Mnemonics

Remembering consists of three stages: recording (acquisition), retaining (storage), and retrieval. The first stage refers to learning the material, storage means keeping the material until it is needed and retrieval is actually finding the material and getting it out when it is needed. Retrieving or remembering is a function of recording and retaining. Most problems in remembering occur at the retrieval stage when, not unlike a messy filing cabinet, recorded information is not organized properly and is therefore difficult to find. This implies that improved methods of recording and retaining will improve retrieval. If a meaningful structure can be imposed on the multitude of 2136 kanji, learning and remembering will become a great deal easier than studying pages upon pages of characters. There are a number of basic principles of learning and memory that underlie almost all memory tasks. These are: meaningfulness, organization, association, visualization, feedback, and repetition.

Meaningfulness

The more something makes sense, the easier it is to learn. Rote learning, the conventional Japanese approach to acquisition of kanji, refers to trying to remember something by repeating it many times over without an attempt to make it meaningful. This is the antithesis of meaningful learning and, although nothing is impossible, it will make the learning experience much more onerous. Detecting patterns -rules or underlying principles in the material- or organizing material into meaningful units greatly facilitates the remembering process. Focusing on the composition of the character and relevant radicals makes for a very different learning experience compared to conventional Japanese literacy based on repetition.
Organization
Raw data is information that is not organized. A scrambled spreadsheet or a database whose integrity has been compromised is of little practical use. Material in (long-term) memory is also organized in order to find specific information without the need to search through everything. Therefore, the more that material is consciously organized at the learning stage, the easier it is to retrieve. This can be done by arranging the order of the material in a meaningful sequence or to group it into similar categories. The sequence in Kanji Alchemy is invariably the same and the categories are based on the correspondences of the planets that are associated with the characteristics of the signature characters.
When thinking of the seven planets -Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon-  as rooms in a mansion, the following associations could be made: 土星 cellar,  木星 living room, 火星 kitchen, 太陽 parlour, 金星 boudoir, 水星 office, 月 nursery. These “rooms” represent a mental filing system for storing characters that are associated with the appropriate planets. It is important to adhere to the order or sequence of the planets as it is a fixed progression from one room/place to the next. The attributes or correspondences should be used accordingly: the cellar is dark, quiet and cold, the parlour light, stately and spacious while the boudoir is intimate and elegant. Going from Saturn A to Moon G involves a clockwise movement with, at least in the first week, the Sun being literally at the summit of this circular progression. Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (A, B, C) have masculine attributes whereas Venus E and Moon G are feminine. Although Mercury F can be either masculine or feminine, Venus Mercury and Moon all have correspondences related to water. The signature character will therefor frequently display a water radical. This is, of course, only a suggestion and it is up to the individual to find associations that work best for her.

