Who's still using the Mary El as a main deck?

chovexani

I am!!

This is one of my favourite decks!! I use it both for me and for reading to others, and i find it very dynamic and strong, and it goes straight to the core of the problem. It shows never a quiet moment in the life of anyone, giving you the possibility to achieve your goals from where you are, with the tools you have at the moment, like every moment is precious and decissive in your life, if you put things in the right perspective.
I am currently studying it yet, but also using it as one of my main decks, and will have to improve my studies on the Thot Tarot too to give it more deepness, like I read above...
In my personal experience this deck talks to me straight and has been a lot of help reading to myself as well as others.
 

cSpaceDiva

I haven't really been working with any decks for a while, but I have recently picked this one back up. It is very dense, heavy, chewy. The companion book is helpful for pointing out some of the symbols (though definitely not all) along with background and reasoning. I still find myself doing quite a bit of external research due to all the different systems and mythologies that it pulls from.

I don't find that the book helps much with reading interpretations, but in that regard, I do think that the cards speak for themselves. I have only done readings for myself. I trimmed all the titles off my cards and there are a few that still trip me up in remembering which is which (7 of cups and 7 of wands for example).

I do plan to start posting in some of the card threads again, but I will probably need to take it slow.
 

BreathingSince72

Love your take on this

Hi, inanna.

I only got my Mary-el this year, but I feel that it lends itself to deep and grounding meditative work. I work with this deck best when I have true quiet time to myself, where there are no distractions from the language and layered symbolism of the images. I don't often pose a question to these cards, nor do I bother myself with reversals. I just shuffle, cut, and lay down one to three cards, and I internalize the images and see what insights they hold.

I had an interesting experience with the Eight of Disks recently. I took to describing the composition of the card to myself, freeing myself from traditional RWS associations.

"The lamb rests calmly between two fierce creatures. The golden beast on its left is above it, protective of it, sheltering it. We see this golden beast overpowering the fire of the red one, edging it out of the frame as it desperately tries to sink its claws into where the lamb sits. A plume of smoke rises above the lamb, the same color as its hide, ending in an eight-pointed star to which the red beast ecstatically surrenders."

Right. Time to bring that description down to earth and relate it to my state of mind at the time.

"I can and should allow myself to be still, and to nurture and preserve that inner silence that an action-oriented, impatient and aggressive material world doesn't always take too kindly to. Allowing the quiet yet potent energy of my feminine side to manifest without apology is something I have to learn and work on, but it's very much possible. If I'm honest and authentic about my boundaries, about the extent to which I allow stress to intrude into my life, then I don't have to be paralyzed by external influences I don't have any control over."

I know that was long and rambling, but I hope it helps.

Illyria, I find myself using this deck in much the same fashion. Wonderful for meditation and so deeply versed in imagery. I don't mess with reversals because if I'm having an honest conversation with the imagery, I will know if I'm living the ill dignified aspect of the card. I love the Mary-El. I just received it in a trade last Saturday and I can scarcely express how delighted I've been.

Inanna, I want to cheer you on as well. While this deck is still needs to me, I want to encourage you not to allow anything to get in the way of your full enjoyment of it. The Mary-El is remarkable.
 

Amigone

I use this deck quite a lot as my main client reading deck. It's one of my favorites.