Luke Jermay - Premise and Premonition Review by Jamie Daws

Luke Jermay has been a firm favourite of mine for many years. Following him since his card tutorials on
Penguin Magic when I was younger, following onto the beginnings of his mentalism relates with An
Extraordinary Exhibition of Seeing with the Fingertips. His thinking is unique, incredibly well educated
and often completely engulfs my mind. He is completely captivating when he performs and in complete
honesty, some of favourite parts of both his DVD sets is watching him perform. In the performance
sections of this DVD set, its evident in the faces and laughter of the audience, he has them wrapped
around his little finger.

I also have Jeramy's Mind, his four DVD set that came before this. I loved Jeramy's Mind so getting this
set was a no brainer so lets start with the much requested comparison. Jeramy's Mind seems to be filled
with more ‘tricks’ that could be used right out the box. For example, his version of the Living and Dead
test went straight into my close up act and it slays audiences. That being said, his thinking on Q&A on
Jeramy's Mind was absolutely incredible. I could go on and on talking about how amazing Jeramy's Mind
is but ill refrain. Premise and Premonition however is more like a study on premise and relaying
information. In some respects, nearly every effect on this dvd set is a vehicle to perform a Q&A style
effect. Ill go into each effect singularly to give you more of an idea but its filled with insights to get the
mind wondering. The Imagined Oracle and the Modern Oracle are very different. The Imagined Oracle is
a very clever reading system that exists in your head where as the Modern Oracle is a series of actions
and methods that allow you to perform a very clever Q&A style routine without memory work and from
someone who has never performed a Q&A style routine but has always wanted to, this is the way I
would start out hands down! Its brilliant. But lets get into the individual effects!

DISK ONE: Silent Communication

In effect, the spectator is handed two boards. One says YES and one says NO. She is asked to only
answer in her head and to never show him the answer. He not only matches her answers every time but
he relays information about her which is accurate and he shouldn't know. He then adds another board
which has the word MAYBE and again reveals her answer with a small reading based around her answer.
Lastly, another card saying NOT TELLING. And it follows suit, he reveals her answer with a reading based
around her answer.

My description of the effect is the bare bones and doesn't do the effect justice. It is, for me, one of the
stand out routines of the set. I will be making up a close up version of this and ill be routining it for close
up audiences because it really is fantastic. Method wise, it is well thought out but is nothing earth
shattering. It does what it needs to do, well and invisibly. It is a really very funny routine. Theres lots of
scope for built in humour and adding cards that say other things is also a nice idea. The only thing I was
a bit dubious of from Jeramy's performance is his choice of questions. All of them were brilliant but the
first one was reminiscent of watching a drunk guy approach a lovely lady one evening and embarrassing
himself with a god awful chat up line. He asks, “Do you sleep naked?”. For me it was a bit awkward to
watch. There were no giggles and then spectator looked a bit bewildered by it. I only mention this
because his other questions were genuinely intriguing. He had, I’m sure, every spectator in that room
answering those questions in their heads because they were so engaging. But its a very very small point
and each performer will adapt this to their own style. This is a very simple and sure fire way to give basic
readings. It’s literally built into the effect. Equally, whats nice about this is, it allows you to give the
reading before they answer thus giving the audience the impression, your answers are based on what
you intuitively know about her. It’s just a brilliant effect and I cant wait to try it out!

DISK ONE: Black Ball Location

“Think back to the last time you saw a scary movie”, Jermay begins. He has with him a bag with 5 balls.
But he instructs them not to look at the ball but to keep it hidden from all. He has them take it from the
bag in test conditions. This is done by 5 spectators. They are all instructed to turn around and peek at
the balls. 4 have a white ball and 1 has a black ball. “If you have a white ball think about a memory from
your own life that makes you feel happy. If you have a black ball, think about a memory that makes you
feel sad”, he continues. He now uses his intuition to find the happiness and the sadness. He then
appears to reveal those memories and proves that by revealing who has the white balls. He finished by
giving a small spiritual gift to the gentleman who had the sad memory.

So this is Jeramy's version of Max Mavens ‘Kurotsuke’. This is again, another vehicle to reveal
information on your spectators in a Q&A style routine. Its brilliantly constructed. He takes you through
how to make the props needed which is fairly easy once you find the materials. The method isn't
anything ground breaking once again but his thinking on the method and his performance experience
with the method is brilliant. Again, it gives the audience the impression that the mind reader is reading
specific thoughts from the audience and uses the balls as proof of this. Equally, the premise of finding
the good in the bad is beautiful. Such a nice idea. It’s probably not quite a routine I would personally use
but its a brilliant routine.

