Guest Author - Garry G. Gilfoy
The BIG Picture: Insights from the Spiritual World
-CHAPTER NINE-
THE WATCHER’S INTERVENTION Keely’s
story
KEELY BADGER Student
Age 22
The world is a better place for having Keely Badger in it. Her father moved to our area to become
part of an executive work team with my partner. We took it upon ourselves to
have them around for a couple of meals and introduce them to a few people. I
was already in the process of writing this book, and someone asked how it was
going, which led to questions about the nature of the book. Unbeknownst to me, Keely’s mother, Lane, is a successful book and magazine
editor and publisher. She shared a strong interest in the subject matter and a
very intense conversation about things spiritual ensued between a few of us.
Further down the track she mentioned that their daughter had a very powerful
near-death experience only a year before. What an elegant combination of
people. Those were early days. As it turns out, our partners made a very
effective work team, Lane became an important part of this project, and their
daughter
Keely
ended up being a subject in the book. Who would have seen all this when dad
first applied for a job?
Keely
is twenty-two, an age that makes those of us in our middle years not quite sure
whether to engage her and her peers as adults, or to treat them respectfully
but maybe not with the seriousness they merit. What, after all, can a
twenty-two-year-old know about life? Well, it doesn’t take long before age
distinctions melt away with Keely.
Start a meaningful conversation with her
and she is radiant. She has the features of both parents yet what strikes me
strongly is how much she looks like a North American Indian. She has dark eyes
and straight dark hair, an olive complexion with broad high cheekbones, and
straight white teeth.
She is very alert and engaging, very smart
and articulate. She’s a straight A student at an elite American university, yet
with the grounded experience and interests that enable her to mix with anyone.
She was an accomplished sportswoman prior to the accident that might have
killed her or left her crippled for life. In the end it served to deepen her
inner life and complement her studies in Anthropology, with a specific focus on
shamanism and the initiation rites of aboriginal peoples throughout the world. Quite a package.
Keely’s
Story
Keely
was born in New England and raised in the Southwest of America. Her early
exposure to ideas of spirituality came from her family. Her mother is a
publisher of progressive magazines with a passion for the sacred sites of the
world and her father is a Waldorf educator credited with founding several
schools. With her family she has travelled widely to explore
many
ancient spiritual sites and cultures. Keely was
raised with openness to the emerging spirituality of America.
From an early age she excelled in
everything. A natural leader, she was gifted academically and in sport. She was
rarely ill. She was extremely well organized and independent. Things came
easily. She was inclined toward justice and advocacy and a career in law. When
asked if she had any early spiritual experiences, she told me about her trips
to England, Ireland and Wales.
During her two visits to Ireland, Keely became aware of the presence a woman, watching her.
She was not quite fully visible yet tangible and real. The presence was always
nearby. She was a woman from the past and she stood on the edge of the emerald
hills of Ireland. She looked out at Keely with deep
and penetrating eyes, as if she was looking through many ages of time to see Keely in the present. A cloak shrouded her body and face.
Keely
is certain that this was a vision of herself in a past life.
When she was twenty, Keely’s
father accepted a job in Australia. Her mother stayed behind while Keely finished her second year of University. When it was
clear Australia would be their new home for a time, her parents insisted she
accompany them. She wasn’t happy about it. She was enrolled at the University
of Queensland, but due to the difference in the academic calendar between
northern and southern hemispheres, she had several months before she could
immerse herself in studies again. She was discontent during this time, not
knowing anyone in her new homeland and missing the stimulation and social life
of being a University student. Something in Australia just didn’t seem to
resonate.
The coastal town that they lived in, Byron
Bay, is an odd mix of old and new cultures. It is now
an expensive up-market tourist area because of the great climate, the natural
beauty of the coast with the lush hills behind, and great surfing beaches.
These same features have always been an attraction for footloose young people
with their partying lifestyles, often lubricated by alcohol and drugs. Although
this was Keely’s age group, it wasn’t her scene.
The only light in her life was a man who
worked at a café where she would venture regularly. She felt an unusual sense
of familiarity with him, like he was a brother. She also sensed a deep sadness
about him, as if he was alone and waiting for something. His name was Liam and
he became a significant figure in the events that would soon unfold.
