Palmistry: reading the lines of the hand, history and limits

What is palmistry?

Palmistry (chiromancy) is the art of reading the hand in order to draw out traits of character and, in its divinatory version, indications about the course of life. The word combines the Greek kheir ("hand") and manteia ("divination"). The term chirology is also used for all approaches together, chirognomy for the study of the shape of the hand and fingers, and chiromancy in the strict sense for the study of the lines.

The practice rests on a simple idea: the hand, humanity's main tool, would carry the trace of one's nature. The idea is ancient, but it rests on no demonstration. This guide presents the practice as a cultural symbolism: a language of images to know, not a diagnosis. For the lines in detail, see the main lines of the hand.

A history between East and West

Readings of the body have existed for a very long time in Asia. In India, a body of texts called the Samudrika Shastra describes the signs of the body, including the lines of the hand; its dating is uncertain, the surviving versions being late. China also knows a physiognomy of the hands. In Europe, tradition holds that Aristotle wrote a treatise on palmistry: the attribution is false, and historians see in it medieval Latin treatises placed under his name to lend them weight.

Between the 13th and 16th centuries, several Latin treatises on palmistry circulated, often mixed with astrology and physiognomy. Printed works followed in the Renaissance, for example those of Barthélemy Cocles (1504) and Jean d'Indagine (1522). The Church viewed these divinatory arts with disfavour, and palmistry was classed among the practices condemned by several religious authorities.

In the 19th century, palmistry regained favour in drawing rooms. Casimir d'Arpentigny published La Chirognomonie in 1839, which classifies hands by shape; Adolphe Desbarrolles continued with Les Mystères de la main (1859), blending astrology and signs. In Britain, Edward Heron-Allen published a manual of "cheirosophy" in 1883, and Count Cheiro (William John Warner), the famous fortune-teller of the late century, popularised the practice in fashionable circles. Palmistry societies appeared in London (1889) and in the United States (1897).

The three levels of reading

• The general shape: size of the palm, length of the fingers, flexibility. A popular classification, inherited from the 20th century, distinguishes four types linked to the elements: the Earth hand (square palm, short fingers), Air (square palm, long fingers), Water (long palm, long fingers) and Fire (long palm, short fingers).
• The mounts: the fleshy swellings of the palm, named after the planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo or the Sun, Mercury, Mars, the Moon, Venus).
• The lines: creases of the palm, with the life, head, heart and fate lines as the main ones.

This table is a convention of modern authors; you will find it in various versions. Older traditions count seven or eight types, with different names. Nothing proves that the shape of a hand reveals personality.

The fingers and the thumb

Each finger bears the name of a planet: the index for Jupiter, the middle finger for Saturn, the ring finger for Apollo (the Sun), the little finger for Mercury. Tradition attributes qualities to them: the index to ambition and authority, the middle finger to seriousness, the ring finger to creativity, the little finger to speech and practical wit. Relative lengths are commented on: a long little finger would suggest ease in communication, a short index reserve.

The thumb receives particular attention, because it sets the human hand apart: it is associated with willpower (the first phalanx) and logic (the second). Again, these are cultural analogies. They are pleasant to know, but they do not replace a real encounter: the best way to understand someone remains to talk with them.

Why does palmistry appeal? It offers an excuse for conversation, a codified physical contact, the impression of being looked at with attention. These effects are real, even if prediction is not. Many honest readers acknowledge this: they speak of "symbolic reading", not of "truth".

What science says

Research has not validated palmistry. Experiments in which palm readers were tested blind did not show performance above chance, and the scientific literature ranks it among the pseudosciences. No plausible mechanism has been proposed to link a crease of the skin to a destiny or a character. Sceptics also stress cold reading: the reader relies on clues (age, clothing, reactions) and on flattering statements that suit many people (the Barnum effect). The psychologist Ray Hyman described how deliberately inverted readings were received with just as much enthusiasm.

There is, by contrast, a science of fingerprints and the creases of the palm, dermatoglyphics, which studies features formed before birth and is used in medical research and identification. It has nothing to do with predicting the future or character. Never draw any conclusion about health, life expectancy or fertility from a line of the hand.

Practising without overdoing it

Observe your hands as an exercise in attention. Note the shape, the flexibility, the dominant lines. Compare the hand you use most with the other one: tradition says that one shows what we have received, the other what we have made of ourselves, but the schools disagree about which is which. The lines change over the course of life, which should encourage you to be modest.

If you read another person's hand, ask for their permission, stay with images and open questions, avoid any announcement of illness or death, and remind them that it is a symbolic game. To practise, keep a journal of your observations, and compare with other arts such as tasseography or the range of other divinations.

Frequently asked questions

Also read

The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Other divinatory arts.