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What is Palmistry

A Palm Reading Guide

The word palmistry is a general term, widely used to describe the specialist study and practice of hand reading.  However, the term palmistry, also known as palm reading and cheiromancy, (chiromancy) actually consists only of the divinatory practice of reading and translating the lines in the palms.  For many years palmistry, or fortune telling through the art of interpreting the lines in the palms, was the only aspect of hand reading in existence. 

Ancient Hindu and Chinese palmists also practised a form of palmistry that included the interpretation of various signs and symbols in the palms, and this practice may still be found in use today. In these fields of palmistry, you are likely to hear references to such symbols as the Fish, the Temple, or the Pitcher, for example.

However, over the last two hundred years or so, hand reading has seen many new developments, and there now exist other important aspects of hand reading that are not related to any form of divination,  and not restricted to reading only the lines in the palms,  In fact many modern hand readers believe in the idea of free will, with behaviour patterns being largely responsible for creating future possibilities.  It is widely believed that if we can alter our behaviour and our attitude, the chances are we can also alter our possible future. A great deal has been documented on the power of positive and negative thinking and its ability to attract equally positive and negative results. It is now generally accepted that the future is not set in stone and that destiny is not already decided. Our attitude to life, and our own reaction to the circumstances around us all can have a drastic effect on our experience as we move through life.

Although there is a gradual move away from the idea of using hand reading as a method of divination, there are still many hand readers who will offer advice about future possibilities. From a spiritual point of view, it is possible that certain aspects of our lives are destined to occur, perhaps as a result of our individual karma or the karma of those around us.  There may be events or circumstances relating to our spiritual progress, such as challenges to overcome, lessons to learn, etc.  There may be certain relationships with others that we are destined to have! We cannot be certain, but there remains the idea that a person, if deciding to continue on a possible course of action,  will at some point, due to his own behaviour or attitude,  meet with the resulting consequences.  For every action, there is a reaction.  If you have a desire to touch a hot stove, it doesn’t take too much effort to predict that you are likely to burn yourself.  If you have a desire to travel and see the world, there is every likelihood, if given the means and the opportunity, that travel will feature in the person‘s life at some point. This is not so much a divinatory practice, but more the likelihood of an event coming to pass as a direct result of a person’s own behaviour patterns and attitude.

What is Chirognomy?

D’Arpentigny, a Frenchman born in the late 1700‘s, observed that hands could be grouped into distinct hand shapes, which he classed as elementary, square, spatulate, psychic, knotty, and philosophic. Other hands that appeared to have similarities with more than one hand shape, he classed as the mixed hand. He observed that those with similar hand shapes appeared to share similar human characteristics, and his book, La Chirognomie, included this newly discovered system of classification,  creating a new basis for hand reading study that others could follow.  Following his ideas through, later palmists began to consider if perhaps other physiological characteristics of the hands, such as structure, texture, consistency, colour, finger length, etc, could be measured in order to provide more clues about behaviour and personality.  This created a new branch of hand reading, called Chirognomy, (Cheirognomy) forming the basis of many hand analysis techniques widely used today. 
 

What is meant by dermatoglyphics?

Dermatoglyphics involves the in-depth study of the patterns the skin ridges create in the palms and fingers, as well as the soles of the feet. Literally translated from derma (skin) and glyphs (carvings), dermatoglyphics is a relatively new subject (early 1900’s) involving the study of the relationship between skin ridge patterns and our genetic makeup.  As the skin ridges form in the first few months after conception, during vital foetal development, it is believed that noticeable variations in the skin ridge patterns may reveal clues of possible chromosomal abnormalities.   The results of this research have been interesting so far, with certain skin ridge patterns already linked with various genetic problems such as diabetes, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, schizophrenia, Down’s Syndrome, rubella, behaviour problems and autism.  Medical and scientific researchers following the work of Harold Cummins, who led the path in this field, are continually advancing in this study.

Are there any other fields of hand reading?

Desbarolles believed that the hands may reveal some form of planetary influence, and he wrote several books outlining his ideas including the well known, Les Mysteries de la Main. His ideas were later taken up and discussed in depth by William Benham, who outlined mount types and their relationship with the qualities associated with the planets, in his book ‘The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading‘ and the lesser known ‘How to Choose Vocations from the hand‘.  Benham was keen to rid the existing antiquated, superstitious imageof palmistry, and set out to make a full, scientific investigation of the subject.   His book, The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading, later republished as The Benham Book of Palmistry, is still considered today as being a bible of knowledge for the modern hand reader. The information he offers in this book about thumbs and the mounts in the palms are particularly extensive.

Hand Readers do still interpret the lines in the palms, as it has been discovered that for some reason, these lines do offer much information about a person’s individual physical, mental and emotional make up.  They also give clues about a person’s current state of physical and mental health.  It is widely believed that the palmar lines are a manifestation of a person’s individual energy and life force, allowing much to be noted about a person‘s current state of being.  The workings of the body’s nervous system and the transference of energy through electrical messages stemming from the brain to other parts of the body is well documented.  Why these electrical messages should leave their mark in the lines found in the palm is not fully understood, but observation reveals it to be so.  

What is Chirology?

Chirology is a modern term for the practice of all areas of hand reading, including chiromancy, chirognomy, and dermatoglyphics.  Many modern hand readers would prefer to use the term chirologist (cheirogist) rather than palmist as they seek to remove the long established tradition of associating hand reading with fortune telling, which is in fact just one aspect of hand reading.  In practice, however, due to the mass use of the term palmistry, it may take some time for the newer terms of chirology and chirologist to become standard and accepted in modern society.

Are there similarities between astrology and hand reading?

Astrology and palmistry have a great deal in common in that they both accept the idea of planetary influence in the personality. Many hand readers, though by no means all, accept this idea and incorporate it into their study of the hands.  It is perhaps fair to suggest that most  hand readers do consider there to be a definite relationship between the influence of the planets and the personality, and that these influences will manifest in the hands in various ways. Some modern hand readers have chosen to specialise in the relationship between astrology and palmistry. In my own work, I have discovered a very definite link between the two subjects and believe that when combined together, they can create a most powerful and intricate understanding of a subject’s personality and life experience.

Why do some people still view palmistry with suspicion?

Certainly in Britain, palmistry is still very much an unknown quantity. Many people don’t truly understand what palmistry involves, and have little or no knowledge of modern hand reading practices.  It is believed that palmistry has existed at least since 3000 BC, and for many, many years, palmistry was practised solely as a means of divination.  Throughout its long existence, it is inevitable that palmistry should reflect current religious ideology of the time and there have been times in history when any form of divination was considered to be totally unacceptable.  However, palmistry has gained in popularity, particularly noticeable during the Victorian era, when interested researchers began to take palmistry to a new level.  Over the last two hundred years, those determined to discover if palmistry might have more to offer than fortune telling and divination have advanced our knowledge of the subject a great deal, leading to where we are today.

Traces of an antiquated, superstitious attitude stemming from the middle ages still exist even now.  The image of palmistry and its association with gypsy fortune telling continues to linger, despite the huge advances made in our knowledge of the subject.  Man has always feared the unknown, and in the past, anything that could not be reasonably or logically explained was immediately put down to sorcery, witchcraft or some kind of  association with the devil.  Fortunately this attitude is gradually disappearing as man discovers more about his physical and spiritual nature,  and as knowledge of hand reading and its benefits become more widely understood.  

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