How real is deity work?

[Dragonborn]

For a long time I have been fairly successful with getting results through working with runes and a fair amount of evocations. However I have sought for more to magic than just getting material objects and have wanted to have a relationship with the spirits and gods of the craft I work in and this has gone from invocations to evocations with the goal of simply experiencing an external entity or having a conversation when seeking advice. For all of the rituals I have ever done in this regard , it has always been an act in my own mind. My rituals lack the reciprocity that one would expect when interacting with something outside the self. I have downplayed this as simply lacking in clairvoyance or sensing ability but it is frustrating to pray or evoke a spirit but also have to act out their responses rather than receive them. It feels more like I am talking at people that do not want to respond and i always have to act out their responses. For that matter i would like to ask how do other approach deity work? Do others face the same wall-talking and is there a way to actually speak to spirits. Please share some of your experiences on your invocations and evocations. Do you hear their voices or do you also have to make it up in your mind