Spreads: ***Triple A*** Awareness, Acceptance, Action
This spread is one that I have found to be fascinating, and it seems to work for any problem I have ever applied it to. This three card spread is called Awareness, Acceptance and Action. It is an Al Anon philosophy which seems to apply to pretty much every problem we face in life, so I have adapted it and turned it into a very simple spread, which has been very useful for me when working with others in recovery.
The Spread
1: Awareness. What defect is causing us problems at the moment?
2: Acceptance: What is blocking us from accepting this as a defect?
3. Action: What action can I take to help rid myself of this defect?
The Layout
You’ll notice that when I lay the spread I have the cards moving from left to right, which indicates the simple passage of time. You might also notice that the cards are in ascending order. This is indicative that we are moving up and away from the bottom, climbing those steps towards the discovery of a higher self.
Awareness
Effectively our Awareness of defects which have caused us issues in the past, up till this point, and hopefully they will stay in the past now that we have identified them! In actual fact, this card has never come as a surprise for my querents, in fact it seems to be exactly what they based their question on!
Acceptance
Then in the present position we have Acceptance – since now we are beginning to recognise our part in the problem, we are currently going through the process of dealing with this issue and trying to resolve it. Hence we are moving towards a place of acceptance.
Action
The Action card comes in the future. This might be immediately after we have finished the reading… but we try to follow the advice of the cards and take action as soon as we can.
Applying the Spread
This is a question that recently came up on a Facebook thread: Dear Aunty Gael, I recently offended a good friend byt telling her she is unemployable and scary. She is a witch, though; now I am scared for my life and thinking of leaving the country. Can the cards tell me if I should run away, or if this situation is fixable? Love Stu. While it was said in jest, I offered to do a reading on it, and it seems like as good a question as any to ask my cards!
Well, the three cards I drew for Stu were:
Awareness: 8 of Swords
Acceptance: Queen of Wands
Action: Justice
In a nutshell, this overview tells me that he has been feeling a little trapped inside his own head recently, but the fire he needs to get himself going again has finally been ignited, and now he wants to put things straight again.
So let’s look at the cards in more detail.
Awareness
If this is looking at the underlying defect which is causing us grief at the moment, the it seems that Stu has been feeling stuck. He has probably been in denial about this, since he feels like he’s well on his way to recovery, but it occasionally manifests as snipes at others. It might be that he felt he was trying to jest, but now feels guilty in case what he said was too close to home to be funny. He is feeling guilty, but is afraid to admit his guilt. Plus, when we poke a fingers at other people, we have three pointing back at ourself, so I suspect here that Stu has been forced to take a good look at his own life recently.
Acceptance
The Queen of Wands appears when we need to bring some spiritual thinking into our lives, bringing positive, uplifting energy. She is proud of who she is, and a popular woman socially, respected for her honesty and spirituality. And I suspect Stu is arriving at a stage of his recovery where would rather be known for indulge in positive thoughts of gratitude than as a quick wit… especially now he is aware that the digs are sometimes falling flat. He has been clinging onto his banter and wearing it as a mask… but is now trying to accept that his genuine gentleness does not need to be kept hidden behind a mask for his mates.
Action
The Justice Card is representative of doing the next right thing. Of taking responsibility for our actions, and setting matters to rights. So, if we feel we may have offended someone by our tactlessness, we need to consider how we can make amends for that. It probably isn’t possible to take back the things that we have said, but it can be possible to weigh up more carefully what we say in future. We can try to balance our sensitive side with our catty side, and in some way try to find the equilibrium where we can be light hearted, but without causing offense.
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