My mother gave me The Wild Offering Oracle deck for my birthday. When you get a new deck, or a new-to-you deck, it is important to make it yours. The deck will work best for you if it is harmonized with you. You don't want someone else's energy muddling your connection. Many decks will describe a ritual for making the cards yours. These rituals feel long and cumbersome to me. I prefer simple methods.
First what I like to do, which I was taught many years ago, is to hold the deck in my left hand (non-dominant hand) and to then knock on it with my right hand. From what I have read, people say to set the intention and visualize the old energy leaving the cards. Personally I can feel the shift without needing to deeply focus and visualize the energy leaving. When I was 18 I was taught this knocking method by a psychic who I used to talk to in the Half Price Books on Capitol Hill (which is sadly no longer there). I vaguely remember her talking about why it works: energy flow, intake and release, regarding your left and right hands (maybe dominant and non-dominant hands). Unfortunately I don't remember what she said. All I remember is the action, not the why. With a quick internet search I could not find any mention of energy flow with hands. Everything I read about the knocking method focuses on visualization. But I think there is more going on than intention alone. So if anyone knows about hand energy flow I'd love to hear it.
The other way is to go through the whole deck, touching and looking at every card. This way your energy will be on the deck. It is also a good way to simply become acquainted with the cards. When I went through The Wild Offering the beautiful artwork is what I was first drawn to. I like that the imagery is all from nature and the colors are beautiful. I'm also happy that the writing is wise and useful. The teaching of letting go and trusting the Divine to guide is repeated in a few of the cards. It is a message that is good for me to hear right now. The deck is so beautiful that I wanted to share some of the cards.
