Goodreads asked Manfred:

How do you get inspired to write?

Manfred My main inspiration comes from Fairytales, Romantic Poetry and the Old Ways. For me Fairytales are the original primordial tales, told by the Witches and wise women through the ages and represent the hand of the Fate weavers in our lives. In ancient Greece the three spinners are Klothos, the Maiden, she is the one who spins the life thread, Lachesis, the Mother, the one who measures the life thread and Atropos the Crone, the one who severs it. In the Wiccan Path these three Fates are the three aspects of the Triple Goddess who is represented by the three Faces of the Moon - New Moon or Maiden, Full Moon or Mother, Dark Moon or Wise Woman and Crone. There is a direct entymological link between the word Fate, Fey and Faery. And I have used a lot of Faery lore in my writings and stories. In MM and the Riddle of Night Opium, the three Fates are represented by the Three Fairy Queens in the tale - Apricot Lantern, the Nightshade Fairy and the Fairy of Providence. There are attributes of the Archetypal Triple Goddess - Maiden. Mother and Crone in all three Fairy Queens in my book. Of course, you will find the figure of the Fairy Queen as a symbol of Fate and the otherworld in many classic fairytales like Cinderella and Snow White. You will also find her in fantasy books like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, where she appears as Galaldriel. Or in the Never ending Story where she appears in the figure of the childlike Empress.

My writing was also very influenced by Romanticism - all the great Romantic poets were heavily influenced by mythology, folklore and Fairytale motifs. At the same time, they were influenced by deep esoteric and occult writings like neo Platonism, Alchemy and Theosophy. William Blake for example had works by Swedenborg and Paracelsus in his collection. My new book Magic Mirabelle is very influenced by both of these traditions - Romantic poetry and Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy. The eternal Quest for the Philosopher's Stone - perhaps Mirabelle finds it at the end of the book. I will let you decide that!!

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