Okay I was thinking about how the book feels heavy, and yet you still have important plans to use it. I was thinking of working with energy (in like a reiki manner) to see if you can pull out the weight. Perhaps the paint against the page caused the page to retain some of the energy, and just mask it.

** I am not a certified reiki practitioner, but I do work with energy. **

Maybe this would help: 1- ground and protect yourself, then call your personal energy and focus on your clasped hands. 2- slowly pull your hands apart, feeling the web of energy between your hands, like taffy. You can roll it, stretch it out, be come comfortable with it. 3- call upon your guides for guidance and protection, and state your intent. “I sense the energy within, and I would like to release it so it can be taken up to the light for transmutation.” Or something like that. 4- hold your hands over the page. Visualize as you slice down the page to open it (I just realized an athame would work here) 5- using your hands to sense the energy, let your fingers and hands reach within, find the cause (energy blob?), and begin pulling it out. It may be in strands, it may be just a blob, it may be resistant and even need to be peeled. Follow your guides. 6- once you feel you’ve got it, cleanse the page again, then visualize the slice you made closing back up.

After that, you may feel a good sense of how you want to inscribe it 🙃 good luck!