While dominant index fingered folk are the most ambitious, and middle finger types are the most serious, ring finger people are the happiest. The ring finger is called the sun finger, symbolized by Apollo, who hauls the sun across the sky each day in his chariot. Authentic Apollo types are handsome, brilliant, charming, graceful, artistic, and always successful on the inside. When the ring finger dominates your hand, you’re versatile, adaptable, creative, and expressive.

Being so brilliant and having so many natural talents and abilities has its downside. It’s easy to spread yourself too thin (the proverbial “jack of all trades”), or spend way too much time being concerned with outward appearances, or allow yourself to be tempted by casual attractions. Abundant energy and natural charisma makes the sun type irresistible. Although, they enjoy being married, they have very high expectations of their mates, which can lead to disappointment. If you’re an Apollo type, you’re a generally healthy type, medium height, and naturally muscular and athletic. Your dominant sense is sight. Your physical weaknesses are eyesight, circulation, and heart problems. Dominant ring fingered people are lucky. When they trust their gut and take calculated risks, they often succeed. I’ve read the hands of many gamblers with very long ring fingers. They’re biggest challenge is in knowing when to stop, as optimism and idealism cloud reality. Many successful actors, artists, designers, and sales people have dominant ring fingers.

People frequently ask, “Do you read your own hands?” or “What do you see when you look at your own hands?” I plan to answer that question, but first I want to tell a story. When I began trying to figure myself out over thirty-five years ago, one of the first things I did was to look for reputable palmists to read my hands. I managed to locate three highly regarded and dedicated professionals. The eldest (in her eighties) had been a protégé’ of William Benham, the father of western palmistry. The other two were palmistry scholars and practitioners of Benham’s teachings.

The hand pictured above is mine. The first palmist I consulted with, who became my teacher, told me my “Venus” was dominant. That meant that my large ball of the thumb, along with the very flexible first phalange of my thumb, was the distinguishing feature in my hand. The second palmist told me that I was a “Saturn” type. That meant my middle finger was dominant, as it was long and strong with a high centered apex beneath it. The third palmist told me I was a ”Mercury” type. That meant my pinky was dominant as it was long and straight, and stood independently from my hand. She was an astrologer as well as a palmist and knew I had a stellium (four planets, including my sun) in Gemini in my horoscope. I also have a ‘thinking’ hand, square palm and long fingers, which reinforced her interpretation. All three palmists gave me good readings, however, they were each only partially correct because they chose a strong secondary type as my primary type.

What I see when I look at my hands usually depends on when you ask me. I see a dominant long ring finger with a spatulate fingertip and a whorl fingerprint. Beneath the finger are a high centered apex (pictured) and a clear line of reputation. I see tremendous potential for success, satisfaction, and fulfillment. I also see challenges and obstacles.

My first giant obstacle was learning to manage my strong “Venus”. Along with my huge appreciation of art, music, nature, chocolate, and all things beautiful, came a complete lack of discipline, structure, and focus. I didn’t know how to say “No”. I also had an insatiable lust for sexual satisfaction. I had to learn to embrace and strengthen my middle finger in order to harness my ball of the thumb . It wasn’t fun and took almost twenty years of working at it to learn to exercise my will power in healthy ways. I had to stiffen the thumb on my conscious hand to a point where I could be more selfish with my ever-dwindling time and energies (the thumb on my unconscious hand is still very flexible at the first joint). My strong pinky made it easy to learn new things, but with that came immaturity and a resistance to growing up. It took me thirty-eight years to marry and forty-five years to become a parent, the two best decisions of my life.

Now, I look at my hands and see an aging Apollo who still wants to shine brilliantly, with a Mercury (pinky) who wants to help him communicate, a Venus (ball of thumb) who still has a huge desire to give, and a Saturn (middle finger) who tells him that he needs to always stay humble and continue to earn his good luck.