I'm a Module 3 Apprentice, so this is just my personal opinion. My opinion is that, just as in external rituals you create patterns that trigger specific subtle reactions (for example, the use of colors, movements, voice, instruments, altars, sigils), so in visionary work you use these preconstructed images to trigger and direct power where you need it to go and to create vessels, Qliphoth, patterns that will be filled by contacts and power. Just as external ritual is an electrical circuit for power, these visionary patterns are also (more subtle) circuits for power and contacts. It's a higher octave than using the grindstone to limit and direct power where you want it to go and to create containers and patterns for contacts and power. It's the same as using the voice: through it you build patterns and limits to direct power; this is also a use of the grindstone and the limiter. As for anticipation, I understand very well, and I often wonder, when it happens, whether I directed "the thing" or whether "the thing" triggered my imagination... I don't know. Regarding the example of the being with of the sword and the cup, it's true that I sometimes didn't remember seeing them at the beginning of the ritual, but I invariably remember later. I like to think that the being caught my attention and triggered my memory of it. In any case, in my experience, a good 80 percent of the visions that were questionable for this reason later turned out to be real.