Today I have a very special interview with author Lesley Phillips about her book The Midas Tree.
Synopsis:
Joshua
lives in the Garden Of Color and Light, an idyllic paradise where he
is always playing and having fun. Each day is like any other, until
he finds a magical golden acorn that enraptures him and propels him
on an incredible adventure.
After
being guided to chase the acorn as it flies through the garden,
Joshua discovers a door at the base of a tree; and once he enters his
life changes for ever.
“Now
it is time for you to go on a journey.
You
may forget the garden for a while.
Follow
this golden acorn wherever it takes you.”
Joshua
is transported into a mysterious realm within “The Midas Tree.”
Desperate
to return home, he sets about exploring this unfamiliar environment.
He encounters sticky situations and meets wily characters along the
way. Fortunately he does not have to face them alone. His guides are
the mystical creatures that live inside the tree, called Devas. They
are keepers of ancient secrets that can help Joshua to cope with the
obstacles he encounters and the challenges he meets.
Joshua
learns from the Devas that if he wishes to return home, he must first
transform himself – and “The Midas Tree”.
The
Devas are fairylike nature spirits, who love “The Midas Tree” and
live to keep it happy and healthy. Each Deva presides over a
different realm within the tree and lovingly passes on their
knowledge of their territory and the mysteries it holds.
Joshua’s
quest is to uncover the spiritual secrets of the tree, overcome
challenging situations and oust his inner turmoil to finally fulfill
his destiny. He is taught different techniques and skills that help
him cope with the trials he encounters. The processes that the Devas
expose him to begin a path of revelation where he learns the truth
about himself.
This
spellbinding story overflows with challenges, magical creatures and
mystical superpowers, which you too will discover along the way.
“The
Midas Tree” is a spiritual adventure novel aimed at a middle grade
to Young Adult audience; although all the adults who have read it
like it too.
The
more mature readers that have read the book say it reminds them of
“Illusions” by Richard Bach, or “The Celestine Prophesy” by
Michael Redfield, but with the flavor of a fairy tale.
Children
who have read The Midas Tree say it is reminiscent of “Alice in
Wonderland” and other well known children’s books. They enjoy all
the funny characters, which include talking animals and insects, and
each selects a favorite deva.
The
Midas Tree has many teachings. It is an adventure story, a guidebook
for personal spiritual unfolding and even includes lessons about
biology and nature.
It
is a book that parents can enjoy reading with their children or that
teachers can share with their classes to introduce them to internal
self awareness.
The
Midas Tree is a book of light that offers techniques that can help
all people cope when they are going through difficult times in their
lives; as well as illuminating the path to personal enlightenment in
a fun and entertaining way.
Dr
Lesley Phillips is a speaker, author, workshop leader, spiritual and
meditation teacher based in Vancouver BC, Canada. Her book “The
Midas Tree” will be published on November 11th
2012. She can be reached at:-
Twitter:
@DrLesleyP
Author Interview:
MGO: In 20 words or less tell us a
little about your book.
Lesley: The Midas Tree is a spiritual adventure story set inside a magical tree. It teaches a path to spiritual enlightenment.
MGO: Are any of your characters based off of people that you know in real life?
Lesley: No, except I did name one of the
characters after someone who is very special to me.
The hero Joshua is each and every one
of us as we walk our personal spiritual journey.
Each of the deva characters was
developed to embody a spiritual teaching and to represent an aspect
of nature. For example Devadne is the deva of the roots in The Midas
Tree. She teaches how the roots anchor the tree to the earth and she
also teaches a meditation technique called grounding.
The animal characters in the book are
also teachers. They actually show how everything we encounter has
something to teach us. For example, the bees teach us how to believe
in ourselves and how to accomplish the impossible. It is a miracle of
nature how these creatures are able to fly because the body is so
much larger than the wings.
MGO: What is the one thing you have
learned that has impacted your life while writing this novel?
Lesley: There are so many, including what is
really important to me. Although, I guess a major learning was about
how I want to use my intellect and how I choose to use my intuition.
I have a Ph.D. and a keen intellect,
during my spiritual training my intellect often got in my way. It
took many years of dedication to my meditation practices to overcome
this intense level of intellectual training.
The book was written completely from my
intuition; it was a spiritual download. I could see the story with my
spiritual sight, and literally watched it unfold before my eyes. I
just wrote down what I saw, and hit play and pause whenever I wanted.
The intellectual part of correcting the
spelling and grammar and sentence construction came later, after the
first draft of the book had been written. I believe if I had engaged
my intellect the material could not have come through. As I would
have got bogged down in perfecting the details.
Now that the book is about to be
published, my intellect comes in handy. As I am spending a lot of
time promoting the book. This includes writing guest blog articles,
where I aim to align my article with the focus of the site I’m
writing for. I am also being interviewed on radio and TV and finding
I have a great gift to explain spiritual information to people in
terms of reference that the listeners can understand.
MGO: When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
Lesley: I have known for a long time that I am
a spiritual messenger and have been focused intensively on this
spiritual mission for the last fifteen years. In the beginning, I
took classes to reawaken my spiritual senses and then later trained
to be a meditation teacher. Writing a book is a natural progression
to get my message to a wider audience.
When I was at University, I was
spiritually curious and explored spirituality by going to see
presentations by other spiritual teachers. I was told many times by
individuals who did not know me and did not know each other that I
was going to write a book that would be very successful. At the time
I could not imagine what that would look like. I wrote my Ph.D thesis
which was like writing a book, but somehow I knew that wasn’t it.
There came a moment where I just
intuitively knew that I was ready. I switched my meditation focus to
clearing blocks to writing and to bringing the information that I was
to write about through. That night was an explosion of creativity and
by the morning I had a full outline for the book. From there, writing
was like taking notes from a movie I was watching.
MGO: What did you want to be growing up?
Lesley: I wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer and an airline pilot. I ended up being a business negotiator in the pharmaceutical industry with a doctorate that regularly travelled throughout Europe and North America on business.
To me this is a testament of the power
of manifestation!
This is one of the spiritual truths
that Joshua, the hero of “The Midas Tree’ Learns about.
At school, I also loved the arts. I
enjoyed painting and creating stories and poetry, but the programming
around me was that this was not a serious career choice. So I focused
on science. Later on as I opened my intuition, my creative side
naturally re-emerged. Now I have my book “The Midas Tree” and an
intuitive deck, created from my own paintings, called “Portico,
Soul Essence Cards.”
MGO: Do you have anything else in the
works?
Lesley: I am currently focused on marketing this book. I have an idea for a meditation workbook that will accompany the novel and which can be used by teachers to help their students learn the meditation techniques in the book.
Lesley: I am currently focused on marketing this book. I have an idea for a meditation workbook that will accompany the novel and which can be used by teachers to help their students learn the meditation techniques in the book.
If “The Midas Tree” is successful I
have ideas for 7 more novels.
I also have a half finished novel about
a psychic who works in the biotechnology industry. I haven’t
decided yet whether I will finish and publish it though.
MGO: Thank you for being here today and sharing a little bit about yourself and introducing us to your novel The Midas Tree!
Lesley sounds like such an interesting person! And this book sounds like something I would really enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI need to learn to meditate and compartmentalize the different things in my head. I definitely have too much going on which makes me easily overwhelmed.
Such an interesting post!
You know, I have considered meditating as well before but honestly, I have a hard time sitting still and quiet for so long without having a book in front of me LOL!
ReplyDelete