Handreading

A STUDY OF CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY

M.N. Laffan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136332968
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Health Care Delivery

This is Volume XII of twenty-one in the Individual Differences series with the library of Psychology. First published in 1932, this looks at personality in terms of reading markings in the human hand over a period of time, with observations of the change in lines in relation to the development of the mind.

Chapter I

Theories

THE study of Personality throws a wide net over many subjects, and to-day the markings of the human hand are engaging the interest of practical minds. For many years I have been observing handmarkings as an index to character and personality, and I am convinced that if the study of the hand were developed in a scientific way it would prove a valuable aid to the understanding of “the capacities, dispositions and tendencies that make up the whole mind.”¹ Moreover, through handreading the individual may be helped to a clearer knowledge of his powers and limitations than would otherwise be possible.

The study of the shape and lines of the hand has not yet received scientific treatment, partly because of the difficulty of extricating the empirical evidence from the confused systems of palmistry, and its association with fortune telling or divination. But some empirical evidence of the correlation of handmarkings with mental characteristics, though it is admittedly extremely meagre, hypothetical, fragmentary, and difficult of access, does exist.

I have had the opportunity of observing the hands of many interesting individuals, some of them from time to time during a course of years. This enabled me to watch the changes in the lines, and their relation to the development of the mind. I do not however claim to have evolved a proper system, or to have ascertained the exact truth regarding handmarkings; but merely to have accumulated, from my observation of hands and the study of books on palmistry and modern psychology, sufficient data to form a basis for the collection of new evidence of the correlation of handmarkings and mental characteristics. If I appear over-dogmatic in my statements in this book, it is merely for the purpose of a clear exposition.

In ancient times, handreading was honoured and practised by the great races of mankind. Chaldeans, Indians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Arabs, and notably the Greeks and Romans, esteemed the study of the hand a definite science; Aristotle wrote a great deal concerning it in his History of Animals, and the historian Josephus is said to describe Cæsar as such an expert hand-reader that having once seen a man’s hands he could not be deceived as to his pretensions.

Though generally attributed to the Hindus, the exact origin of palmistry is uncertain. In La Psychologie de la Main (a modern book described in the preface by Professor Charles Richet² as “une œuvre faite d’originalité et de I’ érudition”) the late Dr. Vaschide³ discusses the possibility of handreading having developed apart from astrology. He considers that this is unlikely, but says that in the opinion of some writers, and particularly of Alfred Lehmann,⁴ the Danish psychologist, palmistry originated as an independent study among the Bohemians and Tartars. Dr. Vaschide adds that this view is tenable “especially as the history of chiromancy has not yet been written.”

The origin of Palmistry among nomadic tribes may easily be imagined. Seated round their camp fires, holding up their hands to the blaze, they would have noticed the lines across their companions’ palms. Their curiosity would have been aroused by the likeness and unlikeness of the hands themselves, and the lines across them. They would have seen that their men of action mostly had square hands and strong lines round the thumb (which we call now the line of Instinct); that their wise men, whose counsel was valued, all had long hands and a strong middle line across the palm (the line of Reason). Poets, who sang to them of love and adventure, and their most magnetic women, had hands of a different type; fine, sensitive hands, the salient characteristic being the high line across the palm, which we call the line of Intuition. Maybe, too, they saw that those of their friends who had weak or broken lines often had accidents, sometimes even a violent death. It is easy to imagine how they looked at hands, and talked of the meanings of lines and marks, and so arrived at a generalized idea of the association of a certain sort of character with a particular shape of hand and position of the lines. They were, of course, prone to make signs and omens out of other and simpler associations, but with far less opportunity of checking the truth of the relationship, which they were apt to take for granted after one coincidence only, especially if it happened to suit their mood and purpose to do so. The meaning of handmarkings, however, would be compared and checked by communal discussion and observation, and the truth sifted from error more easily than it could be in the case of omens read in the flights of birds, the shape of the clouds, and other nature phenomena.

To gypsies and other nomads, the characters and emotions of individuals are the very stuff of life’s interest and enjoyment, so that the hand-markings and their meanings would be of supreme value; and a competent handreader might acquire honour and fame. Knowledge of interpretations that they found were reliable would be a treasured possession, and carefully handed on to their descendants. But always there would be fresh empirical observation of hands and the meaning attached to the shape and lines, so that in time their significance would become an established tradition; and this would form a basis for the instinctive perceptions of their free uncultured minds.

About a hundred years ago, observation of hands took place in very different circumstances. A smart young French officer, proud of his shapely hands, noticed that at the receptions at a neighbouring chateau the particular friends of the hostess all had hands somewhat alike, and very different from those of her husband’s friends. Madame loved art and poetry, Monsieur cared only for engineering affairs. From these observations, Monsieur le Capitaine ď Arpentigny⁵ was impelled to investigate the meaning of the different shapes of the human hand, and he wrote a book which has been looked on as a classic by later writers.

Desbarolles,⁶ the author of Les Mystères de la Main, who was a contemporary, quotes largely from d’Arpentigny’s book, and Desbarolles may be called the “Father of Modern Palmistry.” He did for the lines and marks what ďArpentigny had done for the shape of the hand. He seems to have relied on the system expounded in the Kabala; but he had an opportunity, during a long life, of studying the hands of the eminent men and women of France, and was alert to gather confirmation of his interpretation of the meaning of lines and marks.

