Chirology

‘Why Have Your Hands Read?’

Jennifer Hirsch — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:29:16 +0000

Recently, a student of hand reading asked me this question: “I tell people their character and their psychological make-up. What’s the use?”

The use, or the point of both doing readings to help others and of having your own hands read, is that the dialogue therapy that is chirology is a hugely powerful ‘know thyself’ (and others) tool.

Your hands have a very personal story to share, a story about you and what type of person you are. Encoded in them is your authentic temperament, your character, your persona, what makes you tick, what works for you and what doesn’t.

Put simply, an enquiry into the meanings of the shapes, forms and markings of your own two hands will help you to feel more integrated and connected to yourself.

Hand readers listen, and give feedback to clients, the likes of which they more than likely have never had. We readers provide a forum for others to tell their story, and remember, there is a magic, an alchemy, in the telling.

Through touching and holding hands and with words, ‘the medicine of our profession’, we help people to remember their value. Even those people who are well advanced in self development could find helpful assistance towards their reclaiming even more of the greatness that they already are. Feedback reveals that in some people’s lives, monumental changes occur after their reading. In the final analysis, while existence calls us to task, chirology can help us to cope.

Aside from the financial benefits, my personal payoff, i.e. the use to me of why I chose this career, is that at the end of the day my endeavours to help others help me to see beyond my own deeply furrowed brow.

Other benefits I enjoy include the ecstasy I feel at the privilege of having the opportunity to look closely into the eyes of so many beloved fellow earthlings. Being in service means being part of, and there is something inherently sound in connectivity. When they benefit, I benefit. I learn about myself in relationship with others. I get to hold their hands – and I enjoy a hug when they leave.

5 element chirology is one of several systems for interpreting hands. Sourced in ancient Buddhism, the simply structured 5 element method of hand reading composes an eternal marriage between the principles of the 5 elements earth, water, fire, air and chi, and the physical, emotional, vocational, mental and spiritual layers of our human experience, known in chirology as ‘the 5 realms’. To interpret hands we use ‘the language of the elements’.

‘The 5 Realms – Wholeness (Holiness) in our Hands’

Jennifer Hirsch — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:59:20 +0000

Shamans call it ‘pulling in your fibres’. Buddhists talk of ‘hungry ghosts’. Judaism speaks of fragmentation of soul. Our weakened fibres, the disenfranchised, fragmented bits of us, the aspects of our being that have gone absent without leave as a result of trauma, or karma, or by any other means, yearn to come home, yearn for our reclamation. Those split off, shamed, abandoned, needy, disconnected and wounded parts beg our recognition and love.

I feel inspired to share on this topic of integrative healing because I’ve found myself marvelling (again) at how brilliant the construct of the 5 Realms is in chirology. The sources of our pain and loneliness (as well as our joys and successes) are quickly ‘diagnosable’ within the 5 Realms.

What is happening in your life within your physical, emotional, vocational, mental and spiritual realms? (for a more detailed explanation of the 5 Realms visit http://cheiro.co.za/councelling-the-five-realms ) In becoming more conscious of the interplay of the layers of experience, we attain a cohesive sense of how well we are doing (or not) in each of our respective 5 Realms and their constituent parts. To be optimally well, we want our 5 Realms and their sub-categories of experience to be functioning harmoniously.

I rely a lot on the 5 Realms in my hand reading practice because it is a pivotal part of chirology that truly works. Hand readers who use the construct of the 5 Realms will find context, content and a safety net. You are ensured a 100% satisfaction rate with your clients. You simply can’t go wrong. No need to have a constant stream of astonishingly psychic revelations flowing from your lips to their ears. Instead a simple, kindly, carefully worded reference to each of the component parts of their life guarantees that by the end of your time together your clients will feel more congruency within themselves. You may not be able to fix the imbalances experienced by the person whose hands you read, or even your own realms. But identifying constituent parts of our multi-dimensionality brings an authority to our consciousness – and to the dialogue therapy that is the ancient craft of chirology.

Chirology and Counselling

Jennifer Hirsch — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:39:31 +0000

Chirology is a powerful dialogue therapy. My job as palm reader is to try to help people,
via my interpretation of the forms and markings of their hands, to share with me their story.
The telling, and my bearing witness, while simultaneously touching, stroking and holding
their hands, facilitates a shift of energy.

If you’ve ever sat with someone who is fully present, genuinely listening,
looking into your eyes and encouraging you to speak openly about what it is you
are going through, you’ll know what a relief it can be, just to have someone
to talk to. A good heart to heart chat does wonders. There is an alchemy, a
‘magic in the telling’, that can literally be transformative.

There are many people who are intrigued with hand reading and who might even do
a bit of ‘party palmistry’, but why is it that there are relatively few who
undertake to offer counselling with hand reading professionally? Perhaps the
very reason IS that this work is so intensely intimate, unifying and barrier
breaking.

Are you perhaps a person who is called to read people’s hands (I believe this
work is ‘a calling’) but for whatever reason don’t quite feel that you
‘have what it takes’ to offer hand readings professionally? If so, I urge
you to set aside your fears and your prejudices. Find the courage within
yourself to take, with kindness and compassion, the hands of your fellow man in
yours. You may have a life changing role to play, one that in turn helps you to
embody your life purpose.

Within the ‘language of the elements’, which is the system that we use to
interpret the meanings of the hands’ shapes, forms and markings, is
chirology’s counselling ‘context’, known as ‘the five realms’.
You might also like to read another article which explains more about the
physical, emotional, vocational, mental and spiritual layers of our being (five
realms) at http://cheiro.co.za/councelling-the-five-realms

Thumb Sucking

Jennifer Hirsch — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:05:30 +0000

In my endeavour to keep coming up with a spirited chirological offering each month, I’ll share with you that today I am sucking the idea for this article out of my thumb, since just hours ago I’d had no idea of what I’d write about this month, but now I’ve had this idea.

Let me explain that the saying ‘I don’t know where that (idea) came from, I just “sucked it out of my thumb”’makes perfect sense in chirology terms. Thumbs are ruled by ‘chi’, so the concept of sucking from them means you are drinking, imbibing from spirit, receiving nourishment and inspiration from the creative, vital, God principle.

Children who suck their thumbs are, from a chirological perspective, specifically receiving spiritual comfort, whilst our receiving an imaginative, inspired idea from existence, one that offers food for thought or deed, is surely one of life’s most divine pleasures. Which brings me to my actual idea, which is to highlight just few of (the surprisingly many) palmar markings that reveal a heightened creative imagination in a person.

Glyph patterns on Moon mounts always reveal a strong inner life. The ‘memory loop’, a teardrop shaped glyph, heightens in a person their intuitive awareness of the non-material realms of dreams, myths and symbols. Moon mounts that bulge outward
on the sides of the hands are called ‘curves of creativity’. These fleshy protuberances represent a source of potential in a person who will feel despair if they don’t ‘give voice to their soul’ through creative endeavour.

‘Style’ loops, glyph patterns which run diagonally under fire (ring) fingers, signal in a person their admiration of elegance and their flair with colour, décor and design. Whorls on fire (ring) fingertips are considered to be the ‘classic sign of the artist’. Peacock’s eye glyphs on ring fingertips also show flair, design sense and colour awareness.

The ‘girdle of Venus’ is the name given to any lines which run above the main water (heart) line, across under the fingers. Often found on the hands of highly creative people, girdles mark the sensitive idealist who adores beauty. Then there is the ‘writer’s fork’, which looks like a snake’s tongue at the end of the air line, another signal of a versatile person who ‘thinks out the box’.

