Otherways- Fiction Fanatics

You can tell a lot about a woman from her hands, or so the saying goes. The internet, being the beast that it is, has taken this one step further, advising us that, for instance, if she’s holding a gun she may be angry with you. No doubt true, but not what the saying was originally intended to mean. They were, I believe, referring more to how much physical labor a woman did, and how much care she took of her personal appearance. In the more modern world, most people don’t really have to worry about ‘ruining’ their hands with manual labor. It was a concern of the working class at one time, and I can remember my great-grandmother insisting that gloves and a hat be worn every time we gardened, and advising me to slather either lotion or petroleum jelly on my hands every night and sleep in gloves. I ignored her, and have plenty of callouses to prove it.

Further back than even my great grandmother, though, people read a lot more into your hands than whether or not you could afford servants. Palmistry was a seriously big deal, and seems to have a resurgence of popularity every hundred years or so. If that continues to hold true, then we should be due anytime for palmistry to be back in vogue, so I whipped up a little mini course just so you can feel special.

Modern palmistry really came into its own in the 1800’s, with such notables as Napoleon having their palms read. He even got a special feature named after him, and any very large, long index finger is known as the ‘forefinger of Napoleon’, and denotes a power-seeking personality. Honore de Balzac, famous for his novels that explore human motivations, was a huge fan of palm reading, as was Alexandre Dumas, and his identically named son. They were also supporters of the man that would be later known as the father of modern palmistry, Adolphe Desbarrolles.

Every bit of the hand, palm, fingers and wrist have been ascribed meaning. Obviously, I can’t cover all that in a single blog post, so we’re going to hit the high points, or at least a few of them.

The following seem to be more or less in agreement in the texts I looked at, hope you enjoy. (Look at your hand, palm up, to compare with any of these descriptions.)

First, look at the general shape of the finger tips. Spatulate, or flattened finger tips denote people that love action. Broad, square hands typically belong to down to earth people, those interested in the truth, especially scientists. If the entire hand is long and bony, you have a philosopher’s hand. Delicate and long fingered hands denote sensitivity, and are considered to belong to artists. High bumps on the palm beneath each finger means the owner has a lively mind, while having a bump beneath the index finger that is larger than all the others means that you are achievement driven.

What about size? I know we say it doesn’t matter, but apparently the average size for a man is 7 ½ inches, and a ‘size 6 glove’ for a woman. No, I have no idea why the two genders should be measured differently, I’m just reporting what the ‘experts’ said. According to them, large hands meant that a person was analytical, patient, good with details, but apt to be slow. Small hands, on the contrary, typically belong to people with charm, wit, and a perceptive nature, but they aren’t wild about details.

Finally, because they are all anyone ever talks about, there are lines in your palm that can tell a lot about your future. The line closest to your fingers is called the heart line, below that is the head line, and the one that makes a curve near your thumb is the life line. Obviously, the longer that last one is, the longer the palm reader will say your life will be, the other two have a whole lot of different interpretations.

If you’re interested in learning more, try reading The Fortune in Your Hand by Elizabeth Daniels Squire, or, if you can find a copy, Palmistry Explained by Pearl Raymond.

Cheers,

Michelle