Today's mail was exceptionally good
Today I received The Southern Gothic Oracle and The HAUNTS Expansion Pack. I ordered at Etsy and it took all of three days to arrive - it was mailed the same day I ordered. It came from Tennessee. I've noticed that mail from southern states seems to arrive a lot faster than mail from other parts of the country. I call it the "Hillbilly Express" - they have a long history of fast driving. The moonshiners and bootleggers had to outrun the law. Appalachia is the birthplace of NASCAR.
But before I talk about the deck, I want to talk about Southern Gothic itself, what it is, or at least my understanding of it. It's a veneer of gentility over brutality and evil, there's often a supernatural element or at least something people experience as supernatural, there might be decaying houses, family secrets, mental illness...you get the picture.
You can feel it, especially if you get away from the city. It was strong in my hometown, the history there is extremely bloody. I had one no-bones-about-it paranormal experience at a friend's house. A big glass ashtray broke. Nothing knocked it down, there was no fire in it, it just broke. My friend said "I told you there was somethin' in this house." He decided it was prudent to lock up the house and leave for awhile, and asked me where I wanted to be dropped off. About a block from his house, there's a historical marker saying it was once the site of Robson's Castle. Some crazy Scotsman moved there in the 1800's and built an actual castle by the river. I found out later that he had a huge plantation, that was how he could afford to have a castle built and host huge parties. My friend's house sat on the site of Robson's cotton plantation. I don't even want to imagine what went on there.
Later, the castle was destroyed when the river flooded, and they built a meat packing plant there. More blood. This is the former site of it. There's nothing there but the north bridge and a historical marker now:
But before I talk about the deck, I want to talk about Southern Gothic itself, what it is, or at least my understanding of it. It's a veneer of gentility over brutality and evil, there's often a supernatural element or at least something people experience as supernatural, there might be decaying houses, family secrets, mental illness...you get the picture.
You can feel it, especially if you get away from the city. It was strong in my hometown, the history there is extremely bloody. I had one no-bones-about-it paranormal experience at a friend's house. A big glass ashtray broke. Nothing knocked it down, there was no fire in it, it just broke. My friend said "I told you there was somethin' in this house." He decided it was prudent to lock up the house and leave for awhile, and asked me where I wanted to be dropped off. About a block from his house, there's a historical marker saying it was once the site of Robson's Castle. Some crazy Scotsman moved there in the 1800's and built an actual castle by the river. I found out later that he had a huge plantation, that was how he could afford to have a castle built and host huge parties. My friend's house sat on the site of Robson's cotton plantation. I don't even want to imagine what went on there.
Later, the castle was destroyed when the river flooded, and they built a meat packing plant there. More blood. This is the former site of it. There's nothing there but the north bridge and a historical marker now:
If you go across that bridge, there's a big oak tree with a historical marker, something about some river colony. But the locals call it "the hangin' tree." It sounds like something out of a western movie where they hung horse thieves, but that's not what happened. It's the tree where, in 1935, a mob of up to 700 white people lynched Ernest Collins and Benny Mitchell. They were 15 and 16, and innocent.
And so on. You walk around and there's big gorgeous live oaks with spanish moss and vines, everything looks so peaceful, but something feels evil, too. It lingers. Nobody tells you about it when you're a kid, you don't know what it is. You find out later.
That's my take on it. For a more objective explanation of Southern Gothic, there's this. You've seen some of these movies, read some of these books, I'm sure.
Which brings me back to the cards. They're large, but the deck seems best suited to smaller spreads, so that's not an issue. And they're matte - matte is always preferable to glossy. It's good stock, strong, flexible. The cards aren't slippy - that's a plus for a lot of people who have cards flying everywhere when they shuffle. I don't have that issue, so I'll probably give them a little fanning powder so they slide more easily. The box is sturdy and attractive. All in all, it's beautifully done.
You get a little booklet with the deck, and the expansion pack has a QR code to a pdf you can download. The cards are grouped by elements, handy if you use elemental dignities. The interpretations given lean towards the currently trending, introspective/advice style, and you can certainly use the cards that way. But you can get classic predictive readings out of these cards, too. Most of the cards depict familiar things: a mason jar, a wasp nest, a dog. OK, I've never seen the Boo Hag (nor do I want to!) but I've heard of her. The legends in the Haunts pack are well known.
First I did a personal reading for myself that I won't post here. Suffice to say the cards seem to be working well.
Which brings me back to the cards. They're large, but the deck seems best suited to smaller spreads, so that's not an issue. And they're matte - matte is always preferable to glossy. It's good stock, strong, flexible. The cards aren't slippy - that's a plus for a lot of people who have cards flying everywhere when they shuffle. I don't have that issue, so I'll probably give them a little fanning powder so they slide more easily. The box is sturdy and attractive. All in all, it's beautifully done.
You get a little booklet with the deck, and the expansion pack has a QR code to a pdf you can download. The cards are grouped by elements, handy if you use elemental dignities. The interpretations given lean towards the currently trending, introspective/advice style, and you can certainly use the cards that way. But you can get classic predictive readings out of these cards, too. Most of the cards depict familiar things: a mason jar, a wasp nest, a dog. OK, I've never seen the Boo Hag (nor do I want to!) but I've heard of her. The legends in the Haunts pack are well known.
First I did a personal reading for myself that I won't post here. Suffice to say the cards seem to be working well.
I don't do deck interviews. Maybe it's just me, but they seem silly. Still, my next question was whether the cards would be compatible with my reading style, which is basically old fashioned fortunetelling.
The cards as they fell:
Oh, that Boo Hag. If you wake up tired or sick, she "rode" you, took your breath. People use her as a kind of boogeyman to scare kids into behaving, too. Kudzu was imported here and it kind of took over everything. And Roots is good old rootwork. The ones shown are High John - said to be powerful for money, protection, and gambling. It's one that men use, not women so much. It kind of looks like a ballsack. So what does it all mean?
There was another card clinging to the back of Roots (remember when I said they're not slippy?), and it holds the key:
There was another card clinging to the back of Roots (remember when I said they're not slippy?), and it holds the key:
In the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia, in 1966. people started seeing Mothman.
I don't believe that there was a physical cryptid any more than I believe that there was a physical Bigfoot. Nor do I believe that there was a "rational explanation" like the theories that have been put forth about sandhill cranes and whatnot.
But I don't believe all those people were lying, either. They saw something. Call it a spirit, or a hallucination, or whatever you like, people were seeing it.
During rush hour on December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed. 46 people were killed.
But I don't believe all those people were lying, either. They saw something. Call it a spirit, or a hallucination, or whatever you like, people were seeing it.
During rush hour on December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed. 46 people were killed.
Mothman has been commodified and marketed to death since then, he's kind of a joke now. But when people were seeing him, he was a warning. The sightings stopped after the bridge collapsed.
When bad circumstances (Boo Hag) threaten to take over (Kudzu), these cards will be protective (Roots) because they will give a warning (Mothman.)
I can't ask for better than that!
It's a great deck, it doesn't gloss over the horrific undercurrents we have here, it's well thought-out, and it's actual art that Stacey Williams-Ng did with her hands. Support artists, not AI! Available at her Etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/LaPanthereStudio
or the La Panthere website:
https://lapantherestudio.com/collections/shop-la-panthere/products/the-southern-gothic-oracle
https://lapantherestudio.com/collections/shop-la-panthere/products/the-haunts-expansion-pack
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