After imbibing, receiving and imagining our ideas, what signs might there be on our hands that help us to execute an outward bound, creatively inspired flow? How could we determine if a person’s concepts might flower into deeds, or if their ideas will forever remain in the realm of thought?

Well, this question brings us straight back to thumbs. Arguably the strongest marker of discipline in a set of hands is a straight, wide-set thumb with a large tip. Straight thumbs ‘encourage self-mastery’ and show an uncompromising, unbending determination. Another signal of a person with a work ethic who gets things done is well etched full length minor earth (fate) lines. Vertical fate lines run up the middle of the palms. Owners will honour their commitments. People with oblong palms and short fingers (fire shaped hands) and firm, dry (air) skin texture are also do-ers.

Destiny is a child of action. May your inspired ideas meet in you your discipline, will, purity of intention, hope, order and excellence.

Too Many Lines

Jennifer Hirsch — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:15:35 +0000

Amidst my collection of around 3,000 palm prints are approximately 600 sets of hands with ‘too many lines’. People ask ‘why do I have so many lines?’ and ‘what does it mean?’ If you, or someone close to you is one of these approximately 20% of people with ‘full’ hands, with lines that go every which way, in an enormously complex array, you are undoubtedly ‘a sensitive’. Being acutely sensitive means that in order to cope, you have to organise your life around your trait. Many lines on your hands show you have almost too psychic, hypersensitive characteristics.

Highly sensitive people need their own space. More introvert, they have to sleep enough, to dream and to have time to explore their rich interior realms. They are morning people and the conscientious, vigilant perfectionists, who can’t ‘play’ till all details are done. Their energy often feels anxious, worried and tense and they can’t easily relax. An oppressively pervasive ‘happiness made guilty by duty’ makes its presence felt.

Too many lines reveal a vulnerable person who tends to defiantly protect their ‘inner hermit’, who is overwhelmed by others moods and who cries all too easily. They can’t do noise, get distressed if they can’t eat, often feel cold and could tire easily. In overwhelm of physical and emotional hypersensitivity, they might easily feel ‘infected’ and invaded by lower astral entities, or find themselves labelled neurotic. They tend to get shocking frights and adrenalin rushes at the slightest thing. Perhaps they have hay fever or skin rash or other more mysterious stress related physical symptoms.

People with many spidery lines often swing out of their ‘in’ times, moving into an aroused, quite ‘wired’, over-stimulated, excitable state. They push themselves, busily exploring life, with lots of energy for doing a variety of things. Hard working, they have a steady stream of creative and visionary ideas flowing from their intuition.

The best career for people with too many lines involves counselling, or working in some sort of advisory capacity. They process the subtle details and signs, sense and feel intuitively and think analytically about their thinking. In harnessing the flow of their intuitive perceptions, they help others with their insightful, ‘old soul’ compassionate, wise guidance.

Being influenced by our unconscious can be profoundly fulfilling, or it can be an excruciating torment of no cope. What is the remedy for those of us who aren’t black and white, open and shut cases? After all, we reflect more on everything and are deeply interested in spirituality. So when the overwhelm comes, what do we do to reframe? Since ‘the cleaner the hand, the calmer the mind’, we, more than most, need first to intimately inquire into, embrace and love our over-arousal – and then to still ourselves.

People with very many lines receive potently powerful impressions, so it’s necessary to keep checking in with yourself. In understanding that you are a highly sensitive person (a diagnosable, terminal way of being in the world) you’ll find that you can balance yourself with simple activities – meditation, prayer, play (force yourself), journaling, juicing, drumming, chanting, cooking, washing, walking, dancing, breathing, making fires, planting, crying, immersion in water and using music for medicine.

Body Weight – Does it Matter?

Jennifer Hirsch — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:11:41 +0000

Many intuitives (Highly Sensitive People) grapple with a lifelong quest to grow their inner earth element, that of self worth, of feeling substantial, of feeling that they ‘matter’. Interestingly, psychic people are often overweight and uncomfortable in their bodies. I believe that many people aren’t carrying extra flesh because they eat more food than they should. They are not fat from food, as a close look often reveals in fact they don’t eat enough, or regularly enough. Based on my own lifelong journey to becoming a slim person, I have concluded that sensitive people have extra body weight because they are thin.

What I mean by this is that the sharing of other people’s energy begs from us an inner space in which to bear their pain. Spiritual readers and other healers undertake to ‘bear the unbearable’. This act of being in service redeems us and gives context, connection, to the texture of humanity. We breathe in other’s pain, anxiety, fear, depression, negativity, to take in all such suffering. Then we try to detach, with self-healing techniques like grounding, de-cording, banishing and aura-cleansing. But the weighty, dense residues cause a swelling of our physical bodies. We find ourselves taking up more physical space in a cellular, energetic endeavour to hold the pain that wears down our fibres to a thin, threadbare weave.
I Matter

In chirology, the earth element is all about ‘I matter’. My ‘I Am-ness’, my existence, matters. Yet so many people struggle with feelings of ‘not good enough-ness’. Here is a list of some of the hand markers that might open a conversation about a person’s feeling of not being good enough:

Bent water fingers – person feels ‘done in’
Radial loops on water fingers – crushed from criticism
Wearing rings on water fingers – need more authority
Short water finger – low self esteem
Short low set air fingers – feel unsupported
Upper minor water lines – ‘the Not Good Enough line’, idealism/exacting standards/discontent
Thumbs that are held close to the hand – poor confidence
Thumb tips that bend inward – giving up/in, unhappiness, fearfulness
Air (head) line slopes steeply – depression
Furry air lines – anxiety
Many falling lines from main lines – energy depletion, low resources
Fleshy Moon mount – self absorption
Water skin texture (moist, soft, fleshy) – hyper-sensitive, easily hurt
Very soft, flexible hands – unable to cope with life’s demands.
Trembling or shaky hands – fear, vulnerability
The gesture of wringing the hands – high anxiety
Red hands – emotional strain, humiliation
Short messy water lines – person fears intimacy
Bitten nails – anxiety, the inability to solve a problem

Identifying eating disorders in a set of hands

The shapes and sizes of the base of our fingers (water level phalanges) represent the foundation of our thinking. Water (Jupiter/index) fingers in particular aspect how we relate to and feel about our material realm of security, sensuality, pleasure and especially, food. Full, plump water phalanges show the predisposition to weight gain and a preoccupation with food. People with a full base to their index fingers seek security from the material world. The opposite is true if the base of the finger is thin or waisted, which shows the minimalist, fussy, never greedy eater who lives in the realm of the intellect. Another sign of ‘food issues’ in a person is the presence of ‘a grille’ on this bottom phalange of the water (index) finger. Grilles are a mix of ‘bar lines’ and ‘activation lines’. Bar (horizontal) lines here show blocks and stress, while activation lines show focus and activity towards (sensuality). A grille shows a ‘push/pull’ conflict of interest and restriction in combination. This marker is often found on those suffering with anorexia/bulimia and body weight.

The five element system, our ‘language of chirology’, is itself governed by earth, as our interpretive system provides the foundation, the structure and the context for how to read hands.

