Once you know how, it’s like writing on a piece of paper and then reading the answer. Instead of paper, we use anything that’s already sequential and stable in your memory. Memorisers commonly use a Memory Palace: locations along a route through a place you know.
There are 52 cards in a deck. To start with, we’re going to be memorising the cards in pairs, so we’ll need a memory palace with 26 locations.
Close your eyes and imagine you’re walking through a place you know well. If there’s a choice of directions, pretend that you’ve got one of your hands on the wall, and keep it there: run your hand along the wall to keep you going in the same direction. If you meet a dead end, pretend that there’s a ladder out of the window and continue from where it takes you, or pretend that there’s a magic door that leads you somewhere else and continue from there.
At each unique location, notice where you are. Think about the colours, textures, sounds, smells, the objects and people associated with that location. Try to keep each location distinct.
If you want to write down your palace that’s fine. Eventually you won’t need to.
As for writing on this ‘paper’, we’ll be creating Symbolic Scenes that represent the cards in an entertaining manner, and imagine those scenes taking place in those locations. Memorisers commonly use the Major System to create symbolic scenes out of numbers. The Major System converts numbers into consonants; with the addition of whatever vowels you choose, you can turn numbers into words for characters and objects for your symbolic scenes.
Here’s the Major System, with three additions of my own for the picture cards. Learning the Major System involves using your imagination to create logical links between things, which is what memorisation is all about. Eventually, using the Major System becomes second nature, like a language you’ve learned.
Let’s practice using the Major System on some numbers.
To get a word from each card, we read the card as though it were a two-digit number. The ‘value’ of the card (Ace to King) is the first of the two numbers. The ‘suit’ of the card is the second. Here’s a quick way of turning the suits into numbers:
Let’s practice using the Major System on some cards.
To memorise the deck of cards, we look at the cards two at a time, and combine the two words to create a memorable scene. We imagine those scenes taking place in each of the locations in your memory palace. Here’s a couple of examples.
It’s important to make the first word the active participant in the scene, to preserve the order of the pair. It’s a sentient bumper car chasing Harry Potter, not the other way around. Beyond that, the extra details of the scenes and the way the words interact is entirely up to you. The more sensory detail, humour, and narrative you include in the scene, the more memorable it will be. For example, in the first scene (Ace of Spades, Two of Hearts), I’d include some details of the Nando’s restaurant. Perhaps the tadpole leaves a thin trail of water on the table; maybe the tadpole calls over a waiter to complain that his Nando’s Beanie Pitta doesn’t have the pineapple slice he ordered. Is the waiter flummoxed that there’s a tadpole eating here? Or is the tadpole a regular? It’s entirely up to your imagination, and the more you enjoy the narrative you’ve created the more memorable it will be.
Once you’ve imagined 26 scenes, encoding 1 couplet in each location, you’re ready to recall the deck of cards! Simply imagine walking through your locations in order, look at what’s going on there, and decode the words back into cards. A tadpole eating a Nando’s? Must be the Ace of Spades and the Two of Hearts.
Enjoy using this fun method to memorise a deck of cards. When you’re starting out I suggest carrying a deck with you, and converting a couplet of cards into a memorable scene whenever you’ve got a minute to spare. You don’t have to memorise the image each time, just get fluid with converting cards into words and couplets of cards into scenes. You’ll be getting lots of practice with the Major System, and with creating symbolic scenes.
When you’re ready to increase your speed and accuracy, come back to me for Lesson Two and you can learn the PAO (Person, Action, Object) system, which will allow you to create symbolic scenes that encode four cards in order. You can still use your Memory Palace with 26 locations, except now you’ll be able to memorise two decks! And you’ll still be using the Major System to create your images.
