Palmistry

Palmistry (also called chiromancy, chirology, or cheiromancy) is a form of divination that interprets a person’s past, present, and future, as well as moral character and natural inclinations, through the study of the sensible signs of the hands. The practice is based on a rule-based system of symbolic interpretation, in which hand signs, lines, shapes, and markings are analyzed according to sets of instructions transmitted in palmistry texts. Palmistry shares a history with other rule-based systems of symbolic interpretation including astrology, physiognomy, and Galenic medicine's four temperaments. Palmistry is also known by other terms such as palm reading, chiromancy and chirology. Palmistry has been practiced across cultures for millennia, from India and China to medieval and early modern Europe, which appear to have arisen independently of one another based on their own particular cultural signatures. Today it is most often encountered as a form of fortune-telling within New Age spirituality. Those who practice palmistry are generally called palmists, hand readers, hand analysts, or chirologists.

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Etymology

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The English word "palmistry" derives from Middle English palmestrie, from Old French palme maistre (“palm mastery”).

In sixth-century Europe, the practice was known as cheiroscopy, from the Greek χειροσχόπος (cheiroscopos, “inspection of the hand”). The earliest known attestation is by Pseudo-Nonnus, commentator on Gregory of Nazianzus, who referred to cheiroscopy in connection with the Greek seer Helenus of Troy.^[1] The word is also found in the tenth-century Byzantine lexicon Suda.^[2]

By the 12th century, the art was usually called chiromancy, from Greek χειρομαντεία (chiromantia, “divination of the hand”), Latinized as chiromanticus. It appears in the writings of John of Salisbury and Dominicus Gundissalinus, typically referring to the medieval and early modern corpus of chiromantic texts.

In the 17th century, German historian Johannes Praetorius (Hans Schultz, 1630–1680) introduced Greek-inspired neologisms "chirosophy" (“wisdom of the hand”) and "chirologia" (“study of the hand”) in his Ludicrum Chiromanticum (1661).

In the 19th century, French palmist Casimir Stanislas d’Arpentigny coined "chirognomy" in La Chirognomonie (1843), modeled on physiognomy. The terms "chirology" and "cheirology" gained popularity through the Cheirological Society of Great Britain (1889–c.1939, refounded 1975–1999) and Ina Oxenford’s The New Chirology (1896). Unlike medieval chiromancy, which emphasized fate, chirology presented hand reading as a system of character analysis.

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History

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Origins in Antiquity

The origins of palmistry are difficult to trace with precision, but early forms appear in Indian, Chinese, and Greco-Roman traditions. Sanskrit texts such as the Hasta Samudrika Shastra describe systems of hand-reading, while in classical Greece, Aristotle is reputed to have referred to chiromantic doctrines.^[3] Roman sources attest to its circulation alongside astrology and physiognomy.

Transmission into the Middle Ages

Palmistry entered Latin Christendom through Arabic and Greek translations in the 12th century.^[4] Manuscripts circulated widely, often with works on astrology and physiognomy. By the 13th century, Latin treatises attributed to Aristotle and Hippocrates codified palmistry within scholastic frameworks.^[5]

The earliest known Western chiromantic text is the Chiromancy of the Eadwine Psalter (12th century). Other notable medieval works include:

Dextra Viri, Sinistra Mulieris (13th c.)
Chiromantia Parva (13th c.)
Summa Cyromanciae (14th c., John the Philosopher)
Tractatus Ciromanciae (14th c., Master Rodriguez of Mallorca)
Cyromancia Aristotilis cum Figuris (two-volume edition, Ulm, 1490)

Scholastic and Medical Contexts

Medieval physicians sometimes integrated palmistry into prognostication, treating the hand as a microcosm of the body.^[6] Scholastics, however, debated its legitimacy: Thomas Aquinas condemned chiromancy as superstitious when used for divination, though he conceded that bodily signs could reflect natural causes.^[7]

Renaissance Diffusion

Renaissance authors such as Bartholomeus Cocles and Johannes de Indagine consolidated medieval chiromantic writings. Notable works include Die Kunst Ciromantia (15th c.), Indagine’s Introductiones Apotelesmatics, and Antiochus Tibertus’s De Chiromantiae Tres Libri (1494).

