Shapes of Hands and Fingers in Palmistry

A hand should be studied in its entirety in palmistry. Therefore, palmistry is divided into two sections namely cheirognomy and cheiromancy. The first branch of palmistry deals with the shape of the hands and fingers and relates to the influence of heredity on the character of a person while the second branch deals with various lines and markings on a palm.

The study of second part of palmistry is therefore incomplete without studying its first part. Some people consider this portion of palmistry insignificant to give much attention. Books on palmistry ignore the importance of this portion frequently and commence too quickly with the interesting details of cheiromancy.

If the lines and markings on a palm are studied without studying the shape of hand, it can result in an error. The shape of a hand can be more readily observed than the lines of palm and it is therefore more interesting to read the character of stranger while sitting in the train or in a church etc.

The characteristics of people of various nations as represented by various shapes of hand is one more fascinating branch of palmistry which is often neglected. One more thing worthy to note is varying shapes of hand and their suitability to various kinds of occupation. It is observed very prevalently that certain type of hand are suited for one work than another which again comes under the domain of cheirognomy. Therefore, we will study different types of hands with their various modifications in relation to the temperament and character of subject.

There are seven types of hand, each of which may be further subdivided into seven categories. The seven types are as follows:

• The elementary or lowest type
• The spatulate type
• The philosophic or the knotty hand
• The conic or the artistic type
• The psychic or the idealistic hand
• The mixed hand
• The square or the useful hand

The elementary hand is found rarely in its purest form among the people of civilized nations. Therefore, each hand type is further divided into seven type. For instance, the square with square fingers, short ; the square with square fingers, long ; the square with knotty fingers ; the square with spatulate fingers ; the square with conic fingers ; the square with psychic fingers and the square with mixed fingers.