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Transgressive Representations: Satanic
Ritual Abuse, Thee Temple ov Psychick
Youth, and First Transmission
Danielle Kirby
Introduction
Articulating the acceptable and unacceptable limits of representation is anunquestionably fraught undertaking. In this issue, Norman Simms astutely
states that when it comes to the artistic the very notion of representation suffers“epistemological and aesthetic problems,” limited by the fact that art andliterature are “in essence duplicitous, acts of imitation and products of deceit.”1
Late Western modernity provides ample illustration of the often-contentious
nature of representation, with recent events supplying a surfeit of examples
where normative limits of representation have been uncomfortablytransgressed, often generating public outcry and claims of wrongdoing. This
article explores one such instance, the 1992 broadcast of an episode of the
Channel 4 programme Dispatches, entitled „Beyond Belief,‟ in the United
Kingdom. Now, twenty years after the fact, this episode and its broader context
provide a fascinating, if disturbing, view into an extraordinary, thoughsomewhat predictable, series of events. Taking the inherent ambiguity posedby the notion of the limits of representation as a starting point, this article willaddress the incident through a framework of transgression, seeking to articulate
some of the varying ways in which such limits were breached, exceeded, andredefined.
Beyond Belief
On 19 February 1992, the UK television programme Dispatches aired an
episode entitled „Beyond Belief.‟2 The episode purported to provide evidence
Danielle Kirby is a Lecturer in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT
University.
1
Norman Simms, „Representations of Nature Limited and Unlimited: A Speculative
Essay,‟ Literature & Aesthetics, vol. 21, no. 2 (2011), p. 3.
2
It should be noted that this incident has many conflicting accounts, and details often
vary. The provenance of the footage is equally unclear, and is often attributed to
Psychick TV rather than TOPY. Priority has been given here to the account in David
Keenan, England’s Hidden Reverse: A Secret History of the Esoteric Underground(London: SAF Publishing, 2003), pp. 223-231. For other approaches, see, for instance,„Bogus Devil Video Rekindles Satanic Panic,‟ The Sub-culture Alternatives Freedom

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Danielle Kirby

of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA), backing its claims with survivor accounts andgraphic footage. The show was hosted by Andrew Boyd, an active proponentof the reality of SRA and author of Blasphemous Rumours, a book on the
topic.3 Immediately after the episode, a helpline for callers was advertised,commissioned by Channel 4 and run by Broadcasting Support Services.4 The
episode of Dispatches had been previewed by Eileen Fairweather in the
Observer Magazine three days prior to its release, in an article entitled „Video
Offers First Evidence of Ritual Abuse.‟5 Although gestures were made towards
journalistic objectivity, the article was both extremely hostile and unequivocal
in condemning the footage, whilst asserting its evidential force. References toboth law enforcement agencies and the opinions of medical experts, combinedwith an interview with the (now debunked) cult survivor „Jennifer‟ mentioned
in the programme, reinforced the image of rampant ritualised abuse of both
women and children:[t]he video shows the abuse of young adults in what is clearly a ritualcontext…It shows obscene rituals involving a hooded man having
ritual symbols carved into his flesh, a naked woman tied up and
raped, and an apparent abortion on another restrained and possibly
drugged woman. Another scene shows a young female tied up andinvolved in a violent sexual act. One of two doctors consulted by The
Observer believes she may be no more than 13 years old. These
sequences are inter-cut with fleeting shots of explicit sex, humanskulls and Satanic symbols.6

In at least some circles, the video footage was taken as providing substantiationof the then-assumed presence of active Satanic groups engaging in ritual abuse,and certainly „Beyond Belief‟ presented that image. What was not initiallymade clear, although it fairly swiftly came to light, however, was that thefootage used as evidence within the episode was in fact an experimental film
created slightly less than a decade earlier by the occult and artistic collective
Foundation, at http://www.saff.ukhq.co.uk/devilvid.htm. Accessed 21/12/2011; andDesmond K. Hill, „Transmedia Exiles,‟ Rogue: das Kulturmagazin, at http://aka.iptechnik.net/rogue/archiv1/transmedia_exile.html. Accessed 21/12/2011.
3
Andrew Boyd, Blasphemous Rumours: Is Satanic Ritual Abuse Fact or Fantasy?
(London: Fount, 1991).
4Sara Scott, „Beyond Belief: Beyond Help?,‟ Child Abuse Review, vol. 2 (1993), p.
244.
5
Eileen Fairweather, „Video Offers First Evidence of Ritual Abuse,‟ Observer
Magazine (16 February 1992), p. 4. It is important, and somewhat distressing, to notethat the journalist who wrote this article was also a researcher working on the program
Dispatches.
6
Fairweather, „Video Offers First Evidence of Ritual Abuse,‟ p. 4.

