Victor MacGill’s mother was a Theosophist and his father a Buddhist, but he was brought up in Nelson, New Zealand, by foster parents as an Anglican. On shifting to Christchurch, New Zealand, to attend university, he completed a BA in psychology and Maori studies. Through his interest in the indigenous culture of the Maori, his mind was opened to a different spiritual vision of life, and he began a lifelong journey of spirit. His interest in Maori mythology spread to examining the myths and legends of different cultures, allowing him to gain an understanding of the underlying principles expressed through all the world’s myths. In 1995, he published When the Dragon Stirs: Healing Our Wounded Lives through Fairy Stories, Myths and Legends.

He also began exploring other spiritual traditions, particularly including Buddhism, New Age, Spiritualism, and Theosophy. Victor became a deacon in the Maori Anglican Church, and then the president of the Theosophical Society in Dunedin, New Zealand.

In the 1990s, the death of his father in a car accident and the loss of his wife to cancer led to a reassessment of his beliefs and values. During this time, he came across Chaos Theory, Complexity Theory, Spiral Dynamics and the works of Ken Wilber. Victor studied complexity, completing an MA through the University of Western Sydney in 2003, and has regularly attended complexity and systems conferences in New Zealand, Australia, USA and Canada, presenting papers at almost all the conferences.

Victor also attained a diploma in community and social work in 2003, which led to a career as a probation officer and program facilitator in prisons and in the community. He is living back in Nelson and completing a PhD in complex systems through the University of the Sunshine Coast

This book has been a major project since he began writing it in 1996. It brings together the many threads of his life to form a cohesive vision to take him, and hopefully many others, into the future.