Thumb Generalities

How is your thumb set on your hand?  Is it high, medium, or low set?  Higher set thumbs like Wilbur’s indicate less adaptable minds that can be cautious, reticent in thinking, and self-centered. High set thumbs are frequently carried close to the hand. They tend to show a lack of trust, secretiveness, and unresponsiveness.

Medium set thumbs like Billy’s are well balanced, sensible, and reasonable. These hard working dependable folk set achievable goals, which they methodically chip away at. They’re steady workers and reliable friends.

Low set thumbs belong to generous, independent, and freedom loving individuals. Very low set thumbs like William’s belong to a rebel who goes looking for an underdog or good cause to support. Others may have their freedom, but they’d better give him his.

Ever see a thumb that’s thick and shapeless like the end of a piece of sausage?  What does your common sense tell you? Is that person reasonable, tactful, diplomatic, and refined? No, they’re usually coarse, tactless, dense, lack mental agility, and are crude in their reasoning and passions. Most people with sausage-like thumbs have little interest in what others think. What about a broad well shaped thumb?  These individuals are strong and determined and have abundant physical energy and stamina. At times, they can be aggressive or blunt. What if a thumb is shapely and column-like in appearance? A strong will, tact, and refinement rule the person. What if the thumb looks like a paddle with a broad tip and a waisted (narrowing at center) second phalanx? These people have a lot of mental determination, backed up by strong tact and diplomacy and can persuade others with refined logic. Sometimes, the tip of a thumb looks as though it was smashed or flattened. This is known as the ‘nervous’ thumb, obviously indicating a nervous temperament and lack of a balanced energy.

Let’s consider the shape of the tip of the thumb. The four most common shapes are conical, round, square, and spatulate. The conical thumb (Wilbur) is cone-like in appearance. It belongs to an idealistic, impulsive, and somewhat impressionable individual who loves beauty and backs down in confrontational situations because his will is softened by a conical shaped tip. A round tip balances idealism with the practicality.  Square tips (Billy) are the most practical of all. Squareness adds common sense, reliability, and dependability. A spatulate tip (William) belongs to a strong willed action-oriented individual who loves his independence, originality, and unconventionality.

Is a thumb stiff?  Slightly flexible? Highly flexible? Very stiff thumbs feel like they’ll break before they bend.  Stiff thumbs represent stubborn, persistent, determined individuals who may also be cautious, economical, and resolute. Jealousy and possessiveness are nasty stiff-thumbed habits that cause unnecessary suffering. Supple thumbed people, on the other hand, are adaptable, sympathetic, generous, and versatile. They’d love to be extreme, outrageous, and extravagant. They’d make great philanthropists if they could only figure out how to hold on to money. They tend to ask too little for themselves and don’t know how to say “no.”  Distractions are normal for supple thumbed folks. They tend to spread themselves too thin, becoming the proverbial “jack of all trades, master of none”.  I encourage supple thumbed people to embrace focus, discipline, and structure. It’s like prescribing bad tasting medicine. Many people with highly flexible thumbs, fingers, and hands have spent their life resenting obligation, avoiding responsibility, rebelling against authority, living in fantasy, self-medicating, or when all else fails, adapting to their obligations and responsibilities.