tulpamancers
• Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend