The other night during a much needed uncrossing ritual my mind strayed to a spirit that I used to work with, and in a flash the three main ones I have worked with all were back around me.

A little sad and annoyed at my ignoring them since my agnostic thinking started, but happy enough to work with me again it seemed.

And so I have been talking with my familiar spirits again the past few days. Am I talking to other worldly beings, deep parts of my psyche, or do I just have an “over active imagination”?

I am generally only aware of them when I think about them. They do not bother me unexpectedly as many other spirit workers claim. And they are nearly always there when I think of or call them.

This leads me to three likely possibilities:
1) They are always around me, but being not too sensitive, I need to think of and focus on them to “tune in”.
2) Thinking about them acts as a gentle summons, which they are happy to answer.
3) That I am making them up, and being imaginary don’t talk or interact with me when I am not thinking about them.

View of spirits as a Pagan Humanist
By Pagan Humanism I mean the view that spirits, gods, and magic are not literal, objectively real things, but concepts, archetypes, psychological phenomenon, and living poetry.

At first I was a bit unsure how the spirits, and working with them could fit into an agnostic humanist worldview. But with a few spirits coming back, and talking with them- I had to start thinking.

And I hit upon the thought that personal spirits are something akin to small gods; If gods can have a place in paganistic humanism, then why not small gods too?

I imagine there are a goodly number of reasons a humanist might find talking with spirits, that they view as likely not real, to be a useful practice.
The main few that I can think of are:
1) The things they say to you might give some insight to the inner workings of your own mind.
2) It may provide a useful way of communicating with the subconscious.
3) When lonely “imaginary” friends may be of comfort.
4) The inner voices might be able to help in making decisions when you feel stuck.
5) It can be a lot of fun if you let it.

View of spirits as a Pagan literalist
By Pagan Literalism I mean the view that spirits, gods, and magic are literal people and things that can have an objective effect on the outer universe.

After the uncrossing ritual I have been talking with my spirits a little and it doesn’t feel like just my own voice.

I also feel my tarot readings are more accurate now that I am asking one of my spirits to guide the cards (though I gave them a little uncrossing juju in the ritual so that probably helped also!)

I don’t feel the need to say much about the reasons having spirit friends would be useful from a literalist view as they are probably quite obvious and I would just be re-saying what many have said before me.

Suffice to say that having a friend that knows the spirit world better than you and can interact with it more easily and effectively can only be good! 

Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?
The above Harry Potter quote raises another interesting point. Namely, something may not need to be objectively real to be real to you and your view of the universe.

The inner world of the mind can be just as real as an outer reality. It is simply more subtle, changeable, and is only your own.

I have no clue if spirits are objectively real, and if they are then I don’t know if what I think I’m talking to are actually spirits, but I am having a fantastically interesting time interacting with these things, be they spirits or imaginary friends.

Small strange happenings in my life keep me curious I must say.