You don’t need a Libra sun, moon, planets, aspects, or houses to be Libran. All Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius hands have square palms and long fingers. I’ve read many Libran hands with long deep clear gently curving unobstructed headlines that fork at the end. Librans see every side of a situation. Straight strong pinkie fingers communicate clearly, effectively, and frankly (with full broad nails). Strong index fingers are pervasive on ambitious hardworking managers and powerful leaders. Dominant bottom and middle phalanges are well suited to banking, real estate, and food businesses. Dominant top phalanges make great public speakers, lawyers, directors, journalists, educators, and religious leaders. Librans are idealistic, romantic, aesthetic, and refined. You’ll see Librans in chic designer clothing taking clients to trendy restaurants. Thinking types dominate political, PR, publishing, marketing, sales, and entertainment fields.
Wielding logic, diplomacy, and tact like Samurai swordsmen, Librans analyze, rationalize, and compartmentalize their thoughts and feelings until they fulfill their desires. A wide space between head and life lines reveals initiative and spontaneity. Wide spaces care less what others think of them. Changing a Libran’s mind is a game of mental monopoly. You must be direct and make good sense. Don’t get emotional. You’ll regret it.
Healthy Librans have sincere handshakes. Firm pink elastic skin with a long graceful heart line flowing from the pinkie to the base of the index finger symbolizes a romantic and sentimental nature. A branch at the end of the heart line that reaches down to touch the head line means the person can think their feelings to oblivion. Black and white and hard and soft are the same, only different by degree. Librans with vertical lines within their life lines are very lucky. Anyone with long vertical lines parallel to their life lines has intimate family ties and friendships. They’re wealthy in love and spirituality.
Libra is the 7th sign of the zodiac, the 7th house of marriage in western astrology, and the autumn equinox, time for partnership, sharing, and giving. Librans strive for balance, idolize harmony, dislike discord, and despise confrontation. As negotiators, they’re very decisive when it really matters, although they’re notoriously indecisive when it doesn’t really matter like what to eat, what to wear, and where to go. Librans can be aggressive and vague at the same time. Many prefer being frank and direct, but then they can’t figure out why some people don’t like them.
Athena is a Libran archetype with Aquarius and Gemini backup. Greek for Wisdom and Justice, Athena rules the strategic thinking required in combat. Scales of justice and an owl on her shoulder symbolize balance and wisdom. Odysseus (Libra) and Achilles (Aries) worshiped Athena. Pictured as a handsome Goddess in battle armor, she holds a shield of Intuition in one hand, and a sword of Thinking in the other. Athena’s mighty sword is applied with icy detachment. She discards emotion for clarity and cuts to the quick.
We all have Libra, Venus, and 7th houses in our symbolism. We know what’s honest, true, and fair, and must set ethical and moral values and boundaries in order to know right from wrong and see truth. It’s easy to compartmentalize, rationalize, and analyze the ideas, thoughts, and actions of ourselves and others. Some Libran aphorisms are: “Laws keep honest people honest.” “Locks keep honest people out” “Contracts are as good as the people who sign them”. Laws protect us only after the reason for those laws has been severely abused. Why must we lose what we value in order not to take it for granted?
Truman Capote understood the truth behind the insanity. “Even an attorney of moderate talent can postpone doomsday year after year, for the system of appeals that pervades American jurisprudence amounts to a legalistic wheel of fortune, a game of chance, somewhat fixed in favor of the criminal, that the participants play interminably.” Legal power enables players to shirk social responsibility, manipulate others, and justify whatever personal and social behavior and actions. Librans need to balance ethics and honesty. Maybe a Libran knows something that would change everything, but fails to mention it. Did Philip Morris know cigarette smoke is unhealthy? Does Monsanto know that ‘Roundup’ causes cancer? Do Republicans know they do not care about the masses? Mountains of money have been amassed by self-appointed Emperors who have deceived, exploited, and manipulated the huddled masses. Cream rises to the top. Poor folk will forever scrape for pennies at the bottom of the barrel.
Many years ago, an Athena type of questionable ethics came for a private consultation. As a corporate strategist and master business plan writer, he seemed totally out of place in my east village tenement apartment, dressed in his expensive designer suit and power tie and me in my “Since I gave up hope, I feel much better” t-shirt and worn jeans. His friend had been to one of my palmistry talks and encouraged him to see me.
