Zippy - Zen-inspired professional pagans

Thanks to Lorenzo and Fraser

Fraser Clark is an elder Scottish zippy who was one of the first people to recognize the synergy arising from the "festi-rave crossover", namely the merging of British New Age Travelers and Ravers under common repression and harassment from the British government.

A UK counter-culturalist since the sixties, Clark was publisher of the underground UK magazines Encyclopeadia Psychedelica international (EPi) and evolution^, in which he coined the term "Zippy". Clark was also one of the creators of the club Megatripolis in London, the zippy hangout which, in its heyday, was known as the "hottest club in London". Megatripolis was a pioneer of the "Parallel University", the concept of offering live talks by philosophers, scientists and activists (along with supporting literature) to club-goers, set to ambient musical backgrounds.



Among his many other claims to fame, Fraser Clark led the great Zippy Invasion of the U.S. in the 90s. Here is what a writer on the Florida International University Web site had to say about the Zippies:

It stands for Zen-inspired professional pagans, according to 50-year-old Fraser Clark, shamanic zippie spokesperson, club manager and editor of Encyclopedia Psychedelica (EPi), the magazine that first identified the "hippies with zip." According to EPi, a zippie is "someone who has balanced their hemispheres to achieve a fusion of the technological and the spiritual. The techno-person understands that rationality, organization, long-term planning, consistency and single-mindedness are necessary to achieve anything solid on the material level. The hippie understands that vision, individuality, spontaneity, flexibility and open-mindedness are crucial to realize anything on the spiritual scale."

Fraser Clark from Mondo 2000 in December 1997

Zippies are an unlikely fusion between the two sides. They are the product of UK dance-scene hedonism, cyber street tech, pagan spirituality, postpunk anarchism, and go-for-it entrepreneurism.

Along with a handful of old hippies in San Francisco, Fraser Clark has provided a continuous, and vital, link to the early days of the psychedelic community. He's been an important part of the Tribe since it first started becoming aware of itself, and his exploits continue to amuse and amaze us all. To keep up with Fraser's latest adventures, we recommend that you go to his Web site (www.parallel-youniversity.com/) and read the latest UP!, Fraser's weekly (almost) e-zine. No matter where you are in the world, particularly if you are into the dance scene, you will want to read the UP! ( To get the UP! delivered straight to your IN-BOX each week, write to fraser@parallel-youniversity.com with "I WANNA GET UP!" in the SUBJECT box.)

Check out these two jet packing lectures on podcast from the psychedelic salon podcast archive

"Rave Culture And the End Of The World
. . . as we know it"


"Monkey's Trip,
A Short History of the Human Species"