In my own case, interest in handmarkings was aroused by the exact fulfilment of a palmist’s prophecy to a friend that he would shortly have a very bad accident. Of course this might have been merely a coincidence, but his hand showed a curious formation; for the primary lines were all three joined together, and in palmistry books this is said to be “a presage of misfortune.” I could not find any other hands with this peculiar arrangement of the lines; but I did find that any unusual shape or marking was significant of the character and mentality of the individuals in whose hands I found it. Moreover, my “readings” were often a very great help and enlightenment to people, both as to the nature of their minds and also how to deal with the problems of their lives. In the case of difficult children the help given was often of very great importance. Therefore I continued to study hands with the aid of Desbarolles’ Mystères de la Main and “Cheiro’s”⁷ Language of the Hand, though I could not believe in their theories as to the cause of the lines, and in many respects found their methods inadequate and confused.

Most palmists attribute handmarkings to the influence of the stars, and the theory of some writers on Handreading is that “the astral fluid flows in through the finger tips and causes the lines in the palm.” Since astrology and palmistry were associated, astrological names were considered natural for parts of the hand and for the lines. It is however more practical and more scientific to think of the hand simply as an instrument of the mind, and of the marks and lines as a record of mental characteristics. Psychological science presents suitable names which we may borrow to assist in the understanding of the significance of the unusual formations which are frequently encountered. Moreover, it is an advantage that in discarding the names of ancient deities for parts of the hand, and substituting the name of the member itself or its significance only, the study is greatly simplified.

In the present state of our knowledge it is difficult to believe that the stars are intimately concerned with the chances and changes of our individual lives, so that if after numerous observations of hands we are convinced that there is a substratum of truth in the old systems of Palmistry, a new theory to account for the markings of the human hand is important and even necessary.

Unlike Astrology, Handreading is not dependent on occult knowledge or influence. Interpretation of the meaning of the shape and the lines of the hand is based on observations that can be compared and have to a certain extent been verified. The work of the old writers provides a useful guide for its reconstruction as a modern study; but a revision of method and nomenclature is necessary as well as observation and the careful tabulation of results.

So far as I know, however, nothing of the sort has yet been attempted. Authors of books on the subject have been content to rely almost entirely on the old systems; and, though they add remarks on their own experience and the truth of their predictions, these are not in the nature of evidence for the truth of Hand-reading.

Psycho-analysts discovered that the ancient practice of interpretation of dreams had a valuable substratum of truth, and in the light of modern knowledge they have constructed a system by which they make use of dreams for their study of the human mind, more especially the unconscious urges and motives. The work of distinguished psycho-analysts has proved of great value both for the treatment of mental disease and also for knowledge of the nature and powers of the mind. Indeed, on the basis of an immense amount of observation, particularly of pathological cases, they have been able to construct an entire systematic psychology.

Handreading also badly needs scientific investigation and reconstruction. Though indirect, it is a much simpler study of the mind than psycho-analysis, since it deals with the objective indications which the lines of the hand give of the mental organisation as the basis of character and conduct. This, of course, is a postulate at present. It is also concerned more with the conscious development of the mind than with the discovery of the unconscious desires and hidden motives. Hence it is probably more useful for normal people as a guide to wise self-discipline and the understanding and education of their children.

It is obvious that every individual starts life with capacities and potentialities that differ, sometimes in kind and sometimes in degree, from those of every other individual. Can these capacities and potentialities be accurately deciphered from the shape and lines of the hand? Though this can only be fully proved by strict investigation, my own experience convinces me that they can—in other words the lines in the palm of the hand show the mental make-up and organisation or “life plan” of the individual.

Can a forecast of future events and changes of life be made from the lines in the palm? So far as they depend on one’s mental characteristics, I have had strong evidence that in a general degree they can; but there is also evidence that conscious effort has some control over the lines themselves. I have often seen the lines in hands change—either develop or fade—as directed by the wishes and efforts of their owners. This possible growth of new or improving lines could soon be demonstrated in experimental work. Plates IX and X show the development of the line of Personality that took place within a year in the hand of an artist. Unusual success was achieved during this period and the age is approximately given by the line.

It is difficult to believe that the future can be confidently predicted; for it seems impossible that the chances of life which come from outside influences can be foreseen, except perhaps in those rare cases where the mind has an unconscious foreknowledge of the future. Where this exists it may possibly be apprehended by a Handreader (or seer of any sort) who has a gift of clairvoyance or telepathy⁸; and this I think might account for many of the successful prophecies of future events that are quoted by clairvoyants of all kinds. But the successful prophecies are in reality exceedingly rare compared with the mass of unsuccessful and unrecorded ones. Owing to this uncertainty, described by Hegel as “the dim and turbid vision of clairvoyance,” its practical utility is more than doubtful, though its fascination is very great.

The ancient Seers or “Occult Masters” were mostly wise men of great experience, the philosophers and psychologists of their time. Nowadays practical training and intellectual development may subordinate the telepathic or clairvoyant powers; and the people who possess and use them are generally speaking not trained in scientific subjects or medical knowledge.

The prophetic power of the mind is mysterious and difficult to examine. There seem to be two distinct methods of gaining knowledge that are beyond our conscious grasp; one an instinctive apprehension of conditions and thoughts, in the nature of telepathy, which animals apparently share in some degree; the other intuitive and visionary, best obtained by minds developed through spiritual or mental effort.

It is important to discriminate between knowledge that can be gained by a wise synthesis of the indications of the mental life given by the shape and lines of the hand, and knowledge of the pe...