Association

Association refers to relating material to a familiar context. Metaphors, analogies, examples, rewording, comparing and contrasting are ways to transform new material into something that is more meaningful. Familiarity (in terms of it being meaningful) is enormously helpful because learning builds on learning; the more you can associate with the new facts, the better you will be able to remember it.
The recall sentences have their own associations with the specific sight words and signature characters within the unit. 1D for example "All Together now: it's a Sun Sun Sun Shiny Day" not only refers to the characters 日 sun 唱 recite and 晶 crystal but also to a Jimmy Cliff song.
41A "In the Ivory Tower Elegant Buds of Wickedness precede flowers of evil" is a reference to Baudelaire in addition to covering 牙 tusk, fang 雅 elegance 芽 bud, sprout and 邪 wickedness.
The following recall sentence refers to Nietsche: 23 A "The genealogy of moral is a Third Grade Brand name of Illness" with signature characters 丙 c, 3rd 柄 handle, pattern, power, nature 病 illness.
33 G is an allusion to Bach: "The Well-Tempered Perimeter" 井 well 丼 bowl (part of 天丼 tempura) and 囲 perimeter. The latter replaces clavier as in "The Well-tempered Clavier"
40 G "Edgy Takarazuka Soldier Girls Fell One By One as they Attempted their big Porky act" is a mischievous reference to the Japanese Takarazuka phenomenon.This is a well established all-female theater company with a dedicated fan base. The signature characters in 40 G are: 縁 relation(s), ties, fate, edge 塚 mound, tumulus 隊 corps, unit 墜 fall 逐 chase, pursue 遂 attain, finally and 豚 pig, pork.
Alliteration can be a potent method to aid memory: 2 F "Searching for a Sudden Outbreak of Subtitles", 33 F "An Inviting Showa Superman Summoned Swamp dwellers to Introduce the Illustrious Imperial Edict", 43 C "Brutish Bravery Seethes Savagely" and 43 E "Fertile Fairies Smilingly Dismissed Flowery Fellow Travelers".
Puns are also helpful in retaining information because (the better ones at least) can bring an element of surprise. 48 C "A Different Southern Latitude Kan give you Greater Hygiene" "Kan" is 韓 カン Korea.
44 C "Channel Ten might be Whacky, but I am Forced to say that I strongly prefer NHK" Whacky is a pun on 脇 キョウ、わき armpit. Watching Japanese television can be an exasperating experience as one has to endure an endless parade of preening and giggling t.v. personalities. The national broadcaster NHK on the other hand is by far the least annoying. 
Parallel characters have contiguous characteristics. Although these really are distinct kanji they share enough common ground to be combined. There are 24 parallel characters that are flagged with 並 in their respective keys. The following are two examples: 1 A "Convex the Mountain Hermit lives in a Concave" consists of 山 仙 AND 凸 凹 the latter being convex and concave. 62 D "Shady Mel& Shifty Barry Share an Umbrella"  曇 to cloud, dim 雲 cloud AND 傘 umbrella AND 桑 mulberry. Weather elements are combined with umbrella and mulberry has been associated with umbrella by virtue of their similar structures.  

 
Visualization

In western scholarship of past times Chinese characters were once thought to represent a universal language; the semantic elements simply conveyed the message through a pictograph bearing no relevance to any kind of phonetics. Although that is not the case, visual components of kanji should be used as a potent memory aid. The demands placed on the memory are considerable but by focusing on the structure of the signature character in the compound, especially on radicals, much better retention can be achieved. Starting from Saturn the following radicals are common due to their correspondences with their respective planets. 

Feedback

Feedback is a useful self-corrective exercise that provides valuable information on how learning is progressing. Also, it helps to learn and remember material better. One method is recitation. There are 490 recall sentences that give verbal cues about kanji. Recall sentences can be invoked at any time to evaluate how much of this information has been retained.

Repetition

Repetition is absolutely necessary for learning and in the context of learning kanji -although this would apply to most fields of studying- it could be said that the more is the better! This is an ongoing process; one should keep up a regular schedule of reviews because this practice, although perhaps less interesting than learning new kanji, will yield real results. The benefits of continued learning (reviewing) beyond the point of mere recall are in a strengthening of learning and improved retrieval speed. This process of overlearning is also important for long-term retention of kanji.
It should be noted that, as “kanji clusters” cover the entire range of “General Use Kanji”, the conventional order of starting with only “Education Kanji” is no longer the case. Common elements in the structure of kanji can occur anywhere. This means that along with frequent characters – Education Kanji, the first 1006-- less frequent characters in the “General Use Kanji” range are introduced from the beginning of the series.
The use of transliterated Japanese (romaji) should be discouraged. The convention of having katakana for on-reading and hiragana for kun-reading is to be followed. It is less effective to use romaji as it adds an extra step to the learning process. To use kana prepares for future use of Japanese-only materials and maps kanji to pronunciation in the most direct way.
It is important to cultivate the alchemical/astrological connotations that are associated with the signature characters. Developing a personal sensitivity to the nature of a character –is it masculine, feminine, benign or inauspicious- will very much aid the memorizing process. To be conscious of its location in the universe (or place in the mansion) will make it possible to “fix” the character so that it can be retrieved more easily. The seven planets' structure makes the learning phase of kanji study consistent. The associations of the planets/elements with core meanings of the kanji provide props that will help to retrieve the material. The sequence order of the “week” is to be maintained carefully because it aids retrieval of previously learned characters as this provides a predictable and consistent learning environment.