Simian Lines

Jennifer Hirsch — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:50:52 +0000

Most hands have three easily noticeable lines, the earth (life), which runs around the ball of the thumb and two transverse lines, the water (heart) and air (head) lines. A simian line occurs when the water and air lines fuse and join, to become one transverse line only across the palm. The name simian line originates from Latin sīmi, meaning ape. Yet interestingly, the association is inaccurate as, like humans, the hands of monkeys and apes have more than one transverse lines, without any simian line formation. In chirology the meaning of this marker relates to character traits but it also has significant scientific relatedness to medical chromosomal disorders such as Down’s syndrome. Apparently around 55% of people born with Down’s Syndrome have this lineal formation.

Our water lines relate to what we feel, and our air lines, to what we think. The impression here is that the functions of feeling (water) and thinking (air) have become intertwined. Because of the entanglement between the two functions of emotion and thought, owners ‘feel what they think’ and ‘think what they feel’. So the bearer does not easily know what they are thinking or feeling. Their thoughts are invested with emotional intensity. They may respond inappropriately by becoming overly emotional in a relatively practical matter, and/or the opposite i.e. they become detached in situations which call for an emotional response.

The thing about simian lines is that there are so many associated meanings. Generally a simian line is considered a difficult marking to live with. Many of the line’s associated meanings are negative, yet we remember that there is always the seed of the opposite within every trait. Intensity is the single most applied word/meaning accorded to the marker. People with simian lines tend to apply their energy to one activity at a time, with fervent purpose being highly characterised, e.g. they might be focused researchers, obsessive exercisers etc. They can’t easily multi-task, have a ‘one-track’ mind and will do one thing at a time. Many simian line owners pour their emotional energy into their work resulting in greatly positive success in their vocational arena. Feelings and ideas align with goals in a relentless, single-minded manner. There is some form of extreme focus, dedication and commitment to their thinking and to their application of energy.

People who have enmeshed water and air lines tend to be emotionally and psychologically closed, serious minded or even repressed. They might experience social awkwardness, difficulty relating, or shyness, to the point of their becoming solitary. They often have a natural accord with nature and animals. It’s been said that ‘they run their relationships like a business’, with possessiveness, devotion, fierce protectiveness and a fixed criteria of both giving and expecting loyalty. Wounds inflicted have deep long-lasting effect, these folks don’t easily let go of negative feelings if they are betrayed. Many hand readers have suggested a trend in them to having either religious or anti-religious dogmatism or even fanaticism. In old palmistry, the mental and emotional intensity of simian line owners is said to show the tendency in them toward uncontrolled, even murderous rage, where rationality is overpowered by emotion.

People with simian lines in both hands think that everyone experiences life in the way that they do. On the rare occasion of being approached by a bearer of double simians for a reading, I have found that conveying interpretations to them can be difficult in that they are locked into themselves and very intense, demanding and exacting. A true simian line has no remnant of either the air or water lines. The interpretation is somewhat modified if there are traces of water and air lines.

‘Scars, warts, calluses or freckles?’

Jennifer Hirsch — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:44:15 +0000

Our hands are infinitely multi-dimensional and any number of hand characteristics offer meanings for dialogue. Today we begin our conversation with noticing any scars, warts, calluses or freckles on a pair of hands.

A scar on your hand is a wound that has healed, yet still the scar remains. For hand readers, your scar may reveal a deeper trauma from within the area of life that the wounded mount symbolises, which can be soothed with sensitive dialogue.

It’s hard to see yourself as beautiful when you have warts on your hands. Warts might aspect a lot of self-judgement, being irritated with yourself and mentally overloaded, with things generally feeling out of control. Louise Hay says that warts are ‘the manifestation of hateful emotions’. They are caused by strains of human papilloma virus which cause skin to grow faster than normal.

Calluses which form mysteriously (without there being a lifestyle or occupational cause) show an uncompromising hardening of the temperament in relation to the area of life governed by the areas of the hands on which they appear. For astonishing close-up photographs of the mysteriously large, thick calluses on Barack Obama’s two hands, take a look this well illustrated, controversial analysis written by the Israeli chirologist Arnold Holtzman http://www.pdc.co.il/obama.htm

Considered a lucky sign in traditional palmistry, freckles in the palms of your hands are ‘exclamations’ that enliven your good fortune. The meanings for what type of luck to expect is drawn from the area of life represented by the mount upon which the freckle appears.

Think of it, for eons people have surely sat together, touching hands and holding close eye contact with each other. This alone is ultimately intimate. Bring in the acute observation that our hands are our personal maps for self-enquiry. Add some know-how of chirology’s five element system of interpretation. Find the courage to speak your truth, open your heart and be willing to touch and be touched by another. Then the magic in the telling during a chirology reading becomes alchemical, sometimes even life changing.

Buddhism and chirology’

Jennifer Hirsch — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:30:52 +0000

Sooner or later in our human experience, we find ourselves on holy ground, exploring the terrain between the question “who am I?” and its exquisite answer “I am”. In essence, it is from within this spiritual and philosophical paradigm that people seek the aid of healers who use divinatory tools to enter their psyche.

The formula for interpretation in five element chirology, as well as the spiritual and ethical principles of chirology, have their origins in ancient Buddhism. Buddhist principles have given a strong philosophical framework to hand analysis. The once fragmentary hand reading craft now has principle, influenced by many hallmarks of Buddhist teachings, some of which I have shared herewith:

Annica – impermanence. Everything changes, existence is always in a state of flux. The changing lines and shape formations of our hands reflect the nature of change relevant to individual transformation. Buddhism explains that there is no individuality as such. We have no individual soul, nor do we have any on part of ourselves which can be described as ‘self in itself’. Our essence is constantly changing and the psyche is a process, not a thing. The whole nature of self is illusory, therefore what lies beyond, that is, the harmony of the universe, holds the key to enlightenment.
Anatta – no soul/self. There is no intrinsic definable, fixed, eternal part of a person that can be referred to as ‘me’ or ‘I’. The hands reflect anatta in that there is nothing in a hand that can be defined as our essential identity. Self/individuality/personality are but an appearance that has arisen.
Dukkha – un-satisfactoriness/suffering. Dukkha encompasses annica and anatta as impermanence and the indefinable involve suffering and pain (life’s process). In the interpretation of a hand dukkha is encompassed in terms of the Buddhist focus on loving kindness and specifically the orientation toward helping people understand themselves so as to reduce dukkha (suffering). Through perceiving the hand as a mandala of the whole of your being, as a map which can explain the nature of being human, a greater awareness will come, which will free us from dukkha.
The Three Fires – greed, hatred and ignorance – which need to be overcome. The idea of spiritual emancipation is upheld. Chirology seeks to communicate the awareness of higher knowledge. The elements manifest from dense (earth) to intangible (air) – symbolically representing the evolution of human consciousness, from ignorance, greed and hatred towards wisdom, compassion and enlightenment.
The Five Skandhas – the 5 factors or aggregates which together make up the individual. These are ever changing physical and mental energies which determine the nature of what we call ‘I’ or ‘me’. The 5 Skandhas – the description given by the Buddha of the aggregates which together manifest human form and consciousness, have elemental relationship, the
interpretive ‘language of chirology’.

Form/matter – includes the elements earth, water, fire and chi. Ruled by earth. Earth’s (physical) principle characteristic is solidarity of intent and the desire to preserve and stabilise.
Feeling – all sensations experienced through the contact of the sense organs with the physical world. Ruled by water. Water (emotional) seeks to unite the universality of all forms of experience.
Perception – gives rise to recognition (in relation to the senses) Ruled by fire. Fire (vocational) has a goal and is characterised by purposeful activity.
Mental formations – that which directs the mind toward chosen activity, which produces karmic effects. Ruled by air. Air (mental) seeks to understand and to express that which is not obvious or ordinary.
Consciousness – reaction or response connected to the senses. Ruled by chi. Chi (spiritual) is unknowable, its context is universality.

