Palm Reading
ANALYZING THE SHAPE of people’s hands and the lines on their palms is a severalthousand year old tradition. Once the province of Gypsies and mysterious magicians versed in astrology and perhaps even the so-called “black arts,” chiromancy (from the Greek cheir, “hand” and manteia, “divination”) is now more of a diverting amusement that can be performed for fun by anyone willing to suspend their disbelief and entertain, for a moment, the idea that a person’s hand is an accurate indicator of personality.
A palm reader usually “reads” a person’s dominant hand by looking at the hand’s shape and the pattern of the lines on the palm. Often a palm reader will employ a technique called “cold reading”—using shrewd observation and a little psychology to draw conclusions about a person’s life and character. Good cold readers take note of body language and demeanor and use their insight to ask questions or make smart guesses about what a person is hoping to know. In this way, the reader appears to have knowledge the person whose palm is being read doesn’t have, and may even seem to have psychic powers.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HAND
As with so many things we know today, palmistry has its roots in Greek mythology. Each part of the palm and even the fingers were associated with a particular god or goddess, and the features of that area gave the palm reader clues about the personality, nature, and future of the person whose palm was being read. The pointer finger is associated with Jupiter; clues to a person’s leadership, confidence, pride, and ambition are hidden here. The middle finger is associated with Saturn, originally a god of agriculture, and its appearance communicates information about responsibility, accountability, and self-worth. The ring finger is associated with the Greek god Apollo and its characteristics shed light on a person’s abilities in the arts. The little finger is associated with Mercury, the messenger, and tells of a person’s strengths and weaknesses in communication, negotiation, and intimacy.
Another method of reading the hand is to take note of its shape. In one tradition, hand shapes are classified by the elements: earth, air, water, and fire. Earth hands are said to have a broad and square appearance, with coarse skin, a reddish color, and a palm equal in length to the length of the fingers. Air hands have square palms with long fingers, sometimes with prominent knuckles and dry skin; the length of the palm is less than the length of the fingers. Water hands have an oval palm with long, conical fingers, and the length of the palm is equal to the length of the fingers but usually less than its width. Fire hands have square palms with short fingers and pink skin.
Other traditions classify the hands by appearance—a pointed hand, a square hand, a cone-shaped hand, a spade-shaped hand, a mixed hand—and assign personality traits to the various shapes. For instance, a person with a pointed hand appreciates art and beauty; a square hand indicates a grounded, practical, earthy person; a coneshaped hand suggests an inventive, creative personality; a person with a spade-shaped hand is a do-it-yourself go-getter; and a mixed hand denotes a generalist who is able to combine creativity with a practical nature.
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
The four lines found on almost all hands are the heart line, the head line, the life line, and the fate line.
The heart line lies toward the top of the palm, under the fingers, starting at the outer edge of the palm and extending toward the thumb and fingers. This line is said to indicate both metaphoric and literal matters of the heart, revealing clues about romantic life as well as cardiac health. The deeper the line, the stronger your emotions.
The head line begins at the inner edge of the palm beneath the index finger and extends across toward the palm’s outside edge. The head line is often joined or intertwined with the life line at its start, and the line itself is thought to indicate a person’s intellect and creativity as well as attitude and general approach to life.
The life line starts at the edge of the palm above the thumb, where it is often joined with the head line, and extends in an arc towards the wrist. This line is said to reveal a person’s vitality, health, and general well being. The life line is also said to reflect major life changes, including illness and injury—the one thing it doesn’t indicate, contrary to popular belief, is the length of a person’s life.
A fourth line found on most hands is the fate line, also called the line of destiny. It begins in the middle of the palm near the wrist and extends toward the middle finger. The deeper the line, the more a person’s life is determined by fate. A line with breaks, changes of direction, or chains indicates a personality prone to change due to circumstance beyond a person’s control.