The first direct and strong contact I ever had with a denizen of the otherworlds was through something that could be termed "automatic writing." I would not have used that term to describe it at the time, as this occurred long before I was aware that contemporary occultism even existed. For a time, I needed to use it to communicate with denizens of the otherworlds. Eventually, it became unnecessary, and as such, I've come to view it as inefficient (though definitely not as inefficient as elaborate ritualistic affairs). There's not much sense in worrying about efficiency when learning, though; it's about finding what works.
One thing I'll remark is that to do this stuff, one needs to learn to trust oneself. Push comes to shove, there is not really a difference between working with the otherworlds and using one's imagination. If you learn to take imagination seriously as a legitimate facet of reality, that will help. Imaginary =/= not real. Any writer will tell you that their "imaginary" characters can and do develop a life of their own and there's a sense of them being distinct entities. To those with a magical worldview, they are accepted as being distinct entities. You have to learn to let the song take you, and sing along with it. Unlearn, probably, what you learned from adults about what is and isn't real, and what is and isn't to be taken seriously.
