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Exclaves

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Interpretation & Meaning

Exclaves - a card from the inclusive oracle deck

If countries had bodies, Kaliningrad would be an out-of-body experience.

Imagine Russia leaving her cumbersome self behind and embarking on a trip that doesn’t require psychedelics but robust tires, car songs and a ten hour drive. All the way East, she’d cross familiar geographies and eventually stumble on a remote, strange instance of herself.

Kaliningrad shares no border with Russia, yet it’s part of it. Fifteen thousand square meters cut out of the Motherland and squeezed tightly between Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic sea. You dock there on a merciless winter evening and in a lousy bar, vodka in hand, you close your eyes and it could be St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, it could be Moscow. 

When this card shows up in a reading, it’s time to look for yourself outside of yourself.

If looking inwards only led to fluids and bones, the answers you’re seeking are probably in the outside world.

Be it religion, zombie movies or the boy scouts, you gotta seek and find meaning in experiences that are very much out of your head. Don’t be afraid to try on identities like dresses until you find the perfect one for the prom of your existence.

This card ensures external exploration will light up the path to your purpose in life and to the core of your identity.

Keywords: exploration • purpose • religion • external meaning • discovery • quest • identification • exposure • curiosity

Practical References

Places Sanctuary, Train Station, Airport, Hotel, Places of Worship, Monuments
Work Activist, Reporter, Correspondent, Missionary, Explorer, Astronaut, Travel Writer. Food Writer, all jobs having to do with travel and external exploration
Situations & Life Events Pilgrimage, Walkabout, Travel, Road Trip, Cults, Organizations
Activities Traveling, Reading, Backpacking, Experiencing Art, Tarot Reading
Archetypes The Explorer, The Seeker

Interpretation within the Game of Cracks

The Soil
In the Soil position, this card suggests an environment or situation which enables external exploration or shapes the sense of self of its partakers. It can represent a career, relationship or affiliation (eg. religious group) which is tied strongly to the consultant's identity.
The Knot
As the Knot, this card symbolizes the tension between knowing who you are and actually experiencing it. In order to advance in your journey, you need to restructure your sense of self through external exploration and seek out your purpose in life
The Eye
When this card shows up as the Eye, it can represent an explorer, someone who values trying things out and assessing their value independently. It can also stand for someone with a strong sense of purpose.
The Fall
As the Fall, this card warns you against losing yourself into someone or something else. Don't build your identity around a cause or group that may be toxic, harmful or simply not representative of your beliefs.
The Hook
When this card appears as the Hook, it's an invitation to explore the places and ideas around you and let them change you as much as you can. Identifying with a cause, a group or a set of beliefs might be what you need to find your life's purpose. It could also hint at exposure therapy: maybe the thing you are afraid of will become tolerable the more you expose yourself to it.
The Fruit
In the Fruit position, this card suggests an outcome that manifests itself through a clearer purpose in life and a stronger sense of identity

Homework & Practice

In order to embody the teachings of this card, you can:

  • Go on a road trip and keep a travel journal
  • Take a walk through your city and purposely choose streets that you’ve never walked before.
  • Join a club: start doing new things with different groups of people
  • Read: expose yourself to new ideas and try them on without judgment to see how they fit
  • Write a manifesto and try to state what you want your purpose in life to be
  • Establish new relationships with people and notice how and if they challenge your identity or belief system

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