Chiromancy (Palmistry)

Does anyone here practice palmistry? I've been browsing chiromancy materials every now and then, trying to get a basic handle on how it's done. So far I've only been focusing on the basics, but nearly every aspect of the hand is analyzed in most schools of chiromancy. The coloration, fingerprint patterns, hand shape, finger shapes and lengths, the wrist lines, the nails, the knuckles and of course the lines on the palms themselves.

For hand shapes there seem to be two different classifications. One based on the 4 classical elements and another based on the work of a man calling himself Cheiro consisting of 7 classifications that are, in my opinion, very coarse and misanthropic. For example he refers to the first type of hand, the 'elemental' hand as belonging to an order of the "lowest of humanity" indicating that a shortness of fingers and relative stumpiness of the hand was a strong sign of stunted intellect and enslavement to one's 'animal nature'. His work is interesting though it seems very much inspired by the spirit of the eugenicists of his day and I prefer not to use it primarily for that reason. Despite this his work does have some interesting speculations and is worth reading for any serious student of chiromancy. His classic work Palmistry For All can be found here at project gutenberg;

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20480/20480-h/20480-h.htm

As I've said I prefer the method wherein hand shapes are modeled after the 4 elements. It is a much simpler, universal method based on the ratios of the length of the hands, rather than particular details concerning the shapes of the fingers and other factors which are all too easily influenced by numerous variables. This page does a good job of summing up the 4 elemental hand types;

http://www.astropalmistry.com/chirognomy.html

Just a quick glance at the modeled hands and you can probably already deduce which element rules your hands, however if it is not so apparent a simple measurement of the ratio of the finger area to the palm area will determine which of the 4 rule. One of the 4 always does, that is the beauty of this simpler, more elegant and unslanted system.

One of the primary reasons I study chiromancy is out of wanting to make syncretic connections between systems of occult divination. Dr. Farr's numerological method of tarot correspondences to the degrees/minutes of the planets which can be found here; http://www.astrologyweekly.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25305
is another good example of attempts to syncretize occult systems of knowledge. I believe that the more comparisons which are found between the two, the more potential insight can be had.

For example, my astrological Sun is in Leo and my palms are of the Fire elemental type. Using Farr's method which has only incorporated the 22 major arcana of the tarot I could not see much of a correspondence, but using my own method based on the aesthetic considerations of each card taken individually as an archetype, my chart is dominated by the suit of wands and trump cards such as Passion, The Sun and The Chariot, all cards with a clear (perhaps not so much for the Chariot) dominance of the Fire element. On the prints of my fingers, referred to as dermatoglyphs by palmists, there is a dominance of fire glyphs, the distinct upright triangular figure formed by the lines of the prints.

Please share your experience or interest in palmistry, if you would like you can post a picture of your hand and I will see what I can gather from it. Please take into consideration the protection of your identity before doing that however. You have nothing to fear from me but we are on the internet.

When I was a child I read 2 books about palmistry and I agree totally with your ideas.
What I never could find is what means to have 2 destiny lines. It is like seing my moon in gemini (also Saturn there), ...one fate line comes diagonal from the moon mount towards de middlefinger or Saturn finger ending on the heart line and the other line as usual in the middle, near the life line towards the end of the other fate line.
If you know or somebody else please let me know.

Carmen C said:

When I was a child I read 2 books about palmistry and I agree totally with your ideas.
What I never could find is what means to have 2 destiny lines. It is like seing my moon in gemini (also Saturn there), ...one fate line comes diagonal from the moon mount towards de middlefinger or Saturn finger ending on the heart line and the other line as usual in the middle, near the life line towards the end of the other fate line.
If you know or somebody else please let me know.

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Well the most obvious thing it means is that you have or have had 2 separate destinies! Note if the lines show up on both palms or just the dominant one. If they show up on both, that is indeed interesting and may suggest a destiny involving some kind of metaphysical crossroads. If it only shows up on your nondominant it may suggest you came into this life with two separate destinies but have brought them together. If it only shows up on your dominant that suggests you have made a split with the fate you came into this life with and that your free will is being used in direct opposition to this (not necessarily a bad thing unless there are other indications of that).

