University of Virginia Library

You Decide

THE MOUNTS

There are two branches of palmistry:
chirognomy or character analysis; and
chiromancy or fortune telling. This division is
the origin of the palmists' slogan, "Your
character and your destiny."

Chirognomy relies on the development, or
lack of it, of the area at the bottom of each
finger. The base of each finger is called a
mount in the professional jargon. Each finger
is named after a classical deity. Thus the base
of the first finger is the mount of Jupiter,
indicating ambition, religiousness, and honor.
The index finger has the mount of Saturn,
signifying success and wisdom. The ring finger
has the mount of Apollo, for intelligence. The
mount of Mercury is at the base of the pinkie.
It signifies love of science and industry.

Mount Of Venus

The base of the thumb is called the mount
of Venus. A well-developed mount of Venus
is thought to indicate amorousness and love of
physical beauty. The larger the mount, the
more you have of a quality. Perhaps someday
the LSAT people will replace that
standardized test with a look at the mount of
Jupiter.

Chiromancy, or prediction, uses the line of
the hand. The long crescent line at the base of
the thumb is the lifeline. Two lines travel
parallel across the palm: the top line is the
heart line, the bottom is the headline. The
destiny line runs from the wrist towards the
headline, at more or less a right angle. The
length, depth, and breaks indicate the future.
For example, a broken lifeline is said to
indicate an early death. But the lines change
during time, so do not despair. It may only be
dishpan hands and not a short lifespan that all
those lines indicate.

Ancient palmistry emphasized the
character analysis aspect; modern palmistry
does both. Since each palm is unique, a
number of people have no problem with
chirognomy. A musician's hand is not a
farmer's – something of your inside can be
guessed from your outside.

The fortune telling aspect is the subject of
bitter dispute: One faction is the true
believers, who know of a prophecy, usually
dire, that came through. The opposing
faction, which likes to shout "Better living
through chemistry," is militantly positivist:
separate truth from lies via the centrifuge. For
example, my friend, who is a card-carrying
rationalist, screwed up his most cynical sneer
and asserted that palmistry was "Baloney!"

Open Mind

I had to try hard to keep an open mind.
Like a British soldier in Northern Ireland, the
uncommitted become a fair target for the
extremists of either camp, and often end up a
casualty in the crossfire. Now let me force
you to take sides.

While researching this topic, I found a
book analyzing the palm prints of public figures.
Based on his handprint, one man was
described as a domineering bully with
boundless ambition, a man with wide swings
of moodiness from depression to fanatic
megalomania and self-adulation. His life line
terminated in a cross, the sign of a violent
end. His destiny line indicated a man whose
fate was out of control, one marked for an
awful role. A tragic beginning and a violent
end were predicted. The man was Adolph
Hitler. The book was copyrighted in 1938.
Accurate prediction or lucky guess? True
believer or rationalist? You decide.