Wow.

I purchased this on a whim as I know some lectures now days are either hit or miss?

Anyway, I grabbed this from another site and I had my reservations, I was worried that the lecture would be filmed on a crappy Android phone, but the video was HD and in good quality in sound and video.

The lecture runs just past 2 hours and has a couple performances, I appreciated the performances quite a bit, it's good to see how Emma high quality performances, even if one or two were through zoom.

I learnt quite a bit, a few standouts are the new fishing method, it's Propless and is really thought out. Emma goes into detail on language and tone, to ensure that the system runs smoothly which i appreciate. Another standout was the Let's Get Retro effect, it was interesting to see a spin on the concept of the sv** p** and it's well thought out.

All in all, the lecture taught,


A star sign divination

A new fishing system

Three new peeks

A which hand idea

A divination of a retro video game

A divination of a thought of time

A way to force information on a card

The original impromptu invisible deck

A new impromptu invisible deck

A new opener where you can predict multiple movements the specator will make.


I really liked this lecture, you could see Emma's enthusiasm on mentalism which is greatly appreciated, knowing that alot of mentalists now days sit on their couch half asleep and talk.

This lecture is a collage of workable, clever material. Although the material is great, I had to think about ways that I could adapt each routine to make it make more sense for my style. And I came up with ways easily. I would have never had the ability to adapt these routines if it weren't for watching the lecture itself. And because there are so many good ideas, I have to give this 5 stars. But I will be honest for my opinions on each of the routines.

Critter (Star Sign Divination): This is a really clever Star Sign Divination that I'll need to mess around with. She teaches what she calls the Pans Principle, and I think this is a very unique and smart principle that can be adapted to many things. I'll probably get more mileage out of that than the Star Sign Divination, but it's always good learning new methods. Clever Divination, and I'm sure I can adapt some aspects to make it work better for me.

The Year Deck: This is one of her best effects on this lecture. With a small amount of thought, I pieced together a routine that works better for me with this idea. The way she performs it is good, too, though! I feel like this is so flexible you can put your own spin on it as well!

The Icy Peek: This is a very interesting peek that I think I will use, because it looks quite natural. Instead of using my peek wallet, I'd be more inclined to use this for a drawing duplication. Interesting thinking!

The Cheeky Glimpse: I honestly don't have a use for this. But I still enjoyed watching it and hearing her thoughts about it. I'd say it's still good, and you may use it.

Improved Impromptu Invisible Deck: Just like the Cheeky Glimpse, I don't really have a use for this. But that's because I think that the best version of the Invisible Deck is the gimmicked version, and I rarely perform it, anyway. Don't get me wrong, the ID is an incredible effect, and this version is also great! However I learned a new principle from Emma while watching her tutorial on it, and that made it worth watching!

Timed Out: This is interesting thinking! I need to go back and rewatch it to be honest, because I didn't fully watch it. I perform a similar effect, however. I think you'll find this interesting, or at the very least, find a way to adapt this to a completely different effect!

Typhon: Solid Center Tear! I already use a different Center Tear, but it's always fun learning about new ones. If you don't know any Center Tear, learn Emma's! It's good!

Red/Left: This is possibly the most unusual and interesting effects she has shared. I really like the psychology on this, and it seems to have limitless possibilities. I also love the subtleties behind this. This one is intriguing to me for some reason, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps because it's different from anything else I know. It is also kind of fun. I don't know how to describe this one. I feel like more can be done with this, but I'm not sure what yet. So, this is a fantastic idea that you should NOT dismiss, because I think you'll end up finding very interesting.

Let's Get Retro: Emma takes a very old, awesome mentalism prop and shows us how it should be done. This prop in particular I currently do not have, because I just couldn't think of a use for it, even though there are an endless number of uses for it. Emma looked at this tool and thought "Why just give 1 reveal when I can reveal 3 things?" And thus, Let's Get Retro was born. A lot of heart is in this one. I can see myself performing this one exactly how she describes in the lecture!