Athena rules arts and crafts, especially weaving. My client’s specialty was weaving tailored cloaks of investment opportunity for himself and his clients by threading a weft of his finest illusion through a warp of potential profit. He’d revive floundering companies by creating innovative new products and services that pointed them toward prosperity. An emperor of crystal clear vision, Athena would charge a substantial fee and generous stock options in exchange for a first class business plan and assistance in executing it. Athena would revive companies who’d been competing for pennies forever. He shifted their paradigm by changing their thinking. As Athena’s plans came to fruition, his stock would become more valuable. He guided management through the churning rapids of dramatic change within company structure. When the project could survive on its own, Athena sold large chunks of stock and invested in his next project. Although his visions sometimes failed, Athena always prospered.
Athena had been indicted in a $150,000,000+ securities fraud. Insider trading is much more common than you know and extremely discreet. Knowing something secret can be very powerful, but getting caught is bad for everyone. The IRS was a monkey on his back. He desperately needed a strategy for what to do next. He wanted to take a symbolic look at his situation. Despite our totally opposite worlds, we hit it off. Thinking types can bounce ideas off each other for hours. Athena was Pinocchio. I was Jiminy Cricket, there to be his conscience. Brilliant, but surprisingly naïve, Athena easily rationalized being legal, unethical, and immoral at the same time. He got his nose pruned by sticking it in the wrong place at the wrong time. Athena offered me a generous retainer to be his “Jiminy Cricket”. I declined, but accepted occasional gifts and payments for my time and advice.
Athena’s hands revealed a healthy Libran type. He was charming, calming, and curious. Astrology described his behavioral patterns, life cycles, and timing. Tarot cards provided insight into business relationships, but no matter how many times we spread the cards, tact and diplomacy could not save the King of Swords from being tortured by the eight of swords, judgement, and the Tower. Athena needed to learn his lesson the hard way.
Athena’s square palms, long fingers, strong pinkies and well-balanced phalanges are great for commerce. His long unobstructed straight headline is innately practical, honest, and reliable. Ambitious strong index fingers embody a strategic hardworking nature. His strong stiff thumbs show determination and persistence. Separation between his head and life lines reveals initiative, impatience, and independence. I would never have seen his problem in foresight.
I had no idea how to help Athena with his problem. Blinded by desire for power and wealth, Athena had unwittingly compromised his morals and ethics. His natal chart appeared to be healthy and well balanced, but his astrological transits weren’t promising. There seemed to be no positive outcome unless it was spiritual. I knew I needed to be direct and make good sense. The horizontal lines crossing Athena’s dominant vertical lines showed he was no stranger to challenges and obstacles. He was very good at bouncing back and landing on his feet. Jiminy Cricket guided Pinocchio to find his truth and become a real boy. Athena and I never got that chance.
Athena lost everything. Too late for hindsight, there was little I could do. I appealed to his future. “Does the world really need another greasy French fry, addictive beverage, or pornographic violent video game?” Why not design and market healthy products like Paul Newman? Why not give profits to charitable causes? I suggested ‘Vita-Fries’, the world’s first truly healthy French fry. Why can’t the same resources be used to create healthy products and services? A graceful heart lines extends to Athena’s index finger, revealing a romantic and sentimental nature. Check out the long gracefully curving vertical lines within his ball of thumb, Athena has a healthy and loving support system.
“Why not make products more expensive and exploit less people on the way?” I asked. Athena loved the idea, but rationalized needing more personal financial stability before giving money away. “More expensive means more grease”, he told me. Higher prices mean more time and money spent romanticizing and glamorizing products and services. More for less is a great concept, but doesn’t come cheap. “It’s the grease”, Athena said. Why pay more for caffeine at $tar Buck$? Why buy expensive designer brand names when you can get the same generic item for much less? Revolutionary new products and services do happen ~ like when Kleenex became generic for tissues, ubiquitous in the marketplace, and highly profitable. Most products are variations on a theme.
In Libran style, Athena started over again with fresh enthusiasm, new ideas, and a dollop of grease. Last time I heard, he was offering virtual alternatives to utilitarian products that make good economic sense. Pinocchio is wheeling and dealing and mastering his Libran nature. He and Jiminy are friends, but no longer consult for $.
The most challenging task in reading hands is learning to judge hands. One person’s long is another’s short. Your firm might be my soft, depending on the person. Rigorous practice is necessary to truly observe and judge hands.
Few of us are pure types. Many behave contrary to our sun signs. My brother, Gary, is Pisces, a mutable feeling type. He’s Neptunian, but his Libran hands reveal a cardinal thinking type. Gary is a geriatric psychiatrist. Lucky for him, I used to threaten I’d go completely crazy with age, but then as a Gemini, I decided not to get old. Gary’s Libran temperament graciously emerges and gracefully merges with his Pisces sun to sooth the most stressful clients and situations. Pisces gives Gary natural empathy and the intuition that many Librans lack. He’s an awesome psychiatrist, partner, father, brother, son, friend, and human being.