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Transgressive Representationsgroup of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY).7 Moreover, the footage
itself had been partially funded during the 1980s by Channel 4, used previouslyas part of a programme on experimental British cinema,8 and as an element ofvarious performances by associated bands including the experimental outfit
Psychick TV.
Journalistic reportage, in general, swiftly turned against the initialinterpretations of the episode, and publications such as the Observer Magazine,
amongst others, moved to a much more cautious position within days of thebroadcast:a Channel 4 Dispatches programme last Thursday screened excerpts
from the video [First Transmission], in which a naked man is beaten
and repeatedly cut with knives, a young woman scarred with anothersharp implement and a pregnant woman apparently subjected to an
abortion…Far from providing any definitive answers to the questionof the existence of large-scale „Satanic‟ cults, it is clear that theChannel 4 programme has given rise to still more heated debate,with sceptics passionately arguing that the video is evidence not of a
Satanic cult but of a bizarre performance art. 9

Nonetheless, the incident resulted in raids upon the homes of TOPY members
and the seizure of materials, including much of the back catalogue of membersof various bands and other professional artistic works. Individuals cameforward to accuse TOPY members of inappropriate behaviour, such as offeringdrugs to children and writing sexually explicit letters.10 Founder and member,
Genesis P-Orridge (b. Neil Megson, 1950) and his family, who were out of thecountry at the time of the broadcast of „Beyond Belief,‟ chose not to returnhome to England. While P-Orridge was never in fact charged with anything,
his and his family‟s self-imposed exile was in large part due to the incident.11
This episode is contextualised more broadly by a heightened normative
pressure, occurring as it did towards the latter end of the moral panics
regarding Satanism and particularly SRA throughout the 1980s and early7

For a detailed and extremely interesting account of the incident from a TOPY
perspective see Keenan, England’s Hidden Reverse, pp. 223-231.
8
Keenan, England’s Hidden Reverse, p. 225.
9David Rose, „Scotland Yard Seizes Videos and Books After TV Film of “Ritual
Satanic Abuse”,‟ Observer Magzine (23 Feburary 1992), p.11.
10
Rose, „Scotland Yard Seizes Videos and Books,‟ p. 11.
11
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, „AS IT IS...,‟ in Thee Psychick Bible, ed. Jason Louv (PortTownsend, WA: Feral House, 1994), pp. 500-503; Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, „Tagged
For Life Or How I Learned To Leave England And Love the Tate Without Really
Trying,‟ at http://www.genesisbreyerporridge.com/texts-tagged.html. Accessed
21/12/2011.

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Danielle Kirby

1990s. It should also be made clear from the outset that, since the incident inquestion, all implications of criminal or non-consensual behaviour have beenlaid aside.
Beyond being an appalling instance of what appears to be, at best,
negligent misrepresentation resulting in the active persecution of many
involved persons, this incident is a fascinating instance of the limits ofrepresentation on a number of levels. Returning to what Simms has said about
the duplicitous nature of art, it is worth highlighting the deliberately
duplicitous, that is two-fold, nature of experimental art, such as that made by
TOPY. The philosophical and magickal premises of TOPY, as we shall see, arehinged on a multi-layered understanding of truth and reality, which in turnendows their creative work with a miscellany of meanings. The key tounlocking the „hype‟ surrounding First Transmission is the notion oftransgression, both in the way that the film footage is in itself a transgressivepiece of art, and the way that Dispatches chose to manipulate this through(mis)representation, distorting its meaning in a damning and reckless manner.
This article seeks primarily to contextualise the situation in question,with a view to both clarifying the incident from a scholarly perspective and toalso locate the episode within the broader context within which it occurred. In
doing so, not only is the „Beyond Belief‟ incident itself opened up for a broader
discussion, but it also provides a clear example of some of the very real andurgent problems that may emerge from extreme forms of representation andmisrepresentation. While the particular contexts within which „Beyond Belief‟occurred are somewhat distanced from current social and cultural concerns,
there are parallels that are nonetheless potentially useful in viewing more
contemporary issues. Satanic Ritual Abuse may have generally ceased to be amajor issue of public concern,12 for example, but recent instances such as theBill Henson scandal13 demonstrate that representation, particularly in
conjunction with perceived issues of child abuse and sexuality or sexualdeviancy, can and do still give rise to extreme responses andmisunderstandings.

12

James T. Richardson, Jenny Reichert, and Valerie Lykes, „Satanism in America: An
Update,‟ Social Compass, vol. 56, no. 4 (2009), pp. 552-563.
13
For discussion on this issue, see, for instance, Abigail Bray, „The Gaze that Dare Not
Speak Its Name: Bill Henson and Child Sexual Abuse Moral Panics,‟ in Getting Real:
Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls, eds Melinda Tankard and Noni Hazlehurst(Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2009), pp. 155-166; and Kate MacNeill, „When Subject
Becomes Object: Nakedness, Art and the Public Sphere,‟ Media International Australia
vol. 135 (2010), pp. 82-93.

