Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth

Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth or TOPY is a fellowship founded in 1981^[1] by members of Psychic TV (including later members of Coil and Current 93) and a number of other individuals.^[2] The network is a loosely federated group of people operating as a blend of artistic collective and practitioners of magic.

Creation and influence

The early network consisted of a number of 'stations^[3] worldwide including TOPY-CHAOS for Australia, TOPYNA for North America and TOPY Station 23 for the United Kingdom and Europe. Smaller, "grass-roots"-level sub-stations called Access Points were located throughout America and Europe.^[4]

Throughout its existence, TOPY has been an influential group in the underground chaos magic scene^[5] and in the wider western occult tradition.^[6]

Theory and praxis

TOPY is dedicated to the manifestation of magical concepts lacking mysticism or the worship of gods. The group focuses on the psychic and magical aspects of the human brain linked with "guiltless sexuality". TOPY's research has covered both left hand and right hand ritual magic and elements of psychology, art and music. Brion Gysin, the Process Church of the Final Judgement, William S. Burroughs, Aleister Crowley and Austin Osman Spare stand out as major influences.

On the 23rd hour (11:00pm) of the 23rd day of each month TOPY members were encouraged to make magical^[7] sigils. If an individual chose to do so, they were invited to mail their sigils to a central location where the magical energy in them could be used to enhance others.^[5]

The reason for the use of "TOPY cant", such as the spelling of "thee" and "ov" in the network's name, derives from the writings of Genesis P-Orridge, which advocate a deconstruction of "normal" or consensus modes of communication in order to achieve a more integrated understanding of the Self.

Schisms

In the early 1990s, a "rift" occurred within the network when Genesis P-Orridge of Psychic TV, one of the few founding members still involved at that time, and probably the most famous public face of TOPY during the 1980s, announced their departure from the organization. This was later exacerbated when s/he later claimed that s/he had shut down the network upon their leaving and requested that the group no longer use h/er registered trademark, Thee Psychick Cross. Some of the remaining members of the network chose not to go along with this and carried on with their activities. TOPY continued to grow and evolve throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century while Genesis P-Orridge moved on to other projects such as The Process, as well as a similar project to TOPY called Topi.

In 2008, some members of TOPY evolved into the Autonomous Individuals Network (AIN). Others continue to work as individual autonomous creators and practitioners in the realm of chaos magick. AIN was built on the foundations of the TOPY network and "all the history and knowledge that community has gathered since its creation in the 1980s".^[8]

In December 2010, Genesis P-Orridge activated the One True Topi Tribe,^[9] a reactivation of sorts of the original Temple Ov Psychick Youth, this time with focus on creating an intentional artists community.

Key texts

There have been a number of texts produced by Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth to expound its philosophies. Some of the key texts produced over the years have been:

• Axiom 23
• Thee Sigilizers Handbook
• Thee Grey Book^[10] (which was important during the 1980s but is no longer distributed by TOPY)
• Thee Black Book^[11]
• Broadcast (the journal of TOPY)
• Thee Psychick Bible is a culmination of all past copies of TOPY literature, with updates and personal additions by Genesis P-Orridge, edited by Jason Louv.

References

External links

• TOPY website
• One True Topi Tribe