Since this is the second official full-length video episode of Homepsun Haints, you can watch it on YouTube.

Or audiophiles can listen right here:

About the Guest: Stacey Williams-Ng

Stacey is a versatile visual artist whose work ranges from intricate, palm-sized images on cards, to fleeting temporary chalk art, to breathtaking, three-story-tall murals. She’s also a self-proclaimed rabid ancestry buff. Craving a better way to communicate with the spirits of her ancestors from the American South, she created the Southern Gothic Oracle deck. And, after researching how to publish an oracle deck, she realized that the best way to keep the printing local and the quality tip-top would be to found her own publishing company. Thus was born La Panthere Studio, a hub for indie oracle card decks and other uncommon divination tools.

Stacey has been interviewed by other media, including MemphisVoyager and Radio Milwaukee. She is a frequent speaker at events like Staarcon.

Find out more about Stacey’s artwork at her website, staceywilliamsng.com. Her most recent oracle deck, Roses, Dust & Ashes, won “Best Indie Deck of 2023” by the World Divination Association. That’s the deck that comes in a coffin-shaped box with a velvet pillow! You can shop for your next ancestor communication oracle deck at La Panthere Studio. For updates, follow the oracle deck publishing company on IG @lapantherestudio. Or you can follow Stacey specifically @southerngothicoracle.

Communicating with Ancestors

Pop quiz time! What tarot cards would you use to communicate the message “your great uncle Filbur buried a box of gold coins under the big red oak at the edge of the woods”?

Even if you’re able to cobble together an answer, this quiz isn’t for you. It’s for the ancestral spirit of your great aunt. What’s that? She never learned to read tarot cards?

Hmm…sounds like you might need an oracle deck.

What is an Oracle Deck?

An oracle deck is a divination tool made of cards with images (and sometimes words) that represent different concepts. Unlike tarot cards, the meaning of each oracle card is usually somewhat intuitive. Depending on the oracle deck, interpreting these cards might also be easier for beginners to learn than tarot.

They might also make more sense to the ancestors you’re trying to communicate with. The Southern Gothic Oracle is based on traditional imagery and legend from the American South. Stacey designed it that way so that her ancestors—most recently American Southerners—could communicate with her in symbols they were familiar with.

How to Use an Oracle Deck for Ancestor Communication

• Choose your oracle deck; there are many out there! If you’re wondering how to choose, just remember Stacey’s epiphany. Talk to your ancestors in a language they’ll understand.
• Queue up your oracle deck playlist. Stacey actually created a playlist to use while reading the Southern Gothic Oracle Cards.
• Do whatever it is you do to juice up your mojo: gather your coven, cast a circle, take a deep breath, stuff like that.
• Address your ancestors. You might be interested in speaking with a specific ancestor, but Stacey tells us this path is a little misguided. After all, the ancestor you are trying to summon might not be available. Better to ask for a volunteer.
• Can’t figure out which ancestor is communicating with you? Use a family tree and a divination pendulum to quickly get a name. In today’s episode, Stacey shared her journey of figuring out she was communicating with her great grandmother Angela. Fortunately, Angela basically smacked her in the head with the information.

Ghost Hunting with a Spirit Box App

Stacey also told us a ghost story about her séance at a grand Victorian mansion in the Mississippi Delta. Built in 1890’s, the huge house is currently an AirBnB that sleeps 18. Stacey and some friends got to spend the night in the haunted mansion, all alone. There, they encountered an entity who might have been named Doreen. Maybe. After all, they were relying on information from one of those notoriously hokey ghost hunting apps.

Is the Ghost Hunting App Real or Fake?

It was difficult for Stacey to put her faith in the spirit box app that evening. Especially after it started spouting nonsense that seemed planted to freak out tweens at a slumber party. Then, the messages started to change; started to make sense and form a cohesive story.

Stacey’s conclusion from this experience was a revelation. Even if a ghost hunting app is programmed to give fake answers, why couldn’t an actual spirit take it over to offer real communication?

How Do You Communicate With Your Ancestors?

