#mary-el

The Hermit + The Hanged Man

July 19-25: Cusp of Oscillation

The Mary-El Tarot by Marie White + Memento Mori Oracle by Claire Goodchild

This week is the Cusp of Oscillation where Water and Fire come together. It’s a week characterized by mood swings, the merging of masculine and feminine, and is overall just a wee bit volatile. 

So, I figured now would be a great time to pull out the Mary-El. 

The Mary-El is definitely not a deck for the faint of heart. It’s quite confrontational, and with a subtitle of “Landscapes of the Abyss,” you kind of know what you are getting yourself into. This is the deck that you pull out when you want to tackle shadows, when you are looking to crawl through the catacombs of your consciousness, and when you are looking to unearth truths that you may be in denial of. It’s definitely not the deck to pull out for trivial queries, that’s for sure. Given the energy of the week, and the times we are in, this just seemed like it was a good match!

Now, I didn’t really like the Mary-El at first. I was both attracted AND repulsed by the rather blunt, harsh, crude imagery. And for every time that I’d reel away from it, I would still watch hours of walk-throughs on YouTube thinking that I needed this deck. The thing is, I really didn’t like the somewhat newly released (and widely available) 2nd Edition. For whatever reason, I did not like the artwork without the borders and much preferred the black borders of the first edition. The artwork just seems to work better for me with the borders and I really hate the typesetting on the 2nd. I made a deal with myself - if I found a first edition on eBay, the universe is telling me that the Mary-El is truly calling me. And it did. 

I figured this week would be a perfect week to take her out, but who to pair her with? 

Memento Mori just seemed to fit both thematically and aesthetically, and it’s a deck that aside from using it with the Antique Anatomy (Claire Goodchild’s Tarot deck), I haven’t really taken it out much. 

Learning the Mary-El: One Card at a Time: A Surprise On the Way.

People sometimes ask me what my favorite tarot deck is. It might be this one, the deck I rarely use and never use with clients, because it has so much to say that I can’t dive into it unless I have plenty of time. This deck where every card is made from an exquisite painting that should be hanging in a museum somewhere. This deck that speaks to the soul. The Mary-El, by Marie White.

I have…

i know not everyone finds the four elements a useful framework, but i do. what i find less useful is the idea of strict categorization, especially of people. i come at this from what I suppose is a more Tarot-istic angle and i think we all have all of these elemental energies in us and in our lives, though some may express more strongly in our personalities or our current life situations. i also think balance is something to strive for.

i'm a very Water-y person. for example, i'm sensitive and easily overwhelmed by my own emotions, which are a powerful influence on my life. i am drawn towards spirituality. like the elements, i think we all express all of the Tarot court cards, and there are times when i am most strongly the Page of Pentacles or the Queen of Swords, but the court card i most closely identify with the majority of the time is the Knight of Cups, a Water-y fellow indeed. while astrology is not a strong interest area for me, but i do have water signs in both my sun (Cancer) and my rising sign (Scorpio).

i think it is precisely because my nature is so very Water-y that Fire energy draws me. i decorate in reds and yellows, not blues and greens. it is the Queen of Wands whose feet i kneel at and whose advice i beg, not the Queen of Cups. and it is the Sun that i pray to most often and whose energy i call upon, not the Moon. even with all of the above, i don't think i have been doing enough. i have noted a rather desperate need lately to more actively embrace Fire energy.

the Ace of Wands is central to what i need now. it represents the spark of creativity and the spark of passion alike - in fact, it represents the very Spark of Life. i feel most alive when i am creating, when words are flowing onto paper in front of me, or when something (blackberry wine, a loaf of bread, or a new tote bag - the specifics are not really important) is taking shape in my hands. i feel most alive when i allow myself to be passionate, when i don't try to tamp down my enthusiasm and fire - when i pace up and down the room, gesturing madly. i feel most alive in Summer, in the sunshine, and when i am active, not passive and receptive. i have not always fanned this Spark of Life inside my heart as well as it deserves - that is what i am trying to rectify now, and that is the advice of the Queen of Wands that i am trying to follow. the flame of my soul has not and will not go out, as long as i am alive, but i must remember it is there. if i do, it can be a source of great strength and inspiration for me.