The ancient knowledge of the healing power of mudra (meditative hand gestures) were known to the Buddha for their relationship to different levels of consciousness.

These principles, nomenclature and ‘the principle of graduated materiality’ give chirology its counselling context – of the physical, emotional, vocational, mental and spiritual realms of human experience.

‘The Hollow of the Palm’

Jennifer Hirsch — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:22:39 +0000

Let’s talk today about the area called the ‘plain of Mars’ or the hollow of our palms. One curious feature about our hands is how much the depth of this more or less hollow palmar centre can vary.

When I take people’s palm prints, I look out for a ‘flare’ of many fine lines covering the central plain of Mars which I see as a signal of unhappiness with a current life situation. This is the area of the hands that evidences ‘the battle of life’. The look and feel of this central part of people’s palms helps me to gauge the extent to which drudge and day-to-day routine are leaving their mark.

Some people have very hollow palms, where their hands feel thin in the middle. The flexor tendons are visible, with even deeper furrows alongside them. Old palmistry says these ‘beggars bowls’ will always be full, but in chirology this is not a good look for traits related to reserves of stamina.

Thin, hollow palms can mark struggle, depleted energy, discouragement and inner despair in a person who struggles with worldly affairs. These are ‘other-worldly’ types who need to play it safe, they withdraw or stay alone, preferring peace and quiet.

Bryan, my palmistry teacher, taught me that hollow palms signal karmic debt. That from the hollow handed I’d hear a tough life story from someone not born a free spirit. Often people who were exiled from home when young have this hollow palm feature. They might carry a solemn, centuries old sadness.

Using touch, sight and intuition, hand readers rather un-scientifically ‘measure’ the mounts, in relation to each other. Some palms appear more hollow if the surrounding mounts are large.

Some hands have a noticeably firm, developed, flat centre of palm. Hands that are thick in the middle belong to strong, resilient, spirited, involved, outgoing, generous people. Their lives may be filled with drama and melodrama. While they are tested in accepting, they’ll not hold grudges. This hand feature shows endurance and survivorship.

‘The Four Skin Textures’

Jennifer Hirsch — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 09:07:42 +0000

The textures of our palmar skin reveal how we receive in the world, and what sort of impression the world makes upon us. Our skin is the membrane through which we experience our lives. In chirology, the element quality of our skin, ‘the mesh through which our soul has to work’, gets compared with our hand shape type. The shapes (there are four element shape-types) show our out-flow style – how we give out and express ourselves. The binary analysis of shape and skin is the basis for vocational guidance in chirology.

The four skins each correspond to an element. Earth, water, fire and air skin textures aspect the different environments, activities and jobs we’d be happiest in.

To decide skin texture, lightly run your fingertips over the palms and fingers on the inside of the hand. Sometimes palms have more than one skin texture, for example, dry palms with moist fingertips.

Air skin – dry, smooth, cool, pale
Person is intuitive and sensitive to energy. Observant of their world, they conceptualise
and analyse and try to make sense of experience. They enjoy a communicative exchange
of ideas, yet may come across as aloof or detached. They like the internet and books.
They ask ‘why, how does it work?’

Fire skin – dry, roughish, firm, hot, reddish
Person responds through activity, they can’t relax easily and are easily bored. They like a fast working, intense, challenging environment. They can be forceful, quick, spontaneous and assertive. They enjoy exercise. Their question is ‘where is the action?’

Water skin – moist, smooth, soft, fleshy, warm, pale
Signals an idealistic, feeling centred person who is sensitive to moods and vibes and upset by crudeness and vulgarity. They look for love, kindness, consideration and co-operation. They can be egocentric, attention seeking and easily offended. They ask ‘how are you feeling?’

Earth skin – dry, very rough, leathery, warm
Person doesn’t feel the cold and is happiest in direct contact with the environment. They enjoy the physical and material and have rapport with nature. They are not analytical and don’t ‘excavate’ emotionally. Unless to do with practicalities, they don’t ask anything.

Interpreting the skin texture is easy and offers accurate insight into the person whose hands you are analysing.

‘The Four Foundations of Chirology’

Jennifer Hirsch — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 08:49:44 +0000

Years ago when I first began studying palmistry, I thought the lines in our hands to be the most important ‘keys’ for interpreting hands. I poured for hours over the traditional meanings for life, head, heart, Mars, fate, health and sun lines, but learning the lines was really difficult. While I slowly began to ‘get’ the meanings of travel, worry and allergy lines along with the obsessive via lascivia (translates to ‘line of lust’ and the idealistic girdle of Venus, the hundreds of diverse meanings for the confusing variations in the lines were truly hard to remember. Then about six months into my passionately ‘palmistic’, pre-chirology period, I came upon the five element system of chirology.

The ‘language of the elements’ brought me ‘home’. Instead of looking at lines, I was instructed by my UK tutors to ignore them. I was taught instead to focus on the four areas of hand analysis that form a foundation for the study of the lines. These are:

The hand shape – shows expression. Is it an earth, water, fire or air shape?
Skin textures – show impression. Earth, water, fire and air skin textures each tell of different environments, activities and jobs we’d be happiest in.
Thumbs – governed by chi, the thumbs are the ever important ‘rulers of the hands’. In themselves thumbs are an area of speciality in hand reading.
The ascribed element and meanings for the distribution of our cosmic, karmic skin ridge patterns and glyphs on our fingers and palmar surface.

In the craft of chirology, we first set an infra-structure with these four foundations. In fact you can offer an insightful reading based ‘only’ on the hands’ shape, skin texture, thumbs and glyphs.

Many beginner hand analysts lose faith because they find it too difficult to make sense of the lines. But once we grasp the five element system of interpretation and the four foundations, the lines, each of which are also governed by an element, become far easier to understand.

‘The Symbolism in our Glyphs’

Jennifer Hirsch — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:53:12 +0000

At some time in our lives most of us have worn an amulet. Be it religious stars or crosses, hearts or horseshoes, lettering or symbolic tattoos, we consciously or subconsciously choose the form, shape and meaning of our amulets from the many archetypal symbols and patterns that are imprinted in our psyches. Whether to enhance a sense of belonging, to protect or for feel good style, we can concur that the myths and meanings that are associated with our symbols of self-expression have an energetic effect.

But what about the symbols which are PERMANENTLY INSCRIBED, engraved and imprinted upon our own bodies? If we believe a chamsa hand around our neck will ward off the evil eye, then surely the vortexes and labyrinths of the glyph (skin ridge) patterns which adorn our fingertips and palms (and soles of our feet) are influencing our very core energy?

Our fingerprint and palmar glyphs are pre-ordained, fixed and unchangeable cosmic imprints which receive and emit their own unique resonance. They may be seen as energy portals, thresholds through which we can better understand and express our authentic responses. They also show the environments in which we feel in harmony, which is why understanding your glyphs can be so helpful with career choice as well as with relationship compatibility.

They come in four primary forms:

Arches – earth energy – look like simple hills
Loops – water energy – look like a droplet of water
Triradii – fire energy – three directions of ridges converge to look like three pronged propellers
Whorls – air energy – look like spirals or bull’s eyes

Together they compose six basic patterns: simple arches, ulnar and radial loops, tented arches, whorls, double loops and peacock’s eyes.

