The Garden Path

"Do I lead you up the Garden Path?"

Part 2, Chapter 3 of Insectual

Do I lead you up the Garden Path (page 126)

The doctor is carrying many books. The titles are not visible, but might read like “Personal History”, “History of the Ancestors”, “The Relationship Trap”, “Buried Talents” and “Awakening in the 21^st Century”.
 

The hill is steep.  She is picking up the books that the doctor drops to the ground.  The job is arduous, but she is the collector of information.  The more she advances in therapy, the more inner knowledge she is gaining.  In therapy, the mind is an archaeological site and if she persists she might find buried surprises: Pleasurable ones? Not so pleasurable ones?? She cannot allow herself to be afraid.  Beauty, represented by the flowers, is surrounding her.



 

 

 

 



Part I Chapter 16

I buried the "Devil"

Burying the "Devil"

 

Part 1 Chapter 16

 

She is determined. She is strong. The “Devil” feeling is preventing her from being happy. While sitting in the shade on a rock and watching people push the car out of the sand, she buries the “Devil” into the sand.

As you can see, he is now trapped between the rock and the earth. Her physical brain has become her rock, a strong rock. The repressed “Devil” has no more power over her - so she is convinced - but that doesn’t mean that he is not alive. As his origins are not understood, he is just sinking into her unconscious and now hiding in every cell of her being.  She might have even projected him onto Lorenzo. But for now there is no more suffering. She is proud of her conquest.

 

Mandala of the "Devil"

 

Review by Rosie Malezer for Readers' Favorite: 5 Stars *****

The title and cover art of INSECTUAL (The Secret of the Black Butterfly) by Barbara Sala intrigued me. It details the life of Maya – a German woman who describes intimacy and sex as ‘the devil’ – yet has no problems falling in love. After an unwanted pregnancy and abortion, Maya meets and marries Lorenzo, an Italian man who finds Maya enchanting. Due to complications with the birth of her second child with Lorenzo, Maya and the baby are rushed to the hospital. After the birth, she is secreted away just moments before her city comes under fire. When Maya and Lorenzo are finally reunited, Lorenzo confesses his infidelities in a drunken stupor.

Therapy is recommended to Maya in the hopes that it will fix her loathing of sexual acts. Shortly after her therapy sessions commence, Maya realizes that she does not want to stay married to an unfaithful husband. After divorcing Lorenzo, Maya spends many years in therapy, discovering her real inner demons lie with her father who had molested and raped her as a child – traumatic memories which Maya had buried over the years. Most of Barbara Sala’s book INSECTUAL (The Secret of the Black Butterfly) consists of Maya’s therapy sessions, her thoughts, her fears, her dreams and what she chooses to tell her therapist.

It is very well written throughout and the illustrations at the beginning of each segment of the book are quite clever, painting a very clear picture of what Maya is thinking. While the book was very difficult to read in some places due to the content, I am grateful to have read it, as it teaches one of the most incredible lessons a person can learn in life: forgiveness.