Mnemonic

[limpbiz2789]

Hey Guys,
I was recently hanging out at Fantasma in nyc and the owner performed what I remember being called Mnemonic. I would love to learn this effect and was wondering if I could get some help and direction of where to go first. I thought it was called mnemonic but every search I did, it would only come up with numbers instead of cards.

The Effect:
Take out a deck of cards and shuffle it. Say to the spectator a number...example 5. Then I'll say OOOooo hmm queen of hearts (again example) and once I say that I turn over the cards one by one from the top of the deck until I reach the 5th card. Turn that 5th card over and its the queen of hearts.

I would love to know the history of the effect, creator, where to learn it etc etc.

Thanks,
Sean Whelan
3D Artist

 

[AsherF]

Mnemonics is a basically an aid to help improve your memory. There are many different techniques for this and it is applied to do much more than just magic. A simple understanding of this is if you want to memorize, let's say, a phone number quickly. You'd already have (through practice) a set system for numbers in your head. Like for the number one, you associate the visual of a gun, because gun sounds like one. And for two, you'd visualize a shoe. Three, a tree. Four, a door. Five, a knife. Six, sticks. Seven could be heaven. Eight, a gate. Nine, a line. And ten, a hen. It doesn't have to be these exact examples, but I'm just giving you an idea to run with. Now say you get the phone number 546 3321, you immediately create a visual in your head (a knife stuck in a door made of sticks. Two trees wearing a shoe holding a gun.) it sounds silly but read the sentence and you'll have the number memorized without looking back. This is just one example. Juan Tamariz has a book on this with a mnemonic system to memorize stacks in his book mnemonics. Derren brown covers something closer to what I gave you in his book tricks of the mind. I believe Dee Christopher has a book on memory techniques as well. It's an incredibly useful tool for everyday life if you practice it and use it. I wish I had.

 

[D ICE R]

To extend on what AsherF stated earlier the concept of mnemonics is just to add in memorising lists either on a short or long term basis.

Applying this to a deck of cards has been around for a long long time, as essentially it is just remembering a list of cards in a known order. There are many different stacked decks which you can use and Mnemonica is one of the most common and it appears in print in Juan Tamariz's book of the same name. Personally I use the Joyal Stack (in Shocked for those who use it) because I liked his approach more so than Tamariz's. Basically I used Mnemonica in practice but never to the point where I felt comfortable so I picked up the PDF of the Joyal stack and fell in love with it.

For more information see the following links:
http://www.deceptionary.com/aboutstacks.html

The full Joyal book $20
http://www.hermeticpress.com/product_info.php?products_id=67

Just the stack $10
http://www.hermeticpress.com/product_info.php?products_id=66

 

[Mat La Vore]

To extend on what AsherF stated earlier the concept of mnemonics is just to add in memorising lists either on a short or long term basis.

Applying this to a deck of cards has been around for a long long time, as essentially it is just remembering a list of cards in a known order. There are many different stacked decks which you can use and Mnemonica is one of the most common and it appears in print in Juan Tamariz's book of the same name. Personally I use the Joyal Stack (in Shocked for those who use it) because I liked his approach more so than Tamariz's. Basically I used Mnemonica in practice but never to the point where I felt comfortable so I picked up the PDF of the Joyal stack and fell in love with it.

For more information see the following links:
http://www.deceptionary.com/aboutstacks.html

The full Joyal book $20
http://www.hermeticpress.com/product_info.php?products_id=67

Just the stack $10
http://www.hermeticpress.com/product_info.php?products_id=66

I learned the Joyal stack too (in shocked order also), and have gotten a ton of use out of it and loved it ever since. It's a great looking stack, quick to learn, and always easy to recall. Great book for learning a stack.

 

[D ICE R]

Interestingly enough my favourite work to do around the concept of a stacked deck actually uses a complete and shuffled deck.

(Memory Jumble from Mnemonica, with a few variations for those playing at home.)

 

[Custom Table Pads]

Is so nice comment for this articles.

 

[CatherineS]

I used to attend mnemonic courses last year, and that was quite useful. Basically, they teach u how to improve your memorizing skills, which is very handy nowadays when there are tons of info around u. It's actually nice not to be dependent on mobile devices (or old school notes, whatever u prefer ) and rely on ur memory.

 

[SanchezMagic]

Does anyone know where I can find a copy of the H. Adrian Smith chapter "Mnemonics with Cards" from J. N. Hillard's Greater Magic?

 

[TeeDee]

Does anyone know where I can find a copy of the H. Adrian Smith chapter "Mnemonics with Cards" from J. N. Hillard's Greater Magic?

At the risk of sounding obvious, what's wrong with Greater Magic as a source?

 

[SanchezMagic]

At the risk of sounding obvious, what's wrong with Greater Magic as a source?

It would cost me well over $400 to get...

 

[TeeDee]

It would cost me well over $400 to get...

I think your best bet would be to keep an eye on eBay or second-hand book websites. I got my copy for around $50. I should say, that's not the 1994 Kaufman and Greenberg reprint which does go for hundreds, but an edition of the original version which contains the chapter you want but is much less rare.

 

[SanchezMagic]

I think your best bet would be to keep an eye on eBay or second-hand book websites. I got my copy for around $50. I should say, that's not the 1994 Kaufman and Greenberg reprint which does go for hundreds, but an edition of the original version which contains the chapter you want but is much less rare.

Thanks for that...I will be keeping my eyes open then.