When you carefully study the inside of your hands, you’ll notice an intricate web of intersecting lines and curves. Like fingerprints, everyone’s palm prints are unique. Could there be a hidden code about your past and future woven into the edges of your palms and the shape of your hands?
Palmistry, also known as chiromancy, is as old as civilization itself. While historians can’t pinpoint its origins, they believe it may have begun in ancient India and spread throughout the known world. Furthermore, the popularity of palm reading for entertainment and serious divination remains intact today.
Have you ever visited a palm reader? For centuries, courts of kings and emperors revered fortune tellers. Nobility and peasantry alike depended on these predictions for any of their plans.
In modern times, palm readers were relegated to enshrouded tents with other oddities and curiosities in traveling carnivals. You probably know the stereotype of an older woman adorned with bangles, reading palms by eerie candlelight. For a small fee, the reader claimed to glance into the future by interpreting lines in her clients’ palms.
Is there more folly than fact behind this timeless divination, or could our future be linked to the lines in our palms? If so, are we destined to fulfill these prophetic zigzags, or can we change them at will? Delve into the fascinating mysteries of reading palms with these helpful suggestions.
Setting the Stage for Your Reading
If you are serious about learning how to read palms, it is essential to study as much information as possible and talk to experienced practitioners. Then, you can start practicing with family and friends to develop your intuitive skills. Remember that you have a moral obligation to tell people that reading palms comes from your intuition, and everyone is ultimately in charge of their lives and future.
Set up a quiet room or corner where your clients, called querents, will be comfortable. Lend credibility to your practice and forget all the stereotypical fortune-teller décor. You’ll want your querents to take you seriously, not as a prop in a cheesy street carnival.
If you like, you may light a few candles and burn some fragrant incense. Set up a small table for viewing your querents’ hands, with two comfortable chairs. You could also beautify your space with sacred images, crystals, or other objects that help you channel your intuitive energy.
First Impressions: Shape of the Hands
Chiromancy is not an exact science but an intuitive practice. The whole hand is considered during a palm reading, not just the lines. By merely examining a person’s hands, fingers, and nails, you can tell how a person works and lives.
Starting with the left hand, representing the querent’s past, examine its shape. According to chiromancy, four basic hand shapes correspond to the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Each item has its own set of personality traits.
•Earth
Those who have short fingers and square-shaped palms are considered earth. Their solid grip shows their practicality, stability, and reliability. Because earth people are so pragmatic, they may have difficulties seeing beyond today’s responsibilities to future dreams.
•Air
If your querent has long fingers and a square-shaped palm, his element is air. You may notice boney fingers and knobby knuckles. He is an intellectual who knows how to communicate well. However, he is often edgy and can easily be distracted by too many details.
•Fire
Long palms and short fingers indicate that your querent’s element is fire. Like a blaze, she burns passionately and is confident in all she does. Because she has such a driving force, she may lose sight of compassion for others and herself.
•Water
Lastly is the element of water, represented by long palms and long fingers. His soft hands indicate resonance with his emotions and intuition. You will often see this element in those who are psychically gifted and creative. Be careful, because he usually wears his feelings on his sleeve and is apt to hold a grudge.
Over the Mountains and Through the Valleys
Other crucial details to notice when you are palm reading are the natural raised and low parts on the palm’s surface, known as mounts and plains. These undulations correspond to your querent’s life themes. Further, they represent the seven perfect heavenly bodies in astrology.
If a mount is fleshy and prominent, it indicates a durable quality in the represented area. A flat or sunken mount suggests an area where the querent has struggles. If you notice that the mount is overly prominent, that quality may be exaggerated.
•Mount of Venus
Venus, the goddess of love, rules the mount at the thumb’s base. This mount represents attraction, sexuality, and romance. Whether the querent’s Mount of Venus is prominent or flat may suggest her experience and attitude about love relationships.
•Mount of Luna
Luna, the goddess of the moon, represents the mount on the bottom of the palm on the little finger’s side. It corresponds with the querent’s imagination, creativity, and psychic intuition. Her compassion and empathy are symbolized on Luna’s mount.
•Mount of Mercury
Mercury was the messenger of the gods and is symbolized by the mount underneath the little finger. It represents your querent’s communication and social skills and how resourceful he is.
This mount also links to intelligence.
•Mount of Apollo
The sun god rules the mount underneath the querent’s ring finger. If this mount is prominent, she may be an optimist and is in tune with her artistic ambitions. It also reveals joy and vitality in her life.
•Mount of Saturn
If you want to divine your querent’s wisdom and determination, study Saturn’s mount located under his middle finger, it is also symbolic of his responsibility and honesty. A prominent Saturn mount shows that he is flexible with life’s many curves.
•Mount of Jupiter
Jupiter was chief of the gods, so he ruled the mound of the index finger. Used as a pointer or indicator, Jupiter’s mount is related to confidence, ambition, and endurance. It also connects with divine intervention.
•Plain of Mars
Life can be a battle, so the area toward the lower palm is named for Mars, the god of war. As you look, you’ll find it is divided into three sections. Upper Mars is right under Mercury and represents your querent’s bravery and patience.
On the opposite side under Jupiter is Lower Mars, symbolic of physical strength and courage. Between the Upper and Lower Mars is the Plain of Mars, located in the lower center of the querent’s palm. It shows the balance of power between the two, as indicated by the lines that cross it.
Reading Between the Lines
As you improve your skills in reading palms, you will become more familiar with their signature lines and symbology. Remember that chiromancy involves intuition rather than a precise science. These lines are most important for your reading.
•Headline
Since your brain is pivotal in your life’s journey, it’s represented by the line that crosses the center of the palm. The depth of the line reveals that your querent is a deep thinker, while the length of the line shows her many intellectual pursuits. A straight line indicates a traditional thinker, while a wavy one shows the person is more progressive in thought patterns.
•Heart Line
Matters of the heart are ruled by the horizontal line highest from the headline. It represents love, passion, and relationship. Its depth shows deep intensity, and longer lines indicate long relationships. Conversely, short or broken lines may indicate several lovers over the years or more temporary relationships.
•Lifeline
Never rely on this iconic line as an indicator to see how long your querent will live. The lifeline curves under the headline and represents enthusiasm and experiences in life. Thus, if your querent has a short line, it indicates a healthy, independent living, not necessarily an early demise.
•Fate Line
Another line familiar to those reading palms is the fate line, the vertical one toward the center of the palm. It indicates how much outside forces beyond his control may influence your querent. The fate line often changes and shifts as we get older.
•Apollo’s Line
Is your querent wondering about fame and social standing in her future? The line of Apollo, located the highest on the little finger’s side, may foretell. Its depth, length, and position may indicate how and when success will be gained.
If Apollo’s line intersects the querent’s fate line, it may symbolize success that is achieved through outside influences. When the lines are not close to each other, the querent may be independently successful.
Final Thoughts on Mastering Reading Palms
Of course, these essential tips are the primary premises on reading palms, and it isn’t exhaustive. Do you want to learn more about this fascinating divination? Read books, articles, and online tutorials as you advance in the craft of palmistry.
As you advance in your practice and read palms, let your intuition be your guide. Moreover, maintain high standards of ethics and realize that palmistry is a tool for understanding life’s journey, not for defining it.
