Mentalism Courses: The Best Online Options

A good mentalism course shows you what books cannot: how a working performer speaks, pauses, chooses a volunteer and recovers from a miss. A poor one sells you a handful of tricks you will never perform. This guide compares the mentalism courses that are actually available online today, from inexpensive beginner collections to multi-hour series by working mentalists, and explains who each one suits.

How we compared them: we did not take every course from start to finish, and we do not pretend to have. Each entry is based on what the provider publishes about the course (instructor, length, format and content), checked against what a complete mentalism curriculum should cover. We do not earn a commission from the course links on this page.

Mentalism Courses at a Glance

Price tiers are relative ($ is the cheapest) because prices change often and many platforms run frequent sales. Check the provider's page for the current price.

The Best Mentalism Courses for Beginners

Vanishing Inc: Complete Easy Mentalism Course

Vanishing Inc, one of the largest online magic shops, sells a short beginner course taught by its cofounders Andi Gladwin and Joshua Jay. According to the course page, it teaches eight easy mind reading effects, needs no previous experience and is delivered as instant-access video. It is the lowest-commitment way to see how professionals teach mentalism.

• ✅ Taught by experienced magic teachers
• ✅ Effects you can perform within days
• ❌ A collection of tricks, not a curriculum: no cold reading or performance theory

See the Complete Easy Mentalism Course

Udemy Mentalism Courses

Udemy hosts several mentalism courses from independent instructors. Two examples: Mentalism Course: Learn How to Become a Mentalist by Omry Ishai, whose course page lists reading thoughts, predictions, influencing choices and card mentalism among its topics, and The ABC of Mentalism: A Beginner's Guide to Mind Reading by Kunal Newar, which lists 36 lectures and about four and a half hours of video. Udemy courses come with lifetime access and are often discounted.

• ✅ Inexpensive, especially during sales
• ✅ Watch at your own pace, on any device
• ❌ Quality varies widely between instructors; read the curriculum before buying
• ❌ Some course descriptions lean on claims like "moving objects with your mind"; treat them as presentation, not reality

See the Omry Ishai course on Udemy

MasterClass: Penn & Teller Teach the Art of Magic

Penn & Teller's MasterClass is a general magic class, not a mentalism course, but it earns its place here. MasterClass lists 17 lessons and lists mentalism among the skills covered, alongside misdirection, performance and sleight of hand. One lesson, titled "Mentalist or Crook?", discusses mentalism as a genre that can be used for entertainment or for deception, and shows a mind reading effect presented for entertainment. MasterClass sells it as part of an annual membership that unlocks the whole library rather than as a single class.

• ✅ Excellent on performance, character and the ethics of mentalism
• ✅ Two of the most respected performers in magic
• ❌ Only one lesson is dedicated to mentalism
• ❌ Requires a yearly membership

See the Penn & Teller MasterClass

Mentalism Courses for Intermediate and Advanced Students

Ellusionist: The Royal Road to Mentalism

Named after the classic card magic book The Royal Road to Card Magic, this series features mentalists Mark Lemon and Peter Turner. Ellusionist describes it as more than nine hours of tuition across 12 episodes, teaching over 18 effects along with theory, with guest appearances from Christian Grace, Tobias Dostal and Antonio Bourgeois. It is also available to subscribers of Ellusionist's MagicStream service.

• ✅ Long, structured and focused entirely on mentalism
• ✅ Theory and discussion, not just tricks
• ❌ The highest price on this list if bought outright
• ❌ Some material assumes you already know the basics

See The Royal Road to Mentalism

Penguin Magic: Penguin LIVE Lectures

Penguin Magic records live online lectures by working performers and sells them as downloads. Its catalog includes mentalism lectures by performers such as Luke Jermay, Colin McLeod and Kenton Knepper, each running two to four hours. Lectures are less structured than a course but show how professionals think about their material.

• ✅ Direct access to how working mentalists think
• ✅ Buy one lecture at a time
• ❌ Not a curriculum; you choose what to watch next

See a Penguin LIVE mentalism lecture

Vanishing Inc: Mentalism Masterclasses

Vanishing Inc's Masterclass program is a monthly subscription in which a performer teaches two live lectures of about 90 minutes each month, with question and answer sessions and access to past recordings. Mentalists who have taught series include Luke Jermay, whose masterclass focuses on mentalism for small, informal groups, and Luca Volpe, whose first session teaches a complete parlor mentalism show.

• ✅ Live access and questions with a working mentalist
• ✅ Can be paused or canceled
• ❌ A recurring cost rather than a one-off purchase

See the Vanishing Inc Masterclasses

Books as a Mentalism Course

Before video, mentalists learned from books, and many still do. Two classics are effectively complete courses.

13 Steps to Mentalism

Tony Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism was written as a course in thirteen parts, from the swami gimmick, pencil reading and muscle reading through memory systems, predictions, billets, book tests and two-person telepathy, to publicity stunts and patter and presentation. It remains the most complete single course on the art. Our page on 13 Steps to Mentalism explains what each step covers and where to find a legal edition.

Practical Mental Magic

Theodore Annemann's collection of more than 200 effects, first published in 1944, is the gentler starting point. It works best alongside a short video course, so you can see effects performed that the book describes in text. Our guide to mentalism books covers both and the alternatives.

What a Complete Mentalism Course Should Cover

Use this list to judge any course or bundle of courses. No single product on this page covers all of it, which is why most performers combine a book with one or two video sources.

How to Choose a Mentalism Course

Match the Course to Your Stage

If you have never performed, start with a short beginner course and one book. If you already have a routine or two, a long series or a lecture by a working mentalist will teach you far more. Our mentalism learning plan sets out what to study at each stage.

Check What Is Actually Taught

Read the curriculum. A course worth paying for should cover presentation and scripting, not only methods. Be wary of descriptions that promise real psychic abilities, "mind control" or results in an hour.

Look at Who Teaches It

Instructors who perform for real audiences teach the details that matter: wording, pacing and what to do when something goes wrong. Look for a track record of performing, not just of selling courses.

Do Not Learn from Exposure Videos

Free videos that reveal commercial effects are often uploaded without the creator's permission. Buying the original supports the people who invented the material, and you get the full method and the thinking behind it.

Are There Mentalism Classes in Person?

We are not aware of any accredited university degree in mentalism. In-person learning happens through magic clubs (local assemblies of the Society of American Magicians and rings of the International Brotherhood of Magicians), magic conventions and lectures by touring performers. Psychology courses teach some of the underlying science, such as perception, memory and the Barnum effect, but not performance. If performing is your goal, our guide on how to become a mentalist covers the path from first routine to first paid show.