QUOTE(msm3391 @ Sep 13 2007, 10:35 PM)
If anyone has any experiences in this area, i'd like to hear about it. What spirits have you had contact with and what were your results? Thanks
If you are referring to the Greek and Roman muses, then yes. Muses in my experience are like many of the other entities a few or are helpful a few are not. Calliope, muse of epic or heroic poetry and the one homer used, is the only one I have any ongoing contact with. I first started working with her a few years back, when I was reworking a poem that had got out of hand. Calliope, seemed the best choice because, after all she helped with the Iliad. Many old sources and mythology says she is rather eccentric and unpredictable; but I find her normally polite and forthright. Typically I use a short poem using the the same sort of formula found in other practice - who are you calling, why, some sort of offering of respect, exc. From there the muse will appear or not, one can handle it like any other invocation.
When I first wanted to use a muse I went to poems that invoked them- romantic poetry and epics mostly. Started playing around with mimicking what was written but little success. After googleing a little I found the links below to be helpful. The first is useful if you want to find out more on the topic of muses, and lastly if you find yourself so inclined to look at some theory on the subject, Robert Graves has a book dealing with poetry's link with to one or more entities, and the nature of the language used in mythic poetry.
http://web.archive.org/web/19960101-re_/ht...cle/define.htmlRobert Graves The White Goddess