A very old method of divination is bibliomancy, which is simply opening a book at random and reading the first sentence your eyes fall upon. This works well for spirit communication, since it is spirit that is directing the opening of the book and the sentence seen. In times past, the Christian Bible was the book preferred by many for the practice of bibliomancy, but for our purposes the wider range we can give spirit, the better the results are likely to be.
I would suggest facing a shelf of books or, better yet, a whole case of books. If your eyes are right away drawn to one book in particular, take out that book and set it on the table in front of you. But if there is no immediate “grabber,” then close your eyes, concentrate on the spirit you wish to communicate with, and gently run your fingers along the back of the books. Stop when you feel you are at the right one—spirit will let you know. Take out that book and lay it on the table in front of you.
Now close your eyes and do a short meditation, concentrating on the spirit you wish to contact or just opening your mind to any of a number of spirits with whom you would feel comfortable. Some people say a short prayer at this time, though it’s not necessary.
It’s a good idea to have an opening question in your mind when you start. This gives spirit a “jumping off point,” as it were. So think of your question, open your eyes, and open the book at any page. Try to open it cleanly. In other words, don’t keep turning pages. Just open it wide at any one page. Without looking down, point to a position on the page with your finger. Now you can look down and read. The sentence that you are indicating should relate in some way to the question you have asked. Whether it does or not (or doesn’t seem to), make a note of it. You can then close the book, concentrate on another question, and open the book again at another page indicating another sentence. Do this about five or six times—noting the sentences—before becoming too critical if the sentences don’t seem too relevant. Occasionally, it is not the complete sentence that is relevant but just a main word in that sentence.
Re-read through your list of questions and then read through all the sentences/words you got. You should see that spirit is indeed responding to you. It may be that there are not specific answers to the questions themselves, but there are the indicators of contact with the deceased loved one—the proofs of survival.
You don’t have to ask questions. In fact, it can be a good introduction to simply open the book and indicate the sentences, three or four times, making a note of them. This way there is not the feeling that the sentences have to directly answer what you have asked, but can be a more open contact from spirit, giving the necessary proof of survival.
An alternative to simply opening the book—especially if it is a thick volume—is to riffle through the pages until you sense spirit telling you to stop. You then fully open the book at that page and proceed to point to a word.