Product reviews

Perfect for Small Groups

I love this effect, but it requires cleanup after the show. For me, performing this with a smaller audience is best. — If you have a cleanup crew, then any size audience will enjoy this.

Brilliantly Simple

So Simple, So Beautiful, so Effective!

What an impact!

I couldn’t believe how wildly the audience reacted the first time I performed it -jaw drops everywhere. The only “negative” is the glorious disaster of torn cards carpeting the floor like a tiny paper parade. The instructions were a breeze, and the payoff was way bigger than I expected. An absolute blast to perform. Highly recommend.

Cute not great

This is not magical it's math and personally I'm not a big fan of math magic tide tricks it's fun most of the people you do it too will not recognize the fact that it's math and the results get smiles out of people it's a cool trick it's worth having what I would do it as an opener just to introduce myself to people and it was fun it's fun for larger groups of kids because they get excited easily so it was a good purchase the price is is great you can't beat the price for what you get but I recommend it yeah I would actually I don't see myself doing it at every event but for younger people especially not so much adults but for younger groups teenagers always a good idea so pick it up it's worth the money

The Love Ritual

I really like this effect. I have rehearsed it and performed it once. Rehearsal is critical, but it is easy and stunning. I really like it. Highly recommended

6 stars

It’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited about a magic trick. It’s incredible, highly visual, and perfect for involving an entire group. you can get people shouting, throwing cards in the air, and fully engaged. In short, this is the perfect routine I’ve been waiting for years to add to my repertoire. Thank you, Woody Aragón!!!

Great Trick - I have Tip for Practice

It is hard to add much to what the 5 Star reviewers are saying. I agree, its a great trick for all the reasons noted. The instructions are great. Woody tells you how and why this works but I thought I might offer a tip. In the early part of the instructional video Woody presents the effect several times. Once to you and once to an audience. Grab a pen and an index card and make note of the scripting. Once you have that, you will be able to practice the effect until you have it. By all means watch the entire video! He gives you tips making the script easier to remember because he will tell you 'why' this works. That is helpful. For learning purposes I divided the script in 3 sections allowing me to learn one section at a time. It has taken me a deck of cards (Wal-Mart $1.29) to learn all of this but it isn't difficult and practicing as I have described it is pretty easy. That's good because I am performing this one tomorrow at a wedding! Yes, I will have my 'cheater' Index Card with me. It will be inside my case as I stand behind a table and have clear view of what I am supposed to do. This is NOT a professional way to perform this but by then I shouldn't need my Index Card, but it is a great effect for a wedding which happens to be TOMORROW! I am going to give it a shot. So, just to describe time spent learning, I went through the video yesterday, took notes and practiced. 3 hours total. Then, I went through my notes until I can do it from memory which took about another 1.5 hours on day 2. I think I've got it! Following my notes from his performance I have not had a single 'fail'. Not bad from video to performance but making note of the scripted commentary I found very helpful. Perhaps you will too.

Perfect

The perfect act when performance from a dozen to hundreds of people. You will need lots of decks, but it is worth it.

Great Routine

Before purchasing Woody's routine, I understood some of the principles behind it. But I am very glad I went ahead and purchased it. Woody's approach adds much more to the routine. It is quite simple to learn and perform but has a powerful impact. There are also insights and little twist that can be applied to other similar routines. Anyway, Woody's ritual is well worth the money.

Brilliant

I already knew how to do this trick, but I will gladly support Woody and penguin for this one. This is such an amazing closer, and it gives your spectators something to hold onto at the end. I cannot recommend this one enough.

Great for big groups!

Love the simplicity of this! Seems so complicated and in depth, but once you learn the secret you can easily make it your own! Exactly what I was looking for!

Trick = GOLD

This effect is amazing. Woody has created something incredible that I will use in every show for the rest of my life. The instruction is not great, difficult to follow.

What I want...

I was looking for an illusion that could be performed in a theater hall with at least a few hundred people at the same time. I bought the love ritual and from what I can see it is exactly what I want. I will probably try it on stage next season. I think that with a good presentation, the audience will like it. I liked it. I think it will be a special show once the necessary number of cards are provided according to the number of people in the audience.

Great for audience interaction!

I had a show recently and closed it with this (it was a Valentine's day party) and it killed. The great thing about this trick is that it gets your entire audience involved. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because it's not infallible, some spectators can (and will) mess it up. At my show, I had about 5 people who didn't get the match to their card.

Now, as I started this routine, I told everyone that this was going to be amazing IF they watched me closely and followed all of the directions. I jokingly told them that if they didn't, it may not be so amazing. I did this to try and mitigate anyone feeling bad for not getting it but the majority of the audience got it and the ones that didn't all saw that most did so it's fine.

I was kind of on the fence as to how much of an impact I thought this would have with an audience. But then I ran through this thing with Woody as he suggests in the instructions and when I got to the last card, I couldn't believe it worked and said, "That's my new closer for this next show!"

Great Party Pleaser!

I've never done a magic trick. I mean, I've pulled a quarter from behind a kid's ear from time to time, but this was the first time I've done one in public and it worked perfectly!

Real magicians probably get the trick, but I kept 75 people engaged at my birthday party with this trick, helped by Penn & Tellers' banter which I re-wrote.

Anyway: if you have any skill as an entertainer, this is a great party pleaser, and if you are a magician, consider adding this to your repertoire. Also, some people didn't follow the instructions carefully, so I advise working like it's a larger room - big, slow movements - you'll get better results!

