“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”  Stephen King (9/21/47)

You don’t have to be a Virgo to have a Virgo personality. Most adaptable of practical types, Virgo’s square palms and short fingers are less meaty looking and more flexible at the joints than Taurus hands. Capricorn hands tend to be paler in coloration with flatter palms and more developed first knots on lean fingers. Their dominant middle fingers are often crooked or lean toward the ring finger. Well-developed second knots, square fingertips, and short fingernails on any type add more Virgo qualities. If you chew your nails, you’re more self-critical and critical of others, no matter what your type. People with seriously bitten down nails tend to be contrary and choose the other side of an argument just to make a point, even when they agree with the other person.

Virgo is essential where discriminating, reliable, modest, and orderly service is required. Famous for cleaning up everyone else’s messes, Virgos can become overly thorough and meticulous. Ego gratification is not a primary motivation for Virgo, however, it’s vital to value and appreciate them. They seldom ask enough for themselves, but are aware of what they’re worth. They must always be respected and never taken for granted.

Short fingered people (especially intuitive types) dislike details and need to see the whole picture. Contrary to popular belief, Virgo doesn’t enjoy mundane details. They’re pragmatic and practical about them. They do whatever needs to be done, but they can also lack breadth and long-range vision when they get too caught up in the tasks at hand. Virgos must work hard, feel useful, and cherish every grain of what they earn.

Accounting, medical, nursing, social work, health food, maintenance, and cleaning professions are magnets for Virgo types.

Aristaeus `Guardian of the flocks and farming’ in Greek myth is an archetype of Virgo. Aristaeus taught man bee-keeping. He represents the human capacity to dedicate self in service to others. One female former CEO of a fortune 500 company is conservative Virgo, Carly Fiorina. Carly would like to be our Republican President. Despite unfavorable publicity concerning her tenure at HP, she appears to practice what she preaches. With her intuitive left hand’s straight short fingers and rectangular palm, Carly asks us to “Challenge the mind and capture the heart”. Bernie Sanders, a virtuous Virgo, has my vote.

Virgos who have done the work and earned the rewards include: Writers Agatha Christie and Leonard Cohen; Lawyers Alan Dershowitz and Marcia Clark; Financiers J.P. Morgan and Warren Buffet, Actors Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, Paul Walker, Keanu Reeves, Blake Lively, and Cameron Diaz; Singers Michael Jackson and Beyonce’ Knowles; and Political figures Margaret Trudeau, Lyndon Johnson, George Wallace, Yasser Arafat, and John McCain (Taurus hands with intuitive fingertips).

 

 

In Greek mythology, Virgo is earthy and practical and symbolizes the more scientific and technical aspects of thinking. Virgo is smart, but Gemini is headier. Ideas are more important than practicality. Mercury rules both signs. He’s a messenger with winged feet holding a caduceus (symbol for medicine).  Virgo rules healthcare. Some Virgos worry too much about their health.

Back in the early 80’s, a young man puzzled me with his question. “When am I going to die?” A perfect specimen of Virgo, he was powerfully built, energetic, handsome, smart, and talented. He took excellent care of himself. His strong well-balanced square palms and short straight fingers had long clear deeply engraved lines. He had pink elastic skin, firm consistent palms, and fairly flexible wrist and finger joints. I was thinking about how lucky he was when I realized I was reading the hands of someone with AIDS. I replied, “I don’t know. Only god has the answer to your question”.

AIDS was a homosexual disease, a death sentence at the time. I didn’t have a clue how to look for AIDS in his hands. Nothing stood out. I didn’t know how to counsel him and said, “You’re a naturally healthy type. If anyone can beat this disease, you can.” I felt awkward talking about his positive qualities because he didn’t want to hear about them. I was unable to help and didn’t charge for his consultation. I spent several years after that volunteering twice weekly at centers for AIDS. I printed hands of people with AIDS regularly in order to monitor the progress and regress of the disease. I’d begun to recognize symptoms in the skin ridge patterns, but found myself needing to let go after two years. Lack of adequate funding, time, and technical information made it impossible for me to be thorough or scientific.

