Advise for the new Ritualist ?

firstly they are NOT monks. They CANNOT heal as monks can. They are NOT air eles damage though devistating at times... it is most useful to run a support rit than a offensive rit.
Agreed. While rits are nothing like monks, they are good secondary healers and support. Monks are so rare these days, that much of the time, your group will probably expect you to make your rit a "healing rit."

While monks can heal circles around ritualists, ritualists have some mighty good spells that will make even the best of monks jealous.

Even though rits can't heal as well as monks, don't be afraid to try out the restoration line of spells. Recuperation at lvl 12 is simply amazing in certain situations. Recuperation will drop a spirit that will give ALL allies in the area a +3 health regen. This includes NPCs whom you need to keep alive in missions as well as minions. Unfortunately, the recuperaton spirit does not affect your other spirits, but it is still one of my favorite spells in the game. Just keep in mind that your spirits are not popular among the mobs when you PvE, so always try to cast it behind your wall of allies (ie behind your tanks, minions...etc).

My second favorite spell is Mend Body and Soul. Another restoration spell that (at lvl 12 restoration) heals your teammate for 70 points and removes 1 condition for each spirit in the area. So if you have 2 spirits, you can remove 2 conditions with one cast. VERY NICE! Monks have so many slots to fill these days, you can make their lives easier by taking this spell with and allowing them to focus on something else, like hex removal.

Weapon of Warding is another worthwhile restoration spell that works as a cross between aegis and healing breeze. With Weapon of Warding you can give a tank +4 health regen AND a 50% chance to block attacks. At level 12 restoration, you can make this spell last 10 seconds, making it rival even the greatness of the monk spell healing seed.

The elite spell Ritual lord is probably the best elite for the rit class if you plan to spam lots and lots of spirits. But if you don't, you might want to consider taking weapon of quickening with you. Weapon of quickening gives a +25% increase in the recharge speed of all your spells. Whats more, it can be cast on other players, helping other slow charging spell classes like elementalists nuke areas quicker. Ritual lord is a self only spell, but if you plan to put ALOT of points into your primary, can speed up the spirit recharge timers by more than 80%.

I run as a rit/monk for rebirth. Rebirth is my favorite monk res spell, and being able to have it as a rit, really makes a difference sometimes.

Enjoy your rit. Don't be afraid to try out more of your spells.

My advise... get Attuned Was Songkai as soon as you can, one of the best e-management (if not the best) for the ritualist.

You can base a large amount of builds around it also. i prefer spirit channeling. 5 energy, it makes you have 8 energy regen and that -5 health degen doesnt hurt you that bad.