Why Have Your Hands Read?

Jennifer Hirsch — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:31:44 +0000

I’d like to emphasise how much an enquiry into the meanings of the shapes, forms and markings of your own two hands will help you to feel more integrated and connected to yourself.

While existence calls us to task, chirology can help us to cope. It’s a hugely powerful ‘know thyself’ (and others) tool. Your hands have a very personal story to share, a story about you and what type of person you are. Encoded in your hands is your authentic temperament, your character, your persona, what makes you tick, what works for you and what doesn’t.

5 element chirology uses a universal system of interpreting hands, called ‘the language of the elements’. Sourced in ancient Buddhism, the simply structured method composes an eternal marriage between the principles of the 5 elements earth, water, fire, air and chi, and the physical, emotional, vocational, mental and spiritual layers of our human experience, known in chirology as ‘the 5 realms’.

Your glyphs, the cosmic, karmic skin ridge patterns on your fingers and palmar surface, are your blueprint. Knowing what they reveal about your needs and preferences might be surprisingly helpful to you and yours. With earthy arches you’d need to be treated with kindness, with watery loops you are friendly and airy whorls signal independence. In my book God Given Glyphs you can easily identify your fingerprints from the illustrations as well as find out what they mean.

‘Party palmistry – fun, easy and accurate’

Jennifer Hirsch — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:03:16 +0000

Helpful for all readers, people love to hear about their traits, as shown by these markings.

‘When reading hands, how honest should I be?’

Jennifer Hirsch — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:22:46 +0000

This case ‘vignette’ is a true story from 1993, when I first began offering chirology consultations professionally.

A man comes along who has invented a barbeque cooker.
He has invested three years and all his money creating and having his design patented.
He asks me “Will my business investment work?”
My encouraging and kind response is “There is every chance that things will go well”, while intuitively ‘knowing’ otherwise.
His ‘career’ line is faint and his thumb too malleable. I pick up restrictions to his success.
My feedback is not honest.
Some months later he calls to tell me he is broke, that at the trade fair launch there was another almost identical invention for sale at a much lower price.
Should I have been more honest?
Or could my being gentle with my words and willing to be wrong be justified?
Can it be that kindness and encouragement are what the person needed most?
Your thoughts on this topic will be appreciated by me!

I was inundated with an astonishing flood of response from friends, readers and therapists. The topic sure stirred people up! Many said I deceived him. Others were more empathic. There is consensus from all the replies I have received ….. that our intuition is to be trusted.

• ‘being ethical IS all about honesty and sharing ones intuitive perceptions, to empower the clients so that they have the knowledge they need to consciously take charge of their own destinies’
• ‘they are there to be empowered , not for a feel good therapy session’
• ‘thanks for sharing your experiences. I also have same types of experiences’
• ‘this is a subject about which I feel strongly’
• ‘very interesting dilemma for a palmist to deal with’
• ‘experiences like these remind us of our responsibilities in doing readings for others’
• ‘you are not their keeper nor their saviour’
• ‘I would never tell people what I think they want to hear. I would just tell them the truth as I see it, anything else is unethical’
• ‘I understand why you wanted to give him some hope’
• ‘give feedback with integrity and in the clients’ best interests, without compromising oneself’
• ‘I would suggest skilled neutral description of the physical evidence balanced with other evident strengths or factors/problem solving’
• ‘optimism and positive thinking plays a very important role in a person’s ability to get well’
• ‘I don’t always say everything I see’
• ‘a fine line between our client’s need for encouragement and their need for insights into their weaknesses’
• ‘take into consideration the person’s resilience/fortitude in dealing with challenging aspects of their lives/personality/character’
• ‘you did your best at the time to try and give the guy some hope and encouragement’
• ‘you can’t take away hope- it’s not just what one says but how one says what one says’
• ‘some clients specifically ask don’t tell me anything negative – others say tell me everything’
• ‘the client already knows at their deepest level the answers’
• ‘do not attempt to “protect” others from the information contained in their palm. Yours may be the only warning they receive before it is too late’
• ‘I would tell the man that there is some restrictions on his career. It’s better to forewarn a person of what might happen’
• ‘ I work my way towards the sensitive topic and then I ask directly if he or she feels OK if I touch on something very personal, or very challenging’
• ‘not to bluntly assert your intuition and say “NO this isn’t going to work”, but finding some way to diplomatically hint at what your intuition is telling you’
• ‘I always trust my intuition’
• ‘call out the strength of the weakness that they must integrate’
• ‘the client came was because he was looking for the truth, the whole truth’
• ‘if you had asked him if wanted the truth good or bad he would have said yes’
• ‘each time you cloud the truth you damage your own credibility and you betray yourself’
• ‘don’t allow your emotions to cloud your judgement’
• ‘truth is not always good to hear but we deal better with it than we do with deceit’
• ‘how important it is to temper truth with tact and sensitivity’
• ‘honesty– in concert with sensitivity’
• ‘the words the client doesn’t like hearing are the very things they most need to deal with’
• ‘we must give our truthful, honest best’
• ‘offer advice of a way out, a way to follow a deeper truth for this person so that they have a tool to use when the inevitable happen’
• ‘you have to trust your intuition and also your logic’
• ‘I would have been very honest with him. It was unethical not to’
• ‘you should not have answered his question – you should have rephrased his question – the words you said were not in accord with your intuition, a kind of compromise that you should avoid’
• ‘I would want the cold hard truth, not a temporary quick fix’
• ‘my opinion and method is to err on the side of honesty’
• ‘nothing sweet and sugary about the facts, it is what it is and once you can accept it for what it is, that is when one is able to step into one’s own power and transform it’
• ‘I would be honest with him’
• ‘he needs to know what those indicators mean but in a gentle way’
• ‘people are different, some need subtle shifts and others the plain truth’
• ‘trusting your intuitive perceptions, in every case, will always be the right path’

Our ‘inner tuition’ is to be trusted!

‘What’s the difference between our right and left hands?’

Jennifer Hirsch — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 10:43:23 +0000

Greetings dear friends

This question of the differences between our hands is a real FAQ! First off, to clarify, the hand you use to sign your name with is your active hand – even if you are ambidextrous and predominantly use your opposite hand and secondly, in chirology, we read always read both hands, as together they represent your multi-dimensionality.

Your active hand represents more of your projected personality, that is, what you show. Its markings reflect your conscious mind, the patterns that you are most likely to continue, in other words, the behavioural sum of your subconscious psychological dispositions (which show in your passive hand). These traits are often skills that you have greater awareness of within yourself.

Your passive hand reflects your true temperament and the more authentic of your moods. It can reveal information about your subconscious mind, your inherited psychological and physical traits, and the influences of acquired moral orientation and conscience that have formed your character. Events in life which have deep emotional impact, your instinctive emotional responses, deeper desires, private or hidden traits and potential talents are also aspected in passive hands.

Some of us have very different markings in our palms. An active hand with clear, strong lines with a passive hand that reflects a relative mess, evidences progression. The owner of this pair of hands has overcome many difficulties and is intent on self growth and furtherance. There is a progressional trend.

The opposite applies with passive hands which are stronger and less stressed looking than the active hands. When active hands are filled with ‘weaker’ markings or a more complex array of lines there is perhaps a ‘regressional’ trend. The owner of these hands might be in a paralysing crisis of overwhelm.

