ARIES & HANDS

No need to have an Aries sun, moon, ascendant, planets, aspects, or houses to be Arian. No matter what your astrology says, Aries, Sagittarius, and Leo are Intuitive types with rectangular palms and short fingers. Having an Aries sun with Aries hands is very Aries. Aries hands differ from Leo and Sag hands. Leo hands are noticeably harder and stiffer than Aries hands. Sagittarius hands are softer and more flexible. Aries hands have full firm heels of hands (upper Mars under pinkie). Aries bounces back and lands on their feet after obstacles and hardships. Resilient elastic skin embodies a resilient energetic person. Elastic skin quickly springs back to normal when pushed or pulled.

Pink energizes. Red pressurizes. When a plump red puffy bump bulges where a thumb meets a hand (lower Mars), a person is more aggressive than another person with little or no bump. Red hands embody too much energy, anger, passion, and pressure. Healthy Aries have rosy full balls of thumbs (Venus).

Head and life lines are separate at their beginnings on pure types. These individuals need freedom of thought, action, and to be rebellious when necessary. Mars has plenty of initiative, cherishes his independence, must trust his instinct, and always be true to himself. Many Leos have closely intertwined head and life lines at their beginnings. They’re less free than Aries because they’re motivated to act by and for others. Leos like being in charge, but procrastinate at beginnings and endings because they care too much about what others think. They’re easily hurt when criticized or taken for granted and take opinions of others personally, even when they’re not.

As the most courageous and adventurous of all types, Aries is a fierce warrior and inspired risk taker. His passion is contagious and optimism eternal. Never running out of doors to knock on, he doesn’t take rejection personally. He loves sports and is ready to compete with anyone at any time and place. He has an innate need to catalyze new beginnings and new projects. A freedom lover, he detests bureaucrats.

Note: Aries is male in gender. In practice, he and his is also she and hers.

Cardinal types tend to have low set thumbs. No matter what else is happening in a person’s hands, low set thumbs were designed for quests and causes. Saving underdogs, strays, and fixer-uppers, and rescuing damsels in distress are specialties. Combined with strong index fingers and pinkies, they make great fund raisers. Aries crusades relentlessly and persistently until his objectives are realized. Committing to ideals and working on worthy causes brings deep satisfaction and personal fulfillment.

Aries is not detail oriented. They’re easily bored, restless, and impatient. Stay out of their way when they’re bogged down in mundane activities, especially if you can’t help them. They need to stay far from controlling, possessive, and jealous types. Trust is a must. Intimate relationships require good physical chemistry. The football player (Mars) and cheerleader (Venus) are hot for each other. Aries must not be impulsive or in a hurry to ‘fall in love’. Unhappy marriages follow unplanned pregnancies. Aries must be patient, trust their intuition, and set sensible goals. Unafraid of blood and sharp tools, Aries make the best soldiers, butchers, and surgeons. Mars rules executives, salesmen, barbers, sportsmen, military leaders, soldiers, policemen, firemen, and anyone full of fire and burning with desire.

Aries is resilient. They bounce back and landing on their feet, no matter what. Their innate sense of inner strength, courage, determination, and persistence make them formidable foes. Aries conquers procrastination, overcomes inertia, and acts with inspiration, passion, and energy. Health issues tend toward headaches, inflammations, fevers, and high blood pressure.

Aries rules War. Ancient warriors practiced their lustiest mating rituals from late June to late July to seed future generations of Aries warriors. Aries rules Germany, England, and Japan. Hitler created the Aryan race. Britain barbarized, colonized, and ‘civilized’ the globe. Japan was bombed with atoms in World War II. Modern Japan wages battles of commerce, communications, and transportation.

Invincible warriors, lusty lovers, and gods and goddesses of war are symbolized by an erect cock. Aries is Greek. Mars is Roman. Aries is Spring. E veryone has Aries by degree. Mars is in everyone’s symbolism and psyche. Aspects of all types interact with aspects of all other types. Your dominate archetype’s relationships with other types determines your destiny.

