|
Press Ctrl+D to bookmark this page
E-mail your friend
| |
Palmistry guide > About
Palmistry > Basic Palm
study
What is PALMISTRY?
In today’s world the definition of palmistry is taken as:
" PALMISTRY is
the 947th method (according to Mimbleshaw's classification) of obtaining money
by false pretences. It consists in "reading character" in the wrinkles made by
closing the hand. The pretence is not altogether false; character can really be
read very accurately in this way, for the wrinkles in every hand submitted
plainly spell the word "dupe." The imposture consists in not reading it aloud."
The standard definition of palmistry is taken as the practice of
telling fortunes from the lines, marks, and patterns on the hands, particularly
the palms.
This
method of counselling was originated in India over
3,000 years ago. It is a part of a vast field of study, referred to as
Samudrik Shastra, which literally means the ocean of knowledge.
Palmistry is a sub-section of Samudrik Shastra and deals specifically
with the study of the hand.
Throughout our lifetime, our bodies register change. For
example, the lines on our face that we acquire with age reflect experience and,
we hope, wisdom. Lines and signs on our hands, present at birth, grow as we
evolve, signifying the accumulated experience of our lives.
Centuries ago, the sages of India established a system of
knowledge stemming from the Vedas, the earliest sacred Hindu writings. They
studied the hands as a means to unveil and understand the self and relationships
with others. They saw that the unique patterns of lines and signs in the hand
come into being as a direct result of the way we think. Just as a pebble thrown
into the water creates ripples, so our thoughts create similar effects.
Our hands offer us an objective view of who we really are.
Through the study of palmistry, we have the opportunity to see to what extent
our thoughts and feelings influence our happiness and the harmony of those
around us. As we exercise our will in choosing positive patterns of thinking to
replace any negative ones, we see our lines begin to change, reflecting a shift
in our consciousness. As Shakespeare observed, we are masters of our own fate
that "the fault...is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
Palmistry was practiced in many ancient cultures, such as India,
China and Egypt. The first book on the subject appeared in the 15th century. The
term 'chiromancy' comes from the Greek word for hand (cheir). The most
famous nineteenth century palmist went by the name of Cheiro.
Palmistry was used during the middle ages to detect witches. It
was believed that certain spots on the hand indicated one had made a pact with
the Devil. Palmistry was condemned by the Catholic Church but in the 17th
century it was taught at several German universities (Pick over, 64). Britain
outlawed palmistry in the 18th century .
Some palmistry mimics metoposcopy or physiognomy. It claims that
you can tell what a person is like by the shape of their hands. Creative people
have fan-shaped hands and sensitive souls have narrow, pointy fingers and fleshy
palms, etc. There is about as much scientific support for such notions as there
is for personology or phrenology. All such forms of divination seem to be based
on sympathetic magic and intuition.
Although you can often tell a lot about a person by examining
his or her hands, there is no scientific support for the claim that you tell
such things as whether you will inherit money or find your true love from the
lines or marks on your hands. I suspect that many of those who think they have
found support for palmistry are guilty of confirmation bias and have found it in
the form of anecdotes.
The desire for knowledge of the future seems to be at the root
of palmistry and other forms of divining secret knowledge through paranormal
revelations. Also, fortune tellers relieve us of the obligation to gather
evidence and think about that evidence. Our palmists and graphologists, etc.,
also relieve us of the difficult task of evaluating the consequences of taking
various actions. They absolve us of the responsibility of decision-making. They
are great comforts, therefore, to the insecure, the lazy, and the incompetent.
Of course, they can also be data points, i.e., they provide one more piece of
data that a person can use to make a decision. Some writers even use divination
such as the Tarot or the I Ching to give them ideas for characters or plots (Pickover,
40-41). They probably could do just as well by thumbing through the Bible, a
newspaper, a poetry anthology, an encyclopedia, or a skeptical dictionary.
History of Palmistry
Palmistry is an ancient practice. Hands have been of
recorded interest to humanity as far back as 12,000-15,000 years ago.
Judging by the number of hands painted in prehistoric caves it would
seem the human hand held a interest for humans since the stone age. The
prehistoric caves in Santander, Spain display hand drawings of palms
with the major lines portrayed in amazing detail.
Archaeological discoveries have discovered hands made
of stone, wood and ivory by ancient civilizations. The emperor of China
used his thumbprint when sealing documents in 3000 b.c. Information on
the laws and practice of hand reading have been found in Vedic scripts,
the bible and early Semitic writings.
