Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth, or TOPY for short, was the group responsible for popularizing body piercing and tattooing, acid house music, and magick, all aimed at personal liberation and the construction of a model of life outside of, and very opposed to, the status quo of the 1980s and beyond. They did a tremendous amount of work at shifting our culture in new and creative directions, and I am proud to be able to help showcase their work in this new, expanded edition of the book.
The group was, of course, conceived and headed by Genesis P-Orridge, the lead singer of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV; the endeavor played a crucial role in the survival and modernization of magick.
The book is hardcover, 544 pages, limited to 999 copies, and comes with a DVD of Psychic TV performances and Derek Jarman videos. (There’s also an introduction written by me.)
Thee infamous PSYCHIC BIBLE from Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth receives an updated, expanded, corrected edition,complete with dozens of new visuals and essays. The Feral House edition is handsomely presented in smyth-sewn hardcover with a red ribbon. Thee 544 pages within are printed in two colors on high-quality 60-pound stock on acid-free 100% recycled paper stock.
This signed, numbered limited edition (999 copies only) is also presented with a remarkable DVD of impossible-to-find videos from P-Orridge archives of early Psychic TV and TOPY creations which includes the work of Peter ?¢‚Ǩ?ìSleazy?¢‚Ǩ¬ù Christopherson and Derek Jarman. Several of the videos included were seized by Scotland Yard in 1991, and as a result the DVD is provided here are second-generation and are reproduced in this CD for their historical value.
The artist, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, says about this edition: ?¢‚Ǩ?ìIt has been a revelation and become very thrilling for me to see 30 years+ of social, ritual and communal creative explorations consensed into what we feel may become the most profound new manual on ?¢‚ǨÀúpractical magick?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ taking from its Crowleyan level of liberation and empowermeant of the Individual to a next level of realization that magick must then give back to its environment, its community, become about liberation and empowermeant to change this ?¢‚ǨÀúworld?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ and evolve our humanE species.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù
I began working on this book with Genesis about 4 years ago, shortly after I published Generation Hex. I can hardly believe it’s out. I edited the book chock full of ritual and magickal goodness; it truly is the most important book of magick you’re likely to stumble on in this lifetime. It’s a privilege to have worked on it and it’s a privilege to announce the release to you. Get them before they’re gone forever!
Awesome! Looks great. Congratulations to Gen & Jason & all involved. Cheers!
Dec 02, 2009
... says:
With all due respect to those involved, I find it a little confusing that Genesis has been given the title of TOPY?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s ?¢‚Ǩ?ìhead.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù I came of age a little too late to have been involved myself, but I have at times obsessively devoured ?¢‚Ǩ?ìall things TOPY and Industrial Records.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù The impression I got from Genesis?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ own words was that TOPY was a DIS-order with no central power. Since his name and face went down as being inseparable from TOPY, I always found this a bit peculiar. Even in the Disinformation Interviews he stated that he was not the leader ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú it just seems that he was the most prominent person involved. Now ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú back to that due respect ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú WHY did s/he see it fit to shut down TOPY after HIR OWN 10 years of involvement was up, and prematurely dismiss anyone involved who ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú from my point of view ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú should have had the opportunity to fulfill their own relative tenure? These days Genesis declares that the Psychic Cross is hir own trademarked icon, and that hir word was final on the termination of TOPY. S/he pretty much refers to anyone who didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t recognize the authority of hir ruling as leeches; all the while saying that TOPY had no leader. For all the magick s/he helped bring to the lives of many, s/he seems content to have it that TOPY was a personality cult designed for people to get involved in something s/he was doing during that 10 years. Oh, by the way ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m sure the book is wonderful.
I hope my copy is the one that was suckled…. or do I…. either way I’m hoping for “numerogically significant” ___ of 999
exciting!
Dec 03, 2009
bromike666 says:
Oh man, I should have asked for copy 666 of 999!
Maybe I’ll re read Wreckers of Civilization again while I wait for my bible to arrive.
Dec 03, 2009
nekospecial says:
The only Bible I’d be proud to be seen with in public!
Dec 05, 2009
Fitz says:
When I first heard about this project I figured it would be little more than a new face upon the 90s version, an assortment of old liner notes and diatribes. When I checked the pdf Table of Contents I was far more impressed to discover that instead it was a far more noteworthy compilation of various TOPY works and writers. Excellent work Jason.
So! These marvelous TOPY claims of counterculture “leadership” (?) are thereby immortalized in some self-congratulatory wackos’ scribblings, bound up in hunks of dead tree.
A book! How incredibly disestablismentarianistic!
But that’s not all: There are only 999 copies to be had! Operators are standing by now!
Seriously, Jason: How dumb do you think we are? You all are going to rock the world by…publishing a book? In limited numbers? Really?
Because it seems clear to me by playing the “limited printing” game, you’re hoping to sucker 999 rubes into buying your chunks of dead tree at inflated prices. Considering where you claim to be coming from, this is rather ironic…it’s almost as if you’re ashamed of the ideas therein.
It’s not the fact that it’s a book—folks have plenty of them—but it’s the fact that you claim to be counter-culture warriors, but do so with a craptastic sell-out establishmentarian marketing move.
I think it interesting that you missed the low-hanging fruit here.
“Bible” is a popular name for a tome, precisely because “THE Bible” is the most published book in the western world. (I don’t like it, but that’s the way it is.)
Centuries of religious oppression went into making the brand “Bible”...and naturally, these folks are capitalizing on the brand recognition. I mean, why shouldn’t they? What’s a few crispy heretics between friends? __They__ didn’t start the fire…right?
Anyway, you also missed that luscious quote from the OP:
“Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth, or TOPY for short, was the group responsible for popularizing body piercing and tattooing, acid house music, and magick, . . .”
Jason must have had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek when he wrote that…clearly, nobody could be expected to take such a thing seriously.
Finally, there is one matter I’d like to mention: “Psychick” and “Magick” don’t seem to be repeatable in a laboratory. The religious apologists to the fore say this is due to the presence of skeptics, which spoils the effect.
Thus, any attempts to put the whammy on a skeptic are met with hilarious (and completely ineffectual) results—much like the Big Bad Wolf trying to blow down that house of bricks.
Blowhards, unite!
Seacrest: out!
Dec 09, 2009
Darko says:
Just received my copy. Not had chance to delve into it yet, but very nice binding. The nicest binding I’ve seen since ‘mixing with your mind’. Huzzah.
I find it perfectly acceptable for Genesis to make money from years of hard work in the arts. I’ll happily hand over hard-earned cash to the deserving. Smashing the system is something you do when you’re a teenager. Or permanently unemployed.
Myself coming from the avant garde (ick), I recently came to the realisation that the last shocking act an artist can do is to make money producing pop music. Art isn’t what we make. We are the art.
Dec 30, 2009
danger.fellini says:
Don’t stroke the douchebags EGO. ALL bibles should be burnt, especially this one !!!