OR this is actually an unusual marking and I don't remember it being specifically identified, but it might be unusual in the sense that it's like a Cross or a Psychic's Line. Very uncommon mark denoting some kind of talent or particular life influence.

Choe said:

Wow yes, seems like these occult arts are all harmoniously connected.

My palm hand type matches not my Sun sign element like in your case, but my most dominant element for sure.

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What type of palm is it?

I'll post some info about rare markings next, always interested to see those

The Ring of Solomon is one interesting marking, it's a clear and distinct ring around the mount of Jupiter and the index finger. It denotes leadership and power. Michael Jackson had a very distinct one.

It's difficult to imagine a soul with 2 destinies. It only shows in my dominant (right) hand and I don't know if I made a split with my destiny. It seems to me that both lines can join together under Saturn finger.
I thought it could have something to do with changing 2 times countries, but if so, then many people would have 2 or more destiny lines.

Poor Michael, I still feel sorry and even angry about his death. But yes, Saturn Ring is not frequent and is observed in people that in later years of life come to a high knowledge level in that what the person dedicated his/her life which is applicable in Michael's last years. Medias of course did not reflect his interest in Philosopy and his reflections about life. Traditionally it is associated to wise people. That's what I remember.

In my opinion, the same as we study in Astrology the physical aspect about the body, the same should be there always a few lessons in palmistry for Astrologer students because it is very close related and is a tool to complete the astrological analysis. So, thank you for this post.

For me the most amazing thing about palmistry is how the lines change along the years. You take a picture today from your palms and in a few years you can have a surprise .

Thank you for this palmistry question, Zonark!
Palmistry, the natal chart of one's hands!
Carmen, I see the two destiny lines as two paths of purpose or two careers in life. Your one destiny line from the Moon Mount ending on the heart line near the Saturn finger is telling of a path you chose that you were passionate about, and that represented your own personal goals for yourself. The other destiny line in the middle, near the life line, is telling of a path that your parents or family persuaded or wanted for you, so that you would be well off. Those two destiny lines can mean that a person works on two different goals, goals for herself or himself and goals for her or his family or two careers, one career that is pleasing to herself or himself and another career that is pleasing to her or his family. Another perspective is following one's passionate ideal, but also following the reality that helps one survive. You may have taken two careers, one that you were passionate about and the other that pleased your family. Both destiny lines would show that astrological analogy of the Moon in Gemini you found: one line representing the achievement of your emotional ideals in life and the other achieving the realities of simple survival. These destiny lines are so similar to the North Node in astrology and the path showing us where we are headed. They are a sign pointing to our developmental bridges that end in spiritual completion.

I have great respect for palmistry although I myself have not made a detailed study of it; seems the Vedics have done a great deal in this field (palmistry dates back to Vedic and Pauaranic times in India, as one of the special studies along with astrology) In India, some astrological adepts use an anlysis of the thumb to determine which sign should actually be used as the ascendant, ie, the sign which actually "took" as the ascendant at the time of birth (Rao, I think, has written a book on the astrological/ascendant connection of the thumb) Certainly an interesting way to rectify a birth chart!!

Transformingself: that makes sense to me, there was a strong opposition in my parents house for learning what I wanted. So I studied something "polite and correct" for them and when I finished I only found drama and poorness and also I never could fulfill my wishes in improving and putting in practice what I studied hidden in my room.
dr.farr: this book must be very interesting, I saw it divides every rising sign in 4 tipes/4 types of thumbs in each sign. Ancient people were so clever, and today with so much information in Internet, I still don't find in my area people who wonder about the lines of the palm.
In Spain it is known that "gitanos" (gypsis) look in first place the thumb, now I understand why.
I only encountered once in my life an palmist and it was a frustrating experience that lead me to buy a book to look for an answer. I never resolved the mistery but the book was very good, it was about Quirology, more about analysing the hand with your health, in the style that Francisco Rodriguez works. So sad that this book is km away from me, and I can't remember titel or author.