Strong, athletic bodies, dominant chests, and rock hard heads embody an Aries psyche. They’re not called ‘Ram’ for nothing. My best half, Joanna, is an Aries with Venus in Taurus rising. I call her ‘Ram-bull’. She’s obstinate and also very grounding for me. I’m Gemini with Scorpio rising. She calls me a ‘piece of work in progress’. We’re both right.

Aries ancestors are warriors and conquerors. King Theseus of Athens, Jason and the Argonauts, Joan of Arc, Xena, Mulan, Robin Hood, and his eastern cousin, Aladdin, orphaned son of the king of thieves, handsome adolescent street rat, diamond in the rough, destined to be a prince. Above is a real life Aladdin. Click here for his story.

Al Gore may be history these days, but his rectangular palms and short fingers reveal a link between his intuitive nature and his Aries Sun. Al’s Mars, Saturn, and Pluto in Leo and Jupiter in Sagittarius are a bundle of fire. Inspiration motivates Al as he educates consumers about the hazards and truths of Global Warming and Climate Change. Al and his Argonauts bagged the coveted Nobel Peace Prize while opening masses of minds to massive consumption, extreme waste, and our need to shift our paradigm of ‘me first’.

Al is a conceptual thinker. He loves the idea part of his process. Al can sell anything he believes in. His greatest asset is his ability to see the whole picture. He has no time and little aptitude or patience for details. His long index finger embodies his egocentricity, ambition, and obsessions. Al knows what he wants, gets the facts, and makes the case for his cause. Fortified with lightning bolts from Zeus, Al has great personal influence, privilege, and wealth. It’s vital that Al remain vigilant about the size and quality of his own footprint. Al must practice what he preaches to be truly powerful and effective.

Ex-Secretary of State, ex-General Colin Powell is an Aries with Sun and Mercury in Aries (April 5, 1937). His short fingers, rectangular palms, and widely separated life and head lines embody the spirit of King Theseus of Athens. Theseus escorted Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece. Colin defeated the dreaded Minotaur, Saddam Hussein, a Taurus, who controlled the warring Arabic factions under his rule.

Secretary Powell’s powerful and practical personality persuaded Americans to keep the faith while we invaded Iraq. Powell believed he could make a positive difference, but was goldenly fleeced by the Bush administration. Emperor George II, pulled the golden wool over everyone’s eyes as he proudly wore Powell’s threads of charisma, credibility, and principles on the front lines of international diplomacy. General Powell’s greatest battles are yet to come as he approaches the end of his life and wages war with his personal loyalties, honesty, integrity, dignity, and truth.

Rest assured Colin Powell is horrified by our current leadership! An evil empire can take revenge on a person’s family and force even the truest hero to remain silent and keep secrets forever. Colin must cleanse his karma by shining the light of absolute truth on the many shades of gray in his life. Maybe he should publish a brutally honest auto-biography to be released posthumously by his family when they’re ready.

CAPRICORN & HANDS

No matter what your astrology says about you, flat square palms, short stiff fingers, square fingertips, developed first knots, and a combo of loop and arch finger prints embodies Capricorn. A Capricorn sun, moon, rising sign, planets, houses, or aspects will enhance pragmatism and other Capricornian traits. Firm hand consistency, coarse skin ridges, and self-assured handshakes embody practicality, responsibility, and reliability. When the middle finger crooks toward the ring finger, discipline, seriousness, and responsibility rule the person.

Middle fingers with dominant first and middle phalanges make Capricorn more practical and pragmatic than his cardinal brothers and sisters, AriesLibra, and Cancer. He’s more motivated and aggressive than his fixed cousin Taurus and a better manager than his mutable cousin Virgo. Every thought and action must be rooted in rational reason and clear purpose. Capricorn leaders and successful managers embrace responsibility with commitment and perseverance, carrying out the most mundane of tasks while maintaining a long-range vision of their goals. Structured, focused, disciplined, and dependable, Saturn expects you to be on time and do as you say. He has little patience for excuses. As a natural skeptic, he doesn’t trust slick and flashy types. A workaholic, he doesn’t question coming early or staying late to finish a task. He patiently awaits the right conditions, cultivates right relationships, and plans right timing before taking action.

