How to Enliven a Deity Statue
This method for enlivening a deity statue is from Josephine McCarthy’s Magic of the North Gate: Powers of the Land, the Stones, and the Ancients. This is a simplified guide; I recommend reading the book, which is excellent, and also provides instructions for creating deity shrines and sacred groves.
You may be able to find an enlivened statue of a deity in a museum or a maintained temple. You will know it is enlivened if you can interact with it; it actively houses a portion of the deity’s consciousness. You can invite the deity to “live” in a statue in your home / temple / etc.
Step One: Contact
Communicate with the deity in inner vision and ask them to extend a bit of their consciousness to you for transport.
Step Two: Transmission
If the deity agrees, touch the statue with clean hands (very quickly is fine), and receive the deity temporarily. You’ll want to home them as soon as you are able.
Step Three: Visionary Work
Once you are in front of your own deity statue, light two candles- one on each side. Close your eyes, enter meditation, and imagine the candles as a doorway to your deity. Reach out for a priest/ess of the deity in inner vision; when they appear, introduce yourself, explain your intentions, and ask for their guidance.
Step Four: Transfer
The power of the deity from the Inner Temple will filter through the priest/ess and merge with power of the deity that you are carrying, resulting in a bright union. The statue is now enlivened.
Step Five: Hospitality
Welcome the deity with warm, respectful words and offerings of honey, water, and incense - both in inner vision and with physical offerings placed at the feet of the statue. You can add offerings that you know the deity likes, such as certain foods or flowers.
Step Six: Anointment
Anoint the head, lips, heart, and feet of the deity with a consecration oil (ideally, the oil will have been consecrated in advance as well). McCarthy uses a blend of frankincense, opoponax, and vetiver.
In the face of fire safety, she also says to leave the statue unattended while the candles burn down and to return when it “feels” right.
Keep the space clean 