Carmen C said:

It's difficult to imagine a soul with 2 destinies. It only shows in my dominant (right) hand and I don't know if I made a split with my destiny. It seems to me that both lines can join together under Saturn finger.
I thought it could have something to do with changing 2 times countries, but if so, then many people would have 2 or more destiny lines.

Poor Michael, I still feel sorry and even angry about his death. But yes, Saturn Ring is not frequent and is observed in people that in later years of life come to a high knowledge level in that what the person dedicated his/her life which is applicable in Michael's last years. Medias of course did not reflect his interest in Philosopy and his reflections about life. Traditionally it is associated to wise people. That's what I remember.

In my opinion, the same as we study in Astrology the physical aspect about the body, the same should be there always a few lessons in palmistry for Astrologer students because it is very close related and is a tool to complete the astrological analysis. So, thank you for this post.

For me the most amazing thing about palmistry is how the lines change along the years. You take a picture today from your palms and in a few years you can have a surprise .

Click to expand...

Oh yes the line changes are most helpful in noting the general direction of one's life as well as serving as a wonderful way to contrast and thus test the markings of the palms and what they could mean for the bearer! For example I actually have a developing Ring of Solomon on my right palm (my dominant hand) and on the left it is almost completely absent! My life line on my left palm is split into 3 separate lines and on the light it has merged into one with branching ends in the center making a rather large (about 1 inch long) island and a very large X has formed at the bottom whereas on my left palm the X is obscured by all sorts of crisscrossing lines. On my left palm there is a clear V and a diamond shape on the mount of Apollo yet the diamond is fading on the right hand. It is quite amazing how much of Michael's private interest in the occult and mystery teachings, which was clearly of a higher and more altruistic respect for the knowledge, has gone almost completely unnoticed. He had a rather unfortunate life, all things considered.

No idea what any of it means

TransformingSelf said:

Thank you for this palmistry question, Zonark!
Palmistry, the natal chart of one's hands!
Carmen, I see the two destiny lines as two paths of purpose or two careers in life. Your one destiny line from the Moon Mount ending on the heart line near the Saturn finger is telling of a path you chose that you were passionate about, and that represented your own personal goals for yourself. The other destiny line in the middle, near the life line, is telling of a path that your parents or family persuaded or wanted for you, so that you would be well off. Those two destiny lines can mean that a person works on two different goals, goals for herself or himself and goals for her or his family or two careers, one career that is pleasing to herself or himself and another career that is pleasing to her or his family. Another perspective is following one's passionate ideal, but also following the reality that helps one survive. You may have taken two careers, one that you were passionate about and the other that pleased your family. Both destiny lines would show that astrological analogy of the Moon in Gemini you found: one line representing the achievement of your emotional ideals in life and the other achieving the realities of simple survival. These destiny lines are so similar to the North Node in astrology and the path showing us where we are headed. They are a sign pointing to our developmental bridges that end in spiritual completion.

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Excellent interpretation TransformingSelf! Indeed the path to spiritual fulfillment here is bridging the gap between the two. One cannot walk down two paths at the same time! Carmen, could you describe your Moon and Saturn mounts in greater detail, as well as noting any marks on the line that crosses between the two?

dr. farr said:

I have great respect for palmistry although I myself have not made a detailed study of it; seems the Vedics have done a great deal in this field (palmistry dates back to Vedic and Pauaranic times in India, as one of the special studies along with astrology) In India, some astrological adepts use an anlysis of the thumb to determine which sign should actually be used as the ascendant, ie, the sign which actually "took" as the ascendant at the time of birth (Rao, I think, has written a book on the astrological/ascendant connection of the thumb) Certainly an interesting way to rectify a birth chart!!

Click to expand...

Very interesting clue! I'll hunt that book down. The Vedic era has so much fascinating knowledge, I really must commit myself to learning Sanskrit. I had started memorizing the Deva script but became a bit discouraged when I couldn't manage to remember further than 52 symbols as there are 321 in total composing the Sanskrit 'alphabet'
It would probably help to have something of actual history to study. The Bhagavad Gita in its original script perhaps.

