(This is briefly addressed in Chapter 3 of Ritual Magic for Conservative Christians.)

A side note: I don’t want to use the word “pray” here so much as “directly address” or “talk to” these entities, because that more accurately describes a lot of magicians’ work with them.

Let’s not mince words: the Church’s “official” rules are that this is sinful and a huge no-no; technically it’s considered a violation of the First Commandment (ironically, Protestants say this about the Catholic invocation of the Saints!). In fact one could point to both Canon 1172 of the 1983 CJC and the 1984 instruction Inde ab Aliquot Annos which categorically forbids the laity from performing exorcisms and, by extension, any direct address to such entities. The issue with such an objection is that these documents specifically mention liceity (whether one is allowed by Church authority), not validity (whether one can actually do it regardless of who allows him). This distinction is an important one in Catholic theology.

(Liceity and validity is discussed in detail in Chapter 2 of The Magic of Catholicism.)

From a practical perspective this is protecting the faithful from themselves, as the average person in the pews isn’t likely able to handle calling on and interacting with such entities. What would happen is that such entities (or other spirits pretending to be such entities) could take advantage of the practitioner instead.

So we can see where this makes sense in protecting the people from these entities as well as from themselves. Yet on a level of theology, the “official” position can be seen as one of hypocrisy. Why? Because Angels are discarnate entities, and the Church encourages us to talk to them.

Here’s the thing: a discarnate entity is a discarnate entity is a discarnate entity. Angels and Demons are technically of the same species; one group simply plays for another team and has a different agenda. The same can be said for the various other species of spirits, who all play on their own teams and have their own agendas.

So this is my opinion, and I offer it only as a probable opinion, not a certain one: Catholic theology, in a probabilist sense, can be interpreted to allow direct address to spirits other than Angels and Saints, under similar conditions as addressing our dead ancestors.

In the first place, the entity cannot be offered latria (“worship,” reserved for God alone), which means we are not to offer them sacrifice or supplication.

Any dulia (“reverence”) offered must be with the understanding that these entities can be friends and even companions, but we are not to do anything they ask that’s outside the limits of Catholic moral teaching (if they should ask it to begin with!).

That’s pretty much the long and short of it, and these principles can be applied when dealing with any entity from any place or any pantheon. So long as we keep our perspective, recognize these entities as creations of the One Creator, and bear in mind they’re as likely to have an agenda as any individual human, the road to dealing with them becomes a little clearer.

THE BIG CAVEAT: Just because a thing is theologically permissible, does not mean it’s a good idea. While this post lays a theological foundation for such work — up to and including the ability to command certain entities via formulae of binding and exorcism — I am by no means recommending and certainly not encouraging you to go out and seek out “Spirit Friends.”

There’s a lot of training that goes into dealing with the various entities and pantheons, especially when talking Voudon or Santeria. If you lack the initiations and/or the training, don’t make a fool out of yourself. Best to leave well enough alone.