One AIDS housing provider retained me to entertain clients twice weekly as a fortune teller. Most AIDS afflicted individuals suppress their potentials because they obsess on the harsh reality of their impending mortality. My mission was to identify their strengths and weaknesses and inspire them to continue making positive choices for themselves. Many clients looked forward to their weekly astrology, hand, and tarot readings.

The healthcare industry is Virgo’s mundane correspondence. Everyone has physical, mental, emotional, psychological, and spiritual health challenges. Good health is our birthright. We deserve to be healthy. Our western healthcare system has cultivated a supermarket mentality. Health insurers care more for profit than people. Politicians, money managers, and managed care providers formulate and enforce the rules of the game. HMO executives prosper while doctors are forced to ignore root causes and treat symptoms. When Saturn was last in Virgo from 9 / 2007 – 10 / 2009 (recession), seeds for structural change to the health industry and the affordable care act were sown.

Fingernails are considered windows to a person’s health. Some illnesses that can be diagnosed by examining nails are anemia, thyroid disease,  malnutrition, carpal tunnel syndrome, psoriasis, eczema, disease of the liver, heart,  lungs, and colon, chronic respiratory disease, lymph system problems, diabetes, Raynaud’s disease, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcers, Hodgkin’s disease, and sickle-cell anemia.

Your health is in your hands and you can see it. In the days before computerized medical diagnosis, doctors used their intuition, tasted a patient’s urine, looked into their eyes, and examined the tongue, skin, and especially hands to diagnose illness. Hands reflect a person’s physical, mental, and emotional health.

 

 

Dozens of stress related problems and some types of cancer can be detected in the fingerprints and skin ridge patterns (dermatoglyphics). Conditions of lines in the hands can indicate conditions of the heart, brain, kidneys, liver, stomach, and male and female systems. When I see a potentially serious health problem in the hands, I don’t diagnose. I calmly let my clients know I’m not a health expert and suggest they see a specialist.

Many health problems are natural predispositions to specific characters. Know the type and know the corresponding potential health problems. Here’s a list of generalized health issues that correspond to particular character types. Click to learn more.

Dominant index finger ~ blood disorders, liver trouble, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and problems with hips, thighs, and throat. Most health challenges result from overindulging in food and drink.

Dominant middle finger ~ skin problems, teeth with age, knees, ligaments, secretion of bile, skeletal, left ear deafness, paralysis, rheumatism, gout, hardening of the arteries, hemorrhoids, and varicose veins.

Dominant ring finger ~ eyesight, heart, and blood circulation.

Dominant pinkie finger ~ nervous, bronchial, and respiratory systems, thyroid gland, headaches, memory loss, and speech impediments.

Dominant ball of thumb ~ throat, lymphatic system, venereal diseases, heart and circulation, and nervousness.

Dominant heel of hand ~ bodily fluids, stomach problems, tumors, female disorders, epilepsy, mucous membranes, gout and rheumatism, kidney and bladder, and mental illness.

Dominant thumb and percussion of hand ~ inflammations, acute fevers, infections, muscular disorders, blood diseases, hemorrhage, infectious and contagious diseases, throat and chest trouble, and high blood pressure.

Scorpio types ~ reproductive system, ruptures, hemorrhoids, ulcers, venereal diseases, and problems with prostate or urethra.

Aquarian types ~ ankle weakness, anemia, cramps, heart weaknesses, nervous diseases, varicose veins, and sensitive skin.

Piscean types ~ feet and toes including bunions and gout, colds, mucous discharges, tumors, drug addictions, and liver troubles.