DISK ONE: Shape Shifter Drawing Duplication

“One of you has already volunteered and you don't even know it. If you have a sticker on your chair, we
have found our artist”, he begins. The audience check their chairs and one lady confirms she has the
sticker on her chair. She joins him on stage. She is asked to think of a simple image. To keep a couple of
them in her mind and each time he snaps his fingers, she is to change her mind. He has her close her
eyes and think of the first image. He draws something on the pad. Seemingly the first image she has in
her mind. She changes her mind and he draws another simple design. A third time, she changes her
mind and he draws into the pad what she is seemingly thinking. A fourth change of her mind and again
Jermay draws his impressions on the pad. She is asked to settle on one of those images. He then draws
down what he thinks, tears it off and hands it to another audience member. He then reveals to her an
imagine she was thinking of earlier without her saying a word. She confirms this. Then she is asked to
draw her final image onto the pad and she the audience. His prediction is opened and it matches!

This one got me GOOD! It had me scratching my head. She was picked at random, she didn't write
anything down, she seemingly picked 4 or 5 random images and settled on one that Jermay couldn't
possible know and then not only did he reveal the final image, he also confirmed another image she was
thinking about! Not to mention drawing three other images she was supposedly thinking of! It’s
probably the cleanest looking Drawing Duplication I have ever seen. Initially when it got to the method, I
was somewhat disappointed but I entered into things with an open mind and this has to be, for me, one
of the best effects for the method on the DVD set for me. Many may disagree but I really found a lot of
value in this. I’ve always been nervous about methods like this one and never felt comfortable with the
idea of performing it. Let me say, after this, I WILL try this. His insight is second to non and his
experience really shows with this one. Its brilliant and I would love to his more of his thoughts on this in
the future. It really has installed confidence in me and I truly feel, without any fear that I could pull this
off successfully without any fear after watching this. Loved it!

DISK ONE: Dirty Secret Club

He hands a pencil and some paper to 5 member of the audience and tells them they are the newest
members of his Dirty Secret Club. He asks them all to write down a secret. These are all collected and
one of them is chosen by another audience member sight unseen from everyone. Jeremy then proceeds
to reveal the contents of the secret on the paper.

Again, this is the bare bones of the effect but once again, its a beautifully simple way to reveal some
truly intimate information about a spectator and the structure of the routine is so well put together. Its
got built in humour, its intriguing and its scarily accurate. Theres not much more I can say about this
one. Great premise and great thinking!

DISK TWO: Touching on Hypnosis

Jeremy asks the entire audience to take part in a little experiment in which they are asked to focus on
their fingers being drawn together as if they were magnets. He then uses this to relax his audience and
selects three of the most responsive spectators. Once on stage, he relaxes them further and after
clicking in front of their eyes, each spectator dramatically close their eyes as their heads drop forward.
They appear to be hypnotised. Then, after some script, he appears to make the spectators forget their
names, makes them forget numbers and get stuck in all sorts of positions. He has hypnotised them, it is
funny, entertaining and bizarre! He then un hypnotises them and they return back to their seats.

So, how is it possible to create a truly pseudo hypnosis demonstration that looks and feels real? Well,
Luke has done just that! This thing is absolutely brilliant! I cannot rave about this routine enough. I’ve
been studying Hypnosis for about a year now. Mostly focussing on therapy but with the intention to
perform it alongside magic. That being said, Im finding it hard to get the confidence to perform stage
hypnosis or close up hypnosis. This is the perfect fail safe method for me. Knowing I have this is my
pocket means, I have no reason not to perform it now. Its a brilliant continuation of Touching On Hoy
from Jeramy's Mind. However, I dare say, I prefer the thought of the method for this. It really looks like
the audience members are hypnotised. That being said, he follows the structure of stage hypnosis. This
means, you can achieve real hypnotic phenomena. Infant, Id be surprised if it doesn't elicit come kind of
hypnotic behaviour. Either way, this is brilliant. The only sleight negative I can find is that, the general
public are already dubious as to whether hypnosis is real and if the spectators on stage are just ‘playing
along’. This may not help that notion. However, anyone looking to perform hypnotic feats but haven't
got the confidence to go straight into it, this is an invaluable routine for you.

