Bureau of Lost Culture In + Out of Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth - Part 1
Dec 10, 2025
Alaura O'Dell, a musician and occult practitioner, delves into her pivotal role in the counterculture scene as a co-conspirator with Psychic TV and Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth. She shares her adventurous choices that led her away from conventional life, including her early relationship with Genesis P-Orridge and the chaotic, creative energy of the Temple. Alaura discusses the challenges of balancing motherhood with mythic expectations, the philosophy of sigil practice, and the traumatic impact of the satanic panic on her life and archives.
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A Chance Meeting That Changed Everything
- Alaura O'Dell met Genesis P-Orridge as a teenager while working in a market and was gradually drawn into his world.
- She moved in with him, left college plans, and eventually married him after following his invitation to an adventurous life.
Marriage, Music, And Mail Order
- Alaura married Genesis in a spontaneous Tijuana ceremony and quickly joined the emerging Psychic TV collective.
- She became involved in performances, recordings and running Temple Records and the mail-order operations.
A Pre-Internet Global Network
- Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) acted as a pre-internet global network using mail, cassettes and handmade offerings.
- TOPY combined art, ritual and community to offer belonging and practical occult practice outside mainstream institutions.