Those of us with distinctly different lines and glyphs in our two hands know that our interior ‘climate’ is very changeable. We might exude peace and serenity, while inwardly we suffer agitation and anxiety. Differences between the dermatoglyphic patterns, lines and forms of your active and passive hands reveal differences between what you project and what you keep private.

‘Hand Charts’

Jennifer Hirsch — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:40:07 +0000

Today we are looking at a creative technique to help you to rapidly learn to accurately ‘read’ the prints, which is called ‘creating a hand chart’. A hand chart is your visual written and illustrated reference guide which will assist you to articulate your analysis to your client with optimal efficacy.

Take a print of the hands, but before you apply the ink to the palm, examine their hands, and note down your observations and impressions. Do not expect yourself to know the meanings of each marking at this stage. You will research each aspect later, at your leisure, taking time to work both scientifically and intuitively.

Step by step, but in no particular order of importance, record the following, bearing in mind that these indications only have particular relevance when they are obvious, e.g. normal sized hands in relation to the body does not need recording.

* Do the hands seem particularly large or small in relation to the body?
* Gesture – how do they hold their hands? Are they in pockets, or hidden
from view in any way, or are they gesticulating expressively?
* On which fingers are the rings placed, if any?
* Are the fingers knotty or smooth?
* Are the hands moist or dry to the touch?
* Does the skin feel rough, smooth, dry, or moist?
* Do the nails appear ragged, bitten, marked, or well looked after?
* Do you detect any tremor?
* Do the hands look particularly red, yellow or pale?
* Did they extend their hands with the palms upward or downward?
* Do they feel soft and mushy to the touch, or are they hard, firm or stiff?
* Are there any ‘beauty spots’ or calluses or skin conditions?
* Does anything else strike you about the person’s hands?

Using your chosen system of research and interpretation, take your time to research each of the above signs. Then look at the hand shape, the forms of the thumbs and fingers, the various lines and of course the revealing glyph patterns which appear not just on our fingertips but also on the palmar surface.The 5 element system of chirology is, to my mind, the best system for reading hands.

Write down your findings around the set of prints. Use different coloured pens and develop a code, by deciding which colour best symbolises each realm of life. For example, blue may be used for emotions, red for career, orange for health, green for intellectual considerations, and purple for spiritual indications.

The chart should be as colourful and as vivid as possible. You may also decide to create something of a collage of your perceptions of the subject’s life, in which case you will need old magazines, reference books for appropriate quotes, scissors, glue, and any other items which symbolise, or trigger an association to, information which you would like to explore with the person. When they return for their reading, place the chart next to or in front of both of you, and use it as a reference to help you to remember your interpretations.

Your hand reading skills will progress rapidly with the use hand charts. Begin with the prints of people close to you, so that each aspect can be verified or disclaimed, without bias, by that person.

Please write me with any topic request you may have!

With love and peace
Jennifer.

‘Taking Hand Prints – the Why and How’

Jennifer Hirsch — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:07:08 +0000

“..… why the examination of the hand rather than an imprint is of little or no use to the expert. It is not possible to make an accurate and detailed examination of the hands just by looking at them, for many of the vital but minute details are not clearly apparent. Further, it is essential to make a studied survey of an imprint at leisure, and to keep detailed account of these markings, for they will change in time, and these changes reveal a great deal.”

This quote by the late palmist Noel Jaquin says it all, almost. I like to take the printing process a step further, by creating a ‘hand chart’, consisting of key words and any perceptions I might have and writing them all down around the set of prints. Drawing (I call it ‘downloading’) hand charts are a fantastic way to accelerate your knowledge of how to interpret the markings on the hands. But the how-to of creating a hand chart will be next months’ topic. For today, we are looking into the easiest way to take inked prints.

When I first began to print people’s palms, the doing of the printing seemed very effortful and difficult. My first clumsy efforts were done with cheap red lipstick which actually works quite well especially if you spray the prints with fixative or hairspray. I still have many a red lipstick palm print in my collection. Eventually I sourced my first printing ‘kit’ consisting of:
1 ink roller – 10cm width works well
Water soluble block/lino printing ink e.g. ROLFES
White copy paper
Tile or glass square
Pen and newspaper
This is how to take clear hand prints:

• Place a few layers of newspaper onto a table, and position the tile, ink, roller and plain white paper on the newspaper.
• Hands to be clean, dry and free of jewellery. Stroke their palmar surface to assess the skin texture. Earth and fire skin are drier and need more ink than moist water or smooth air skin.
• Squeeze a small amount of ink onto the tile, and by using the tile, you spread the ink evenly onto the roller.
• Take one of your friends’ hands and apply the ink to it, using long strokes. Work the ink into the deeper folds and lines on their hand.
• Ask them to place their hand onto the white paper, making sure the hand is relaxed, aligned with the wrist, and in its most natural position. They must not press down, just relaxed and natural. If you wish, draw an outline of the hand.
• Now to ensure that the hollow of the palm is clearly printed, slide the paper (and the hand) off the edge of the table and press upward from beneath the wad of newspaper, with your fingertips, into the hollow of the hand. Peel off the paper from the hand.
• Make sure that the thumb tip phalange is inked, and let them LIGHTLY press just their thumb onto the paper, using NO rolling or pressure. If you wish, outline the thumb.
• Repeat this process with their other hand.
• Write their name, date, date of birth, and are they right or left hand active? Other relevant information would be: scars, moles, warts, nail shapes, hair, flexibility etc. or anything else that seems significant.

Today I have close to 3,000 sets of palm prints which I file in alphabetical order. Taking prints is no longer a ‘mission’ requiring discipline, in fact it’s always fun for me. There is always the hope that some rare glyph marking might reveal itself, not to mention the realm of our fascinating lines. I see the lines of our two hands as our two uniquely personal guide maps there to assist us to navigate ever closer to our centre. In November’s topic I will explore on how differences in the markings of our hands reveal our authentic character and temperament, and the persona we project.

Please write me with your topic requests, and thanks again for your interest.
With love and peace
Jennifer.

‘Palmistry Gems’

Jennifer Hirsch — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:50:54 +0000

Today I am sharing about my calling in late 1990 to palmistry, and some of the gems I learned in my first lessons.

I found an advert in the ‘Personal’ column of the ‘Star’ newspaper which read – “A palmistry reading. Call Brian.” Soon I was making regular visits to a high rise flat in downtown Jozi for lessons with the late Brian Friend. At the time, besides the late Chand Singh (who was a rather famous palm reader in South Africa) Brian was possibly the only other professional palmist in the country. His was a ‘palmistic’ approach, more random than system based, very unlike the 5 element system of chirology which I practice today. Nonetheless he taught me many palmistry gems. These are just a few of Brian’s palmistry tips that for me have proven accurate.

