Communication with deities in Chinese folk religion unfolds through a spectrum of ritualized practices that seek to make the invisible world present and responsive. At the most immediate level, practitioners engage in spoken or silent prayer at household altars and temple shrines, often bowing or kneeling as they articulate their names, circumstances, and requests. These prayers are almost always intertwined with offerings: incense, food such as fruit or meat, tea or wine, and various forms of paper money are presented as tokens of reverence and as vehicles for conveying petitions. The burning of incense in particular is understood as a way of “opening” communication, signaling respect and inviting the deity’s attention. Written petitions may also be composed, read aloud in ritual settings, and then burned so that their essence is believed to reach the spirit realm.

Beyond direct prayer and offerings, a rich array of divinatory techniques is used to receive more specific responses from the divine. Jiaobei, or “moon blocks,” are crescent-shaped pieces of wood that are cast before an altar after a question is posed; the way they fall is interpreted as affirmative, negative, or uncertain. Another common method involves shaking a bamboo cylinder filled with numbered sticks until one falls out, which is then matched with a written oracle regarded as the deity’s answer. Automatic or spirit writing, in which a stylus guided by mediums traces characters in sand or ashes, is likewise treated as a channel for teachings, warnings, or guidance from deities and immortals. These practices are not merely mechanical techniques but are embedded in a broader ritual context that frames the divinatory act as a respectful dialogue.

Mediumship and spirit possession add yet another dimension to this communicative landscape. Certain individuals, often trained within specific temple or community traditions, enter trance states during rituals and are believed to be temporarily inhabited or overshadowed by a deity. While in this altered state, they may speak, write, or perform symbolic actions that are received as direct messages or instructions from the divine. Such sessions can address personal concerns, communal issues, or ritual matters, and they often coexist with other forms of divination and prayer. In this way, the deity is not only invoked but is understood to be actively present in the body and voice of the medium.

Communication is also believed to occur in more subtle and indirect ways, particularly through dreams and omens. After making vows, offering incense, or participating in temple rituals, practitioners may pay close attention to their dreams, interpreting significant images or encounters as responses from deities. Auspicious or inauspicious events that follow a prayer or ritual may likewise be read as signs, sometimes with the help of elders, temple staff, or diviners. Across these varied methods—prayer, offerings, divination, mediumship, and dream interpretation—the underlying aim remains consistent: to cultivate an ongoing, reciprocal relationship with deities, in which human beings speak, listen, and adjust their lives in light of what they understand the divine to be communicating.