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An awful lot has changed over the past twenty or so years.When I wrote my first book
(The Card Ideas of Simon Aronson,1978), I tipped my mitt on a lot of “underground”
stuff that I had developed, using the memorized deck. In my introductory essay to
that chapter, I mentioned that I sometimes felt “guiltily pleased” that so few of
our advanced cardicians had (at that time) ever considered using the memorized deck.
Well, I can’t feel such guilt any longer because the memorized deck has certainly
come
of age. Indeed, the past few years have seen a groundswell of interest in this
venerable tool among some of the world’s most respected magical thinkers and
performers. Lecturers at magic clubs around the country have showcased memorized
deck miracles. But the enthusiasm is not limited just to the professionals. In magic
chat rooms on the Internet,and at magic conventions, I am regularly besieged by eager,
inventive amateurs who want to show me their latest twist or accomplishment with a
memorized deck – and many are really good! The momentum is growing and contagious, and the sheer number
of cardicians now using a memorized stack has produced a synergy that is causing the
number of effects, tips, variations, and new principles to multiply exponentially.
I’m happy to have been part of the inspiration for this renaissance, but there’s no
reason to stop there. I’m constantly working on new memorized deck effects. So, it’s
about time that you joined the ranks also.
About This Introduction
As the title implies, the purpose of this booklet is simply to introduce you to some of
the basic principles and
applications you need to know to get started with a memorized
deck. In Section I, I define a few of the basic
terms, and answer some of the more
frequently asked questions about how to approach the topic. In Section
II, I try to
les that are
commonly used in memorized deck applications. These principles are
illustrated with several simple, though
quite fooling, location effects. In Section III
,
I offer some thoughts on how one can best go about learning a
memorized stack. At
various points I refer to some of my favorite “memorized miracles” and to my books,
so
for convenience in looking up those references, I’ve included in Appendix A a
current bibliography of all of my
published writings on memorized deck magic. Finally,
in Appendix B, I’ve set forth the Aronson stack, in case
you want to learn it.
I hope this brief introduction will make you feel more comfortable with, and will whet
your appetite for further
exploration of, memorized deck magic.
Please understand what this Introduction is not. It’s not a “summary” of everything
there is to know about
memorized decks; to the contrary, it barely scratches the
surface. It’s also not a substitute for reading my books.
I’ve been publishing
material on the memorized deck since 1972. If you’re familiar with my writings,
you know
that I’m usually quite detailed (my friends say “exhaustive”) in
discussing the underlying principles, tradeoffs,
lead-ins and clean-ups, variations, credits and other references concerning each effect. This
Introduction
however, goes in the opposite direction – the discussions are intentionally abbreviated, and are expressly meant
to
point you toward my books for further exploration and discussion of the material.
(If you already have read
all my books, you probably don’t need this Introduction
at all).