• To find out which is the true active hand, ask your client to pick up an object. (In chirology, we also ask ‘what hand do you sign your name with?’).
• Differences in lines between the two hands show if the person’s life has been stationary, progressive or retrograde.
• Flabby puffy hands show laziness and apathy.
• Tight skin shows a hard worker.
• The lighter the lines the more sensitive the person.
• The deeper the lines the more dramatic the life and the energy for participation in life.
• White knuckles show social veneer – a need to express an air of confidence.
• People with small thumbs are sentimental.
• When Jupiter (water/index) fingers bend to Saturn (earth/middle) the person feels ‘done in’.
• A gap between the Jupiter (water/index) and Saturn (earth/middle) finger shows the person likes to be in charge.
• A gap between their Apollo (fire/ring) and their Mercury (air/baby) fingers shows independence and autonomy in communication.
• Bent Mercury (air/baby) fingers show that the person ‘manipulates communication channels for vested interests’. A slight bend shows tact.
• Look at the hands when rested palms up – if the fingers curl in the person is introverted.
• Square hands like repetitive work
• Knotty fingers show caution and orderliness and their owner is not seduced by appearances.
• Bulbous Venus mounts (ball of thumb) show a tendency to hysterical ranting and raving.
• A section of a fate line that runs into the Saturn (earth/middle) finger implies restriction – a compulsion or an entrapment to duty.

Brian passed away from cancer a mere 6 months after we met. I still miss his wise counsel and profound knowledge of the hands, as well as his generous encouragement that I pursue my calling.

There are some new uploads of free sample pages of my 2 ebooks at www.cheiro.co.za . Please have a look at them….these two ebooks are perfect for beginner hand readers to gain a grasp of the 5 element system and how it works.

With love and peace
Jennifer.

‘Chirology’s Element System’

Jennifer Hirsch — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 11:54:09 +0000

In counselling with hand reading, our accurate and compassionate choice of words is pivotal to the therapy. I love this quote by Noel Jaquin, who said: “Words are the tools of our trade, and the medicine of our profession”. He described how “Just as the artist must learn to blend his colours, so must the palmist must learn the art of blending words”.

Chirology teaches that all existence is composed of earth, water, fire, air and chi, that life comprises five element realms and that every feature of the hand has an element rulership. We choose words from the universal ‘language of the elements’ to help integrate people’s element realms.

Earth is the physical realm, where we look at the markers of security and stability in the person. Hands can reveal existing and predispositions to illnesses, financial circumstances and home and family circumstances.

Water is the emotional realm, the realm of the well being of the emotions, our friendships, relationships, compatibility, giving and receiving love and our willingness to feel inspired.

Fire is the vocational realm, where we find the person’s creative energy reflected in their hands. Fire level analysis helps define optimal work choices. What are they suited to vocationally? Fire represents action, will and joie de vivre in the person.

Air is the mental realm, where we analyse potentials, interests and hobbies. Air level analysis also represents subjective and external communication.

Chi is the spiritual realm where we discuss religious and spiritual beliefs. Chi rules intuition, the binding thread of chirology. Readers channel the information and the healing.

Visit http://cheiro.co.za/the-five-element-system-the-language-of-the-elements for more about the elements of chirology.on this topic.

My book “God Given Glyphs” is truly a chirology ‘bible’ and can be bought via an easy, secure online payment gateway at my site. For free sample pages please click ‘look inside’ at www.cheiro.co.za on the home page. I also have written two ‘handy’ ebooks that can be bought online too.

“I’d like to congratulate you on the release of this wonderfully well written and illustrated book concerning hand and fingerprint differences amongst individuals. I admire the way you conduct your research as well as the way you present your well researched script and references. My son bought me this amazing book and I was thrilled with your intense observations and the layout of this wonderful book.” Morné

Thank you for subscribing to www.cheiro.co.za and a warm welcome to newcomers. Please write to me or post your comments.

Love and peace
Jennifer

‘Touching and Holding Hands”

Jennifer Hirsch — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 07:56:46 +0000

In the movie Avatar, a powerful connection was activated when the Avatar people
plugged their pony-tails into the creatures they wanted to ride. Once they had
plugged in, the ride began.
Its exactly like that with hand reading. In taking a person’s hands in yours,
or by offering your hands to a hand reader, we unlock a force of energy via the
touching and holding. At the moment of touch, both reader and seeker open and
extend themselves. Kindness then ‘strikes like lightening’. Our energies
intertwine, connectivity is established, and the courageous leap into self
enquiry via the forms and markings of our hands begins.
Before you begin to analyse the meanings that are encoded in the markings of a
person’s hands, it is a good idea to shake their hand when first you meet. As
discussed in previous posts, the way people shake hands can be very revealing
and this might be your first physical contact. Of course the taking of the palm
prints also requires that we touch each other, so as to feel the skin texture
and to have a closer look at the hands.
But it is the gentle holding and stroking of hands in the beginning of a
reading (as well as intermittently throughout the process) that conveys
reassurance and even healing to the person.

‘A deeper look at what can we tell about a person from their handshake’

Jennifer Hirsch — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:46:12 +0000

Today we explore “A deeper look at what can we tell about a person from their handshake”

Many years ago I was privileged to shake hands with Nelson Mandela. His hands not only exude warmth and comfort by touch, but they also exhibit an unusually balanced set of lines. Mandela once said “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination”. No surprise – he has superb head and heart lines on his magnificent hands! Dutch psychologist and hand analyst Martijn van Mensvoordt has offered the world a unique and rich presentation of Mandela’s hands. I urge you to visit:
http://handfacts.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/tribute-the-hands-of-nelson-mandela-hand-of-africa/

As I mentioned in my first article, “What can we tell about a person’s hands from a distance” peoples’ handshakes fall somewhere on the scale between limp fish and bonecrusher. Limp and soft handshakes show lack of energy and apathy. Selfishness, or the shaker being egocentric and self absorbed, is likely. The person is non-committal, inscrutable or even insincere. It is as if they have barely enough interest in you to greet you! This person may also be depressed, especially if the hand also feels moist. Chronic or acute emotional crisis, and a lack of coping skills and resourcefulness could also be indicated. Take care not to conclude the person to be selfish and egocentric until you have intuitively ‘decided’ (this is where intuition begins to become a part of your technique) whether they are ill or depressed.

A firm shake from someone with dry skin (fire element) shows survival skills, practical energy and vitality. This person is pragmatic, and may even be skeptical of anything but ‘the tried and the true’. A firm shake from a moist hand indicates anxiety, vulnerability and stress. Moisture (water element) indicates emotional sensitivity, but the firmness (fire/earth element) shows enough determination to overcome difficulties.

Very occasionally the bonecrushing shaker is genuinely so full of the joy of life that they do not realize how strong they are. They are so out of touch, insensitive or ‘thick skinned’ and spiritual refinement is reduced. Consider the possibility of misogyny if it is a man, or cruelty. They may also be arrogant, or exhibitionistic. Your confronting ‘ouch’ mostly leads to an apology for ‘not meaning to hurt you’. Sometimes defensive, this person could be in a degree of denial, or an aspect of their life may be out of control. A hand held longer than necessary wants something, or is seductively signaling attraction. Respect shows when the hands are offered on the same level.

• Different cultures have associated styles of handshakes – these must be taken into consideration before making your assessment.

The consistency of the hand, which can be assessed during a handshake, shows the person’s energy potential. Soft hands show less energy and physical activity is not particularly enjoyed. Indolence and self indulgence are likely, although often soft hands show a developed astuteness or even shrewdness. A hard hand, which has no “give” to the flesh, shows the realist. This person is more extrovert and energetic, and most often is a hard worker. Their emotions may be repressed however, as the hard handed prefer to get on with life rather than to emotionally ‘excavate’ too deeply.

