'Prometheus brings fire to humanity', Heinrich Füger, 1817.
This presentation examines cosmogonical and cosmological narratives, and the mythologies they generate, across ancient and pre-modern cultures. Using a comparative approach, it draws on the exegetical models of Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, esoteric Taoist commentary, and related systems of philosophy and religious mysticism to surface the symbolic significance beneath these narratives.
Carl Jung's concept of active imagination and Henri Corbin's imaginal faculty reorient a common assumption about the mind's image making capacity. Rather than mere fantasy, imagination here functions as an instrument that receives transpersonal, supra discursive realities.
The presentation closes by tracing these ancient motifs into modern literature, cinema, and art, drawing on research, images, and quotations from Ike's forthcoming book, Esoteric Mythology (Inner Traditions, 2026). It introduces key concepts toward a methodology for scholar practitioner dialogue.
About the Speaker
Ike Baker works as a ceremonial magician, author, independent scholar, content creator, and international lecturer. He holds rank as a senior adept in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Regardie Cicero lineage) and the Martinist Order of America, and belongs to Blue Lodge and York Rite Freemasonry alongside several other initiatory and esoteric orders.
Ike released A Formless Fire: Rediscovering the Magical Traditions of the West in 2024, followed by Ætheric Magic in 2025, since translated into multiple languages. His next book, Esoteric Mythology: The Generative and Transformative Power of the Imagination, arrives from Inner Traditions in November 2026.
Ike hosts the ARCANVM YouTube channel and podcast, produces documentary style content on esotericism and philosophy, and interviews leading authors, practitioners, and scholars in the field. In 2024, he co-founded the Hermopolis Symposium with Dr. Mervat Abdel-Nasser, held at the New Hermopolis eco-village in Minya, Egypt, and he hosts the Southeastern Masonic Symposium in Asheville, North Carolina.
Ike has presented at Oxford University, the Cairo Museum in Cairo, Egypt, the Grand Lodges of Washington DC and New York, the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, and Watkins Bookshop in London. He most recently served as keynote speaker at this year's Esotericon in Manassas, Virginia. This year, he tours the United States, Amsterdam, Italy, and the United Kingdom to promote his forthcoming book.
For more information, visit ikebaker.com.
Instagram: @a.r.c.a.n.v.m
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Arcanvvm
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@arcanvm
Format
Presentation | Q&A | Reception Drinks
Date & Time
Thursday, November 19 from 17.30 - 19.30
Language
The presentation will be conducted in English.
Price & Admission
€20 - In person ticket
€15 - Livestream (online ticket)
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Getting There
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House with the Heads
Keizersgracht 123, 1015 CJ Amsterdam
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A fifteen-minute walk from Amsterdam Central Station. Prefer public transport? Take trams 13 or 17, or bus 170, 172, or 174 to the Westermarkt stop. From there, walk back a short distance, turn left onto Keizersgracht, and you will find us on your right after 300 meters.
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