Do you remember anything else regarding the thumb and ascendant? I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it was almost entirely concerning the angles of the thumb when the hand was held out naturally and the finger muscles relaxed. I'll go further and suggest perhaps if the angle of the upper phalanx of the thumb preferred to turn inward the polarity was Feminine and thus the ascendant would be an Earth or Water sign (saying because my Ascendant is Capricorn and my thumb angles inward when held out naturally). Perhaps there was also taken into consideration the length of each phalanx in relation to the other. The second phalanx as shorter than the first denoting a Yang dominant ascendant (Fire or Air) and the second longer than the first denoting Yin. Does this hold true for your thumb/ascendant? For others?

Interesting, although when considering the element's parts(hot, cold, dry, and moist), if you want to keep it syncretic, they don't correspond when comparing the hand proportions to it.

For example, Earth is cold and dry. I would have expected to see some connections from both Fire(hot and dry) and Water(cold and moist). There seems to be a connection between Fire and Earth only(both dry), being short fingers, but none with Water. Earth shares even more of the same qualities with Water than Fire, both being cold and feminine. Then there's a connection between Earth and Air(hot and moist), both having square palms, who share no quality in common.

So maybe there's some connection that we haven't found yet between Earth and Air. The only similarity I can think of is that they both listen to logic.

Earth hand does fit me though, and I'm heavily Earth in my chart.

NorthNodePisces said:

Interesting, although when considering the element's parts(hot, cold, dry, and moist), if you want to keep it syncretic, they don't correspond when comparing the hand proportions to it.

For example, Earth is cold and dry. I would have expected to see some connections from both Fire(hot and dry) and Water(cold and moist). There seems to be a connection between Fire and Earth only(both dry), being short fingers, but none with Water. Earth even shares even more of the same qualities with Water than Fire, both being cold and feminine. Then there's a connection between Earth and Air(hot and moist), both having square palms, who share no quality in common.

So maybe there's some connection that we haven't found yet between Earth and Air. The only similarity I can think of is that they're both biased towards logic.

Earth hand does fit me though, and I'm heavily Earth in my chart.

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Wait so you're saying that the quality of dry equates to shortness of fingers? How do you figure? Air is also cold and dry, not hot and moist. It can be hot but air is moist only when it carries water so it's not a principal of Air. Water is always moist and moistness is always an attribute of water. Earth is moist when carrying water, just like Air is moist when carrying water. Fire is always hot and dry. Water is always cold, fire is always hot. Both air and earth can be either hot or cold (rocks absorb heat quite well for example). Water is always moist, fire is always dry, both air and earth can be moist and dry. The connection I see between earth and air is that they're inconstant in their properties and are more subject to the other elements.

If we have an alternate polarity to the Earth and Water vs. Fire and Air as feminine vs. masculine polarities respectively, it would be Earth and Air as subjective and Fire and Water as objective in their properties.

Since those are the only current categories given to the elements in Astrology, I tried to find correspondences between them. It's not meant to be definitive, just noticed there's no meshing between the two solid ideas, so I thought there's possibly more undiscovered qualities of the elements.

The element's parts are understood metaphorically when considering their personalities(although somehow physically exist, just don't know how in the context of a human, not so sure about the black/yellow bile, phlegm, etc.), since both Fire and Air are active and masculine(hot), but Fire is figuratively separating and are individualists, therefore are potentially leading(dry) while Air is figuratively connecting and led(moist).

The philosophy of the element's natures in astrology are based off the Greek's philosophy of humors:

I'm so glad you asked this palmistry question, Zonark. I used to be preoccupied with interpreting hands before I studied astrology. Now, I see the two come together from your thread in this forum, and I see how much they mirror each other. Their mirroring is not only in planetary names: Luna/Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and others, but in the progressions of lines, just like chart progressions, and the closeness/distance of lines, just like aspect formation in astrology. One can see one's own hands as space with planetary trajectories.

Zonark said:

Wait so you're saying that the quality of dry equates to shortness of fingers? How do you figure?

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Could be, since dryness will separate, thus making things shorter. Moist is connective, gathering, thus making things bigger.