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Transgressive Representations

The notion of transgression is used here as a lens through which to view
the broadcast and other related incidents. The term has a wide set ofunderstandings, ranging from the explicitly theological through to the moregeneral and secularised notions of naughtiness. Anthony Julius, for instance,
lists a number of oft-used meanings of the term, and comes to four essential
meanings: “the denying of doctrinal truth”; “rule breaking”; “the giving ofserious offense”; and “the exceeding, erasing or disordering of physical orconceptual boundaries.”14 The last definition will be most pertinent to this
discussion. An integral element of the notion of transgression is the limit being
breached, and the utterly relational nature of the two. Utilising transgression asa framework is not only appropriate insofar as it directly addresses thearticulation and nature of the boundary between the acceptable andunacceptable, but in that it also accurately describes the tensions inherent
within the set of sexual, artistic, metaphysical, and magical approaches that areat the core of this incident. Again, journalist Eileen Fairweather‟s angstinducing prose encapsulates the anxious environment at the time:[y]et the question must arise whether the video – which seems tohave been available by mail order through occult publications – isthe tip of a unseen iceberg of Satanic cults, or the work of a handfulof extremists who believe their sadistic activities to be „performanceart.‟15

Satanic Ritual Abuse and Moral Panics
The practice of Satanism in contemporary society has a somewhat ambivalent
history. For example, James T. Richardson, Joel Best, and David G. Bromleynote that scholars are undecided as to whether the infamous Church of Satan,
established by Anton LaVey in 1966, should be regarded as a spoof designed
to provoke Christians, or a genuine expression of faith. LaVey‟s brand of
Satanism, the most pervasive doctrine of its kind, is best understood as a selfserving philosophy where Satan is seen as the embodiment of the adversary
and the ego, rather than a deity.16 Yet, as Philip Jenkins has aptly summarised,“[d]uring the 1980s, Satanism in Britain was transformed from a joke to amenace.”17 The drama surrounding the „Beyond Belief‟ episode transpired
14

Anthony Julius, Transgressions: The Offences of Art (London: Thames & Hudson,2002), p. 19.
15
Fairweather, „Video Offers First Evidence of Ritual Abuse,‟ p. 4.
16James T. Richardson, Joel Best, and David G. Bromley, „Satanism as a Social
Problem,‟ in The Satanism Scare, eds James T. Richardson, Joel Best, and David G.
Bromley (New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991), p. 9.
17
Philip Jenkins, Intimate Enemies: Moral Panics in Contemporary Great Britain(New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 1992), p. 158; Philip Jenkins, „Satanism and Ritual

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Danielle Kirby

within a wider context of general moral panics, which by no means werelimited to specific Satanic allegations but which more broadly articulated astrict and conservative moral standard.18
Emerging throughout the 1980s, there had already been a series of risingpublic fears revolving around sexual crime. As Jenkins notes, “[t]he rapist, theserial killer, the child molester, the ritual or satanic child abuser, and the childmurderer… As the 1980‟s progressed, the different stereotypes became
increasingly intertwined.”19 The increase in SRA claims in the United
Kingdom throughout the 1980s and early 1990s demonstrates clearly thegrowing public interest in and fear of such issues: Nottingham, London,
Rochdale, Strathclyde, Derbyshire, and Merseyside all saw cases involving
Satanic Ritual Abuse, as did Manchester and the Orkney Islands. While thesevarious legal proceedings were eventually dismissed or overturned, they
nonetheless indicate both the public fear and a degree of willingness to act on
assumptions of truth around ritual abuse.
Also of note is that the public concerns and moral panics surrounding
SRA were by no means limited to the United Kingdom throughout the 1980s
and early 1990s, but were also clearly evident within other elements of thewestern world, most notably the United States of America,20 but also present inother countries including Australia.21 Moreover, these parallel concerns
involved at least some degree of mutual reinforcement, with American„experts‟ in SRA sharing their knowledges and services with their English
counterparts, for instance.22 America similarly saw cases involving child abuse
and accusations of Satanic Ritual Abuse, as is evident in the McMartin and the
Jordan cases.23
Abuse,‟ in The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements, ed. James R. Lewis(Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004).
18
It should also be noted that members of TOPY and associated individuals had,previous to the „Beyond Belief‟ episode, struggled with authorities. Large amounts ofmaterial had been seized, homes raided, and Mr Sebastian charged with assault as a partof Operation Spanner.
19
Philip Jenkins, Intimate Enemies, p. 9.
20
Jeffrey S. Victor, „Moral Panics and the Social Construction of Deviant Behaviour: A
Theory and Application to the Case of Ritual Abuse,‟ Sociological Perspectives, vol.
41, no. 3 (1998), p. 545.
21James T. Richardson, „The Social Construction of Satanism: Understanding an
International Social Problem,‟ Australian Journal of Social Issues, vol. 32, no. 1(1997), pp. 62-86.
22
Philip Jenkins, Intimate Enemies, pp. 220-231.
23
David Bromley, „Satanism: The New Cult Scare,‟ in The Satanism Scare, eds Joel
Best, James T. Richardson, and David G. Bromley (New York: Aldine de Gruyter,

