How to “read” their owner using a brooch or ring? Why do we choose and wear this or that jewelry? What does the pendant tell us about its owner? Psychotherapist Rimma Efimkina combined the theme of jewelry and psychology in one book.
Could jewelry be an effective tool for diagnosing unconscious strategies, hidden needs, and resource seeking? Psychologist Rimma Efimkina has been passionate about creating jewelry for many years. She collects them from various “components” – she buys some, she finds some herself. Shells, pebbles… All this in her hands not only turns into masterpieces of art, but also acquires a deep meaning, which she conveys with the help of accessories and recognizes in purchased or ordered jewelry.
These things, in addition to the aesthetic function, also have a spiritual function, Rimma Efimkina believes. With the help of jewelry, she expanded the art therapy method by adding another powerful tool. But she was able to formally combine psychology and jewelry into one whole only recently, having written the book “The Psychology of Jewelry” (Klass, 2019).
The book contains many practical tips and recommendations for those who love to collect jewelry themselves. But no less curious will be found by those who simply love to wear the beauty of stones and metal. And he wants to learn something new about himself and others with their help. As the author writes, for her the place of jewelry in psychology “is at the crossroads of several scales.”
Rimma Efimkina relies on basic knowledge both in collecting jewelry and in psychological counseling: Maslow’s pyramid of needs, body-oriented therapy, Jung’s analytical psychology, periodization of mental development and, finally, art therapy. The author of the book gives his attention to each of the instruments. We will focus on some techniques.
Maslow’s pyramid on our body
The American psychologist Abraham Maslow ranked needs according to their importance and depicted them in the form of a pyramid. Its lowest level reflects the basic physiological needs: hunger, thirst, sexual desire. Above are the need for security, the desire for love and belonging to a community, the need for respect. And finally, the last three levels: cognitive, aesthetic and the need for self-actualization are combined into the concept of the need for self-expression.
According to his theory, if a person’s needs of a lower level are not satisfied, then he does not think about those that are higher in the hierarchy. That is, we are not up to self-development if we do not feel safe or hungry. “I believe that jewelry in a person’s life reflects all seven levels of his motivational sphere,” explains Rimma Efimkina.
1.Decoration is survival. The first step is physiological needs (hunger, sleep, thirst, reproductive instinct). Jewelry sometimes saved lives during times of wars and revolutions. The golden ring could be exchanged for food and a chance to survive. Eastern women can only take with them what they are wearing if the husband has announced a divorce. That is why they wear so many ornaments.
Examine your boxes – are there many cute and expensive items that you really wear? Or maybe there are those that are like a currency for a rainy day? The abundance of such jewelry may indicate that you are worried, not sure about the future. Is it really not beauty that matters to you now, but the cost and liquidity of jewelry? Maybe it’s time to change focus and move to the higher floors of the pyramid?
2. Decoration – safety. The need for a roof over your head, warmth, comfort. And here, too, jewelry can serve as a means of payment. Do you have a lot of gizmos that say that you do not feel safe?
3. Decoration is love. We need to love and be loved, to be part of a community, to have like-minded people. We decorate ourselves when we want to please. Pay attention to what you wear at certain times.
Observe yourself: what do you buy when you stop looking at the window? What do you choose when you plan to go out – what do you like, or what do you need to become “one of …”? What jewelry do you have more in your arsenal? The ones that remind you of love or status? If the latter, then it is worth looking at the fourth floor of the pyramid.
4. Decoration – recognition. They mean respect, approval, recognition. Orders and medals, for which precious metals and stones are usually used, are the best example of this. We are given jewelry, we buy them for ourselves when we move on to a new stage of life. A ring for a wedding, a brooch for the birth of a child, earrings for coming of age.
5. Decoration – knowledge. We are looking for new knowledge, process information, read, listen, watch and … change, develop. Jewelry to the author himself opened up a new field of knowledge. She read books about minerals, about the history of jewelry, their symbolic meaning.
