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JoshuaZ comments on Open thread, Apr. 01 - Apr. 05, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Hmm... I was going to say that I haven't seen an aikido school that focused that much on the fluffy bits, but then I realized that it's probably the result of my own selection. I tend to be suspicious of martial arts schools that pay great attention to "esoteric" things because I think that it ends up being mostly bullshit and their students can't actually do things. At least that's how it usually works for the American suburban-mall schools -- my approach would be different in Hong Kong or Singapore. In places like NYC/LA/SF, well, my impression is that it's possible to find senseis/sifus who know what they are talking about, but the default "fluffy bits" school still isn't the place to go to.
To be fair, I haven't seen many of them. They exist, but I don't think they tend to be very successful in the West; there's a market for martial arts steeped in mystical fluff, but the Omoto-kyo Shintoism that the more esoteric aikido branches are rooted in is deeply weird even by Japanese standards, and it doesn't fit particularly well with the watered-down holism-and-wellness narrative that Western students who're so inclined tend to expect.
The branch of aikido I'm most familiar with is Yoshinkan, which is one of the earlier, harder ones.
Interesting. I looked up Omoto-kyo and it seems I have underestimated its weirdness. Zamenhof as a kami is an... unusual idea :-/
But returning full circle, it doesn't seem wise for a girl who sees spirits to start a practice the mystical bits of which involve possession by spirits...