A lot of us here work directly with deities and spirits, and I think it would be helpful to share methods and experiences in doing so. People use channeling, meditation, divination, automatic writing, and other methods to hear what these entities have to tell us. Some say they even speak to us when we aren't expecting it, or that they feel their presence in a way that is difficult to describe.
I have researched and utilized a number of methods, but I would like to know what works well for you. I would also appreciate any links to pages about spirit work you find helpful. Since I don't believe they manifest physically (at least not often) it leaves us with limited means of interacting with them.
Some questions for discussion
What spirits do you work with, and how did you decide they are right for you?
What does "working with" your spirit guides and gods mean in terms of your practices?
How does your current relationship with them compare to your initial experience?
How do you experience them when they are present?
How do you enter a trance for interacting with them if you do?
What tools or medium do you use for them to communicate with you?
What is your preferred method for channeling if you do?
How would you interact with them during an OBE, dream, or meditation?
What advice would you have for a newbie spiritualist?
Thanks for reading my post and I look forward to reading what you all have to say!
What spirits do you work with, and how did you decide they are right for you?
For the most part I work with Kemetic deities and I work with the netjeri that serve them and with my Akhu/dead peoples. Generally speaking Serqet, Sekhmet-Mut, Yinepu, but also Set, Aset, Heka, Heru (-sa-Aset, -wer, -Khenti-irty, -Min), Nebethetepet, Qebhwt, etc. I do have outstanding promises with a few other deities/spirits, but that's to a more specific extent.
I didn't really decide. When I was a child I started praying to the Netjeru, because why not, and got good results. So over time I simplyknew more of them and gained deeper relationships. The netjeri came along about 6 to 8 months ago; I took over a "haunted" necklace and he broke. He asked me to make a rite to put him back together, then stated I was now to do this with other netjeri. My Akhu I have been honoring long before I really thought about ancestor worship as a thing; their stuff made up my first real altar.
What does "working with" your spirit guides and gods mean in terms of your practices?
For the Netjeru I do Senut: a KO ritual. I do other small things with them, like offering part of my meals then eating that part. I recognize their existence in my every day life. I talk to my gods a lot, even just to talk.
I talk to and deal with having netjeri around me constantly, all the time, even when I sleep, eat, go to work, etc. I have to block them out at intimate moments and when I'm drunk I'm staggered by how many of them there really are. It is annoying as hell and I love them to death and will never tell them to go away. But I only can have them around me like this so long as I keep doing the rite that gives them physicality via the "haunted" necklaces I'm making. This means days of effort leading up to a two hour ritual. It also means putting myself out there for the KO community and saying "I can do this shit." Which is harder than I imagined. And listening to the netjeri well enough at all hours of the day/night that they can randomly walk up to me and go "you will make me, and it will be now", and you just do it. Because you have to. Because you've promised to by doing it for other netjeri. Because you promised to by being there. And it doesn't really matter how shitty or horrible you feel if they want shit done. At the same time to get the Netjer (god) over them to agree to securing them into the necklace, you might have to make deals. Extra time, extra offerings, here have a bit more booze, take some blessed natron water, oh you want x person to do something special for you but I don't need to know what it is, and oh damn it are you serious I just skipped a bead freaked out for ten minutes trying to figure out how to fix it in the middle and you are telling me you want it that way, and oh, you want me to agree to some deal that I will have to uphold until the ends of eternity just because you won't say yes until I do, etc.
It's exhausting, annoying, painful, irritating, and frustrating. And I won't stop doing it because I like doing it, both for them and the people in my community who want to take care of them. And yes, I know how bitchy, whiny, complain-y, and horrid that last paragraph was. It's honest and it's catharic to get it out.
For my Akhu, I mostly make offerings to them once every few weeks to a month. They aren't demanding, for the most part I just give bread, water, and good thoughts.
How does your current relationship with them compare to your initial experience?
The Netjeru I actually went from talking to them a little, to a lot, back to a little. Most of the variety I get now deals with the netjeri and I hear the netjeri more clearly. Probably because I'm doing stuff with them almost constantly. But Mom/Serqet and a handful of others get my love, affection, and attention. I've just unthinkingly limited down my interactions as I've had to pay the netjeri more mind.
Initially I was "yo, this is cool having one netjeri hanging around me in a necklace, he's nice to talk to, he helps me out, I give him offerings every so often, I share my meals with him, etc". After I started making more it's been "am I doing the right thing? Can I agree to what I've been asked to do? Can I bribe them with more liquor so I don't have to do 44 full, drop to the floor henu/bows? Etc." I do a ton more for them than before; before the first netjeri necklace came to me I had no real reason to do anything with them. I knew they were there, I acknowledged their existence, but I had nothing to do with them directly or otherwise. Now it's almost like a 24/7 radio station tuned to them. The quality of the sound depends on a handful of things from my mood to my diet to what I'm doing at the time, but when my attention is wanted or I listen in more carefully it's clearer.
My Akhu I pretty much do the same I've always done for the.
How do you experience them when they are present?
It's pretty much the same across the board; I usually "feel" them and/or "see" them. I "hear" them too. In the rite I do I also have a divination I use to confirm what I'm "feeling", "seeing", and/or "hearing".
How do you enter a trance for interacting with them if you do?
I don't have to. I used to have to have a special set up, special clothing, and could only clearly get the netjeri in that special set up. Now they are a constant. For my Netjeru and my Akhu, I don't use a trance either for different reasons; for them it's not really ever been necessary to be in a trance state. I just sort of always got impressions or conversations from them if I got anything.
What tools or medium do you use for them to communicate with you?
Me? Usually. If I use divination I use fedw (a KO divination system used only for our Parent Names), sometimes Tarot, sometimes my Oracle cards. I also use a geomantic divination system for the netjeri/Netjeru involved in the rite I do for the netjeri.
What is your preferred method for channeling if you do?
Since the netjeri are so close to me, I reach out to them, connecting our energies together and lightly channel them. There's not really a special method to it at this point. I just do. Then we figure out specific things, like what sorts of offerings they prefer, what sorts of beads/bead colors they want, if a certain gemstone is right for them, if they want silver or gold, etc.
How would you interact with them during an OBE, dream, or meditation?
The Netjeru usually talk about the community, things I need to do or they want me to do. And lots of things I should be doing.
Respectfully. Even though I complained above, I really do respect my netjeri. Even the "lesser" ones who do small things like keep grass growing; all of them are important and they all have likes, dislikes, and jobs to to. A fair amount of them want to have some physical anchor at some point, but they don't want me to keep them all in my house. That's not the point of their existence; it's community and connecting to more than just me. I'm just the person that does the stuff to make that easier.
My Akhu and I usually talk about me, my life, what's happening in it, and that they love me.
What advice would you have for a newbie spiritualist?
Be careful what you ask for, what you agree to, what you accept, and what you actually do. Spirits take those things very seriously. Like I said before by taking up doing this,I've ended up with more or less a ton of rules surrounding something that is irritating, but that I absolutely love doing. If someone warned me ahead of time I would have run screaming in the other direction. Talking to spirits isn't normal, serving spirits isn't normal, doing it for your community isn't normal, etc. I tried to be normal or act within modes of normal for a very, very long time. It's pretty much impossible at this point.