Humanists such as Giovanni Battista della Porta referenced chiromancy in physiognomic treatises,^[8] but the Church condemned the practice, placing several manuals on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.^[9]

In Renaissance magic, palmistry (known as "chiromancy") was classified as one of the seven "forbidden arts", along with necromancy, geomancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, hydromancy, and spatulamancy (scapulimancy).^[10] During the 16th century the art of palmistry was actively suppressed by the Catholic Church. Both Pope Paul IV and Pope Sixtus V issued papal edicts against various forms of divination, including palmistry.^[11]

Modern palmistry

Palmistry experienced a revival in the modern era starting with Captain Casimir Stanislas D'Arpentigny's publication La Chirognomie in 1839.^[12] The Chirological Society of Great Britain was founded in London by Katharine St. Hill in 1889 with the stated aim to advance and systematise the art of palmistry and to prevent charlatans from abusing the art.^[13]^[14] Edgar de Valcourt-Vermont (Comte C. de Saint-Germain) founded the American Chirological Society in 1897.

A pivotal figure in the modern palmistry movement was the Irish William John Warner, known by his sobriquet, Cheiro. After studying under gurus in India, he set up a palmistry practice in London and enjoyed a wide following of famous clients from around the world, including famous celebrities like Mark Twain, W. T. Stead, Sarah Bernhardt, Mata Hari, Oscar Wilde, Grover Cleveland, Thomas Edison, the Prince of Wales, General Kitchener, William Ewart Gladstone, and Joseph Chamberlain. So popular was Cheiro as a "society palmist" that even those who were not believers in the occult had their hands read by him. The skeptical Mark Twain wrote in Cheiro's visitor's book that he had "exposed my character to me with humiliating accuracy".

Edward Heron-Allen, an English polymath, published various works including the 1883 book, Palmistry: A Manual of Cheirosophy, which is still in print.^[15] There were attempts at formulating some sort of scientific basis for the art, most notably in the 1900 publication The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading by William Gurney Benham.^[16]

In 1970, Parker Brothers published a game designed by Maxine Lucille Fiel called "Touch-Game of Palmistry" which allowed players to do "palm reading and analysis" through selecting cards that matched designated palm features.^[17]

Cheiro, an influential exponent of palmistry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
A modern palm-reader's shop in Yangon, Myanmar
Some of the lines of the hand in palmistry:
1. Life line
2. Head line
3. Heart line
4. Girdle of Venus
5. Sun line
6. Mercury line
7. Fate line
The mounts in palmistry: Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, Mercury, Mars positive, Mars negative, plain of Mars, Luna mount, Neptune mount, Venus mount ^[18]
A Japanese palm-reader waits along the street for a customer, 2015

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Relationship between Palmistry and Dermatoglyphics

Dermatoglyphics and palmistry both study the intricate features of the human palm, like fingerprints, creases, shapes, and mounts, but their purposes differ greatly.^[19] Dermatoglyphics is a scientific field examining these patterns for genetic and medical insights,^[20] while palmistry interprets them to reveal personality traits and predict future events.^[21]^[22]^[23] The former relies on empirical data, whereas the latter is based on the 12th-century text Samudrika Shastra. Further research is needed to explore any potential links between these two approaches.

