Essentially everything is conscious to some extent, so we could for that matter treat everything as a separate entity that we could communicate with. But we could with the same right say that everything is basically different aspects of the same whole eternal presence, which is your inner essence, so we could treat everything simply as YOU. Our different techniques focus on different views in that whole range between the extremes. Which view we favor at a given moment might depend on preference, or on what has been found to work well in such situations.
OK, so an entity is when there is something there in the client's space that appears to have independent existence. We can then essentially address this entity as a separate "client" and use various processing techniques to improve its condition. This has the advantage of moving the pressure out of our client's conscious mind. She doesn't have to figure things out, or explain or defend herself. We simply use her as a mediator to talk directly to something else.
How much you treat it as an actual independent being and how much you treat it as simply an imaginary metaphor is up to you and will also depend on the circumstances. It really doesn't matter much, it works either way. Actually it works better the less serious you and the client are about it.
The human body is the most obvious starting point for this kind of work. A body consists of different parts. Most people are not very much in tune with what they do or what their condition is. Somehow, if we treat a body part as an entity it seems like we can get much more information than what the person consciously has any clue of. We can talk with different parts of the body, find out what is going on, improve their condition, work out conflicts between different parts and stuff like that.
Beyond that, all kinds of other things can be addressed as entities. We can talk with any of the characters in past or future incidents, we can talk with people in other dimensions, or in dreams, we can talk with plants and animals, with weather gods, with guides and angels, with group or mass-consciousness entities, with planet Earth, and so forth.
For a beginning client, the idea of entities would not particularly be something you would push, unless she already sees things that way. It is likely to come up naturally as you deal with feelings in the body and so forth. The more adventurous uses of entities can be introduced gradually as the person would be comfortable with them. Basically, the more we have cleared up the personal domain, the more advantage there would be in pursuing entities.
This is the general outline of a workable entity handling:
1. Recognize that there is something there that the client already considers separate from herself. Not an idea, but an independent unit identified by distinct perceptions, preferably including kinesthetics.
2. Get its attention, by having the client say "Hello" or something like that.
3. Notice what you get back. It doesn't have to be words, but there must be a response of some kind.
4. If it is not a talkative entity, establish some kinesthetic system of yes/no answers. Such as a specific change in a feeling, or automatic finger movements. Then ask if it is willing to communicate with us in consciousness. If not, you need to stick with questions that have a yes or no answer and you would need to work without knowing the content of what the entity is doing.
5. If it talks, find out what it is doing there.
"What are you doing?", "What is your purpose?", "What is your function?"
6. If its identity is unclear, the client can ask "Are you a part of me?"
7. If the purpose is unclear or doesn't sound very helpful to the person, you can find out what kind of incident created the entity, or prompted it to do what it is doing. Work it over with re-experiencing, complete what is incomplete, etc. The entity might leave, get uncreated, or might become more useful to the person.
8. If the entity seems to try to do something helpful, but in a very limited way, trace back the purpose to a more basic intention. "What is your basic intention?" It is a fundamentally good intention we are looking for. Then ask it to find some more, different ways of accomplishing that intention. It should get at least 3 new ways in addition to what it is already doing. It either needs to come up with them itself, or it needs to link up with some available creative source, inside or outside yourself. You don't necessarily have to consciously know what it comes up with. You can link it up with other useful resources in a similar fashion.
9. If the entity stays to help the person, you can negotiate any necessary arrangements. Does she need to instruct it, will it need to report back on a regular basis, and so forth.
10. If the entity ought to leave or cease to exist, but it has trouble doing so, address whatever might be holding it there. Ask it who it really is. Is there anything it hasn't completed or said? Does it need to be thanked or validated or appreciated for what it is or for what it has done? Does it need instruction or orientation or suggestions on what else it could do? Is anybody else holding it there? Be sure to treat the entity with respect, acknowledging that it has a right to exist and make decisions for itself.
11. Maybe the entity has information and guidance for the person. There might not be any issue of it needing processing at all. It might simply be available to help and inform.
12. When done with that entity, check if the result is in harmony with other parts of the person, or if there are any conflicts to resolve.
There are many variations possible. Multiple entities might group together as one and then split up. Entities can form inter-connected networks where they feed or control each other, and that would have to be traced. Entities might be transferred between people, with strings attached.