Chiromancy: The Art of Reading Palms

Chiromancy, or what is more commonly referred to as palm reading, is an ancient practice. Written in the Bible as a form divination that is forbidden to Christians, there is clear documentation of how far back in history palm reading extends. From the legends of gypsy fortune tellers, carnival practitioners, all the way up to modern time holistic healing centers and psychics, palm reading remains a quite popular and well-known form of divination.

Fortune tellers who perform palm reading believe that the patterns and lines on a person’s hand, if properly ‘read’ can give insight into a person’s past, present, and future events. There are many things used to determine these readings, including: the shape of the hand, the shape and length or direction of the creases of lines on the hand, the length and shape of the fingers, the flexibility of the hand and fingers, the position of the thumb, and also any scars that may be present on the hand, among other things.

The most commonly known and read line on a palm is probably the lifeline, but there are other lines such as the heart line, head line, fate lines, and also mounts or bumps in the skin, as well as texture and color of the skin, and other variations in the patterns of the lines on the hand. There are major lines, like the ones mentioned above, and then minor lines, most notably sharing the names of our planets. In addition, there are bracelet lines that surround the wrists and ring lines that come up by the fingers.

Most palm readers will provide a reading on the dominant hand for foretelling the future and the present incarnation, while the non-dominant hand is often believed to tell of the past and previous life incarnations, although this differs among various practitioners and methods.