NorthNodePisces said:

Since those are the only current categories given to the elements in Astrology, I tried to find correspondences between them. It's not meant to be definitive, just noticed there's no meshing between the two solid ideas, so I thought there's possibly more undiscovered qualities of the elements.

The element's parts are understood metaphorically when considering their personalities(although somehow physically exist, just don't know how in the context of a human, not so sure about the black/yellow bile, phlegm, etc.), since both Fire and Air are active and masculine(hot), but Fire is figuratively separating and are individualists, therefore are potentially leading(dry) while Air is figuratively connecting and led(moist).

The philosophy of the element's natures in astrology are based off the Greek's philosophy of humors:

Click to expand...

Hmm, okay here it's pairing water with air as wet, which makes sense. Water and earth is cold always too, but water and air, not always. In elemental palmistry the elements are not being connected, so Air wouldn't be Moist, as Moist is a quality between Air and Water. Like Cold is a quality between Water and Earth. Cold is not synonymous with either Water or Earth, but is what happens when both are paired. Just as Moist is not synonymous with either Water or Air (Water is not so much moist as it is wet, moist implies a dampness caused by water, water itself is more than moist). So therefore an Air hand would not be Moist and thus not shorter, it would be Airy, spacious, billious and expansive. The 4 elemental palm types don't account for the intermediary combinations of elements when assessing the most basic elemental ruler (which is always one of the 4!).

NorthNodePisces said:

Could be, since dryness will separate, thus making things shorter. Moist is connective, gathering, thus making things bigger.

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Separation will make things longer, not shorter, as it causes space to gather between them. Moistness is condensation, so gathering, shortening and compacting of matter.

TransformingSelf said:

I'm so glad you asked this palmistry question, Zonark. I used to be preoccupied with interpreting hands before I studied astrology. Now, I see the two come together from your thread in this forum, and I see how much they mirror each other. Their mirroring is not only in planetary names: Luna/Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and others, but in the progressions of lines, just like chart progressions, and the closeness/distance of lines, just like aspect formation in astrology. One can see one's own hands as space with planetary trajectories.

Click to expand...

Yes the syncretic links between the two are astonishing! I am noticing that there may even be syncretic connections between the aspects in the chart and the lines on the hands but usually on the nondominant hand, the one that has not been subjected to change over the course of one's lifetime!

For example on my left hand there is a clear line from the mount of mars to the mount of Pluto and I have Mars opposite Pluto in my natal chart, quite a rough aspect. Yet in my right hand this line is absent suggesting I may have resolved that affliction to some degree! More insights on the relation of aspects to the lines of the palms would be interesting to hear about.

Zonark said:

Separation will make things longer, not shorter, as it causes space to gather between them. Moistness is condensation, so gathering, shortening and compacting of matter.

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How would you make, for example, a stick shorter then?

Sorry, I'm used to saying moist(I prefer to use it instead of wet, no objective reason, purely aesthetic to me) and not considering the actual moisture of the air and such, just the moisture(figuratively speaking) of a personality.

I guess we're of different opinions of the whole wet and dry philosophy, since I don't consider empty space(except when packing ) when measuring an object like a finger, just what's occupying it. I've got to draw the line somewhere to be able to measure things, otherwise it's never-ending.

In my opinion, the idea is that Fire and Air are supposed to be rising up(hot), and Water and Earth are falling down(cold). The heavier Air gets, the more it's becoming like Earth. All of this is supposed to be understood and connected metaphorically, since I believe Astrology(and such things) is the metaphysical philosophy of Astronomy and such physical things.

Earlier elemental metaphysics (Plato, the Vedas/Tantras) consider Ether as the 5th element, ie, "empty" space (Akasha); they consider Ether the matrix from which the elements circulate, first as Fire, then its immediate reflex, Water, then the vaporization of Water by Fire, ie, Air, and finally the automatic precipatation of the gross from the subtle, ie, the production of Earth.

The humoralism of the Greeks is an application of these tattvic (elemental) qualities: hot, cold, dry, moist; but the essence of each element is "above" these humoral attributes of each element, although these humoral attributes are valid and useful for making certain practical applications of these metaphysical principles.