Plato, pre-Socratics, and metaphysical inquiry

Esoteric Ceremonial Magic with Ike Baker

Ike Baker is an author, lecturer, and independent scholar specializing in Western esoteric traditions. He is the host of the Arcanvm YouTube channel and podcast, where he produces documentary-style presentations exploring the history and practice of magic, mysticism, and occult philosophy. Baker is also a senior adept and temple chief within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and an initiate of several related initiatory traditions. His books include AEtheric Magic: A Complete System of Elemental, Celestial & Alchemical Magic, Esoteric Mythology: The Generative and Transformative Power of Imagination, and A Formless Fire: Rediscovering the Magical Traditions of the West.

Ike discusses the history, philosophy, and practice of esoteric ceremonial magic within the Western tradition. He traces its roots from ancient shamanic practices, Greek philosophy, and Egyptian religion through Renaissance occultism and into modern initiatory orders such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Baker explains how ceremonial magic functions as a disciplined exploration of consciousness and metaphysical causality aimed at spiritual transformation and the awakening of the soul.

00:00:00 Introduction defining ceremonial magic and consciousness
00:01:50 Origins of ritual practice in shamanic and ancient cultures
00:06:15 Neoplatonism and the philosophical foundations of magic
00:13:30 Transmission of magical traditions through late antiquity
00:19:00 Egyptian, Vedic and cross cultural influences on magic
00:26:10 Defining magic as metaphysical causality and consciousness
00:31:20 The Golden Dawn and modern ceremonial practice
00:38:40 Theurgy versus thaumaturgy in magical work
00:47:10 Poetry, myth and cultural revival in magical traditions
00:58:39 Conclusion enchantment and the reawakening of the sacred

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science.

(Recorded on March 3, 2026)

For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see https://newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.

Check out the New Thinking Allowed Foundation website at http://www.newthinkingallowed.org. There you will find our incredible, searchable database as well as opportunities to shop and to support our video productions – plus, this is where people can subscribe to our FREE, weekly Newsletter and can download a FREE .pdf copy of our quarterly magazine.

To order high-quality, printed copies of our quarterly magazine: NTA-Magazine.MagCloud.com

Check out New Thinking Allowed’s AI chatbot. You can create a free account at awakin.ai/open/jeffreymishlove. When you enter the space, you will see that our chatbot is one of several you can interact with. While it is still a work in progress, it has been trained on 1,600 NTA transcripts. It can provide intelligent answers about the contents of our interviews. It’s almost like having a conversation with Jeffrey Mishlove.

If you would like to join our team of volunteers, helping to promote the New Thinking Allowed YouTube channel on social media, editing and translating videos, creating short video trailers based on our interviews, helping to upgrade our website, or contributing in other ways (we may not even have thought of), please send an email to friends@newthinkingallowed.com.

To download and listen to audio versions of the New Thinking Allowed videos, please visit our new podcast at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/new-thinking-allowed-audio-podcast/id1435178031.

Download and read Jeffrey Mishlove’s Grand Prize essay in the Bigelow Institute competition, Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death, go to https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/docs/1st.pdf.

You can help support our video productions while enjoying a good book. To order a copy of New Thinking Allowed Dialogues: Is There Life After Death? click on https://amzn.to/3LzLA7Y (As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.)

To order the second book in the New Thinking Allowed Dialogues series, Russell Targ: Ninety Years of ESP, Remote Viewing, and Timeless Awareness, go to https://amzn.to/4aw2iyr

To order a copy of New Thinking Allowed Dialogues: UFOs and UAP – Are We Really Alone?, go to https://amzn.to/3Y0VOVh

To order a copy of Charles T. Tart: Seventy Years of Exploring Consciousness and Parapsychology, go to https://amzn.to/4oOUJLn