DISK TWO: Modern Oracle

This is a mini Q&A style act. Spectators in the audience are asked to write down both their names onto
slips of card. They only write their names and nothing else. They are mixed and one of the names is
placed sight unseen into an envelope which is held by an audience member. The mind reader then takes
one of the names from the pile and begins a reading based on the name on that card. Not only is it an
accurate reading of them as a person but it includes incredibly accurate information that no one could
have known. Throughout the reading, the mind reader comes back to the enveloped name and jots
things down on a pad. At the climax of the routine, the name is for the first name taken out of the
envelope and it is read aloud. The pad in turned around and although the mentalist never saw the name
written down and never asked for anything else to be written down, he tells that chap his star sign, date
of birth and incredibly accurate things about his life that the mentalist could never know!

This is the routine of the entire DVD set for me. It is absolutely breathtaking, baffling and just brilliant!
Watching it, I had no idea how he was doing what he was doing. I think, believe it or not, it was because
I had seen his Q&A second on Jeramy's Mind. Because I had those methods in mind, that threw me with
this one. So, keep this in mind from not only a performance point of view but also a method. All of this is
true. The spectators only ever write down their names. No other information is written down, at no
point in the show. This isn't a one ahead style method and it truly needs no memory work. It looks like
real mind reading and takes minimal effort on the side of the performer. There are fails safes built in and
even those with no Q&A knowledge, could theoretically get some good milage out of this. That being
said, mixing it with methods from Jeramy's Mind would be far better but those without reading skills
could still do well with this. The climax of the name placed in an envelope is also such a beautiful touch.
A lovely way to bring the routine to an end! I sincerely hope I get to perform this one day. His thinking of
revealing information and how to do it is priceless also. This is worth the price of the DVD and although I
think it might be hard to adapt this to a close up situation, it would be perfect for parlour and smaller
groups of people. Brilliant is all I can say!

DISK TWO: Fools Journey

This is Lukes touch on performing with Tarot cards.

This is an interesting idea and makes me want to delve into tarot cards. He returns to tarot throughout
both DVD sets and he makes it seem worth while learning. Theres not much a can say about this without
just telling you what it is but its an interesting idea that will make your spectators think deeply.

DISK THREE: Blindfold Deal - Red, Black Separation - Psychometry Presentation - Drawing Duplication

This is literally what it sounds like. The spectator mixes a deck, the performer blindfolds himself and
deals through the borrowed, freely shuffled deck. Every now and again throwing a card of to the side.
He of course throws a four of a kind out.

So, this was the disk I was most looking froward to. Jeramy's Mind had some brilliant card routines in.
His Tossed out Deck is brilliant and his Colour Separation effect is equally brilliant. Not to mention his
separate project, GAME which is phenomenal and I perform at gigs. This is the disk that is going to
appeal most to close up magicians/ mentalists that are looking to buy this set. Sadly, I was probably
most disappointed with this. The method utilised here is a modern day version of an old method. Sure it
works and no doubt you can do a few effects with it but it just wasn't for me. Something I wont use and
sadly, it occupies over an hour of this disk. There are a couple of interesting effects on this disk though
so don't be disheartened.

DISK THREE - Marked Personality

Essentially, the mentalist uses the deck as a Tarot deck. Allowing the mentalist to give deep, intimate,
personal readings about his spectator.
This is a much more in depth exploration of something i’ve seen from Peter Turner. However, this is
much more developed and far cleverer in my opinion. Again, theres not much to say about this. It’s
literally a system to appear to know about the problems concerning your spectator and answer those
problems without them saying anything. Very smart idea and something I may use in the future.

DISK THREE: He Will Find You

The spectator hands the spectator a piece of paper and tells them he wants them to allow a playing card
to find them. To allow a card to connect with them in one way. The flicks through the deck and allows
them to see a card. They announce the card they are thinking of and the paper is opened to find the
message, “The King of Clubs will find you”. After some script, the mentalist deals through the cards one
by one until they say stop. The card they stop at is the Kind proving that he will always find them!

This is a cute effect. Nothing to difficult or earth shattering here in terms of method but what really does
this justice is the premise. He has some great ideas on turning it from a pick a card trick trick to a card
picking them. Making a card trick seem like real magic. It’s really worth your attention and again,
probably something I might start trying to routine.

DISK THREE: Story Without an End

The performer tell three stories about luck and coincidence. Then he hands out stacks of playing cards to
three different spectators. They are all asked to shuffle their piles then to think of any card in their hand.
The cards are once again shuffled and gathered up by a spectator. Once again, the spectator shuffles
them up in the fairest way possible. During the talk of coincidence, the performer asks spectator
number one what her card was. Without shifting, shuffling or messing with the deck in anyway, he spells
down to their card. The last card is turned over, its found to be their card. The second spectator is
handed the cards and is intruded to deal one card at a time on the table whilst spelling her card out
loud. The final card of that count is turned over and its found to be the selection! The final spectator is
handed the deck and this time, he is asked not to mention to name of his card but to deal each card on
the table. One card for each letter of his card. But again, not to say a thing. He does this and before the
card is turned over, the mentalist reads the spectators mind and manages to reveal his thought of card.
Finally, the card dealt to is turned over and found to be the thought of selection!