Our middle fingers should always be longest. Short middle fingers represent a life out of balance. Lack of structure, discipline, and focus is a formula for failure. The qualities of the middle finger reveal how serious and reliable we are and how we deal with our frustrations, obstructions, obligations, shame, and guilt.

Saturn is well organized, efficient, patient, dependable, and faithful. Obsessive order, minute methodology, persistent punctuality, and unrelenting perfectionism are embodied in stiff knotty joints, crooked middle fingers, long middle phalanges, square fingertips, and short broad nails. Self-critical types must learn to “lighten up and smell the roses”. Traditional music and dry humor soothes the saturnine soul. Saturn has a cynical or sarcastic sense of humor peppered with a pessimism that can sometimes be offensive and defensive at the same time. The funniest comedians often hide their pain behind humor. Practical, prudent, and persistent, Saturn becomes frustrated when his strategies don’t go according to plan. Rigid ideologies and an overdeveloped sense of obligation and responsibility makes Saturn feel depression, guilt, and shame. While they pride themselves on their ingenuity, it’s ironic they rarely stray from traditional and conventional careers.

Dominant middle-finger types tend to be tall and slender in appearance. Dark hair, large bones, stern features, and bland complexions are common. Saturn needs solitary time including family, friends, and partners. Saturn’s physical sense is smell. Pure types love string instruments and classical music tinged with sadness.

Abraham Lincoln was saturnine. Daniel Day-Lewis (Taurus with strong Saturn) masterfully played Abraham Lincoln. Clint Eastwood is a Gemini with strong Saturn. Elvis Presley, a Capricorn, was King of Rock ‘n Roll. Tiger Woods was Prince of Golf. Muhammad Ali was King of Boxing. David Bowie was a musical master. Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse fathered Post-Impressionism. Albert Schweitzer‘s ‘reverence for life’ was his gift to humanity. Louis Pasteur pasteurized.

“If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Capricorn (1/15/1929) with Capricorn hands. King was martyred for his fervent beliefs. As a Baptist Minister and Social Rights Activist, Dr. King was destined to lead the black civil rights movement in the United States from the mid 1950’s until his brutal assassination in Aries (4/4/1968). Dr. King’s mission was the pursuit of truth, peace, justice, and equality for all. His dream became his legacy as well as a legal holiday.

Saturn rules physical structure. Capricorn weaknesses include skin, teeth, knees, and ligaments. Maladies like rheumatism, hardening of the arteries, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, and deafness in the left ear are Saturnine. Middle fingers that lean towards ring fingers symbolize perfectionism and a strong need for personal space. I’ll bet that Donald Rumsfeld is frequently cranky, irritable, and annoyed. Just look at his left middle finger and face. Saturn thrives in conservative types. Most scientists, researchers, mathematicians, technical specialists, and businessmen are saturnine. Writers, craftsmen, therapists, night watchmen, undertakers, morticians, and derelicts frequently have dominant middle fingers.

On Christmas, humanity celebrates Jesus Christ, Jewish guru, and not for profit prophet. God spoke through Jesus, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Jesus would have reformed religion had he stuck around. Who needs dogmas, doctrines, codes, rules, and regulations when you’ve got spirituality? Loving unconditionally and without expectation can have a dire outcome. Jesus was crucified for loving too much!

Mel Gibson (Capricorn) embraced his dark side when he created ‘The Passion of the Christ’. Jesus’s spirit writhes in heaven as Mel irreverently punishes and blames the Jews for torturing Jesus to death. You can see all of Jesus’s suffering and none of his revelations and victories in Mel’s 30 million dollar abomination.

