In the next few weeks, I’ll be teaching a class on a topic I never would have imagined: Palm Reading.
I tend to be a random person, in general, but even I must admit that my ability to read palms is one of the more random things about me. I started learning to read palms as a teenager. I was a skeptic at the time — eager to reveal how dumb palm reading was.
Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t disprove it.
Then imagine my bigger surprise when random people I’d never met started walking up to me in public and asking me to read their palms.
Then imagine me baffled when I’d do it for free at events and end up with lines out the door.
Now, as someone who can make the odd claim of having probably read over 1,000 palms as a hobby, I can tell you that palm reading is misunderstood by most people.
Part of this has to do with the fact that so many cold readers or psychics use palms as a prop while “reading” you via some other mode. This is not palm reading.
Others misunderstand palmistry as being some sort of voodoo dark art, whereby insights are gained through psychic means. It’s not.
In concept, palm reading isn’t much different than acupressure or face reading.
Take this woman, for example:
Few people would consider it voodoo to take a look at the lines on her face and deduce that she’s a person who has smiled and laughed a lot in her life. It seems obvious.
Similarly, a reflexology foot map like this wouldn’t strike most people as psychic magic:
It’s simply a map that is either accurate or inaccurate in its claims.
Palmistry is the same level of deduction applied to a different body part. It is a compilation of observations about the shape, size, skin quality, nail quality of the hand, along with an analysis of the ever-changing lines and mounds on the inside palm.
Did you know that the lines and mounds on your hand can change pretty significantly within six months?
They can.
Palmistry is the study of why this happens, and the zones of the hands impacted by different thought patterns and physical actions.
At its core, palm reading is an observable science that can be performed without any need for faith or belief. Either the observations are accurate, or they are not.
End of story.
Once you know the zones and the types of lines you are looking for, “reading” the palm becomes nearly as straight forward as reading text on a page. The only real bias is where the “reader” likes to look and what they are comfortable saying to the person sitting across from them.
There is a textbook read for most lines, mounds, and features, however. These are what I’ll be teaching those basics in my class, including:
- Parts of the hand that DON’T change (and what they mean)
- Parts of the hand that DO change (and what they mean)
- Zone maps
- Common major/minor lines & markings
Either these concepts hold true when applied across a wide population, or they don’t. And it’s my experience that they inexplicably do.
Teaching this class is going to fun. Like all things palmistry, the opportunity came and found me. In the past month, I’ve had 4 people approach me and ask me if I would teach. I promised I would it if 8 people signed up.
Once 8 people sign up, I’ll live up to my word. So that’s where things are now.
All I know is that my random desire to disprove palmistry as a teen has led me onto many unforeseen paths ever since. And I’ve enjoyed them all.
I’ve received some of the greatest insights of my life while reading the lines on other people’s palms. It’s an odd thing to say, but it’s also true.
It’s my conclusion — after 25 years and over 1,000 palms — that palm reading passes the Useful Mirror Test as a tool one can use for moments of personal reflection. I’ve enjoyed exploring it across the years and am happy to pass the tools on to others to do the same.
As far as randomly insightful skillsets go, palmistry is a good one!