Interesting!! I initially saw it as her
gaining color; the redness spreading outward from where she's being bitten, the 'rosiness' taking over her body. Sensations, including pain, can remind us that we are alive if we truly surrender to the experience... But I certainly see the other side of it too; how she is being drained.
Another theme is temptation. He bites her on her right shoulder - the right side representing the active principle, as if it were a blow to her resistance. His passion disarms her. She can't control who 'bites' her (who 'needs' her? who 'loves' her?), and he sinks deep into his own urges without hesitating or considering the implications for the other... But she has blood around her mouth too, as if she had feasted on someone earlier too. (Maybe he's coming to bite her back?) Perhaps that can be seen as a critique about getting swept up in the sort of passions that seem to invigorate us in the moment, but that ultimately drain us in the long run. It's a never-ending cycle - someone bites her and she's drained, she goes and bites someone to no longer feel empty, someone comes back and bites her again - and of course, he and/or others also play into that cycle. Perhaps passion is not enough to sustain us for very long if we're always chasing something outside of ourselves. Another cannot truly fill us we are empty. Love is real, but only when it is "kind" and "born of the soul" does it not drain us. And for it to be kind, there must be balance, unity, and harmony rather than only give/take. One person cannot carry all the weight. One heart cannot beat and pump blood for two; two hearts must beat and dance together in unison.
Here's the whole quote from the LWB, since I just referred to it:
Passion is born of blood. Kindness is born of the soul. Love is cruel and, if it is authentic, you will not be able to escape it.
Speaking of passion, horses are very representative of that kind of power; that is, the power of our emotions and how much sway those emotions can have over our beliefs about what's right or wrong or in line with our own integrity or personal code of ethics... I saw the horseman as an image on a wall too, as I noticed the frame around it in particular. This painting is black & white - a stark contrast from the color in the complex reality
outside of that frame, where the action is really happening. The painting initially reminded me of that whole cliche concept of a 'knight in shining armor' coming to the rescue. Perhaps this is a moment where reality comes flooding in (again, fitting in with the blood rushing to her wound); a sort of wake-up call for the woman who was too distracted to keep an eye over her shoulder. Reality has come crashing down; her train of thought in the storybook fantasy she had been writing has been cut off (the book, the ink, the quill have all fallen to the floor). The image is frozen; there is no one to come and 'rescue' her. The reality of this love is as it is for them. The thrill has shocked her and she is awakened to something new...
But going back to the LWB, I really like this line about "Love is cruel and, if it is authentic, you will not be able to escape it," because it reminds me of this idea about love being so immensely powerful that one could call it cruel; cruel in that we cannot control it... And love is natural. Nature can be both beautiful and cruel. Love is the most powerful force in the Universe, and it pulls us in all kinds of directions in life (sometimes driving us 'crazy'), and we learn so much through both the 'good' and the 'bad.' Love can be messy (note all the spilling of blood and ink in this image), it is not always 'pretty.' Love can
seem tainted or flawed when it gets mixed up with our humanity, with our mistakes; with our perception of those things - but it's perfectly imperfect, and the parts we choose to play become the parts of who we choose to be (or become) in our lives - and that is as it should be. It's all a part of learning and growing. That is why love is so powerful; our relationship (or lack of it) to the love within ourselves is what makes up the foundation of our lives and everything that happens, for better or for worse. It is the lesson we have to learn.
It's interesting how permanent ink is too. Those ink splatters in the book will remain. The wrinkling and crinkling of the pages under her foot will also likely show over the passing of time. Those marks cannot be erased. Reminds me of the importance of paying close attention to what we are creating by who we're being, how we're choosing to act in the moment. There is only the one moment; the time to live and to be true is now - true to others and true to ourselves, and we can only be true to others when we are true to ourselves. That involves being present and open with others, rather than sneaking up on them with any ulterior motives lol...
So many ways of looking at it!!