Encyclopedia Psychedelica was an independent London-based magazine in the late 1980s espousing a return to hippy values at a time when to call someone a 'Hippy' was considered an insult. This publication may be considered a rallying point for those who were looking for a greater degree of spirituality-based themes in everyday life, and a stepping stone towards more newsworthy efforts such as the Megatripolis

Megatripolis

Megatripolis was an innovative, underground London nightclub created by Encyclopaedia Psychedelica editor and founder of the Zippie movement Fraser Clark, partner Sionaidh Craigen and partners JJ and Bugsy as well as later Tribal Energy and a great many others...

 nightclub.

Contributors included: Neil Oram, Charles Stephens, Timothy Leary

Timothy Leary

Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...

, Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey

Kenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a...

, Pete Loveday

Pete Loveday

Pete Loveday is a British underground cartoonist. He drew many comics charting the adventures of hippie character Russell including Big Bang Comics, Big Trip Travel Agency, Plain Rapper Comix printed by AK Press....

, Tony Benn

Tony Benn

Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...

, Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski

Henry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles...

, Robert Bly

Robert Bly

Robert Bly is an American poet, author, activist and leader of the Mythopoetic Men's Movement.-Life:Bly was born in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, to Jacob and Alice Bly, who were of Norwegian ancestry. Following graduation from high school in 1944, he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving...

.

It was created in 1986 by the late Scotsman

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Fraser Clark

Fraser Clark

The late Fraser Clark was the founder and editor of Encyclopedia Psychedelica and a key advocate of the rave movement, hosting regular small underground parties which laid the way for the launch of the first large legal festi-rave club in central London, Megatripolis in 1993.He advocated a new form...

 who remained its editor through all 15 volumes which were actually produced. The intention of creating 100 volumes was never realised.

The publication advocated a new form of hippy - the "Zippie

Zippie

Zippie is a term used to describe a person who does something for nothing, i.e. zip. Any supporter of free culture, free food, free books, free software is a zippie....

" - who would follow Timothy Leary

Timothy Leary

Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...

 in his modern philosophy of "Drop out, and drop in again". In other words, embrace peace and love but also embrace technology and aspire towards the lifestyle that affords it. This was later taken to America and beyond as the Pronoia (psychology)

Pronoia (psychology)

Pronoia is a neologism that is defined as the opposite state of mind as paranoia: having the sense that there is a conspiracy that exists to help the person...

 tour.

In 1989 Fraser Clark and deputy editor Marcus Pennell organised the first Zippie Picnic on Hampstead Heath

Hampstead Heath

Hampstead Heath is a large, ancient London park, covering . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London clay...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, which continues to this day.

Also in 1989, the EP team were joined by northern graphic designers the Scooby Doobies who brought with them a love of rave

Rave

Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...

 culture. This led to the creation of Evolution magazine in 1990, and regular small underground parties which laid the way for the launch of the Megatripolis

Megatripolis

Megatripolis was an innovative, underground London nightclub created by Encyclopaedia Psychedelica editor and founder of the Zippie movement Fraser Clark, partner Sionaidh Craigen and partners JJ and Bugsy as well as later Tribal Energy and a great many others...

nightclub in 1993.