Fabulous trick. Fun, interactive and memorable for the audience

As per the title of this review, this effect is easy to do, and fun,interactive and memorable for an audience of 2,20 or 200.

A masterclass on a great effect

At the price, this is one of the best purchases I’ve made. The download is an hour and a half of Woody Aragon giving the ins and outs of Love Ritual. He covers the basic handling within about twenty minutes, and provides two performances to give viewers a sense of not just the moves but also the rhythm and energy of the routine. After that, Aragon talks through the subtleties of the routine, its symbolism, and how to perform a tabled version. Along the way, he offers reflections on why certain aspects of the Love Ritual should be performed the way they are, and why certain simplifications and embellishments potentially take away from the overall impact of the routine’s finale. It’s great to be able to listen to the creator of an effect provide this level of detail on one of their prized effects. Bravo Woody Aragon!

You'll Need Patience... and Lots of It!

I must state at the outset that I do not like this effect as a spectator/participant. But, it is an extremely effective routine to present to a lay audience.
Mr Aragon deserves admiration for creating it and sharing it within the brotherhood of magic. He deserves a ten-star rating for that.
But, as an instructor/teacher he fails miserably.
This act could be written up with printed instructions on one piece of paper and understood by most practicing performers. It isn't the sort of thing that a beginner would purchase along with Nickels to Dimes and a Svengali Deck, but it requires NO sleights or special handling. Performance requires the ability to clearly explain what each audience participant must do to achieve the desired outcome.
And, clearly explaining these steps and working is quite absent in the teaching video.
So, instead of a sheet of competent, easy-to-follow instructions the purchaser receives a meandering, hard-to-follow, stream-of-consciousness video tutorial that is NINETY minutes long!
This long-winded lecture is excruciating and made more so because English is not the creator's first language.
I do not mean that the inventor should be ashamed for his language, accent or delivery. I am confident if he had been recorded in his native language that Spanish-speaking viewers would have no issues. But, for us non-Spanish-speaking viewers another individual proficient with English would have been a better choice.
The current trend of having the talent prattle on and on in an unrehearsed and unscripted manner should be, in my opinion, reserved and set aside for a segment AFTER the basic effect and working has been succinctly explained. It's there for those who find such diversions interesting.
So, great trick, lousy, frustrating video instructions.

A simple routine with kickass tutorial

The trick by itself is probably not the best in the world and you could probably figure it out, BUT it comes with a 90 min!!! video tutorial. Woody Aragon is really generous and talk a lot about really interesting thing about magic in general (and the trick for sure).

The Love Ritual

Wonderful routine! Great audience participation and reaction. Being done by Larry Hass, Penn & Teller, and Shin Lim. This is a keeper in my parlor/standup show.

Love Ritual

I absoultly Loveed This one!!! A lot of fun for small and large groups perfect for table hopping too !!! My Hat off to " Woody on this one !!!!! best, Magic Al ( Al Caruso .........

Great trick

This is a really nice version, with Woody's presentation. It has lot's of nice nuances, the teaching is more than an hour, and the trick is really easy to do. So just buy it!

Fall under the spell of The Love Ritual

This trick is fantastic. It is as fun to follow along and practice as it is to perform. Very easy to do.

Easy and fun to do

A great trick for a group of people. Lots of fun. Cards are ripped and cards are flying. And if you remember it correctly, it always works.

Love Ritual

Absolutely one of the greatest tricks for anyone practicing magic!!!!

Woody is great!!

Astonishing!! That is the word. I knew the love ritual thanks to the first Woody’s Penguin lecture, and I have performed several times in public with big success. But this is something else. If you love the trick you have to buy this video. You won’t regret it.

Really wowed the guests!

A number of years ago my eldest daughter got married and as part of my father of the bride speech I used the Flaming Wallet. My youngest daughter was getting married and she asked that I do some magic as part of my speech for her wedding. I had been looking around for for a while when I came across The Love Ritual by Woody Aragon on Penguin Magic. I instantly thought this would be perfect. After some practice, the techniques is not difficult you just need to get the sequence committed to memory, I put together my own patter and I performed it last Sunday (6th August). It went down a storm. Even for the spectators for whom it didn't work; they just blamed themselves (which is actually the case). The groom managed to get a matching Ace of Hearts! Needless to say this led to requests for additional magic during the course of the evening. Thank you Woody and thank you Penguin.

excellent

Bring strong showmanship skills to this and you will have an absolute killer effect for everyone in your audience

great routine...must be good at instructions

Great routine. Works in large groups but some people just do not handle cards well. You must be very clear in the instructions and tell them exactly what to do...in a group of 100 - 90% will get it right and because it is different for all of them very well received. I only gave it 4 out of five stars because no matter how good the magician is ...it will still fail 10% of the time based on the civilian not he magician.

Simple, Elegant, Effective

When I first saw this performed, I thought it was a beautiful trick. Then, I watched the promo video, followed along, and was equally amazed!

This is my kind of magic - it happens in the hands of the spectators, it's fairly easy for people to do (someone, somewhere, will struggle with following instructions), and the ending is amazing! I've practiced this in front of a few of the people who "proof" my performances and none of them could figure out the exact method.

On a side note, Aragon presents a variation of the trick to fool magicians. While he talks about how he doesn't feel it's as strong of an effect, I've found that the people I've performed it for liked it as much, if not more, than the normal handling!

All in all, you can't go wrong with this one!