I am at a party with many of my friends who are musicians. One of the main players at this scene displayed two matching violins he had acquired earlier. He was very proud of them, as they were expensive. They were delicate and detailed. The finish was immaculate and they were the colour of burgundy marble.
The party got a little out of hand and the violins were getting bumped around and he was concerned but seemed like he was too pre-occupied to do anything about it.
As the party came to a close, people were pretty messed up and I decided to take an active role in protecting these instruments. I picked them up and was moving them through the people around the room and passed out on the floor when something snagged the strings of the violin and damaged both of them severely as I was carrying them. I was so let down that tears welled up in my eyes. I was trying to help and was the very one who screwed things up.
As a musician, is the violin your main instrument today? If not, the first thing to establish is what the violin represents for you personally.
Did you take violin lessons when you were younger? Did you become accomplished? When did you stop playing the violin and why? How did you feel when you were playing the violin? How did you feel when you stopped playing the violin, or left an orchestra?
In your dream you felt let down and felt grief when the violins were damaged. If you think back to your time playing the violin (or your current situation if it is still your main instrument) when did you feel let down in some way? When did you suffer emotionally (damaged), or when did your violin playing suffer? What damaged your violin playing or what threatens to damage it?
What does the burgundy marble colour mean to you? Did you ever have an item of clothing, a car, a book, an instrument or anything of this colour that was precious to you? Burgundy is also an alcoholic drink and your dream featured a wild party. Has alcohol played a role in damaging your music (you or someone else’s drinking?)? Marble is an ancient, solid rock. Could the marble in your dream represent rock music or rock as in a solid basis, such as a solid basis in music through early violin lessons? As you contemplate these questions, the meaning of the violin in your dream will emerge.
Dreams use word play or partial word play. Could violin reflect violence (alcohol, family?) especially as the violins were damaged (hurt). In your dream you were trying to help in a “messed up” situation. Did you try to help in an emotionally messed up situation in your past that only ended up with you feeling hurt? Are you the one who has been messed up?
In your dream you passed out when the strings were snagged. You became unconscious. This often happens in a dream when the experience being recalled has been pushed into the unconscious. The dream is showing you that a certain situation was too much for you so you became unconscious to it. In your dream you seem to quickly regain consciousness and then there is the grief and the feeling of being so let down. This is likely to be the grief and the feeling that you suppressed at the time coming back into consciousness. When you become aware of feelings you have pushed away in the past, you can release them, let the tears flow, allow the grieving which is a necessary part of healing and become free to move on.
Why twin violins? Were there two occasions, two people? Did you have two opportunities that were damaged? Did you have, or do you now have, two opportunities?
You described the violins as “matching”. Could they represent a relationship (a perfect match)?
The violins were “delicate and detailed”. Does this describe your talent or does it describe the emotional (damage) issue that is both delicate and detailed? The owner was too preoccupied to protect the violins. Where, in your life now or in your past, have you been too preoccupied to protect something very precious to you? Is it your musical talent that is precious or difficult relationships around you that are precious?
At the start of your dream the owner was proud. At the end of the dream you felt let down when you had tried to help. Dreams often refer to the past to help us to understand our current situation. At the time of this dream, what were you feeling let down about and how did this connect to pride? Knowledge is freedom.
Consult me confidentially about your dream.
Gut Reaction Poetry
The title of your free-form poem is “Only trying to help – Ode to a Violin”. Keep it going for 5 - 10 minutes. (See how to do this in next section.)
How to do this
Take a blank piece of paper and a pen. Set a timer for somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. Do not allow yourself to think! Start by writing the title as your first line and just let it flow. Keep on writing even if your poem seems childish or nonsensical. No rhyming or verses unless it comes out that way! The only definition of ‘poetry’ here is that you’re not writing sentences and you’re not using up all the space on your lines. Let your words find their own shape on the page.
How does this work?
By not thinking, by keeping the words flowing, you are letting your right brain and unconscious mind do most of the work. They created the original dream so they know what these symbols mean for you. They will reveal. You will be surprised.
More details on Gut Reaction Poetry as a Dream Alchemy Practice in: “Dream Alchemy” by Jane Teresa Anderson, pages 324 – 327.
Jane Teresa Anderson