Bonus - Systematic: You'll also get a bonus idea at the end. But don't be fooled. Ironically, this is my favorite thing from the ENTIRE lecture. I took her idea and created a routine from it that I love. You should be able to do the same, and that is the entire reason why she shared it. She knew it wasn't finished, but now it's up to you to complete the dots. You'll be able to do so if you think about it. Honestly, I mostly abhor these kinds of routines in general... Except this one. Additionally, I even bought an extra prop just to have ANOTHER routine on top of this! So don't be quick to exit the video on this bonus idea. This has an absurd amount of potential.

Overall, this is a quality lecture. While it isn't material from one of the top 10 best mentalists in the world, it doesn't matter. Because it's clear that Emma not only takes mentalism very seriously, but she is also very it! If you just look at everything at face value in this lecture, you're robbing yourself. THINK about what you want to do with these routines. Perhaps a couple of these routines won't be for you at all. That's fine! A couple things just weren't for me. But isn't that the beauty of it all? You'll find gold that I couldn't, and things that I find gold you might not think is. Emma is also very kind, and I bought this directly for her before it was released on Penguin. It was worth my time and money, and I think it'll probably be worth yours, too.

This lecture is a collage of workable, clever material. Although the material is great, I had to think about ways that I could adapt each routine to make it make more sense for my style. And I came up with ways easily. I would have never had the ability to adapt these routines if it weren't for watching the lecture itself. And because there are so many good ideas, I have to give this 5 stars. But I will be honest for my opinions on each of the routines.

Critter (Star Sign Divination): This is a really clever Star Sign Divination that I'll need to mess around with. She teaches what she calls the Pans Principle, and I think this is a very unique and smart principle that can be adapted to many things. I'll probably get more mileage out of that than the Star Sign Divination, but it's always good learning new methods. Clever Divination, and I'm sure I can adapt some aspects to make it work better for me.

The Year Deck: This is one of her best effects on this lecture. With a small amount of thought, I pieced together a routine that works better for me with this idea. The way she performs it is good, too, though! I feel like this is so flexible you can put your own spin on it as well!

The Icy Peek: This is a very interesting peek that I think I will use, because it looks quite natural. Instead of using my peek wallet, I'd be more inclined to use this for a drawing duplication. Interesting thinking!

The Cheeky Glimpse: I honestly don't have a use for this. But I still enjoyed watching it and hearing her thoughts about it. I'd say it's still good, and you may use it.

Improved Impromptu Invisible Deck: Just like the Cheeky Glimpse, I don't really have a use for this. But that's because I think that the best version of the Invisible Deck is the gimmicked version, and I rarely perform it, anyway. Don't get me wrong, the ID is an incredible effect, and this version is also great! However I learned a new principle from Emma while watching her tutorial on it, and that made it worth watching!

Timed Out: This is interesting thinking! I need to go back and rewatch it to be honest, because I didn't fully watch it. I perform a similar effect, however. I think you'll find this interesting, or at the very least, find a way to adapt this to a completely different effect!

Typhon: Solid Center Tear! I already use a different Center Tear, but it's always fun learning about new ones. If you don't know any Center Tear, learn Emma's! It's good!

Red/Left: This is possibly the most unusual and interesting effects she has shared. I really like the psychology on this, and it seems to have limitless possibilities. I also love the subtleties behind this. This one is intriguing to me for some reason, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps because it's different from anything else I know. It is also kind of fun. I don't know how to describe this one. I feel like more can be done with this, but I'm not sure what yet. So, this is a fantastic idea that you should NOT dismiss, because I think you'll end up finding very interesting.

Let's Get Retro: Emma takes a very old, awesome mentalism prop and shows us how it should be done. This prop in particular I currently do not have, because I just couldn't think of a use for it, even though there are an endless number of uses for it. Emma looked at this tool and thought "Why just give 1 reveal when I can reveal 3 things?" And thus, Let's Get Retro was born. A lot of heart is in this one. I can see myself performing this one exactly how she describes in the lecture!