“What can we tell about a person’s hands from a distance”

Jennifer Hirsch — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 10:29:49 +0000

Perhaps the very start of our becoming hand readers is that we spontaneously have begun to observe other people’s hands. For this reason I have chosen this month’s topic.
“What can we tell about a person’s hands from a distance”
Out of this awareness, this attunement to how we somehow pick up information about people from their hands, grows our deeper interest in what the shapes, forms, markings, gestures and so on of the hands might more specifically reveal about the person, and how we interpret and then convey that information to them. In chirology, we interpret the hands with the five element system, by applying the principles and qualities of the elements earth, water, fire, air and chi to the hands.
But to begin, let’s explore a bit about what we notice, without other people even knowing we are observing their hands.
• The size of their hands, in relation to the size of their body that is. Large hands show that the owner is thorough and patient, but they may waste time on detail. Their responses are more considered than the more impulsive people with small hands, who have quick responses but who are easily distracted.
• The handshake. Different cultures have associated styles of handshakes – these to be taken into consideration. Generally, on the scale between limp fish and bone-crusher, limp and soft handshakes show lack of energy and apathy, and possibly depression. A firm shake shows practical energy and vitality. Very occasionally the bone-crushing shaker is genuinely so full of the joy of life that they do not realize how strong they are, but mostly they are insensitive, ‘thick skinned’ or even have a cruel streak. A hand held longer than necessary wants something, or is seductively signaling attraction. Respect shows when the hands are offered on the same level.
• If they wear rings. Rings reveal all sorts of information about their bearer. Please read the article ‘Rings on their fingers’ under the ‘Fingers’ category at www.cheiro.co.za
• Bitten nails. Please refer to the article ‘Nail Biting’ at the website.
• Our gestures tell a lot about our attitude to life. People often keep their hands in pockets, hold them behind their backs, splay them out onto the table in front of them as they sit down, sit on them etc. all of which tell a story. Expressive and expansive movements belong to those who are broad minded and who readily talk about their feelings. The more movement of hands, the quicker the mind. Reserved movements show guarded, secretive and self disciplined traits. People who hold the thumbs reveal lack of confidence, anxiety and defensiveness. Fingers wagged in front of the face shows the pedantic, self righteous type.
• Thick or thin fingers, or bent fingers. There is a meaning associated with all possible bends and leans of the individual fingers, which I have explored in my book ‘God Given Glyphs’
• Knotty or smooth fingers. This is another topic I have explained in ‘GGG’. (Please have a look at the sample / purchase pages of ‘GGG’ at www.cheiro.co.za) Knots show ‘an arrest of thought’, as the form of our fingers reveals something of how we think. Knots slow the thinking, revealing a philosophical approach to life. Smooth fingered people might be less analytical.
• The shape of the hands can fairly easily be observed from a distance. Hands are mostly either square with short fingers (earth shape), oblong with long fingers (water shape), oblong with short fingers (fire shape) or square with long fingers (air shape). Our five element system of chirology defines four archetypes, the earthy, watery, fiery or airy person.
• Hair on the back of the hands. The thicker the hair the more earth or fire the person is. Sparse hair is air. Water has no hair at all.
• The variations of colour of the hands indicate certain emotional and personality traits, as well as having health indications, but do take the natural skin colour into consideration.
• With a bit of practice, we can also observe something of the lines, such as their depth, flow, or if they have a Simian line.
These are some of the hands features you can see from a distance, without staring or being too obvious about you interest in other people’s hands.

The Arch Glyph

Jennifer Hirsch — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:55:32 +0000

Arch Glyph

Arch (earth element)

Arches on hands look like simple hills.

When meditating on a hill in nature, one soon gets a sense of the hill’s stability, simplicity, reliability, uncomplicatedness, and practicality.

These qualities, so easily evoked from the visual image of a simple hill, begin to describe something of the dependable personality of the bearer of this glyph.

For them, it is tradition and family values that are most fundamental for their peace of mind.

The Peacock’s Eye Glyph

Jennifer Hirsch — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:59:38 +0000

Peacock's Eye Glyph

Peacock’s eye (water/air)

A beautiful pattern that is composed of two different types of glyphs. Peacock’s eye’s are called ‘composite’ glyphs. A loop contains a whorl in a teardrop shaped pocket, supported by one triradius. Skin ridges also converge inside the loop, under the whorl.

Tradition say those with this pattern on a finger will have luck in a dangerous situation and certainly a sense of self preservation.

If you have this ‘extra eye of perception’ on your hand, you have a discerning eye, design flair and high degree of power of observation.

The Whorl Glyph

Jennifer Hirsch — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:24:13 +0000

Whorl Glyph

Whorls (air element)

Whorls, whether in bull’s eye or spiral form, evoke impressions and images from soul such as inaccessible, isolated, alone, solitary and closed circuit. Here we have the independent type who tends to detach or even closes off the deepest part of themselves.

Those with five or more whorls on their fingertips have been described as being so individualistic that they are as “the tree that stands in the desert”.

In traditional Indian palmistry, whorls are called chakras

Here is an amusing (and rather horribly fated!) Chinese folk fingerprint formula, but bear in mind that this is very old fashioned.

(In hand reading we no longer see any feature of the hand as showing a ‘destiny’ or a definite outcome. Many people, given the right tools, have free will to determine, at least to a fair extent, their reality.)

One whorl indicates poverty

Two whorls indicate riches

Three and four whorls good aspect to open a pawnshop

Five whorls for a mediator

Six whorls for a thief

Seven whorls very bad, indicates catastrophes

Eight whorls and you will eat chaff

Nine whorls with a loop and there will be no work for you to do, and plenty of food till old age

And ten whorls ??? …. this remains a mystery..… does anyone know how this story ends?

The Tented Arch Glyph

Jennifer Hirsch — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:04:40 +0000

Tented Arch Glyph

Tented Arch (fire element)

The tented arch glyph looks like a volcano about to erupt and one can visually see the packed energy potential in the pattern.

Some key words for people with tented arches are activity, creativity, energy, spontaneity and enthusiasm.

Bearers of tented arches have the restless impatience and erratic spontaneity of a volcano!

When the fire element is strong in the hands the person tends to burn the candle at both ends. It’s like they are ‘too much for themselves’.

They can crack up (explode/erupt) and are advised to make use of earth and water energy (in nature, or to spend time with other people who are more calm) to sedate their fire.

The Double Loop Glyph

Jennifer Hirsch — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:50:54 +0000

Double Loop Glyph

Double Loop (water element)

The double loop is a double water element glyph – two loops intertwine in different directions, forming a design like a yin/yang shaped symbol.

This attractive marking magnifies sensitivity and highlights intuition and psychic ability in a person.

The yin yang evokes images of opposites, polarity, two sides of a situation, and balance. Owners have a sense of justice and a dislike of bias.

In it’s unredeemed aspect, the owner experiences turbulence, confusion, vacillation, manipulation and the tendency to hypersensitivity.

I have heard that in traditional Indian palmistry this composite pattern is called Shakti.

The Loop Glyph

Jennifer Hirsch — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:34:15 +0000

Loop Glyph

Loops(water element)

The loop glyph flows in and re-curves to exit on the same side as the in-flow.

This is the most common glyph.

Imagine water in any form, either still water into which something is thrown, or the ebb and flow of an ocean wave. Water is open and adaptable.

This is the marker of the ‘tribe’ person… they love to feel connected, to belong and feel part of.

People with loops on their fingertips are emotionally sensitive, open, responsive, adaptable, flexible and imaginative. They are followers more often than leaders

But 10 loops on a pair of hands might show concentration difficulties or even a pre-disposition to Alztheimer’s disease.

Apparently the loop glyph is called a Shankh in Indian palmistry.