relationships with deities

I do not worship deities; as far as I am concerned our relationship is one of mutual benefit. I get to access their expanded, non-local, timeless consciousness; and they get to access my finite, local, time-bounded and focussed consciousness. Not all spirit beings are necessarily following an agenda that is the same as that of life on planet Earth; just as humans often don't take other species' needs into account, sometimes spirit beings don't either (for monotheists reading this, that includes your god as well). I think we can align our agenda with the spirit of life, for the benefit of all life; but we must listen very carefully, not just blindly obey because another entity (human or spirit) tells us to do something. In fact, I am always deeply suspicious of anyone or anything telling me to do something. (Remember that "I was only obeying orders" doesn't cut any ice with war-crimes commissioners.) In fact, I would go so far as to say that obedience is not a virtue. It is sometimes necessary in situations of extreme danger (such as in battle, or when a child is about to stick their fingers in an electrical socket and you tell them not to) but it must be accompanied by trust. Well, you might say, in the realm of the deities we are potentially like a child blundering about, unaware of the rules of engagement. Well, maybe; so we should proceed with caution; but the procedure in that case is to learn the way that world works, just as a child in our world learns how it works and gradually ceases to be reliant on adults. So, if the analogy works, the deities should be helping us to operate independently and explaining what's going on, not telling us what to do and expecting us to obey blindly. And that is probably the difference between magic and religion: magicians are like systems developers; religionists are the users. And that's why the practice of magic is regarded as arrogant by religionists. Whereas I just see it as learning how to operate effectively on all levels of reality, and participating in divine consciousness.