Perhaps Mel can capitalize on Dr. King’s final moments and create another sequel called LETHAL WEAPON 666 ~ even more reasons to feel and spread hate, shame, guilt, fear, and terror. Mel should stick to acting. He’d make a great used Hummer salesman, specializing in ‘already been road-warriored’ models like worn jeans or distressed furniture.

Scrooge is our darkest, greediest, and stingiest side. Relationships are important only as they relate to profit. Master criminals are ruled by Saturn. They have no need for cleverness like Gemini, spontaneity like Aries, or grandiosity like Sagittarians. They strategize, wait, and act when the timing is right.

Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future haunt Capricorn Bernard Ebbers, former CEO of WorldCom. Ebbers made telecommunications competitive. He achieved his goal of power and wealth, but compromised his ethical principles in favor of profit. Preaching one thing and practicing another has a gloomy prognosis that can end one in the slammer. Evangelical Christians had better get real soon or risk extinction with Saturn and Pluto still conjunct in Capricorn!

Janet is a Capricorn. Her crooked middle fingers along with head and life lines that separate on her dominant hand at their beginnings embody a freedom loving, independent, perfectionist with a highly developed sense of responsibility, guilt, and obligation. Too many “should’s’ and ‘supposed to’s” get in the way of that adventure Janet craves.

“Do the work or suffer the consequences”. “ Father Time” is about quality, not quantity. The lone hermit is not lonely. Saturn is present where discipline, focus, and structure are required. Saturn can be prosperous, happy, wise, and compassionate. He can also become easily frustrated, compulsively controlling, greedy, and self-destructive. Transforming lead into gold is a metaphor for transforming Saturn into the Sun.

SAGITTARIUS & HANDS

SAGITTARIUS-HAND

You don’t need a Sagittarius sun, moon, houses, aspects, planets, or planetary placements in your Natal Horoscope to be Sagittarian. All Intuitive hands have rectangular palms with short fingers. Sagittarius hands have strong index fingers, flexible finger joints, pink firm elastic skin, and confident hand shakes. Sagittarius reflects a mutable personality. Pure types have long straight index fingers that stand away from the hand. No matter what your type, strong index fingers point to pride, ambition, desire for power, leadership abilities, confidence, idealism, spirituality, religion, truthfulness, and generosity. Pink color under an index finger adds energy and enthusiasm and reveals a desire to make a difference.

After reading many tens of thousands of hands for over forty years, I can confidently and comfortably generalize from my experience. I’ll never have enough statistical data to call my work scientific, but I can safely say a Sagittarius with a healthy index finger is idealistic, enthusiastic, and self-assured. Many have smooth finger joints and round or conical fingertips with loop or whorl prints. As eternal optimists, they’re honest, sincere, and gifted with voices designed to persuade. Positive thinking helps them achieve their goals, while good luck lights their way. I call Jupiter ‘him’ because it’s his gender, but in practice, Jupiter’s influence is equally powerful in all genders.

Sagittarians are often accused of viewing life through rose colored glasses because they see people and circumstances as they want them to be instead of how they really are. Graceful heart lines, extending from the percussion of the hand from strong pinkies to powerful index fingers make them even more sensitive, romantic and sentimental. As proud, expansive, generous, passionate, principled, truthful, philosophical, and spiritual beings, they’re irresistible when they believe in themselves. Love of travel motivates them to seek adventure whenever and wherever as they search for interesting food experiences. Healthy types love country and city life. Many struggle to find balance.

Jupiter’s physical sense is taste. Jupiter craves rich exotic foods, luxurious desserts, fine wines, and highly erotic sex with mortals. Depending on length and thickness of bottom phalanges, love of nutrition (narrow), or temptation by gluttony (plump) emerges from deep within the psyche. Rich food, fine wine, and kinky sex are potent temptations that lead them down the dark path of excess to the palace of wisdom. Jupiter’s physical problems come from gorging rich food, drinking too much alcohol, and overindulging in sensual pleasures. Dominant index fingered folk are of medium height with generously proportioned bodies. Wide chests, high foreheads, widely spaced eyes, reddish faces, and wavy hair are common characteristics and clues to the mystery of who they are.

