I think these are fine questions. People should ask such questions.
Anyway: I can say a lot for these questions, but suffice to say yes and no lol. Yes, I have found some published works whose rituals were very useful. But I also have freely adjusted and amended some of these to better suit my purposes as well. Practice and study made it clear where I could do this, since while it’s true that your practice should really be your own, reinventing the wheel is a waste of time and energy. It’s only really important that your rituals help you focus and direct your energy and intent properly, and to allow you to exit that headspace and return to ‘consensus reality’ afterward. Reading very broadly (i.e. every approach you can find) can help since then you can compare and contrast various ideas.
Well, as far as theatrics and illusions… The problem is that the answer is yes/yes. You need the theatrics and self-delusion in the moment in order to get out of your head, to get into a light trance state. But like I said above, you also need to come down from that state and return to ‘normal’ afterward. A lot of people do not like that last part. Magick can feel good, and the mental state in the midst of ritual can feel like something you want to use all the time, but it’s not healthy. I can’t say for sure, but it does seem that the more a person uses emotions to fuel their magick, the more danger they’re in of slipping into delusional states. Meditation tends to be an old mainstay practice within magick because it protects against that situation. If you get into a meditative state for trances, instead of winding up emotions, you should get better results on the whole, as well as find it easier to exit magick-mental space. After that, don’t allow someone else to do your thinking for you. Don’t make membership in a tradition more important than understanding yourself. :V
I once had a couple of real shitbag room mates. A couple, one of whom was very domineering and manipulative, but also very stupid (stupid enough that he believed, as far as I could tell, that he was a mastermind). Long story short, I ended up breaking lease to get the hell out of the apartment. Now, the first thing is, I had a shitty landlord. They did NOT want me to break the lease. The second thing is, well, I said this was a couple, but the domineering room mate claimed to the landlord that it was just him that would be left, and that he couldn’t possibly afford the rent all alone. So the landlord insisted I pay a prorated, reduced rate until he finds at least one more room mate. His boyfriend was already living there off lease, which I had allowed, and in the meeting with the landlord, I did not contradict my room mate.
As I’m moving out, he shows off that he’s moving in two more people. They’re all incredibly rude – I have some physical disabilities, and the only person to help me was my mother who also has disabilities due to polio, so it was pretty insulting that there were four able bodied people sitting around a table watching two disabled people try to carry out boxes. No one offered to help, even though that would have gotten the process over with much faster.
I confer with room mate about the new people. He confirms that they’re going to be living in the apartment, and no, he hasn’t told the landlord. Yes, he remembers the agreement about room mates. Why would he just tell me this? Well, again, not getting into it to keep this from getting too long, but remember that he thinks he’s a master manipulator. There was a lot going on as well with him trying to antagonize me behind the scenes, somehow not realizing I’m just screen grabbing everything. He thinks he’s got me cornered or something. Anyway, I finally finish moving out of that apartment into my new one, and I immediately tell the landlord about my conversation regarding his room mates, including that his boyfriend has been there most of this time as well. I am released from the agreement, and owe the landlord nothing. I learned a few months later they’d lost the apartment entirely and were living out of the boyfriend’s truck. Not surprised…
(to be honest, it was a ‘dick move’ only to the room mate lol so I’m not sure it entirely counts. I suppose the ‘honest’ thing would have been to mention the boyfriend earlier, but I would have gotten in trouble at that point for allowing a person in the apartment off the lease. However, once room mate showed themselves to be extremely dishonest, let alone all the screen shotted threats, there was no question that he would be in much more serious trouble than I, so.)