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Transgressive Representations

The phrase „ritual abuse‟ is often used to connote systemic sexualmolestation and/or psychological harassment, usually by adults to children, thatin some way evokes supernatural themes.24 As Morandir Armson notes,
physical assaults are often characterised as severe and sadistic, with othercommonly reported occurrences being animal sacrifice and cannibalism.25
When it is specifically Satanic ritual abuse, one assumes that symbols, icons,
rites, and ethics associated with the figure of Satan, the worship of Satan, or thepractice of Satanism, as observed by religious organisations like the Church of
Satan, are involved. Satanic rituals are often envisioned as inversions ofChristian sacraments, the Black Mass and the desecration of the host being
popular examples. During the „Satanic Panic‟ of the 1980s and 1990s, it wasdeemed irrelevant whether or not such rituals have any historical validity or
what meaning they hold for living Satanists, if indeed they performed suchrituals at all; rather the image of Satanism was more powerful than the truth.
The origins of the significant public fear regarding Satanism and its
assumed associated abuses have been explained as a convergence of a numberof broader social themes. Aside from the development of „Satanic churches,‟
Richardson, Best, and Bromley point to the rise of fundamentalist Christianity,
the anti-cult movement, the new wave of child saving, and thesurvivor/recovery movement26 as significant contributing factors. A range ofsocial discourses contributed to the persuasiveness of SRA claims. The beliefin Satanism inherent within fundamentalist Christianity and its corollaryfunction as nemesis. The heritage of the anti-cult movement in notions ofbrainwashing and deprogramming and its goal of protecting youth; the actual
existence of organised Satanism as exemplified by the Church of Satan; anincreasingly broad definition of and interventionist approach to child abuse;and the emergence and medicalization of survivor narratives and memory
recovery combined in such a way to make SRA claims tenacious and evenperhaps authoritative.
Such public fears and concerns did not simply manifest within specificarenas such as social work or church groups, however, but also within more1991); and Victor, „Moral Panics and the Social Construction of Deviant Behaviour,‟ p.
545.
24
Grant Charles, „The Assessment and Investigation of Ritual Abuse,‟ in True andFalse Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse: Assessment and Case Management, ed. Tara
Ney (New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1995), p. 305.
25
Morandir Armson, „Signs of the Devil: The Social Creation of Satanic Ritual Abuse,‟in On A Panegyrical Note: Studies in Honour of Garry W. Trompf, eds Victoria Barker
and Frances di Lauro (Sydney: Sydney Studies in Religion, 2007), p. 146.
26
Richardson, Best, and Bromley, „Satanism as a Social Problem,‟ pp. 2-4.

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Danielle Kirby

formalised structures of law enforcement. One of the more notorious, andparticularly relevant, instances of this era was the results of Operation
Spanner.27 Operation Spanner was an investigation run by the Obscene
Publications section of Scotland Yard, which resulted in charges for sixteen
individuals in 1990. Initially represented as a child pornography ring,28
individuals where then charged with a “conspiracy to corrupt public morals,”29
later prosecuted as a gay pornography ring,30 and at last sight appears to havebeen a network engaged in consensual adult sadomasochistic practices.31
Although this incident originated from the seizure of videos by the Obscene
Publications section of Scotland Yard, it is also noteworthy that they wereapparently not ever intended for public use or sale. This incident resulted in thelegal reframing of such consensual sex acts as assault, as well as theincarceration of a number of those involved.32 Rock journalist and popular
cultural commentator Jon Savage articulated the invasive outcome of the casein a 1992 article, saying:[t]his ruling has effectively tightened legal control over the body:SM sex which involves the breaking of the skin is now effectively
illegal, as is body piercing where sexual pleasure and intent isinvolved.33

Within a social framework where private consensual sexual behaviours become
the basis for criminal action, it is perhaps unsurprising that First Transmission,as presented in „Beyond Belief,‟ would evoke such an immediate and criticalresponse. In 1992, the Observer Magazine reported that Scotland Yard was toestablish “a small nationwide Satanic abuse squad to investigate evidence oflinks between devil worship and child abuse.”34

27

Jenkins, Intimate Enemies, pp. 85-86.
Jenkins, Intimate Enemies, p. 85.
29
Jon Savage, „S & M: Sex and Martyrdom,‟ Observer Magazine (29 November 1992),
p. 51.
30
Savage, „Sex and Martyrdom,‟ p. 50.
31This type of interpretative drift was not isolated, but can be seen as part of a broader
pattern of interpretative frameworks taken by authorities throughout the 1980s and1990s. See Debbie Nathan, „Satanism and Child Molestation: Constructing the Ritual
Abuse Scare,‟ in The Satanism Scare, eds James T. Richardson, Joel Best, and David
G. Bromley (New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991), pp. 80-83.
32
Fifteen individuals were sentenced to prison, four of whom had suspended sentences.
Savage, „Sex and Martyrdom,‟ p. 52.
33
Savage, „Sex and Martyrdom,‟ p. 50.
34
Kevin Toolis, „Scotland Yard Sets Up Satanic Satanic Abuse Squad,‟ Observer
Magazine (5 January 1992), p. 3.
28

