Hi Ananda, I had an amazing experience a couple of years ago. I'm not much for goddess figures (I'm sure because of the relationship I had with my earthly mother), and had no belief at all in Mother Mary; indeed, was quite dismissive of those who believed in her (yes, my life has been a series of humbling experiences, that's what happens to arrogant people ;-) )
At the time, I had been listening to a Pema Chodron lecture series, one in which she describes giving space to "negative" emotions rather than pushing them away/attempting to bottle them up. One afternoon, I was sitting in rush hour traffic, feeling in turns angry and impatient about the stupidity and slowness of every single driver except me and then guilty because of my anger and arrogance and judgementalism; when all of a sudden everything just cleared away, and I saw above me a beautiful woman floating in the sky, clothed in blue and white. She was smiling, and as she looked down at me she opened her arms wide and *pushed* against the sky, and I could feel all of my anger and impatience and guilt and shame just expanding to the horizon, turning to light and joy. At that moment, my heart KNEW her and cried, "Mother!", which afterwards astounded me because I've never really known a mother figure in my earthly life. The vision didn't last all that long; but when my consciousness returned to the rush-hour traffic, everything of course was irrevocably changed, internally if not externally ;-)
I haven't had any experiences with her since then. Life is just one humbling mystery after another ;-)
Love,
Gayle