Anarchist, Artists, Sufi

In the pantheon of modern Traditionalism, a metaphysical and religious movement extensively studied by the editor of this volume Mark Sedgwick, the Swedish painter and esotericist Ivan Aguéli (1869−1917) is perhaps little known. Aguéli’s journey tell us much about modern European intellectual history especially at its artistic and esoteric margins and the longer history of Islam and especially Sufism in modern Europe. As a young man ‘John Agelii’ became interested in Swedish esotericist Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688−1772) and his New Church – and it is interesting that a major figure, philosopher and orientalist, Henry Corbin (1903−1978), while not being a traditionalist in the classic sense but nevertheless committed to esotericism, was also deeply interested in Swedenborg. His interest in Neoplatonism and mysticism began there. Then he moved to Paris and became part of the avant-garde artistic scene and involved in the esotericist Theosophical Society, as well as engaging with anarchist circles which led to his arrest in 1894. The Theosophical Society as well as his enrapture with the impressionist painter Paul Gauguin (1848−1903) led him to the east. He lived in Cairo and studied Arabic. Converting to Islam probably in 1898, he took the Shādhilī Sufi order with ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿIlaysh (1840−1921) as his Sufi master and began his interest in the work of Ibn ʿArabī. ʿIlaysh was the son of the Mālikī mufti of Egypt and a prominent member of the Azharī establishment. Aguéli translated excerpts in esotericist journals such as Il Convito and La gnose under the name of ʿAbd al-Hādī.