Yes, you can use different ways of communicating with disembodied spirits. For example, in shamanism, circles are not used at all.
There’s a tutorial on a style of shamanism called Core Shamanism here:
So, it applies to all, but I recommend being choosy about who you talk to. You’re going to be fine with names given in grimoires, it’s the opportunists and random lesser entities that will try to pretend to be what they’re not and waste your time or cause problems that you don’t want. We call those “impostors” or “tricksters” or if they take your energy and hurt you, “parasites”.
As a rule of thumb, if you didn’t invite it or call it, get rid of it. High level beings will be quite careful about how they contact you, so you can choose to reach out or not, if they just barge into your space and start touching you unasked, throw it out and fix your wards.
We’ve been having conversations about those guys on here too, and some of our favourites are collected here.
In general, it’s a good idea to work on your astral aka psychic senses first, before calling spirits, so you an tell the difference. And keeping your self and your spaces clean and clear of unwanted psychic influence and negativity is sometimes called “having good spiritual hygiene” so if you get a nasty entity, which you probably will sooner or later, know how to banish it and ward your space to stop it coming back.