Bernie Serotta passed from the physical to the ethereal plane in 2004. Bernie was a Pisces with Virgo hands. It’s easy to see his warm, open, friendly, hardworking, and practical nature from his dominant hand. His square palm and short fingers seem to be saying, “Hello, goodbye, and I have nothing to hide”. Bernie owned and operated a hardware store in Saratoga, NY for forty years. He graciously served his family and community. Bernie was retired when we met. His strong Virgo opposition finally let go so that his less practical more magical Pisces nature could become more important to him as he aged. We often chatted about art, music, and philosophy. He practiced violin and enjoyed playing chamber music with other musicians. Bernie continued to do good deeds for family and friends until the end. I never felt judged by Bernie. I was honored, accepted, and embraced for being me.

When Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto transited the sign of Virgo, ways in which we viewed health, environment, and civil rights was shaken and changed. Neptune entered Virgo in 1929 and manifested its dark nebulous side. Wall Street crashed and catalyzed the great depression. When Neptune left Virgo in 1943, we were submerged in turmoil from the Second World War. Mass propaganda and deception had poisoned the rationality of Germany. Millions of people were exterminated in the name of racial purity.

Humanitarians and labor unions were born during this period. New concepts in medicine such as psychosomatic illness were presented. Too many neurotics feared too much reality and responsibility. “We Want Beer” marches were held in cities across the country to protest prohibition, which was successfully repealed.

Charlie Chaplin’s motion picture, Modern Times, was released. The top money making movie of 1938 was Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The best-selling book of 1936 was Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. Silk stockings transformed into nylon stockings thanks to Dupont, who was unable to satisfy the demand for them. Gasoline rationing was put into effect in 1942. A new mold discovered on cantaloupe yielded ten times the penicillin as previous sources and reduced shortages. People who were born between1929 and1943 with Neptune in Virgo must “serve or suffer”.

When transformational Pluto entered the sign of Virgo in 1957, we realized that we’d become slaves to scientific and technological trends. Awareness of the dangers of chemical pollutants affecting our environment came into consciousness. Environmental special interest groups were formed. Geneva nuclear test ban talks reconvened. Official school prayers became unconstitutional. People born from 1957 to 1971 were consumers of bottled water and health foods which became huge business successes.

 

When Pluto left Virgo in 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, former Deputy Secretary of Defense, leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times. The Times published government documents about the history of the Vietnam War that revealed that the American public had been consistently lied to. Anti-war demonstrators protested in Washington where two thousand Vietnam veterans rallied. Many threw their combat medals on the steps of the capitol. Ellsberg was indicted for espionage and conspiracy. The 26^th amendment giving eighteen year olds the right to vote became law.

As revolutionary Uranus transited the sign of Virgo from 1962 to 1968, `good health’ consciousness began with natural and organic foods. Rachel Carson’s bestselling book Silent Spring highlighted ecology and stimulated concern for widespread damage caused by pesticides and technological progress. Holistic healers appeared. Cigarette companies were forced to print health warnings.

Civil rights became turbulent. Voter registration drives and segregation protests increased. Several thousand black and white supporters were arrested. A black church in Birmingham Alabama was bombed killing four girls. Two more blacks died in riots following the bombing. President Johnson signed the most important civil rights act in US history on July 2 1964, integrating all public accommodations and prohibiting job discrimination. Malcolm X was assassinated while speaking in NYC in 1965. Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first black Supreme Court justice in 1967. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis while supporting a sanitation worker’s strike in 1968. Riots in 125 cities after his death resulted in 46 more deaths.

Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles shortly after becoming the Democratic front-runner for the presidential nomination. Anti-Vietnam war rallies were being held in major cities and universities across the country.

 

 

The worst earthquake in modern history leveled Anchorage Alaska. Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine and inoculated the masses. The first transatlantic TV broadcast was made via AT&T’s privately owned satellite Telstar. The first televised presidential debates were broadcast. Russians crash landed the first spacecraft on the moon. Pop Art had its first exhibition. Rock & Roll became popular. The Beatles skyrocketed to musical fame and fortune. Bob Dylan became a star while singing about the hypocrisy of American values and culture. People born 1962 – 1968 have abundant ability to analyze, organize, and compartmentalize their lives.