Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) was founded in 1981 by members of Psychic TV, Coil, Current 93, and a number of other individuals. The ever-evolving network is a loosely federated group of people operating as a unique blend of artistic collective, and practitioners of magic.
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". The early network consisted of a number of 'stations' 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. 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.
Throughout its existence, TOPY has been an influential group in the underground Chaos magic scene and in the wider western occult tradition. TOPY's research has covered both Left-hand path and Right-hand path magick, various elements of psychology, art, music, and a variety of other media. Some of the influences on the network have been Aleister Crowley, Austin Osman Spare, and Brion Gysin.
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 his departure from the organization. This was later exacerbated when he later claimed that he had shut down the network upon his leaving. The remaining members of the network chose not to go along with this and carried on with their activities. Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth 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.
On the 23rd hour (11:00pm) of the 23rd day of each month TOPY members were encouraged to make magical 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 each other.
In 2008, TOPY underwent its biggest change as it evolved into the Autonomous Individuals Network. The new organisation 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".
Key Texts
There have been a number of texts produced by Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth to expound its philosophies, many of which can be found on their website. Some of the key texts produced over the years have been:
- Nexis
- Thee Sigilizers Handbook
- Thee Grey Book (which was important during the 1980s but is no longer distributed by TOPY)
- Thee Black Book
- Broadcast (the journal of TOPY)