Gluttony is prone to blood disorders, liver disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and flaws of throat and thighs. Pride is critical, hypercritical, impractical, grandiose, arrogant, dictatorial, and vain. Blending Pride and Lust induces philandering.

When the dominant hand’s index finger is long, (past middle of tip of top phalanx of middle finger), projects forward with pinkish color beneath (all races), that person loves being boss and hates being criticized. They’re natural planners, setters of goals, and leaders who attract other ambitious career minded professionals. Know that anyone will quickly lose credibility and respect if they’re looking for a free ride or are unable to carry their own weight. Jupiter must steer clear of strays and fixer-uppers who are naturally attracted to them. Long index fingered folk enjoy being married. They need to partner as much as they need a lover. Having both is best! Planning, setting goals, and dreaming of a future together is crucial for their partnership to be meaningful and fruitful.

Jupiter’s personal problems come from practicing obsessive and controlling behavioral patterns, expressing judgmental thoughts, and cultivating critical attitudes. False pride, gluttony, vanity, and bossiness are weaknesses these individuals must overcome by practicing moderation, earning self-esteem, and being successful at being healthy.

Sagittarius needs a philosophy that enables him to be an integral part of a working society, not tilting at windmills like Don. It’s hard being a person who believes he has everyone’s answers, though he has none. Wind, Sun, earth, and water will be available to us when we’re ready to harness their power.

Short index fingers extend less than half way to middle of top phalanx of middle finger. Short index fingered individuals need to work harder to achieve similar results as their long index fingered brethren. Short fingered folk are big picture people. Many tend not to value themselves enough because they weren’t valued enough during their formative years. There was no encouragement and support when they needed it most! Their challenge is to learn to ask enough of and for themselves. Plenty of successful individuals have thrived with very short index fingers. They earned every drop of whatever they achieved. Nothing comes easily, but everything earned is well worth the risk and effort.

A scientific study claims short index fingers are linked to homosexuality. Click if you’re curious. This minute long Youtube video shares my take on index fingers. It’s a look through my wife and my eyes at how knowing our baby’s potentials and possibilities altered her destiny. Basic hand shape reveals whether we’re intuitive, practical, thinking, or feeling. Healthy types are nourished by healthy index fingers. Being honest, direct, taking pride in their work, and calculating their risks transforms Sagittarius into successful politicians, journalists, judges, lawyers, singers (musical instrument is voice),speakers, story tellers, managers, producers, promoters, salesmen, chefs, and priests.

Every fingerprint needs to be examined in the context of each other and the whole hand. Proportions of finger phalanges, development of knots, and size and shape of nails reveal various personality traits. I see many spatula shaped fingertips with whorl prints on Sagittarius types. They embody original and unconventional thinking. Square tips with arch prints are practical, responsible, dependable, and reliable. Round and conical tips with loop prints are adaptable and communicative.

Depending on your basic type, lines change as a person’s thinking and circumstances change. Dermatoglyphics (skin ridge patterns) rarely change dramatically. Sudden or extreme circumstances may catalyze a tiny change. In my experience, the lines in feeling (water) hands change the most while practical (earth) hands (above) change the least. Careful examination of skin ridge patterns requires a quality set of hand-prints or hi-res photos, a strong magnifier, and precise measuring tools. Once you’ve got the gestalt of a person, you can give great readings using details to affirm and confirm the persons basic character, patterns, habits, natural tendencies, talents, and potentials, and provide additional information about current events and timing.

EPISODE 300 ~ WE’RE BOTH VIRGIN GODDESSES?

EPISODE 300: WE’RE BOTH VIRGIN GODDESSES?

The gals sit down with character analyst, palm reader, tarot interpreter and good vibe king, MARK SELTMAN! Mark takes a look at Corinne and Krystyna’s palms and birth charts, and sees right into their souls. After his completely spot-on character breakdowns, Mark gives the gals some tarot readings about their love lives. 

