Illumination







A complete, audience-proven act from Luke Jermay that allows you to take every audience on an unforgettable journey. After years of us begging asking for it, Luke is finally sharing one of his most prized creations.
“Illumination” by Luke Jermay pushes the boundaries of what a book test can be. You don’t just divine a word, but rather reveal stories across a remarkable 15-minute routine filled with multiple magic moments. The entire audience gets involved as they’re transformed from passive spectators into vehicles for your revelations.
What makes “Illumination” so special is Luke’s inherent understanding of effective routine construction. Unlike some other swiss-army-knife type book tests, which often focus on method over presentation, “Illumination” is dedicated to amplifying the experience at every touchpoint. A few simple, straightforward methods work in perfect harmony to unite audiences over shared feelings, emotions, imagery, and even sounds.
This surefire workhorse was designed to be plugged right into your working set. It’s a goosebump-inducing routine that will quickly become one of your favorites.
How Does “Illumination” Work?
Two different books are given to two different people. They both open up to a page they like and read the first paragraph to themselves. As you hone in on the first person’s thoughts, the entire audience experiences a feeling and emotion that is revealed to perfectly match what is happening to the character in the book. For the second reveal, the participant closes their eyes and pictures the environment in which their paragraph took place. Your volunteer won’t believe their ears as the audience works together to create a sound that perfectly matches what they’re imagining in their head.
In the final phase, a third person is invited to choose either book. They open it up and find a long word they like. You have them focus on this word and transmit it to you as an image that you begin to draw. At first, it seems like you’re off-base. That is until you make a connection nobody saw coming. This surprising moment has been brilliantly-structured to get the most bang for your buck and takes the routine to another level beyond a straightforward word revelation.
As with all material Luke Jermay releases, “Illumination” has been honed over 1000s of performances. It plays just as well in a theater of 1,000s, as it does at a dinner party. Since it’s easy to do and doesn’t require any sleight of hand, your mind is free to concentrate fully on your performance.
You receive two gorgeous, specially-made books that have been carefully designed to look identical to real novels. You’re going to love how hands-off and free you can be. The detailed video instructions are a mini masterclass in which Luke shares everything you need to get the most out of “Illumination”.
Don’t pass up your chance to add a complete, professional routine to your act. Luke’s already done all the hard work for you. Just grab a copy of “Illumination” and you’ll be ready to leave every audience with lasting memories that will survive long after you’re done.
Customer reviews for Illumination
the books arrive
This is 100% a professional mentalism routine. 15-mins of tried and tested gold for those who work stand-up shows.
What this isn’t is the kind of book test you can leave on your coffee table and perform for friends in relaxed, informal environments. It is very much a piece for formal shows.
Personally I think this is priced too cheap for a pro routine of this calibre.
I’d recommend those looking at getting this to watch the performance and consider whether it’s really for them.
I love it. But I also have my own little venue that this will be perfect for.
I am not a mentalist but have been inching my way in that direction bit by bit. I have looked at and purchased a number of book tests over the past few years, but I just can't bring myself to perform them. I find most of them to be very boring and uninteresting. I find the idea that I know a just a single word on a page or can divine a difficult word as an interesting parlor trick, but it builds no suspense and has no sense of drama.
As Luke notes in his instructions, most book tests are more interested in providing lots of methods as opposed to providing a compelling presentation. There is nothing wrong with that, however, he has done the exact opposite.
The method is incredibly easy. If you know anything about book tests, you will recognize what he is doing. But what he is doing is freeing you to focus on performance and provides a framework that you can use that is more sensorial than any other book test I have seen (note that I am not an expert at all - I just know what I like). If you see the book test as just a trick, do NOT buy this book test. If you see the book test as a small piece of theater you can perform, then this is a good book test for you.
I had a strong idea I knew what I was ordering before I clicked “add to cart” and I believe the method is easy to figure out. But where this project shines is the sheer script of the act you’re purchasing. There’s so many gold nuggets of wisdom just in the script.