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Transgressive Representations

Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth
Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) is an occult group with a focus upon
experiential approaches to magical and metaphysical understandings, as well as
being heavily engaged in various forms of performance (art, film, music, etc.).
Thee Psychick Bible describes the Temple as “a platform to proselytize an
occultural perception of L-IF-E” conceived of by “Brother GENESIS”(Genesis P-Orridge), stating that:[h]e intended it to become a vehicle for the demystified
dissemination of specific sexual magick and ritualized neurological
techniques and skills; a means of transporting the Individual into a
deep sense of self-examination and clarity of intent; a dedicatedpost-nuclear, mutually acknowledged and supportive tribal focus of
WILL.35

Originating in the early 1980s, TOPY was (and to a degree still is)36 one
manifestation of various endeavours of a particular collection of magicians,
musicians, artists, and the like. Psychick TV, Throbbing Gristle, COUM
Transmissions, Current 93, and Coil are some of the associated bands, whose
members include well-known subcultural figures such as Genesis P-Orridge,
Peter Christopherson, and Cosi Fanni Tutti.37 These groups in general, andThrobbing Gristle especially, are commonly hailed as some of the originatorsof the Industrial Music scene, as well as being formative in the origins ofvarious forms of electronic music and early English rave and dance cultures.
Certainly all these performance groups maintain a following today, as do theideals and approaches of TOPY.
These various groups, both musically and magically, constitute an
integral element of what Christopher Partridge calls „occulture.‟ Occulture, aneologism attributed to Genesis P-Orridge, has come to express a sociospiritual milieu encompassing “those often hidden, rejected and oppositional
beliefs and practices associated with esotericism, Theosophy, mysticism, New

35

Genesis P-Orridge, Thee Psychick Bible, ed. Jason Louv (Port Townsend, WA: Feral
House, 2009), p. 505.
36
It should be noted that, while TOPY still exists in various forms, the originalincarnation was technically disbanded in 1991, just prior to the incident in question.
Although current groups holding the same name certainly appear continous in spirit andlanguage to the original group, they should not be assumed to be connected with any of
the original members. Unless otherwise specified, the discussion here is representativeof the original iteration, spanning a decade from 1981-1991.
37
See, for instance, Simon Ford, Wreckers of Civilization: The Story of COUM
Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle (London: Black Dog Publishing, 1999); Keenan,
England’s Hidden Reverse.

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Danielle Kirby

Age, [and] Paganism,” amongst other subcultural ideas and lifestyles. 38
Partridge refers to a number of musical outfits that have drawn from theoccultural pool, either intentionally or subconsciously, sometimes to represent
their own genuine spiritual beliefs, and at other times to pretend.39 TOPY wasdistinct in that it occupied a uniquely public space as an authentic magicalgroup, with the performative and creative band Psychick TV as its
mouthpiece.40 The group was also unusual insofar as it did not draw strict lines
between performer, artist, and magician. Many fans of Psychick TV became
involved with TOPY and other related endeavours, such as the Family ov
Psychick Individuals (FOPI).41 As stated in Thee Psychick Bible, “What would
happen if a band took its fans seriously and chose to encourage them to
explore…ANYTHING?”42 While it has been argued that this inclusive
approach has later created problems for the founders with misunderstanding
though dedicated participants,43 the attitude nonetheless appears both integral
to and continuous with their overall goal to “break thee preconceptions, modes
ov unthinking acceptance, expectations…discard ALL concepts and definitions
irrevocably” in order to re-emphasise “thee Self.”44
Magical and Ritual PracticeTOPY has been heavily influenced by the schools of Western esotericism suchas the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley‟s Thelema, as
well as more modern groups like the Illuminates of Thanateros.45 Creative
individuals like Austin Osman Spare, William S. Burroughs, and Bryon Gysin,
have also been particularly influential, as have the general categories of Chaos
38

Christopher Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West: Alternative Spiritualities,
Sacralization, Popular Culture, and Occulture (London and New York: T&T Clark
International, 2005), vol. 2, p. 68.
39
Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West, p. 151.
40
Jay Kinney, „Music, Magic, & Media Mischief,‟ Chaos Matrix, at
http://www.chaosmatrix.org/library/chaos/topy/gpo-int.txt. Accessed 21/12/2011.
41
Partridge, The Re-Enchantment of the West, p. 148.
42
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, „Acknowledgements,‟ in Thee Psychick Bible, ed. Jason
Louv (Port Townsend, WA: Feral House, 2009), p. ii.
43
Berk Vaher, „All Grass is Flesh: Genesis P-Orridge and TOPY as Subcultural
Innovators,‟ in British Studies in the New Millennium: The Challenge of theGrassroots, eds Pilvi Rajamäe and Krista Vogelberg (Tartu: University of Tartu, 2001),
pp. 168-176.
44
Malik, „Short-Circuit Control,‟ in Thee Psychick Bible, ed. Jason Louv (PortTownsend, WA: Feral House, 2009), p. 130.
45
Jason Louv, „Introduction,‟ in Thee Psychick Bible, ed. Jason Louv (Port Townsend,
WA: Feral House, 2009), p. 18.

