What Is MARI®?
MARI (Mandala Assessment Research Instrument) has been called
The Doorway into the Wonder of the Psyche
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The MARI is a comprehensive system that uses symbols, known as mandalas, to reveal the inner truth and reality of the subject as it is –not what the ego filters of consciousness would want it to be, but what it really is.
Carl Jung recognized the mandala as “the centre of personality, a kind of central point within the psyche, to which everything is related, by which everything is arranged and which is, itself, a source of energy. This centre,” said Jung, “is not felt or thought of as ego but, if one may so express it, as the self.”
Jung’s description of the mandala is also an excellent description of the MARI.
In addition to symbols, the MARI is comprised of colors and stages of development. The relationship of these variables creates a visual ‘snapshot’ of the self. This visual relationship is best understood by addressing each variable separately.
1. SYMBOL/MANDALA
Symbols predate culture, language and even time. They are so much a part of us that we make mental connections with them that are not often conscious. An upward pointing triangle, for example, is typically chosen by people who are beginning something new –literally or symbolically.
Symbols also have a transcendent function. They are capable of representing numerous meanings and various levels of understanding simultaneously.
Jung was one of the first to recognize that there is a remarkable inner connection between what is going on in the individual’s current life and the symbols s/he chooses.
Based on this connection, the individual who is taking the MARI, is asked to choose six symbols they are attracted to and one they don’t like, from a pool of 39 symbol cards.
2. COLOR
The individual is then directed to choose, from a pool of 45 color cards, the color that they feel “goes with” each of their chosen symbols. Art therapists have long recognized the connections between color and the psychological associations that are typically made on an ‘other than conscious’ level. These colors add dimensions that may be emotional, physical, cognitive or spiritual to the chosen symbols.
3. STAGE
The sets of symbol and color cards are then placed on a ‘field’ that is comprised of thirteen developmental stages that are arranged sequentially. In addition, there are, not just one, but three symbols at each stage of the MARI, to reflect differing aspects of that stage.
Jung stated that the center of the self “is surrounded by a periphery containing everything that belongs to the self – the paired opposites that make up the total personality.” The stages of the MARI are arranged around this periphery, with axes that reflect the paired opposites.
4. RELATIONSHIP OF SYMBOL, COLOR AND STAGE
This field of developmental stages, known as the Great Round, is where the visual picture of the psyche is revealed. It is the Great Round that represents the central point, as well as the stages around the periphery of the psyche, to which everything is related and arranged.
Just as acupuncture maps the meridians of the human body for areas of significance, the Mari maps the human psyche and identifies areas of tension and attention.
The relationship of all the symbols and colors combine to reveal a clear, visual gestalt of what is happening in the psyche at that time.
The MARI is an accurate and comprehensive psychological assessment.
It works because the all the information comes directly from the individual. The conscious filters that are typically present are bypassed because the MARI passes beneath the radar of the ego. The individual, simply choosing symbols and colors that s/he is drawn to, has no reason to activate these personal filters.
One needs only observe the care that the individual takes in choosing their symbols and colors to recognize the presence of the urge to wholeness. Their choices always reflect the aspects that are most important to their psyche at the time. It works, because as Jung emphasized, the psyche cannot tolerate self-deception.
It is precisely because the MARI works so well, that the intentions of the administrator are of the utmost importance, and must reflect the highest and clearest moral and ethical standards.
A process greater than anything the ego can conceive is at work here. It is the last step of the MARI –the wisdom of the one’s own guidance – that assures us that the process of individuation is present and active.
5. GUIDANCE CARDS
The individual has also been asked, after they chose their initial cards, to think of an issue that they are currently dealing with in their life. This issue need not be shared. S/he was asked to look at the remaining cards and allow him or herself to be drawn intuitively to one or two symbols and colors that seem to represent guidance for their issue. After their original card choices were discussed, the guidance cards are then placed on the Great Round.
The guidance cards provide, in every case, the perfect solution for the issue. The guidance cards confirm, again and again, the assumption that wholeness resides within the individual. The guidance cards reflect the perfect intuitive solution, and often make far more sense to the individual than they do to the administrator. The guidance cards provide the best possible solution for the individual because the solution comes from their own intuitive wisdom.
MARI is the product of the total psyche.
The five levels of information combine to represent everything that is currently of psychological significance. In addition, and unbeknownst to themselves, the individual also provides their own intuitive guidance and answers.
For this reason, short term and positive counseling is a very real possibility. Very often, a complete MARI experience can be completed in one session.
Choices of symbol and color are intuitive
It is the nature of the MARI that makes it work. Thirty nine symbols printed on clear plastic are spread out before the subject. The subject is told to allow themselves to be drawn to six symbols they like or are attracted to. This first “cut” reflects the most important contents in the psyche or registers most strongly in the individual body-mind, which is both the conscious and unconscious. These first six choices reflect areas of tension or attention that cannot hide. They accurately reveal what is going on with us at that time.
In truth, as adults, we would choose every symbol ay every stage at one time of our life or another. The choices of the first six reflect what is registering most significantly in our psyche at the time. For example, if we did not receive ‘enough’ nurturing in our earliest years –if our basic emotional and archetypal (parental) needs were not met, chances are an overlay will develop over the rest of the personality. They will remain on an unconscious level and continue to show up unless they are dealt with consciously. The first six choices provide a glimpse into what registers as most important in our psyches.
Dislike Card
The subject is also asked to choose a symbol they don’t like or are least attracted to. Jung called this aspect of our psyches the shadow. While it may be considered the shadow, it can also be conceived as an aspect in one’s consciousness, but that, for various reasons, feels more comfortable if it is held apart and away from the individual. Occasionally, the dislike card is pregnant with information.
Most people choose the exact same symbol at the same stage of fragmentation. Not only does this validate the reliability of the MARI in revealing that intuitively people sense that one particular symbol suggests, on some other than conscious level, that things in their lives could fall apart. The very fact that more than 90% of people pick the same card as their dislike points to the high reliability of the instrument.
Further, to some extent this serves to normalize their choice of the dislike symbol. It is a task of the instrument and nobody wants things in their life to fall apart. The choice of color at this stage becomes important in further describing what it is they most fear if this did happen. It is far more interesting when someone chooses a dislike symbol at another stage, such as beginnings or full consciousness.
Guidance Cards
As the final task, the subject is asked to think of an issue that is currently happening in their lives (and told that they never have to share it) The concept of having the subject think of an issue that is currently happening in their lives and choosing two symbols that seem to represent “help or guidance” for that issue of guidance cards was added after MARI came to Mari Creative Resources. New understanding paved the way for this new addition.
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