most phantoms in the house are not interested in being seen. they would prefer the room to behave as if they were furniture. the rite is for the rare one that has come to ask something of you, however small. you do not have to answer it. you only have to admit that it is there.
you look directly at the place where it is, but not at it — at the floor a hand's-breadth below, or the lintel above. you say, internally or aloud, yes, once. that is the whole word. you do not ask its name. you do not ask why. you do not move toward it. the rite is complete when you have gone back to whatever you were doing without rushing, and the room has agreed to keep its phantom for a little while longer.
this is older than the houses it is performed in. it survives because the alternative — pretending — is more tiring. acknowledged phantoms do not multiply. unacknowledged ones eventually require a fuss; they bring others; they arrange the kitchen.
— field note: the rite has been performed correctly when you forget, an hour later, that you performed it. if you are still thinking about it at midnight, the phantom has heard you but is not yet done.