In the short time remaining before moving
north to Brisbane for University, when visiting the café she found she was
tongue-tied around Liam. The connection between them was stronger than ever,
yet uncharacteristically Keely couldn’t bring herself
to make meaningful conversation with him. Then with the start of University
things began to normalize. She was continuing the program she began in the
US—law, with strong secondary interest in Anthropology, specifically
Aboriginal anthropology, which became as engrossing in Australia as it had been
in America.
Keely
would drive south to Byron Bay on weekends and would always make sure she saw
Liam at the café. And then one time he was no longer there. And again on the
next visit home. She asked her mother if she knew where he’d gone, but she
didn’t. Keely spent that week up in Brisbane
constantly wondering about Liam, hoping she would see him the following weekend
when she planned to return.
Before reaching Byron Bay on that return
trip, she stopped at a roadside rest area on her way back down the coast.
When she did so, she had a peculiar and
disturbing image of a car accident. She was standing in front of the café
where Liam worked, but before entering she was struck by a vivid scene
occurring somewhere else through time and space. There was a person in a car who needed saving and Keely felt
called to speed through time and intercept the accident. As she was processing
this event in her inner sight, she could feel Liam watch her in this powerful
moment, making an urgent gasping sound as his head swung purposefully to one
side.
This vision made no sense to Keely, but it did create a sense of foreboding. As always Keely stopped at the café on her way home, hoping to see
Liam, thinking perhaps he had returned from vacation or perhaps from illness. But nothing.
Arriving home, Keely’s
mother broke the news that Liam had died from a heart aneurism. Keely fell to the floor devastated. She grieved for this
man that she felt so bonded with, yet whom she hardly knew. While she didn’t
understand their connection, she deeply felt his loss. At the same time she was
aware that whatever stood in the way of them developing a fuller relationship
was somewhat of a blessing. She and her mother performed a Blessing Way ceremony
for Liam, and Keely tried not to think too strongly
about him so he could move on from life more easily and she could continue to
build her new life.
Back at University she was gradually
meeting a few people. She had an offer to join a woman’s soccer team, a sport
she excelled at in the USA. Life was bland still, but moving along. Keely spent all her time in her apartment near University.
This was certainly no great start to her new life in Australia but she was in a
better place mentally than where she had been months earlier.
Only a few weeks later she was again
heading back home for the weekend. It was dark. Approaching home she missed her
Byron Bay turnoff from the highway. She clearly recalls mentally registering it
just beforehand. Furthermore, it was a turn she had done so often and it was
very obvious, there being a long steep hill
immediately after the turnoff. But she missed it.
So she had to continue up the long hill
before she could turn around. She describes an odd feeling of being ‘dragged’
up the hill. At the top she had very clear night vision for turning around. The
only car lights visible were a long way off. Keely
made her turn, speeding up to be safe in crossing the road to start her way
down the hill again. Suddenly, a car going over 100 km/hour smashed into her.
Keely
moved in and out of consciousness. She was pinned down from the right side door
by the heavy metal of the car. She was crushed. Her most urgent problem was
that she was being suffocated by her seatbelt. Luckily the first man on the
scene had a box cutter to free her so that she could breathe again. Once the
emergency services team arrived it took another forty minutes to cut Keely out from the wreckage. Her car was so smashed that
the police later said that they could not imagine that anyone could have
survived in such a small space.
She was aware of a policewoman who stroked
her arm through this whole ordeal. This was instrumental in keeping her
present, moving between pain and unconsciousness. Finally an emergency
helicopter rushed her to the nearest hospital.
Keely
had a great deal of internal bleeding, but the most debilitating injury was a pelvis
shattered into 13 pieces, and the most immediate worry was a punctured lung on
the left side. Police went to the house of Keely’s parents, sombre and doubtful that Keely would survive. While they were making the dark and
rainy drive to Lismore Base hospital, her parents were called as a matter of
urgency and told Keely might not survive. She woke up
in hospital to their worried voices on the phone. She remembers being
temporarily totally coherent as she reassured them she would be okay.
In the days to come Keely
was transferred to a private hospital in Brisbane. Her parents spent a great
deal of time with her. It was during this time that she had a sudden shift in awareness which revealed to her the powerful events that had
unfolded on the spiritual plane during her accident.
