The Southern Gothic Oracle is a 45 card deck by artist Stacey Williams-Ng. The first edition was published in 2021 followed by the second edition, known as the Cornbread Special Edition, in 2022, and is now available in it's new packaging sans Cornbread card. There is also an expansion pack, Haunts, that goes with this deck. I bought that twice as well.
My first impressions of this deck before it ever made it into my hands was that this deck was made for me. I've been following Stacey's work with the Southern Gothic Oracle since before it ever launched on Kickstarter and I just knew it was going to be good. The first edition deck featured a hard-shell sliding drawer box with a ribbon pull tab, a 54-page guidebook, and 45 cards. The second edition deck featured a hard-shell sliding drawer box with a thumb hole for opening, a 58-page guidebook, and 46 cards. The newest edition comes in a hard-shell box, a guidebook, and 45 cards. The packaging on all three editions is phenomenal. The boxes are hard enough to withstand a beating, so if you like to travel with your cards you can bet that they'll be safe and sound in their box.
The guidebook is a bound, black and white book with 54-58 pages (depending on which edition of the deck you have) which includes suggested layouts for the cards, keywords for each card, the historical context behind the cards, a quick reference section of number and element correspondences, and further reading. The guidebook that goes along with the Haunts expansion pack is digital. I keep mine on my Kindle for quick referencing.
The cards are printed on different card stock depending on the edition. The first edition is printed on a velvet matte card stock that gives the cards a soft feeling, but tends to make them stick a little bit while shuffling. The second and new edition are printed on matte finish card stock that shuffles seamlessly. Each card measures 5" x 3.5" - larger than a standard tarot deck, but smaller than a lot of oracle decks I've used before. These are definitely easier to shuffle than some of the other decks I've worked with before.
Each image is an original painting by Stacey that corresponds to different symbolism from Southern traditions including: "Ozark remedies and folklore; Appalachian folk practices; Spiritualism and esoteric beliefs; historically Celtic beliefs; Hoodoo and Conjure; Gullah Rootwork; uniquely regional Christian mythology; and folk wisdom and superstitions."
Working with the cards is like second nature to me and I feel like anyone can read with them. The cards contain easily recognizable imagery to anyone from the Southeastern US making it accessible to people who may have struggled with other decks in the past. I find that my clients understand the imagery oftentimes without any explanation from me. I also feel that this deck is excellent for ancestral work if you are from the South because it's imagery our ancestors understood.
Overall, I can honestly say that this is my most used deck. When I don't know what to read with, I reach for The Southern Gothic Oracle. As the title says, I loved it so much I bought it twice. I'm the proud owner of both the first and second editions as well as two sets of the Haunts expansion pack. What can I say, I had to have the cornbread card and that new matte card stock so I could seamlessly shuffle this deck with The Southern Botanic Oracle, which I'll be talking about soon. I feel like I could gush about this deck forever. My bond with it intensified much more after I met Stacey for the first time at Summer Magic Festival back in June. Stacey is not only an amazing artist, but also an amazing person - someone I'm grateful to be able to call my friend. These cards filled a void for me that I didn't know needed to be filled and knowing how much hard work went into them makes it that much more special to me. If you haven't already picked up a copy of this deck, I highly suggest that you do. It's available at Stone Age in Tallahassee, Florida. This is an honest review and all opinions are my own.