Book Chapter
Kirby, D. “Occultural Bricolage and Popular Culture: Remix and Art in the Church of the subgenius, the Temple of Psychic Youth, and Discordianism” The Handbook of Hyperreal Religions ed. Possamai. Leiden: Boston: Brill, 2011
Religious and spiritual bricolage is a common feature of contemporary religiosity, be it mainstream or alternative. The juxtaposition of other- wise disparate ideas and beliefs has, in recent years, moved beyond the traditional spheres of religion and now encompasses a raft of material previously thought of as unequivocally secular. This interweaving of the spiritual and the popular has given rise to new forms of religiosity, much of which defies traditional understandings of the sacred. While the recent popularisation of the Internet has meant that such practices are now most commonly viewed within a digital context, these alternative spiritual bri- coleurs are by no means limited to, or necessarily created by, the bur- geoning digital world. Three such spiritual or metaphysical groups that heavily engage with popular cultures and occultural bricolage that pre- date the mass adoption of the Internet are the Discordians, the Church of the SubGenius, and the Temple of Psychick Youth.