Bonus - Systematic: You'll also get a bonus idea at the end. But don't be fooled. Ironically, this is my favorite thing from the ENTIRE lecture. I took her idea and created a routine from it that I love. You should be able to do the same, and that is the entire reason why she shared it. She knew it wasn't finished, but now it's up to you to complete the dots. You'll be able to do so if you think about it. Honestly, I mostly abhor these kinds of routines in general... Except this one. Additionally, I even bought an extra prop just to have ANOTHER routine on top of this! So don't be quick to exit the video on this bonus idea. This has an absurd amount of potential.

Overall, this is a quality lecture. While it isn't material from one of the top 10 best mentalists in the world, it doesn't matter. Because it's clear that Emma not only takes mentalism very seriously, but she is also very it! If you just look at everything at face value in this lecture, you're robbing yourself. THINK about what you want to do with these routines. Perhaps a couple of these routines won't be for you at all. That's fine! A couple things just weren't for me. But isn't that the beauty of it all? You'll find gold that I couldn't, and things that I find gold you might not think is. Emma is also very kind, and I bought this directly for her before it was released on Penguin. It was worth my time and money, and I think it'll probably be worth yours, too.

Before I write this review, I have to say that - I purchased this directly through Emma herself.

I am quite new to Emma’s work, so I jumped on the chance to read some of her work and overall, I was pleasantly surprised. The lecture has a good variety of effects including few propless effects, billet peeks and playing card material. I kind of gravitated to the propless effects, including a star sign divination, a propless system and a which hand principle.

Star Sign, Which Hand and a New System - I enjoyed the star sign divination quite a bit and I have used it a couple of times with good reactions and the which hand principle has inspired me to create a new effect around it and work on the idea a bit more. The propless fishing system is unique and I will be tinkering with a few ideas, it does have a restriction, being that it can’t include 9+ words but overall, it’s quite clever and I will be using it.

The Year Deck - This blew me out of the water, I was expecting some weird convoluted move, but it is quite straightforward with a unique presentation. I have been using this effect online (and in real life to family) and it has provided strong reactions.

Flip Flap and Card Peek - Emma also teaches Flip Flap and a playing card peek. I really liked Flip Flap and I have been using it online with good success. I personally prefer my own playing card peek appose to Emma’s as I don’t like the pacing hers has.

Typhon and The Icy Peek - Both were really interesting. I don’t have a preferred center tear so Typhon took that spot and it’s quite easy to use and remember. The icy peek is really nice as well, I haven’t seen anything like it before and it was nice to see a live performance for the peek.

Let’s Get Retro and Timed Out – These were both interesting self-contained effects, I like Timed Out quite a bit, I enjoy playing with the idea of divining times and timed out fits that slot quite well. I enjoyed Let’s Get Retro and I will perform it however I am going to skip using a pad of paper and instead use business cards.

All together, the effects taught were unique, enjoyable to watch and quite fooling. I appreciated the live performances for the majority of effects however I would have preferred the lecture include a Q and A, section where Emma can answer some FAQ’s about her life and performances. It would have been interesting to see what she has seen and learn from her experiences in paid gigs etc.

I give The Quarantine Lecture by Emma Wooding a 9/10.

So I just had a complete look through the project and I gotta say, its exaclty what Emma promises. A quarantine lecture.
You are going to sit down for a few hours to get everything she says and understand all of the material she presents to you.

It’s amazing, but I gotta say Emma sometimes goes a little off topic (wich is just a little friendly critique to her). When you can watch through it though you get just tons of value, also with the off topic monologues as she also presents some bonus Ideas.


So would I recommend it? Honestly yeah, everyday of the week 24/7.
Definitely worth your money!
Ben Sleight