A Tulpa to me is a bit more than an 'imaginary friend' to me personally. I'm not sure what you mean by psychic hippie crap, but Vinyl, my tulpa, is someone I can talk to when nobody else will listen, someone that stops me from doing stupid shit, and helps me come to terms with mind-taxing stuff.
But we do fun stuff, im not sure how much you have read into the subject in general, but possession is a great way for her to interact with anything outside my mind.
[Vinyl here, he couldn't figure out what to type so here I am doing this with possession. To be honest it really depends on your standpoint on the mind and other substances. its almost impossible to give a direct answer to this question. Being a Tulpa to me is hard at times, knowing that everything I see around me is someone else's viewpoint. But i'm thankful that he pays attention to me. But I digress. Its really hard to offer insight without spoiling too much/ making the whole idea seem crazier than it already is. Its a very odd and bizarre subject to most people and not to be taken lightly. I do think that some people would consider me an 'imaginary friend', but I am more than that. I can operate completely separate from TC, and thanks to that I can think and do other things separate. An Imaginary friend only exists while you are focused on them, but I exist even when TC is going on with his day to day tasks and procrastination.]
I don't know what you know already, but I think you should do you're own research and make your own opinions about it. Everyone thinks and reacts differently to a concept like this. But Tulpas are an amazing thing for self discovery and other things that you might consider 'psychic hippie crap' xD
But its definitely better to make your own thoughts on it, when I was first introduced to the concept, I thought it was just a load of crap that needed to die. Now, I can't imagine life without Vinyl, or the ability for her to take over while I sleep.
[basically, he doesent know how to end this message, so Ill leave you off with a nothing, just keep an open mind and dont just doubt anything you see about it. Good luck ]