Palmistry
Palmistry is the divinatory art of reading the lines, mounts and shapes of the hand, especially the palm, to extract information about the personality, life path, talents and probable destiny of the person. One of the oldest and most universally practised divinatory techniques.
Ancient origin
Palmistry has roots in India, where it was practised at least from 3000 BC as part of Hindu astrology (Hasta Samudrika Shastra). From there it travelled to China, Persia, Egypt, ancient Greece (where Aristotle wrote on the subject) and medieval Europe. In the Middle Ages it was practised by Jewish, Arab and Christian masters, until in the 19th century the great occultist Adrien Adolphe Desbarrolles systematised the modern Western system.
Etymology: from the Greek kheir ("hand") and manteia ("divination"). In English it is also called palmistry (palm reading) or chirognomy (hand shape and finger reading) versus chiromancy (line reading). Strictly the two terms differ: chirognomy studies the structural shape of the hand (square, conical, philosophical, etc.) and chiromancy studies the lines.
Lines and mounts
The four major lines: life line (curves around the thumb — vitality and important changes), head line (crosses horizontally — intelligence and mentality), heart line (above the head — affective and emotional life) and destiny line (vertical from the wrist — vocation and career). Their length, depth, breaks and crosses are interpreted.
The seven mounts: each finger has an associated mount (Jupiter under the index, Saturn under the middle, Apollo/Sun under the ring, Mercury under the little finger). Two more in the palm: Venus (base of the thumb), Moon (opposite). Plus Mars (between Mercury and Moon). Their development indicates which planetary energy predominates in the person — connecting palmistry with traditional astrology.
It is read in the active hand (right for right-handers) what you are doing with your life, and in the passive hand (left for right-handers) what you came with at birth. Differences between the two indicate where you have moved away from your original blueprint and where you remain faithful to it.
How it is consulted
A full palmistry consultation analyses: shape of the hand, length and proportion of fingers, prominent mounts, four major lines and minor lines (intuition, marriage, journeys, fortune), special signs (stars, crosses, squares on specific points). It does not predict closed destiny — it shows tendencies. Lines change throughout life: there is a fascinating empirical observation that hand prints from the same person 30 years apart show evolution in the lines.
Also known as
- Palmistry
- Hand reading
- Chirology