Keely
had a flashback to the accident. In it she saw a man in a blue hooded cloak
at the top of the long hill, watching as her car approached. This man had the same
feeling of familiarity as Liam. He saw what was going to happen to Keely and quickly turned to the left, looking out over the
rolling green hills of Byron to the sea, and with a particular gesture and a
gasp, called out in desperation for someone or something to intervene. The
gesture she witnessed was the same as in her rest stop vision of Liam. Just as
she was about to be hit, another figure in a cloak morphed into the passenger
seat of the car, outstretched their cloaked hand across Keely
and onto the oncoming car to shield her from the impact and brace her from the
tremendous force. This was why she survived. This was the invisible reality
behind the external events of that evening.
Lying flat in hospital for two weeks to
stabilize before surgery could be performed, Keely
was warned she could not expect to walk again. When surgery day finally came,
just as Keely was being prepped, the doctor came in
to say he didn’t feel
comfortable
with the surgery, and he needed to call in another colleague to aid him.
Another week was needed for Keely to get stronger.
Finally, Keely went in for risky and newly developed
sports medicine surgery, ultimately requiring five blood transfusions and eight
hours of work. Keely came through it, though weak and in great pain.
She was told that she would be in hospital
for another month while she recovered, but she worked hard and was out in one
and a half weeks in a wheelchair. Nine more months of recuperation was called
for and best-case scenario would entail a cane and a limp. She shocked doctors
by progressing fast. She was determined to walk into an appointment just two
months later unaided, which she achieved through her determination and a
physiotherapist who was willing to push her.
Keely
returned to San Diego to finish University, where she also completed her
recovery. She got straight A’s in her studies and made a name for herself doing
research for her professors. She still has occasional pain in her pelvis and
can no longer play sports, but otherwise has felt great. She’s been happier
than before the accident when she’d always had somewhat of a melancholy streak.
She recognizes she has matured a great deal in that time.
Coming in to her own power is
how she sums up her ordeal, just as aboriginal rites of initiation accomplished
for their young people. “When people hear of my story they always say the same
thing. That I was spared so that I can go on and do great
work in my life. I have always felt this calling, but needed this
initiation to give me the strength to do it.”
She describes her post-recovery experience
as one of ‘living on two levels’. In addition to the daily life lived, she
feels she is now less connected to her emotions and plays the role of ‘witness’
to the life being lived.
During her critical injury time, she was
aware of wanting to go with Liam, but she was not permitted to go because she
has a role to play. She is convinced that she will do what she has come to
earth to do.
Post-script
Keely
has gained a great deal from her experiences. She no longer cringes when her
mother talks about her spirit guides, for example. What’s more, she knows what
this means. Whatever Liam’s role was in life, he became a guide, the one she
called the watcher. A year later she still feels the watcher is
present, but is no longer Liam. Someone else has taken this role and left Liam
to move on. From the scenario that unfolded, Keely
understood it took someone more advanced than Liam to halt the impact of the
accident, and that’s why he needed to call in someone else. She had a clear
recognition of the identical gestures of her earlier vision of Liam at the
roadside stop and the one he used to bring the stronger guide in to help.
Another thing Keely
is keen to share is the power of prayer circles, which had a role in her healing.
When her family left Arizona for Australia, her mother donated a beautiful and
valuable antique statue of Quan Kin to a Tibetan
Buddhist spiritual leader in India who had an orphanage and school. This was
done through a local woman whom the family knew. When word of Keely’s accident got around, this woman contacted the
Buddhist Rinpoche lama. He received the message on his way to a funeral where
two thousand lamas were in attendance. Keely’s name
was brought into a healing circle of this gathering. Within a day the puncture
in her lung had completely healed, with before and after X-rays as evidence.
Keely
had always had a sense of destiny and some work she came to earth to do. Since
her accident this is even more acute. She believes the inexplicable missing of
her turnoff and this impression of being ‘dragged up’ the hill for an impending
accident, are an indication that there are other forces at work, which would
thwart her purpose. This was why Liam was watching over her. He is part of this
destiny.
Given her many natural gifts and talents,
now coupled with her spiritual insights and experience, it is easy to imagine
that Keely will make her mark.