Card deck can help reclaim your ‘Appalachian Spirit.’ Here’s how to order

From nostalgic foods like pepperoni rolls and soup beans to cryptids like Moth Man and the Mulberry Black Thing, one Kentuckian is distilling all of the nuances and simple pleasures that unite Appalachians into a card deck.

”The Appalachian Spirit,” a 60-card tarot and oracle-inspired deck, was successfully launched through Kickstarter on Oct. 22 when it closed with $16,666 in funding, easily surpassing its $10,000 goal.

The project was created by Berean Emily LaDouceur over seven months as part of a healing journey that taught her to embrace her Appalachian identity rather than trying to hide it.

And now, online at theappalachianspirit.com, you can preorder the deck with imagery drawn from mountain life for $50. It also comes with 18 bonus cards you can share with others who need to feel closer to home.

The symbolic and nostalgic representations of Appalachian life portrayed in the cards highlight everything from fishing (inspired by LaDouceur’s late father) to folk music, lightning bugs, mountain laurel, bonfires, canning, cast iron skillets, creeks, hollers and more.

LaDouceur said the cards helped with Appalachian appreciation and opened up a floodgate of positive memories that had long been repressed by a traumatic upbringing.

“When you have severe childhood trauma it can affect your memory,” explains LaDouceur. “I have very few memories from then, but these cards are able to help me recall some of the more positive and nurturing moments from my childhood.”

Raised in Western North Carolina, LaDouceur later moved to Madison County to attend Berea College (and then graduate school at Eastern Kentucky University) before moving to New York, ultimately returning to town in 2013. She said she’s often struggled to feel at home until now.

“Growing up, people would tell me I had such a big personality, like a city girl,” said LaDouceur, noting that her hometown in rural Appalachia has a population of fewer than 2,000 people. “Then I go to New York City, and I’m a sweet southern belle. I never truly fit in with anyone or anywhere. It led to things like masking my accent and using big words as a way of trying to fit in. This deck is my way of reclaiming that part of me while also elevating stories from the wide range of people who call Appalachia home.”

LaDouceur’s cards include nods to Indigenous tribes (Cherokee Language, Warriors’ Path, Strawberry Corn, etc.), racial healing (Black Soil), Dolly Parton (Pollinator), bell hooks (Unicorn), and Packhorse Librarians — a group of women on horseback who delivered books and other literature through rough terrain to families with no other access to reading materials during the Great Depression. (The latter also inspired a cocktail by the same name at Nightjar, the Berea restaurant where LaDouceur crafted most of the deck with illustrations from Jessica Holly.)

Also present are cameos by several places and businesses specific to Appalachia, including Hazard’s Read Spotted Newt Bookstore (Newt), an Appalachian Spirit Inclusivity Map (Apple Stack Cake) that includes safe spaces like The Native Bagel/Nightjar, and a “Barn” card that features a reference to the “See Rock City” messages that dot roofs across southern Appalachia — and a billboard on LaDouceur’s family’s property in Topton, NC.

“The barn card is meant to stoke a sense of nostalgia while reminding us to stay alert to the signs and symbols on our path that guide us to wonder,” LaDouceur said.

LaDouceur is thrilled that “The Appalachian Spirit” has found an audience within Appalachia and beyond. The Kickstarter campaign has been supported by residents of more than 30 states and four countries, leading her to pivot from her initial blueprint.

“I had originally planned to just print these and put them out into the world using a small loan, but in doing market research on some of my favorite decks I found that many of them started as Kickstarters and were really successful,” said LaDouceur. “What’s most encouraging about how it turned out is that less than a third of those who supported it are people I know. It’s always scary and vulnerable putting something like this out there, so it feels good seeing the positive feedback and energy around it.”

LaDouceur plans to buy a few thousand decks in bulk to stock at local bookstores and other businesses, in addition to keeping some on hand for online sales and yoga retreats she’s been leading for years. And with another 40 Appalachian-themed card ideas already on the back burner, expect an expansion to her maiden card deck as well.

“The ultimate goal is to put something out there that’s really positive about Appalachia,” says LaDouceur. “We have so much negativity prescribed to us for a variety of reasons, so with this deck, I want to show that we are a diverse people in the hopes that it will shatter stereotypes and help others in embracing and reclaiming their identities like it has for me.”