This is the card effect of the DVD set. Ill go on record and say, I hate spelling tricks. Ive learnt countless
spelling tricks over the years and non of them have done anything for me. I find them dull and boring for
everyone involved. Many will disagree and I appreciate that entirely. Simply my preference. That being
said, this is dynamite! It had me completely fooled and I was completely drawn in by the premise. His
patter is perfect and just everything about this is gorgeous! This is going into my working set
immediately. It is nearly self working and whilst there is a tiny bit of one time preparation. Once the
deck is made, you're set for life! It’s just brilliant and I cannot wait to try it out!

DISK THREE: Double Dowsing

Two card are seem by two spectators. The mentalist keeps his head turned during the selection process.
The cards are fairly mixed and the cards split into four piles. Using his psychic dowsing powers, he
eliminates the piles he doesn't think the first selection is in. Until he gets down to one pile. Then he calls
out the number FOUR. The cards in the final pile are dealt down to the fourth position and the first
selection is found. Finally, he gathers up the entire deck and allows a number to come to mind. He deals
down to that number, at that position is the second selection!

This is another cute little effect. Very simple to execute but involves only a borrowed deck of cards. The
method is very simple and while its not a ground breaking effect, if you're looking to demonstrate
‘psychic’ powers, this will be a brilliant start! This will be kept in my reserve for the right time!

DISK THREE: Nailed ACAAN (Performance Only)

This is a very clean looking ACAAN but to prove he is not manipulating the deck in anyway, he skewers
the deck onto a large nail!

This is beautiful in every respect. Presentationally, its one of the most intriguing ideas i’ve seen. He talks
about other ideas including an idea with a Bear Trap which sounded absolutely brilliant! He only
performs it and doesn't explain to allow us to enjoy some kind of mystery but informs us that the
methods have been taught amongst other effects on the DVD. I dare say, I have an idea of the method
but to be honest, I don't really mind, I love the presentation and one day develop my own version with a
skewered deck!

DISK FOUR: The Headline Prediction

This is the classic effect that I'm sure everyone has heard of. Ahead of time, Luke sends a radio show
host an envelope a week before he is due to be on air. He asks them not to open it until the day of his
arrival. On the day of his arrival, on air, the envelope is opened and inside is found to be a prediction of
future events. Luke bring with him a selection of that days newspaper. Somehow, even though the
envelope has been with the radio host all week and she opens it live on air, he has successfully predicted
the events of that days newspapers!

So, no doubt those that have seen Lukes YouTube have seen his performance of this on Live Radio and I
must admit, I was floored. I’ve always wanted to know how an effect like this is done. This doesn't
disappoint however, it doesn't disappoint in a way I was expecting. The method itself is bold. Very, very
bold. As bold as a method can get I would argue. That immediately puts me off. I don't mind bold but
this just seems scary. Especially if you are using this as a publicity stunt on live radio! However, in typical
Luke Jermay style, it’s the nuances and all the tiny subtleties that make this an incredibly strong effect.
So much so, I began watching the effect thinking… Nope! Never! and ended it thinking…. I really want to
try this out! That being said, there are parts of this effect that really really don't suit my character and
I’ve already thought up ways to adapt this to my own suitability! His thinking with this is deep and
endless. Honestly, every eventuality, everything that could go wrong, he underlines in length. Any doubt
I had about this is gone and I really want to give it a go. This could potentially be one of the strongest
routines you ever do as a mentalist. I love it and you will not be disappointed by the end of it!

DISK FOUR: The Interview

This is exactly what you'd expect. An incredibly personable interview in which you not only get to know
about Jeramy's past, but even more about how he thinks, why he thinks that way and everything in
between.

To conclude, this DVD set is an absolute must have if you're into magic/mentalism. His experience alone
is worth every penny. That being said, I truly feel like Jeramy's Mind and this compliment each other
well and Luke refers to Jeramy's Mind often. It truly feel like together, they're an invaluable resource of
mental madness! Those who know me and follow my previous reviews know just how much magic I
collect and review and I dare say, this is the best DVD box set I own and might possibly own. They are
destined to become classics and I once again cannot recommend this enough!

Jamie Daws