Modern Scholarship

Hardin Craig Classification

In 1916 and 1935, literary historian Hardin Craig (1875–1968) proposed the first systematic classification of medieval and Renaissance chiromantic texts.^[24] He divided them into five categories:

First class – Simple texts with three principal lines and basic signs, without astrological references (Dextra Viri, Sinistra Mulieris; Chiromantia Parva).
Second class – Works with four lines, astrological correspondences, and regions like the “triangle” and “quadrangle” (Summa Chiromantiae).
Third class – Expanded versions of the Summa with planetary rulerships and numerous diagrams (e.g., Divinis Litteris).
Fourth class – The Treatise of Aristotle, lacking astrology but with four principal lines preceding the great triangle.
Fifth class – The Tractatus Ciromanciae of Master Rodriguez of Mallorca, with unique terminology such as the “breaker line.”

Craig noted the derivative and pseudonymous nature of these works. His typology, though outdated, remains historically significant.^[25]

Craig’s scheme was expanded by Lynn Thorndike, who catalogued chiromantic texts in A History of Magic and Experimental Science (1923–58) and, with Pearl Kibre, in A Catalogue of Mediaeval Scientific Writings in Latin.^[26] Later, Schmitt and Knox (1985) classified pseudo-Aristotelian chiromantic texts.^[27]

More recently, Roger A. Pack, Charles Burnett, Stefano Rapisarda, and Alberto Bardi have produced editions, translations, and studies of manuscripts including the Cyromancia Aristotilis, Chiromantia Parva, and Greek cheiroscopic fragments.^[28] Charles Burnett provided critical editions of the Eadwine Psalter chiromancy and the Chiromantia Parva.^[29] Stefano Rapisarda has published modern editions with French translations,^[30] while Alberto Bardi has rediscovered and translated Greek cheiroscopic fragments.^[31]

Contemporary historians such as Richard Kieckhefer and Lauren Kassell situate palmistry within lived clerical, medical, and lay practice, emphasizing its integration into natural philosophy and medicine rather than treating it as a marginal superstition.^[32]

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Medieval Attitudes

Palmistry occupied an ambiguous position in medieval Europe: tolerated as a natural science by some, denounced as superstitio by others. Aquinas condemned it as demonic or chance-based, though manuscripts show clerical transmission.^[33]

Criticism

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There are many—and often conflicting—interpretations of various lines and palmar features across various teachings of palmistry. Palmistry is widely viewed as a pseudoscience due to various contradictions between different interpretations and the lack of evidence for palmistry's predictions.^[44]^[45]

Scientific literature regards palmistry as a pseudoscientific or superstitious belief.^[46] Psychologist and noted skeptic Ray Hyman has written:^[47]

I started reading palms in my teens as a way to supplement my income from doing magic and mental shows. When I started I did not believe in palmistry. But I knew that to "sell" it I had to act as if I did. After a few years I became a firm believer in palmistry. One day the late Stanley Jaks, who was a professional mentalist and a man I respected, tactfully suggested that it would make an interesting experiment if I deliberately gave readings opposite to what the lines indicated. I tried this out with a few clients. To my surprise and horror my readings were just as successful as ever. Ever since then I have been interested in the powerful forces that convince us, reader and client alike, that something is so when it really isn't.

Skeptics often include palmists on lists of alleged psychics who practice cold reading. Cold reading is the practice that allows readers of all kinds, including palmists, to appear psychic by using high-probability guessing and inferring details based on signals or cues from the other person.^[48]^[49] Although some Christians condemn palmistry as a form of divination, Jewish and Christian traditions are largely ambivalent about divination in general.^[50] During the 16th century the Catholic Church condemned the practice of palmistry.^[11] However, there is a long tradition of practicing palmistry within both Jewish and Christian mysticism,^[51] and some practitioners, such as Comte C. de Saint-Germain, have argued that the Bible does not oppose it.^[52]

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Etymology

History

Origins in Antiquity

Transmission into the Middle Ages

Scholastic and Medical Contexts

Renaissance Diffusion

Modern palmistry

Relationship between Palmistry and Dermatoglyphics

Modern Scholarship

Hardin Craig Classification

Medieval Attitudes

Criticism

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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