What new did you learn with the brooch or pendant? Have you started to study any sites or books? Do you wear jewelry consciously, putting a certain meaning into it, or do you put it on without thinking about the secret messages? For example, what does a pendant in the form of a muzzle of a lion or a ring in the form of a bird tell about? After all, in our choice, everything is not just like that.
6. Jewelry – aesthetics. We want harmony, beauty. Isn’t decoration beautiful? Definitely! How much of your box gives you the pleasure of contact with beauty? Maybe it’s time to purchase something suitable for the current or desired state, or do it yourself? Or does the new dress require a different accessory?
7. Decoration – self-realization. This is the highest level in the hierarchy of needs. Constant spiritual development, application of abilities, discovery of talents.
“When I think about this stage, collections of bright famous personalities come to my mind. Such decorations are unique, as are the individuals who wear them,” says Rimma Efimkina. The context that these people surround their jewelry brings them to the level of high art.
In the collections – the path of spiritual development, even if it is not about precious materials, but about inexpensive jewelry. But there is nothing accidental in the collection of a spiritual person. Each thing has its own purpose. For example, a necklace with a totem animal can inspire its owner to continue the chosen path. Or remind you of an important fateful decision.
Let’s take an example. The woman says she doesn’t wear jewelry. But after carefully examining her photos on social networks, the psychologist saw on one a thin chain with a pendant in the form of the Holy Mother of God. “Does she realize she’s wearing at least one piece of jewelry?”
After analyzing it according to the pyramid of needs, the psychologist states the actual tasks of the woman at the current moment. This is the 3rd stage – belonging to a group (a symbol of the Christian faith), and the 2nd stage – the need for security (amulet).
At the time of contacting the author with an order for a decoration for a flash drive in the form of a heart, the woman was changing her job to a more high-status and creative one. What the heart told about (7th step – self-realization).
First Person Technique
Jewelry can tell a lot about us. Rimma Efimkina uses them as elements of a projective technique. For example, he invites the jewelry to “tell” literally about himself in the first person. The client voices the story, getting used to the role of a brooch or ring.
You can also use this technique yourself. Tell about yourself on behalf of the jewelry you put on today, because it is no coincidence that you are wearing it. Perhaps it reflects your mood or the relevance of one or more of the needs mentioned above. In the course of the story, much of our unconscious will come out. Say whatever comes to mind.
“I am a brooch. I am unique, there is no other like it. Designer Katya made me by hand from Italian clay. I have five rays, I am red, bright, outrageous, they immediately notice me. I am fragile, but not so much. Once I was washed in a typewriter, but I survived. This is how I live, and this is the meaning of my existence,” says the brooch. Now, according to the instructions, you need to answer the question: how does all this relate to my life, what is this aspect of my existence?
Rimma Efimkina explains using her star brooch as an example. “The first association is manual work. I love handy ones. Grandmothers always made things. Another sign is a red star from the USSR. I was born at the best time of this period, in the 60s, which is now called the “thaw”: a lot of enthusiasm, joyful and bright hopes. I remember my grandmother.
Grandma’s story is the story of an illiterate widow with eight children in her arms. I have never seen her except at work. She put everyone on their feet. For me, each of the eight is a bright star with its own talent, individuality. The fragile woman endured everything. I went through such a whirlpool of history that it is incomprehensible to the mind. And this fragility and stamina is also now mine, about me.
The star has five sharp spiny rays. This is about the fact that I, like my grandmother, who is not always nice, can stand up for myself if necessary. Survive at any cost, but at the same time be able to enjoy life. In our family, I learned to create joyfully and feel like a bright star – the greatest value bequeathed by grandmothers Varya and Marina. And I reverently pass on this value to my daughter Anna and grandchildren Masyanya and Fedyusha.”
That’s what the brooch in the form of a star told about. What will your jewelry tell you?
body map
By placing jewelry on a particular part of the body, we unconsciously draw the attention of others to it. And those, also unconsciously, read this code. “We are all carriers of the collective mind, therefore, we own symbols that we can intuitively read,” writes Rimma Efimkina. Psychologists learn to decipher the secret language and interpret.
About the expert: Rimma Efimkina is a psychologist, Gestalt therapist, psychodramatist.