However, for as genius and wonderful this is — for reasons I can’t get into due to method — I can’t say this will be suited for many large private parties or corporate performances. I just tried it tonight at a corporate event (while I knew it was risky) and made a specific moment very comedic — but even at this laid back corporate event I had tonight, I would feel nervous to do it again elsewhere.
That being said, it definitely found its way into my 60min Performance Set as opposed to the book test I had before.
It’s tremendous for theatrical/restaurant/cabaret environments — but if it wasn’t for “The Legacy” I would love to have it in my corporate/private party environments.
If there’s ever a V2 of this, I think a Rom-Com would be a great contrast from either Thriller or Political Drama genre :)
The scripting is just phenomenal. I’ve watched the tutorial multiple times not because the trick is in anyway difficult to do but because I don’t want to miss a single subtlety in Luke’s incredible performance.
I can’t wait to perform this piece now. I’m just an amateur so I hope I do it justice.
This test has things most book tests don't. There is the emotion you pick up from one spectator and the sound you pick up from another. And, of course, you find the word someone has chosen but even that has an element not found in other book tests!
I saw the question as to whether this can be done for the same group. Well, yes if you want to repeat just the part where you get a spectator's chosen word. You can do it as part of a book test section using other books as well in that case.
The material, the books, are not only well made to last for many performances, but the covers are great looking and the print is larger making it more convenient for your audience to read what they have to.
Super job!
member
Secondly, the writing sucks. It's just lazy. So many of the sentences in the important parts are poorly structured, grammatically weak and even have typos in them. I get you can explain this is a "random book from a Dollar Store", but still, it would not have been difficult to make the text a LOT better.
Finally, the single word you can reveal is WEIRD. Nobody uses that word, at least not in the states, and just sounds odd, even odder in that the books appear recent but the word is gendered in a fairly anachronistic way.
Luke can do better than this!
So I did, and it's maybe my favorite book test to date. It hits on so many "Senses".
Community questions about Illumination
Have a question about this product? It's possible others do too. Ask here and other Vanishing Inc. Magic customers will be able to respond with assistance! Alternatively, email us and we can help too.
Andrea asks: I'm Italian and in Italy few people read english well. if I have the book could I translate It into Italian and print It or It works only in english?
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:This would only work with English Print
Frank asks: Does the performance as a whole have to be in English (assuming the audience *is* capable of reading and understanding the words in the books) ? I'm German, and although most Germans are perfectly able to speak English, i'd rather keep the performance itself in German.
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:You can perform Illumination entirely in German, but since the books are only in English, your spectators still need to comfortably read and understand English for it to work effectively.
Paul asks: Many magicians have many book tests. Luke Jermay is a great teacher and I'm sure there are performance tips and fundamental principles that could be adopted to existing book test performances. Will this be available as just a download, without the books option ?
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:No at the moment this is only available with the books
Stephen asks: Can the books be casually examined? For example...what if a participant opens up a page, looks at it .... but then, before closing the book, flips to another page and glances at it? Is the trick ruined?
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:Yes they can!
Hart asks: I own the original MOABT hard back ("Fatal Sins") and also have the soft back "Pocket Edition". Are the force words the same or would one need to re-learn? If you already own multiple MOABT and have a solid routine, would this be worth purchasing?
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:The words are different and there are other principles at play.
Al asks: Where does this ship from, in light of the warehouse fire?
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:We are fully operational. In fact we were shipping the day AFTER the fire!. Depends where you live. If you're in America, it ships from California. If you are in the UK or Europe, it ships from our UK warehouse. Hope that helps.
Marek asks: Can I show it to the same people twice and get different paragraphs? Or it is a one way book test?
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:It's not repeatable for the same audience, no.
Gonzalo asks: Is it going to be translated to other languages? thanks
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:No immediate plans.
Christophe asks: It is only in english?
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:Yes it is.
Kirk asks: Does it come with a Tuscan wine cellar as well or is that extra? :-)
- 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:Extra ;)
10 questions


