It might be an old theme with Chaos Magickians, but Michael Moorcock's multiverse and the characters that populate his fantasies are very much, it seems to me, derived in part from Occult masterpieces, especially Spare and Crowley, and almost certainly a lot of eastern mysticism and magick (Tibet in particular).

I hadn't read Moorcock in years. I recently chatted with a new writer acquaintance. Since we're both novelists, the inevitable question arose... who did you grow up reading? Both of us said Moorcock almost together. I felt the urge and ordered the old Sword Trilogy from Alibris (I scored a first edition!)... cool. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it. After all, I first read it twenty-five plus years ago! I was wrong. Light on description, perhaps, but intense with symbolism and implied visuals, it's still a good (short) read. Moorcock always wrote short novels.

His wild journeys into the multiverse, his histories of the Magben (us) rising dull and violent in a world populated by previously godlike near-immortals (very Daoist), it's all very cool and intriguing. No matter how wild he journeyed, it seemed like one of my "astral journies" or a pathway on the tree of life.

Tarot symbolism is everywhere, too. In the Corum series (if you never read them, you won't get this), the Prince in the Scarlet Robe, a servant of Law, goes up agains the Gods of Chaos, moving to change the stagnant world. But guess who he goes up against? The Knight of Swords no less. I often see this card turn up in my reads with the Tarot, and identify closely with it. When I read AC's Book of Thoth on this card, it reminded me much of The Knight of Swords in his epic trilogy.

Of course, his all time most popular character was Elric of Melnibone, soon to be a major motion picture. For Moorcock fans everywhere, assuming a good production (with CGI these days, it should be!), it will be a long awaited visual journey into the multiverse.