I was contacted recently by a producer for a weekly podcast called “Guys We Fucked”. The two ladies above were looking for a ‘psychic’ to shed insight into their relationships and sex lives in order to celebrate their 300th episode. I assured the producer that I was not a psychic, but she had done her homework and they had all already decided that they wanted me, regardless of what I called myself.

I called a couple of friends to get their take on the opportunity. My more conservative friend was skeptical, feeling that it would be a circus and that I would end up being embarrassed and regretting my participation. My less conservative friend encouraged me to go for it and reminded me that I really had nothing to lose. I decided to say ‘yes’ and then just have fun with it. I was glad I did. It aired yesterday. I’ve already had emails from listeners and fans around the country, letting me know that they really enjoyed the show and wondering how they could proceed to hire me to interpret and help shed insight into their own intimate relationships.

Here’s the link to the podcast ~ 57 minutes

VIRGO, HANDS, & HEALTH

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

You don’t need a Virgo Sun, Moon, planets, aspects, or planetary placements to be a Virgo. Strong middle finger phalanges with square tips dominate square palms with short fingers. Virgo hands are less meaty and more flexible than Taurus  and more elastic than Capricorn, with pinkish flat palms, well- developed first knots, and very lean fingers. Virgo is the most adaptable of all three practical types.

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Virgo is known for their methodical ‘hands on’ approach to being natural. No matter the type, square fingertips, large second knots, and short fingernails add order and practicality. Strong crooked middle fingers that lean toward ring fingers at first joints strive for perfection and need personal space. Virgo is known for being critical. Many are mainly self-critical. Fire rising or a watery moon gives them inspiration, passion, and empathy. People who chew their nails are self-critical or critical of others (many lines crisscrossing beneath the middle finger). Nails bitten to the quick are contrary and will choose the other side of an argument, just to make a point, even if they agree with you.

Virgo is happiest where discriminating, reliable, modest, and orderly service is required. Famous for cleaning up everyone else’s messes, Virgo can obsess on details while being overly thorough and meticulous. Contrary to popular belief, Virgo doesn’t like details. Short fingered people (Practical & Intuitive) dislike details and prefer to see the whole picture. Details are a nuisance; something others should do, but few can do them better than Virgo, who selflessly rationalizes their distaste and drive themselves to do whatever needs to be done. They often ask too little for themselves. Ironically, they know their value, but are reticent to ask for it. Ego gratification is not their motivation. Virgos work hard to feel useful. Never take a Virgo for granted. They cherish every molecule of what they truly earn, but must be valued and appreciated. Accounting, medical, nursing, social work, maintenance, cleaning, and health food are career magnets for Virgo.

Some Virgos have worked hard and been rewarded for their efforts. Writers like Agatha Christie & Leonard Cohen; Lawyers Alan Dershowitz & Marcia Clark; Financiers J.P. Morgan & Warren Buffet; Actors Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, Paul Walker, Keanu Reeves, and Cameron Diaz; Singers Michael Jackson & Beyonce’; Political figures Margaret Trudeau, Lyndon Johnson, George Wallace, Yasser Arafat, & John McCain (who’s hands are Taurus). McCain’s stubborn short index finger, slightly crooked pinky, and intuitive tips say ‘what you see is not what you get’. Few have truly known his truths.

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Mercury, the winged messenger, holds a caduceus (medicine), ruled by Virgo (healthcare). Gemini rules communications and wit. Virgo is earthy and practical. She represents more scientific, technical, and empathetic aspects of thinking and feeling. Virgo is feminine in gender, logical and healthy. Gemini is masculine, intellectual, and cleverer. Imagination is more compatible with Gemini than practicality.

