Interview Atmos x Lea Colombo, 2021

While on assignment for Atmos, Lea Colombo’s trek through the Namib Desert took an unexpected turn – a brush with death that brought a new perspective.

Through the vastness, the textures and the colour, I saw the White Light.

My body of work over the last year has made reference to White Light Being. Always present, always guiding, always emitting a strong energy field into my work. Yet, this Presence, has remained at a distance – a connection solely with one’s higher Self, a connection I had yet to fully unpack.

However, through the vastness, the emptiness of the desert, its textures and colour I finally came to know the White Light. I felt it. I saw it. My being was pulled so strongly towards it.  Our Cruiser had experienced the raft of the deadly Namibian roads, spiraling off the dirt track in a matter of seconds. My reality inverted as we rolled through the hot Namibian sand.

The Light engulfed me as our car hit the gravel, wrong side up. My eyes kept trying to adjust, to focus, to see anything other than White Light. Breathe I told myself. Long and steady breathes. I focused on my exhale and the comforting voice of Asher who continued to call my name. I surrounded my body in love and light – taking teachings from incredible souls who have touched my path along the way. I was able to restore a sense of calmness to my body, despite the chaos which surrounded it.

Within seconds I was pulled from the passenger side and lifted out of the crumbled vehicle. As I attempted to take my surroundings in, this White Light confronted me. My head had been knocked hard. A beautiful white halo filled my vision – it beckoned me. I could immediately sense what was happening and knew I needed to turn inward quickly. I clung onto the sense of calmness I had managed to foster and gave my body all the strength I had left not to become it. The more I trusted and guided myself, the stronger the energy was behind me – grounding me back to Earth, into my body, into my consciousness.

 And there it was, colour. In all its glory. I was back.

Pages from Seat of the Soul scattered the roadside. Our belongings and a tangled mess of a car breaking the vastness. As far as the eye could see – barren, except for claw-like trees reaching out of the earth, bodies not yet ready to be buried. Life and death, ever at odds in the desert.

And us, alive. Guided and protected by all our guardian angels. A bad knock to the head and the knee but all in one piece and grateful to have escaped in the way we did. All of it will require rest and healing and a big lesson in patience no doubt.

I have always trusted in the process – in my body and in my ability to navigate disruptions to a never concrete path. Two months have passed and I still cannot escape the feeling that my pull towards the Namibian desert, of our tumbling, was a chance to experience chaos in every sense, of life turned upside down.