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Transgressive Representations

magick and sex magick.46 TOPY, however, have denied adherence to any one
form of practice, rather stating that gathering and disseminating experiential
and literary information is the group‟s major priority.47 Thee Psychick Bible,
for instance, contains a variety of essays relating to the practice of sex magic,
sleep related magic, psychick discipline, and media-based magical and ritual
practice. Clearly not Satanic in either a theological or magical sense, they
appear much more a product of esoteric and occult ideologies. Indeed, as anexperiment in creating „occulture,‟ TOPY seem extremely comfortableutilising material from any source, from Eastern meditative techniques tomaterial sourced from magical/psychological disciplines like those of theProcess Church, a splinter group from the Church of Scientology.48 Of specificinterest here is the group‟s use of sex magic, which was considered a direct andinstantaneous way to bring practice back to the self, rather than relying on
external persons.
Sex magic is by no means a new phenomenon, but has been present
within the western esoteric tradition since the Middle Ages.49 As a category ofmagic within modern western esoteric and occult practice it encompasses awide variety of particular orientations, and may utilise techniques ranging fromthe non-physical through to paired, grouped, or onanistic practices. Outcomesmay be similarly varied, with practitioners perhaps seeking, for instance,
spiritual insight, personal power, control over others, or to charge specificmagical rituals, objects, or sigils.50 Magic of this type is often considered bypractitioners to be extremely powerful, as well as being a comparatively
accessible form of practice:[w]hat might be called the conventional magician, say, trained in theGolden Dawn methods, will spend a great deal of time and effort
undergoing mental discipline…The “ordinary” person‟s (myself)
reaction to this approach is “I can‟t do that.” It‟s only after a long46

Genesis P-Orridge, „Magick Squares and Future Beats: The Magical Processes andMethods of William S. Burroughs and Bryon Gysin,‟ in Book of Lies, ed. Richard
Metzger (New York: Disinformation Company, 2003).
47
Danielle Kirby, „Occultural Bricolage and Popular Culture: Remix and Art in
Discordianism, the Church of the Subgenius, and The Temple of Psychick Youth,‟ in
The Handbook of Hyper-real Religions, ed. Adam Possamai (Leiden and Boston: Brill,2012), forthcoming.
48
Timothy Wyllie, Love Sex Fear Death: The Inside Story of the Process Church of the
Final Judgement (Port Townsend, WA: Feral House, 2009), pp. 177-180.
49
Hugh B. Urban, „Magia Sexualis: Sex, Secrecy, and Liberation in Modern Western
Esotericism,‟ Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. 72, no. 3 (2004), p.
700.
50
Urban, „Magia Sexualis,‟ pp. 703-708; Keenan, England’s Hidden Reverse, p. 103.

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Danielle Kirby
time, if at all, that you see any results…Sex magic provides a moreaccessible approach, combining immediate results with a system ofmental training. Being more accessible, it reduces the need for gurusand gives the individual a chance to develop.51

Imbricated with the practice of sex magic in this context is also theunderlying philosophy of chaos magic. Chaos magic is premised in a fairly
anarchistic approach to the world, and tends to promote both a non-traditional
approach to magical practice as well as holding to an underlying philosophy of
personal liberation.52 As Urban so articulately summarises, “The aim of Chaos
Magic is no longer simply transgression of social and sexual taboos, no longer
an ideal of political liberation, no longer even the transgression of theboundaries of the self; rather the aim here is the transgression of reality, theshattering of all known conceptions of the universe, and the liberating ecstasy
of infinite transformation.”53 The particular techniques which are used byindividuals are relevant only to the said individual; outcomes, rather thanspecific beliefs or techniques, lie at the heart of chaos magic.54
Another particularly interesting element of the TOPY approach tometaphysics was an orientation towards mixing media and magic. Their
inclusive attitude meant that, alongside more traditional ceremonial and ritualapproaches, they also utilised media content and forms. Both using extant
material and making original creative works were by no means necessarily
distinct from one another, nor were they treated discretely from magicalpractice; the various areas of endeavour not only informed one another, but toall intents and purposes appear to have been continuous, if not one and thesame. In the timeframe in question they tended to focus on televisual magic, atleast in part due to its location as the dominant media form of the time. This
somewhat unusual approach to practice was complimented by a similarly
noteworthy combination of the performance of art and magic: the distinction
between the two fields was never particularly maintained within the group,55
and from an outsider perspective certainly appeared to be continuous. This is,of course, intrinsic to the general attitude of TOPY towards creative chaos, theexceeding of limits, and the redefining of endings and beginnings.
51