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While I was practicing palmistry in my early thirties, a virile young man showed up one day, asking “When will I die?” He was a Virgo, healthy looking, well proportioned, energetic, smart, and multi-talented craftsman. He appeared to have excellent health. Well-balanced square palms were pink and firm with short straight fingers. Pink elastic skin, resilient palms, flexible wrists, and mildly flexible finger joints revealed a healthy balance between determination and adaptability. His basic lines were clear and deeply engraved. How lucky he is, I thought, but fate had sealed a different future for him because he had AIDS.

AIDS was a death sentence at the time. I couldn’t see his illness. Nothing stood out. I also lacked experience to counsel him. I said, “I’m sorry, only god knows the answer to your question. You’re a naturally healthy person. If anyone can beat this disease, you can.” Awkwardly, I grasped at his positive qualities, but he didn’t want to hear them. We chatted about what he planned to do. He wanted to be proactive. I helped him decide to build a regimen of healthy diet, aerobic exercise, peaceful sleep, more meaningful relationships, and more quality time management.

My curiosity about AIDS and desire to make a difference inspired me to volunteer weekly at Bailey House, AIDS housing organization. I showed up twice weekly for two years to read hands, astrology, and tarot cards for clients and staff. I used metaphysics as a lens to view their issues and challenges in a symbolic way to help them choose what’s next.

I printed hands from the AIDS community monthly to monitor the progress or regress of the disease. I began noticing changes in skin ridge patterns on the percussion of hands. Lack of adequate funding, limited time, and not enough statistical data made it difficult for me to be thorough or scientific. Most people with AIDS suppress their potentials because they obsess on the harsh realities of a very fragile impending mortality. I affirmed their talents and strengths and inspired them to continue making positive choices and taking meaningful actions. We looked forward to our weekly sessions.

Your health is in your hands. In the days before computerized medical diagnosis, doctors used their intuition, tasted a patient’s urine, looked into their eyes, and examined their tongue, skin, and especially their hands to diagnose illness. Hands reflect a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. I encourage seekers to examine and reflect on their own hands and the hands of people they care about. Hands are a mirror of a person.

Fingernails are windows to a person’s health. Illnesses can be seen in fingernails. Anemia, thyroid disease, malnutrition, carpal tunnel syndrome, psoriasis, eczema, liver disease, heart, lungs, colon, chronic respiratory disease, lymph system problems, diabetes, Raynaud’s disease, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcers, Hodgkin’s disease, and sickle-cell anemia are some of them.

Dozens of stress related problems and types of cancer can be seen in skin ridge patterns (dermatoglyphics). Conditions of lines indicate conditions of heart, brain, kidneys, liver, and stomach in male and female systems. Palmistry is prescriptive, but should never be used to diagnose or prescribe. When I observe a potential health problem in a person’s hands, I let them know I’m not a medical palmist and suggest they see a specialist.

Many health problems are natural predispositions to specific character types. Know the type and understand the corresponding potential health problems. Here’s a generalized list of health issues that correspond to a person’s dominant astrological signs and hand features. Click links to learn when and how a finger is dominant and what other qualities in addition to health are represented. The Good News is that forewarned is forearmed! Despite a person’s genetics, free will rules over fate.

Sagittarius ~ Dominant index finger ~ blood disorders, liver trouble, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and problems with hips, thighs, and throat. A huge challenge and temptation for Sagittarians is refraining from overindulging in rich food and drink.

Capricorn ~ 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.

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

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

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

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

Aries ~ Dominant tip of 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 ~ Peripheral lines on heel of hand ~ reproductive system, ruptures, hemorrhoids, ulcers, venereal diseases, and problems with prostate or urethra.

Aquarius ~ Nails and qualities of lines ~ ankle weakness, anemia, cramps, heart weaknesses, nervous diseases, varicose veins, and sensitive skin.

Pisces ~ pointed finger tips / yellowish skin / islanded line of health~ feet and toes including bunions and gout, colds, mucous discharges, tumors, drug addictions, and liver troubles.

