I had a thought that was bouncing around in my brain for the past couple of days, so I thought I would share it here.  Before I do, I will endeavor to set the proverbial stage: as magicians, or other such magickally inclined folk, one of the major problems that seems to stunt our growth is the actual manifestation of our needs and desires.  We engage in rituals, cast spells, and set our wills upon the world, but sometimes we have a great deal of trouble with getting our intended results to manifest.  For the blooming magus, we can sometimes get some really goofy, or downright improper manifestations of our will, and it can be a bit frustrating.  One of the more comical examples I've heard was from a friend of mine: He asked for an obedient, attractive, friendly, and loving blonde-haired girl and got a golden retriever...He got the result he asked for, but not the result he wanted.

That, of course, brings me to the point at hand, which, while simple, feels to be important.  We, as humans, conceptualize things differently than each other, based on our respective worldviews.  We conceptualize things in a remarkably different way than those in neighboring countries, and even moreso our ancestors.  Its no surprise that our familiar spirits, our pets, etc. also conceptualize things differently than we do.  To try to explain what I mean, consider, for a moment, that there are three different means by which humans learn:

1. Auditory learners: They learn by hearing.
   
2. Visual learners: They learn by seeing.
   
3. Kinesthetic/Tactile learners: They learn by doing.
   

Aside from the above, we also have different ways of thinking about the world around us, and the people around us.  Some of us think in pictures, whilst others think in words.  Further still, some of us, like myself, think in a combination of the two alongside various symbols that represent the concept at hand.

Keeping those two sets of different ways where we, as humans, can conceptualize and process data, consider that there is also one more major step in our cognitive process: we must also be able to process what we see and hear according to our worldview.  Our worldview, in this case, is the sum of our understanding of our world around us.  To our ancient ancestors, a rifle would likely have been considered to be a boomstick or a loud bow, as they had very little else to compare it to.  On the flip side, if most modern humans were to look back to our ancestor's way of making fire, we'd have a hard time figuring out how to work it and understand their POV without a lot of hard work.

Consider then, if you will, that the above examples are specific to the difficulties encountered when working within our species.  Non-human spirits are going to have similar differences in their values, methods of learning, and methods of conceptualizing the world around them.  This applies to angels, demons, deities, elementals, cats, dogs, birds, etc. and should impact how we decide to work with all of the above.  A God isn't going to "get" what you're trying to convey to them without some working guidebook, so you must be patient and work through the mistranslation issues.

You may well have a spirit show up when you call them, but that doesn't mean that they're going to understand you when you say "Spirit N., please assist me with gaining wealth!", as you don't know how that spirit defines wealth.  Is it spiritual wealth, material wealth, intellectual wealth, or sexual wealth (lots of sexual partners)?  You must be clear in your conveyance of what you are asking for, as removing such vague references is paramount to getting what you want.

So when you give your instructions, I'd urge you to ask the spirit to give you a sign that he or she knows what you are asking for before you close the proverbial door and give them leave to work your will.

I do hope, as always, that this post has been helpful.

Regards,

SE

I've now read the latest posts written by Jow and Jason Miller, and I've found that I can relate to their respective sentiments.  Over the years, I find that I have worn many, many labels....some were from school, and others were adopted by myself as a way to fit in and/or find a way to describe who I am, what I do, and I how I do it.

Now, to backtrack to my religious upbringing, it is worth noting that I was raised by a Buddhist mother and a Lutheran father, which led to a great deal of religious strangeness in the home.  My father, rather begrudgingly, attended our Buddhist "church" alongside my brother, my mother, and myself, and over time, it was made clear to them, in their infinite wisdom, that I should also be exposed to the Christian side of things.  As annoyed as I was at being forced to attend, I find that I must thank them for that exposure.

In tandem with my parent's religious ties and associated exploits, I, from a young age, was brought up and mentored by a spirit.  That spirit is someone that I now serve as a fulltime thing outside of my day job, but as a child, much of what He told and showed me was far more in-depth than the other churches I was involved me could provide.  I was taught how to do different things to make nasty spiritual presences go away, He taught me to bless things, as well as to curse things.

Such a strange trinity of mismatched religious beliefs and the teachers therein led to a rather different view of the world around me, I find.  Instead of seeing things in a very linear, very boxed-in light, I see the spirit world as being as open ended and prone to strange minglings as the physical world.  That, as one would expect, has led me to the path I know travel on, as eclectic as it may seem.  I frequently weave in an intermingling of various pantheons in a respective fashion, and find myself intimately involved with various deities of completely different traditions and lineages.  As such, despite the title I take herein, I suppose that I would best be defined as a pantheist.