TOPY, „Magick,‟ in Thee Psychick Bible, ed. Jason Louv (Port Townsend, WA:
Feral House, 2009), p. 215.
52
Carole Cusack, „Discordian Magic: Paganism, the Chaos Paradigm and the Power of
Parody,‟ International Journal for the Study of New Religions, vol. 2, no. 1 (2011), p.
137.
53
Hugh B. Urban, Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic and Liberation in Modern Western
Esotericism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), p. 239.
54
Carole Cusack, „Discordian Magic,‟ p. 142.
55
Kinney, „Music, Magic, & Media Mischief.‟

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It is also important to note that the magical approach of TOPY would
generally be termed as erring on the side of the Left Hand Path, while notnecessarily being limited by it. Orientation is generally denoted by divisions
into the Left Hand and Right Hand Path within Western contemporary magicalpractice, which are often simplistically (and inaccurately) thought to equate toblack and white magic. This terminology, and indeed the division, is derived
from Left Hand Tantra in Hinduism and Buddhism, and implies the use of
ritualised transgression and often transgressive sexual practices such as
spiritual exercises.56 Such methods greatly influenced the formulation of
Aleister Crowley‟s sex magick,57 which in turn has been drawn upon by
TOPY. From a practitioner perspective, the Left Hand Path has been defined as“the path of non-union with the objective universe.”58 Recalling the descriptionof transgression provided by Julius, it is possible to understand how suchritualised subversiveness succeeds in the “exceeding, erasing or disordering ofphysical or conceptual boundaries.”59 In fact, TOPY intentionally encompass
all the definitions of transgression (denying of truth, rule-breaking, causing
offence) in their efforts to construct a sense of self outside of normative
boundaries.
First Transmission
The footage used in the „Beyond Belief‟ episode of Dispatches was drawn
from First Transmission, a piece of video art which “faked an arcane ritualincorporating sex, cutting and genital mutilation, alongside a scene of a boundand hooded John Balance [a member of the group] being urinated on.”60 As
well as a number of members of TOPY, the film also featured the voice of film
director Derek Jarman (1942-1994), and tattoo and piercing artist Mr
Sebastian, who were both well known within subcultural circles.61 The film
itself is unquestionably disturbing and graphic, and it is unsurprising thatunintentional viewers, believing it to be documentary evidence of abuse, wouldfind it an extremely uncomfortable experience. Even outside of that, for anyone
56

Graham Harvey, Listening People, Speaking Earth (Kent Town: Wakefield Press,
1997), pp. 97-99.
57
Urban, Magia Sexualis, pp. 124-125.
58
Stephen Flowers, Lords of the Left-Hand Path: A History of Spiritual Dissent, 2nd ed.
(San Francisco: Rûna-Raven Press, 1997), p. 3.
59
Julius, Transgressions, p.19.
60
Keenan, England’s Hidden Reverse, p. 224.
61
While I would not comfortably use the term „faked‟ in a ritual or performative
context, the point here is that the individuals involved were not grievously harmed assuggested by „Beyond Belief.‟

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Danielle Kirby

unfamiliar with the aesthetics and practices of sex magick, the Left Hand Path,or Bondage, Discipline, Sadism and Masochism (BDSM), the imagery would
likely be shocking.
The film itself is a fascinating example of a conflation of categories, andis indeed an excellent site for problematising the very notion of representation.
From an interpretative position, First Transmission can be equally successfully
read as a record of a previous magical act, an active and ongoing magical ritualin its own right, a tool for individual magical practice, a piece of performance
art in the same terms of either documentation or active existence, BDSM
pornography, an experimental video, and so on. Given the general attitude of
TOPY, one might be inclined to understand the piece as purposefully
encompassing all of these varying interpretative possibilities simultaneously.
This circumstance troubles the notion of representation insofar as this suggeststhat First Transmission is not so much a representation of something as a thing
in itself. By being simultaneously magical and publicly performative, active
and archival, art and ritual, First Transmission challenges any static idea ofrepresentation as a simulation, or as Simms says, a duplicitous or deceitfulrendering of an event. It is epistemologically challenging because it utilises
performance and mimicry, but as a final product it is sincere in its purpose as atool for magical practice and awareness. In accordance with the TOPY
philosophy, the „reality‟ of the events First Transmission depicts is largely
irrelevant, as the individual is responsible for creating his or her own version ofreality. Unfortunately, the producers of „Beyond Belief‟ took a similarly glib
view of authenticity, and chose to misrepresent First Transmission by aligning
TOPY‟s spiritual experiments in transgression with alleged cases of Satanic
ritual abuse.
Victims of Abuse
A final element of the „Beyond Belief‟ incident to be mentioned here was thehelpline that was run by Broadcasting Support Services and Channel 4.62
Potential viewers of „Beyond Belief‟ were told, “to avoid offense, only shortclips from the video will be shown…A professional help-line will be run
afterwards.”63 Organised to function immediately after the broadcast of theepisode, the helpline was intended to provide information and support forconcerned viewers. It was staffed by counsellors from the Ritual Abuse
Information Network and Support (RAINS), who had, as inferred by the name,already been involved in providing support in a number of previous instances
62

