People are constantly searching for the most effective rituals, chasing an illusory happiness without understanding that this cargo cult will give them nothing.
Magic is not a ritual. It is not the correct arrangement of symbols, nor candles and incense, nor Tarot cards.
Magic is Will—Will clothed in meaning and embodied in action. That is magic. A magician who does not understand the meaning of a ritual is like a monkey with a grenade. And most so-called “practitioners” are like that. Why read books on symbolism, philosophy and mythology when it seems so much easier to start working “on the astral plane” straight away?
Then they start waging little wars against the mother or father archetypes, projecting their neuroses into their lives. Instead of accepting or comforting, they set about destroying “demons.”
It is essential to understand that magic is about meaning. Without understanding that meaning, you risk psychological problems at the very least, and serious disturbances at worst.
But surely it is easier to find the “real ritual” than to build your real self. Yet genuine magic is a right way of perceiving the world—different for each person—and interacting with it.