The Future in Your Hands-A Look at Palmistry
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, you look at your hands and see many lines, and ridges. They’re just your hands, right? Or are they?
The study of these lines is called “palmistry” or “chiromancy”. Supposedly, these lines can tell the trained eye about your past, present, future, and even your health. And it’s not just the lines, your nails and the color of your skin can say a thing or two. The lines on your hand never fade away, although they can vary in how deep they are. Some people have the main lines that can be studied along with little extra lines that sprout out from them. Everybody’s hand is different.
Palmistry is an ancient practice, as far back as 12,000-15,000 years ago, the hand has sparked the interest of many. Even during the stone-age times, hands were being painted onto the cave walls. Santander, Spain has cave walls that detail the lines on the hands amazingly. And its not just the cave walls, archeologists have discovered carvings of hands in stone, wood, and ivory. It was custom for the Emperor of China in 3000 BC to sign official documents with his thumbprint, since everyone’s is different. Aristotle discovered a piece on palmistry on the altar of the god Hermes. Another famous Greek, Hippocrates, along with Galen, connected the reading of palms with clinical uses in their doctor practices. Julius Caesar would judge his men by examining their palms. In the Vedic texts, laws and the early methods of practicing palm-reading are explained.
In ancient India, sages created a system of knowledge based off the ancient sacred writings-the Vedas. These sages studied the hands as a way of expressing oneself and the relationship of one person to another. According to them, the uniqueness of the lines on the hands symbolized the uniqueness of the person.
The first time the term “Palmistry” was used (albeit, it was called “Pawmestry”) was when John Lyndgate wrote about it in his
Assembly of Gods and Documents in 1420. However, the first book on Palmistry wasn’t written until 1477, and it was only included as a part of a chapter. The author was Michael Scotts De Philsiognomia, and the book was about the physiognomy of the body. He connected the lines on our palms with the effects of a pebble thrown into a river.
Around the 17th century, more books were published on palmistry, including the gypsy traditions that had been handed down since the 1400s. Another wave of chiromancy books came in the 18th century that combined the early traditions with science. Through these books it came to be suspected that palms were read with a “scientific” eye and interpreted through intuition. Palmistry became as unique as the palm that was read.
As with crystal ball gazing, palm reading was then condemned by the Catholic Church as devil worship. Practitioners were forced to go into hiding, anyone who did not was murdered. Eventually, the Church did lose its power in society and supporters could come out of hiding. Paracelsus and Fludd were then able to write about Palmistry as they wished, bringing the art to justice once more. Today, Palmistry is highly respected and practiced by professionals across the world. Some magazines and books even have articles on Palmistry.
In the court of Napoleon there was a famous fortune-teller named Marie Ann le Norman. She attained success due to her correct predictions with Napoleon and Josephine. Le Norman attracted a lot of interest to the art of Palmistry. Arpentigny and Desbarrolles studied and wrote about Palmistry. Even today their findings are widely respected. Another person in the court of another king-this time Dr. Carl Carlus in the court of king of Saxony matched palms to the personality of an individual.
But the uniqueness of the hands did not only have their place in the realm of the mystic, but practical. Scotland Yard began using finger prints in Crime Scene Investigation in 1901. Dermatoglyphics, or, the study of skin patterns, was begun by medical researchers. Through this study, they have been able to connect genetic abnormalities with unusual markings on the hands. Another study has shown that certain characteristics on the fingerprint can link to heart disease.
In the more mystical part of Palmistry, every aspect of the hand has its own important. Size, shape, color, texture, nails, line depth, they all matter. Even the way in which the hand is placed during a reading is significant. The dominant hand is the hand you write with. This is the hand lines typically change “due to the electromagnetic images from your brain which know your lifepath” (crystallinks.com). Therefore, lines become added on, but never taken off. But your other hand has importance too. It is called your “destiny hand”. It will not change, however. Some consider it the hand for your past life, but others do not.
It would take a long time to describe what each symbol, line, marking, and indentation on the hand would mean. However, some are as follows:
An oval on the heart denote line can mean divorce, or a separation The horizontal lines underneath your Mercury figure (your pinky) symbolize your karmic relationships. If your head line crosses your entire palm, you’ll earn a college education. The latter being only if the space is very wide. When the Fate/Career/Destiny line branch in many directions, each branch is a goal and change in the career lifetime. All markings depend upon the area in which they are found.
The fingers each have their own name and are divided into three sections. The section length and image of the palm print also have great meaning. The names that the fingers are given are: Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, Mercury, and Venus.
Another part of the hand that can be read is the mounts. The mounts are the fleshy lumps on your hand that are like “mountains” and typically at the base of each finger. They are named after whatever feature on the hand they are closest too, in most cases, this is also a finger name. The larger the particular mount, the more strong the characteristic that the mount represents is. If a mount is not underneath the right finger, it holds a special, complex meaning.
So, whether determining the killer’s fingerprints or the destiny of someone, palms and hands are unique. And through this uniqueness, we have learned many things.
http://www.crystalinks.com/palmistry.html
Subject: The Future In Our Hands 