So now we want to hear from you, Hainted Loves! Submit your true ghost story here, and you could be a guest on a future episode of Homespun Haints! What were the best spooky experiences you’ve had with a ghost-hunting app? Has any ghost detector convinced you that it can really work to talk to the dead? Have you been able to use divination tools like a spirit box app or an oracle deck for ancestor communication? How did you determine which ancestor was communicating with you, and did you find out any juicy family secrets? Be careful who you summon, because when you’re a spooky witch practicing divination in the Bible Belt, you’re just asking for a spooky day!

The post Spooky Witch Divination in the Bible Belt appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Listen Now!

Episode Summary About A Halloween Paranormal Experience

It’s common to feel alone in this world, especially when we’re going through periods of stress. But, if we get a little heads up that someone is watching us–someone who’s probably dead–is that comforting, or frightening?

Today, Diana relays a story of something that reached out to her in a way she couldn’t ignore. Have you ever had something like this happen to you? Listen and find out, today, on Homespun Haints.

Eastern State Penitentiary

We had such a fabulous evening at ESP! Not only did we get to tour a haunted jail, at times being nearly alone in very dark, crumbling cell block corridors, but we got to do so while also enjoying 5 well-assembled haunted house attractions. The haunted houses were set up within the cellblocks themselves. Do you understand the implications of this combination? A (fake) haunted house within a (real) haunted prison? The meta-scares were phenomenal.

On the downside, the prison grounds were probably too crowded with tourists and Halloween revelers to experience any real paranormal activity. We’ll have to go back some time when the grounds are less crowded, and see if we can feel anything significant. As it stands, the main thing we felt was entertained. Halloween Nights at ESP was a can’t-miss experience, paranormal or otherwise! Stay tuned for our review of their Hospital Wing Flashlight Ghost Tour, coming soon.

Healing Crystals

Here are the stones that make up Diana’s slightly paranormal Initiate Healthy Success bracelet, and what the crystal shop handout had to say about their meaning.

Chrysoprase: balances all life energies, Aids joyfulness, boosts business and success, alleviates fears and heart blockages.
Jade: self-reliance, improves life circumstances, activates connections to Divine, prosperity, abundance, luck, unconditional love, ancestor support.
Serpentine: Aids spiritual growth and understanding, boosts all healings, brings earth devic contact, general wellness.

She purchased the bracelet from one of her favorite crystal shops, called Crystal Waters Gallery in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, high up in the Ozarks. Check out their website or swing by if you’re ever on vacation there, and go buy yerself somethin’ nice. They won’t complain if you’re there for 45 minutes trying on every bracelet in the shop. Ask me how I know. 😉

Seeing Auras

Becky says Diana’s aura is yellow-green today. Ella the cat’s is blue. Becky explains her ability to see people’s auras as part of her synesthesia. But do inanimate objects have auras? Diana thinks she can sometimes see something that might be an aura around some items and people, using the method described in The Celestine Prophecy.

But the golden aura Diana saw around her bracelet, what was that all about? When she saw the glow, she immediately interpreted it as a supernatural occurrence, rather than a visual phenomenon. And, when she received the subsequent message, it was so clear that she couldn’t ignore it. But was it a paranormal experience; a real ancestral message coming through right after Halloween, while the veil is thinnest? Or was it a knee-jerk reaction to a negative thought, based on the habit she’s been building using the bracelet as a reminder? In either case, that must mean the bracelet is serving its intended purpose.

Ancestor Communication

Our culture isn’t really that focused on direct ancestor worship, here in the Southern United States. Many of us participate in rituals designed to honor our deceased ancestors. Some of us try to contact them through mediums or seances. It seems rare, however, for us to casually discuss direct supernatural messages we believe are from our ancestors. Why do you think that is? If you have a story about a message from a deceased ancestor, you should apply to tell it on the show, and you could be the next guest on Homespun Haints. Wouldn’t that be a spooky day?!

The post Diana’s Post Halloween Paranormal Experience appeared first on Homespun Haints.