Centuries ago, the sages of India established a
system of knowledge stemming from the Vedas, the earliest sacred Hindu
writings. They studied the hands as a means to unveil and understand the
self and relationships with others. They saw that the unique patterns of
lines and signs in the hand come into being as a direct result of the
way we
The earliest writings with the word Palmistry
(spelled 'Pawmestry') included was done in 1420 by John Lyndgate in his
Assembly of Gods documents. Aristotle (384-322 b.c) discovered a
treatise on Palmistry on an altar to the god Hermes. The Greek
physicians Hippocrates and Galen (ad 130-200) were both knowledgeable
about the use of palmistry as a clinical aid.
Julius Caesar (102-44bc) judged his men by palmistry.
The first book on Palmistry was Michael Scotts De Philsiognomia done in
1477 on the physiognomy of the human body with a chapter on all the
aspects of the human hand. Just as a pebble thrown into the water
creates ripples, so our thoughts create similar effects on our palms.
In the seventeenth century many books were written
that included the early gypsy ideas about the hand that had been handed
down through tradition since the early 1400s. In the eighteenth century
books were written blending some scientific information about the hand
with mysticism. Since then Palmistry was aligned with the idea that a
person read the hand with a scientific eye and spoke from intuition.
Palmistry then was a form of prediction that was as individual as the
hand.
The practice of palmistry was unfortunately forced
underground by the catholic church who branded it devil worshiping.
Anyone found to have an interest was quickly murdered. As the church
started to lose its influence in society common sense prevailed. Notable
people such as Paracelsus (1493-1541) and Fludd (1574-1637) brought
respectability to palmistry through their writings.
Marie Anne le Norman was a famous French fortune
teller in Napoleon's court who created great interest in Palmistry
because of her predictive successes with Napoleon and Josephine. Two
other Frenchmen D1Arpentigny born in 1798 and Desbarrolles born in 1801
did a great deal of study and writing on the subject. Their findings are
still seriously respected today.
Dr Carl Carus, physician to the king of Saxony in the
19th century matched palms to personality. Advances in genetics,
psychology and forensics have propelled Palmistry into the modern age.
In 1901 Scotland Yard adopted the technique of
fingerprinting in criminal investigation and identification. Medical
researchers studying skin patterns - Dermatoglyphics - have discovered a
correspondence between genetic abnormalities and unusual markings in the
hand. Research has confirmed a link between specific fingerprint
patterns and heart disease.
Today Palmistry is accepted throughout the world.
Professional palmists can be found reading palms in every country in the
world. Major magazine and books have articles on Palmistry.
Hands
Everything matters in Palmistry...the size of the
hand, it's shape, color, texture, the nails, depth of lines, even the
manner in which you hold your hands when I read your palm. The hand you
use to write with is your dominant hand.
The lines on this hand change through the years due
to the electromagnetic images from your brain which know your life path.
Lines can add on. Once added they do not go away.
The other hand is your destiny hand. It generally
remains the same throughout your lifetime. I do not consider it your
last lifetime as both hands are generally similar.
The hand is divided up into areas or mounts, like a
geographical map, so that areas of the hand can easily be identified.
The markings on the hand consist of the major lines, the minor lines,
sister lines, little markings (like triangles or squares) and some thin
hairlines coming from other lines. There's a great website that offers
an easy method to learn the basic geography of the hand by moving the
mouse over a virtual hand. Imagine that the hand is a country with high
and low hills and the lines flowing in and out of the country like
rivers. When examining this 'country', consider the following:
what is its shape
where are the hills and how high or low are they
how hard or soft is the flesh when you press into
it
how flexible is it - bending back the fingers
what is the shape of the fingers
You learn reading hands by examining and comparing
them, and after reading many hands you get a feel for what is normal or
unusual. You might notice that the fingers are very long, or the hand is
incredibly soft, or that one of the lines is unusually pronounced, or
wobbly, or broken, or connecting to other lines, etc. etc. Although
there is no such a thing as a 'perfectly normal hand', you will start
getting a feel for what is peculiar to a person after reading many
hands.
For palm lines or 'rivers' consider point of origin &
termination and the following:
colour (red blotches may indicate momentary
inspiration/excitement/even frustration)
length
breadth
depth (fading out / pronounced all the way)
direction / shape
Palmists, or better said, hand analysts, may also
look at the nails, the knuckles, the back of the hand and more recently
perhaps, the dermal patterns such as the fingerprints. Even for a non-handreader
it is quite interesting to make an inkprint of your hand and look at the
pattern it makes - they are quite likely more interesting than you think
(see also dermatoglyphics). Reading hands is an incredibly complex task,
but human intuition is well capable to handle such a task.
|
|
