Hi Geni, I soak it. Well that is to say that I put a spoonfull in to my water jug and then just keep topping up the water as I drink it. I clean my water jug out once a week and add a new spoonfull of DE. I also use a colloidial silica gel, which is effective , but a little expensive for using all the time. Eating it straight will get rid of your worms and parasites if you have any, but not much silica is absorbed that way. I put DE in horse feed and the doggys meals every couple of months to get rid of their worms.
To get the most out of DE as a source of silica you must let it settle to the bottom of your water jug and the silica will just dissolve out of the DE into the water.
If you do a search in this forum for info on DE and silica you'll get a whole load of information, Hv has some great tips.