Palmistry Chistian Church

(excerpt from The Palmistry Bible by Jane Struthers [2005] pp 14-19)

Palmistry enables you to discover a person’s character and the events of their life by interpreting the shape of their hands and the formation of the lines on their palms. It is remarkably accurate, and it can seem astonishing that so much information about us is stored in our hands, ready for other people to read. So is palmistry an art or a science? Perhaps it is a combination of both, because it combines intuition and sensitivity that are so often part of an art with the knowledge and experience that are required to practice a science properly.

Fortune-telling

Palmistry is often dismissed as nothing more than fortune-telling, a phrase that conjures up images of crossing with silver the palm of a mysterious crone before she peers at your hand and announces that you are going on a long journey…

The Scientific Approach

In our technological age many of us pride ourselves on being thoroughly rational, believing that nothing exists unless we can view it through the lens of microscope, a telescope or some other scientific instrument. Equally, if we cannot explain why something happens (for instance, why homeopathy works when the fewer active ingredients there are in a remedy, the greater its effectiveness), we may assume there is no merit in it and that we can therefore dismiss it as a figment of our imagination, or as bogus. Some people apply this argument to palmistry and other divination techniques: they cannot explain them and therefore they do not work. But do we have to understand everything that happens or dare we welcome a little trust and magic into our lives? You may not be able to explain how palmistry works, but that does not prevent you from using it and learning from it.

The Four Branches of Palmistry

Originally palmistry was divided into two sections known as chirognomy and chiromancy. Chirognomy is the art of reading character from the shape and size of the hand, fingers and thumbs, while chiromancy is the art of reading the lines on the hand. These two original branches of palmistry have now been joined by two contemporary fields of study known as body language and dermatoglyphics.

You may already be familiar with body language, in which psychologists draw conclusions about people’s character and motives from the way they hold and use their bodies… Dermatoglyphics originated in the 1830s in the study of fingerprints and has progressed dramatically since then. Scientists realised that not only our fingers, but our whole palms, are covered with minute skin patterns that are unique to each of us, and which can be analysed to provide valuable information about our characters.

Self-Knowledge

Palmistry describes both your past and your future, because all the major events that affect you will be shown in your hands. If you use palmistry only to find out about the past and the future, you are ignoring it’s very valuable ability to tell you all about yourself.

Palmistry can describe the strengths and weaknesses of your character, which will help you to become more aware of who you are and, as a result, to develop psychologically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. You may also become more tolerant and forgiving of others once you are aware of your own shortcomings, because you will realise that these are a part of being human. That does not mean you can use them as an excuse for bad behaviour: blaming your arrogant tendencies on your long Jupiter fingers, for example, or your reluctance to stand up for yourself on your thin thumbs. However, you may become aware of your stumbling blocks, which could help you to navigate your way around them in the future.

After palmistry has outlined your strengths, you can start to play on them. For instance, if you are fed up with your current job and want to switch to something more interesting, or even retrain in a new career, your hand will give you plenty of guidelines concerning what might suit you. It will tell you whether you are highly imaginative or rooted in practicality, whether you thrive on a hectic schedule or need to take your time over things. These are all valuable pieces of information about yourself that you can use to your advantage.

What Palmistry is NOT

For centuries, the Christian Church has disapproved of palmistry because it is regarded as a way of telling fortunes. Some people even believe that palmistry is linked to the Devil, or that terrible things will happen to them if they have their palms read. However, palmistry has absolutely no connection with Satanism or with unleashing malevolent forces that will wreak havoc in your life.

Palmistry is not a branch of astrology or the tarot, either, although these techniques are sometimes mistakenly grouped together. There are simple links between astrology and palmistry, because the hand shapes are named after the four astrological elements, and the mounts and fingers are named after the seven planets of traditional astrology, but that is where the connection ends. Palmistry and astrology are entirely separate disciplines, both of which have a great deal to teach us about ourselves.