Symbolic Notation Examples
Listed here is a set of documents in symbolic notation. They were created though the Symbolic Method app available on the App Store for IOS devices. The documents are meant to give guidance and ideas. Consider them master solutions that inspire you to increase your own symbolic skillset. All tricks represent top material that you may find relevant and valuable on its own. A big thanks to all authors and publishers for authorizing this publication and making this possible!
These documents are no ends in themselves. It's not about the symbols, it's about helping students remember and recap trick details quickly, and thus contributing to the overall flow. This does not exclude a serious learning phase, headache and work, initially. But if you believe in abstraction and see the benefits of digital formats, then don't let the cacaphony of lines and shapes intimidate you. They didn't teach us any of that at school, so start relaxed, read some of the whitepapers on this website, start simple using just pencil and paper and eventually you'll start making sense of all this. You'll be a pioneer.
And remember: this is just a stenographic format. Many good ideas expressed in the original source, be it in the introductory comments, in the afterthoughts and in the detailed descriptions itself, may have been skipped. So, the books with the original prose are available, ideally directly through the editorial.
Tap the red Acrobat Reader icons to review the PDF documents. Tap the blue Yeahgic Symbols icon to download the document.
Moves, Solutions
Attempts over Vernon's Pull Through False Shuffle
Lewis Ganson, Dai Vernon's More Inner Secrets, p. 43, The Supreme Magic Company, 1960
Attempts over Vernon's Pull Out False Shuffle
Lewis Ganson, Dai Vernon's More Inner Secrets, p. 47, The Supreme Magic Company, 1960
Ramón Riobóo's diabolish dynamic force and control
Ramón Riobóo, Thinking the Impossible, p. 13,
Tricks
Allan Ackerman's take on Brother John Hamman's The Twins
Allan Ackerman, How to Tame a Moose 2nd Edition, p.14, an Allan Ackerman publication, 1995
Allan Ackerman's take on Paul Harris's Reset Plot
Allan Ackerman, How to Tame a Moose 2nd Edition, p.29, an Allan Ackerman publication, 1995
Aaron Fisher's take on the Sandwich plot
Aaron Fisher, The Paper Engine, p.104, Hermetic Press, 2002
Aaron Fisher's take on the 1-of-4-cards-finds-the-way-to-selection with a kicker
Aaron Fisher, The Paper Engine, p.94, Hermetic Press, 2002
Aaron Fisher's take on a quick coincidence
Aaron Fisher, The Paper Engine, p.62, Hermetic Press, 2002
Pit Hartling & Denis Behr's take on the center deal demonstration
Denis Behr, Handcrafted Card Magic Vol. 2, p. 20, Denis Behr publication, 2011
Ralph Cos's take on Jay Sankey's Airtight effect
Ralph Cos, Magical Mystery Yeahs & Wows p. 20, Simsalabonn, 1987
The publication for all notations marked by * has been authorized by the original authors. Title links by courtesy of Denis Behr's Conjuring Archive.