All data presented here regarding the helpline is drawn from Scott, „Beyond Belief:
Beyond Help?,‟ unless otherwise stated.
63
Fairweather, „Video Offers First Evidence of Ritual Abuse,‟ p. 4.

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Transgressive Representations

involving claims of ritual abuse in the UK. Participating counsellor Sara Scotthas stated that Channel 4 and the helpline severely underestimated the volume
of calls, saying:
British Telecom recorded 595 attempted calls in the first 5 minutes
after the helpline number appeared on screen and 4500 attempted
calls in the helpline‟s first hour of operation.64

In practice, the helpline was only able to take 191 of the calls, and of themapproximately 50% of the conversations were about ritual abuse and 39% selfidentified as victims of ritual abuse. There were also forty calls received fromvictims of sexual abuse.
The helpline is noteworthy in this context as it displays one of thebroader issues inherent in the situation. Even if only a fraction of the 4,500
attempted calls were made by victims of abuse, of whatever type, this still
represents a significant number of individuals seeking help and support. To
have offered such support, only to be unable to deliver it, seems ethicallyfraught at best. Indeed, it is hard to avoid the somewhat cynical assumptionthat evoking this type of response was perhaps a deliberate agenda of „Beyond
Belief.‟ The combination of extremely graphic imagery presented as fact,
horrific survivor narratives focusing upon topics such as forced abortion andsexual slavery, and the not particularly tacit assertion of a vast and sprawling
network of evil Satanists bent upon child abuse, is difficult to read as anythingother than a deliberate incitement to fear. When those who have been thevictims of abuse receive such material, it is, in fact, easy to imagine that thesituation itself could lead to a heightened experience of trauma.
Transgressions: Some Conclusions
As it occurred twenty years ago, „Beyond Belief‟ provides an unusual vantage
point from which to view both the original footage and the corollary responses
to its misrepresentation. Shorn of the immediacy and sensationalism that so
often blurs contemporary issues, and distanced from the entrenched public fearof Satanism apparent at the time, the incident nonetheless encompasses a seriesof transgressions that provide insight into the misuses of representation. Whenit comes to transgression, Julius reminds us that “a „transgression‟ is the nameof the worst offences and of any offence.”65 First Transmission, within thecontext of „Beyond Belief,‟ the seizure of materials and the exile of P-Orridge,
is a definitive, if occultural, instance of offense and transgression. Within more
contemporary subcultural discourse, the incident itself is largely represented as
an exemplary case of persecution emanating from a broader societal
64

65

Scott, „Beyond Belief: Beyond Help?,‟ p. 245.
Julius, Transgressions, p. 18.

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antagonism, if, indeed, it is known at all. While not disagreeing with such aninterpretation, I would suggest that reframing the incident as a series ofimbricated transgressions allows for a broader and more inclusive
understanding of the circumstances. The exceeding and disordering ofconceptual boundaries that is so central to the ideals and practices of chaos andsex magic, and so apparent within the specific approaches of TOPY, is also
evident in the misuse of their materials. While unarguably functioning on adifferent level to the intentional and metaphysical practices of TOPY, themisrepresentations of the Dispatches episode, whether deliberate or otherwise,demonstrates a comparable disordering of conceptual boundaries. Suchdisordering is also paralleled in the wider context of Satanic Ritual Abuse
claims with the conflation of child abuse with fears of ritual and sexual crime,and in the case of Operation Spanner in the eventual conflation of private
consensual sex acts with assault. These transgressions not only provide aconstant theme against which to view the broader incident, but emphasise thatthe corollary issues arising from the episode were not necessarily limited tooccultural practitioners.
„Beyond Belief‟ was a broadcast that did great disservice to many
involved: to the members of TOPY, whose artistic, sexual, and magicalpractices were publicly misrepresented to their detriment and danger; to the
public, whose fears were exploited and further exacerbated; and to the selfidentified victims of abuse, whom were unable to access support services
offered. When Julius speaks of transgression as causing offence, the actions of
the producers of „Beyond Belief‟ and the media that irresponsibly contributed
to the hype can be seen to be the most offensive outcomes of this incident.
Indeed, while TOPY go out of their way to exceed the limits of representation
by toying with the very meaning of the word, the media have too redefined
limits, imposing them dishonestly in order to distort the story. Although twenty
years after the fact, the circumstance still provides, at the very least, acautionary tale of the fraught nature of transgressive representation.

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