TAURUS & HANDS

You don’t have to have a Taurus sun, moon, ascendant, aspects, or house placements to be Taurus. ‘Pure types’ have firm, pink, elastic skin, dense mount consistency, and a bulging percussion under pinkie finger. Large stiff thumbs and short stiff fingers embody stubbornness, determination, and tenacity. Full rosy balls of thumbs symbolize love of family, children, food, nature, comfort, luxury, art, music, and all things beautiful. When a ball of thumb is surrounded by a long clear deep life line, that person is blessed with good health. Long clear fate lines also symbolize strong purpose, goals, and sense of destiny. These are all generalizations to be adjusted based on the gestalt of a person.

Deep lines and clear skin ridges reveal trails, trials, and tribulations to be navigated and guided by anyone who learns. Taurus has few extra lines. Requiring security and stability, they think and feel in practical ways. Long graceful heart lines ending under the index finger are romantic and sentimental. Being ‘old fashioned’ is natural. People with long heart lines often see others as they want them to be, instead of how they really are. Head lines closely intertwined with life lines at their beginnings must be appreciated and never taken for granted. Loop and arch fingerprints add adaptability and practicality. Square finger tips reinforce a need for order and stability. Depending on size, second knots are more or less concerned with keeping everything in its place. The larger the knot, the more compulsive the need for order in the area that knot represents. Dominant middle phalanges embody practical pursuits and dominant bottom phalanges prefer sensual. The hand pictured above belongs to someone with a Pisces sun and a Taurus hand and character.

Taurus is driven by their physical senses. These responsible, practical, pragmatic, objective, reliable, and dependable individuals manage and maintain the material world. They only trust what they can see and feel, not ideas, intuitions, or inspirations. As creatures of habit, they get addicted to routine and order. Being bogged down in practical and mundane matters makes it hard to access their abstract abilities and imagination. They procrastinate at beginnings and endings, another unproductive habit, which opposes their need to be responsible, caring, and appreciated.

Taurus embodies Aphrodite’s desire for comfort and beauty. Venus gives form to wealth and power. She loves her family, friendships, home, food, nature, art, and music. Her need for physical security and stability drives her practical attitudes. She’s honest, dependable, and trustworthy, and valued by all for her natural warmth and good sense. When she’s healthy, she won’t bend the truth or perform a song and dance act for anyone. She’s loyal, affectionate, and charming, and can also be controlling, jealous, and possessive. She’s not a great salesperson as she takes rejection personally. She thrives in real estate, banking, food, and fashion. Her challenges are to trust her gut, give up control, and let go when it no longer makes sense to hang on. Taurus can be the best Bull and the worst Minotaur.

FAMOUS TAUREANS

Pope John Paul ll embodied many positive Taurus qualities. He got the rich to share wealth with the poor. He was the first Pope to visit a synagogue, encouraging Catholics and Jews to love one another. An assassination attempt nearly killed him; and still, he rose to address countless chaotic church stresses and messes.


J. Krishnamurti, spiritual guide, made good sense to and for everyone

Leonardo da Vinci was the original hipster, great artist, and inventor

Sigmund Freud was father of modern psychoanalysis

Karl Marx developed the theory of socialism

Martha Graham was mother of modern dance

Katherine Hepburn was Grande Dame of American stage and movies

Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Tony Blair ground Great Britain

“The great mass of people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than a small one”. The darkest depths of Taurus created the monster from Hell from 1933 to 1945.  Adolph Hitler transformed our world by empowering anger, fear, and terror and manipulating masses with symbolic imagery. Hitler was responsible for over thirty million deaths.

 Jim Jones, fanatic cult leader, led 1,000 followers to mass suicide in 1978

Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh had no remorse for his evil

Saddam Hussein, (Iraqi President 79~06) dictator, was shamed and slayed.

Alchemy isn’t about turning lead into gold. It’s the art and science of guiding and balancing Saturn and the Sun. We can all be our own best friends and bull shit detectors. Having virtue, honesty, integrity, dignity, nobility, discipline, structure, focus, persistence, and determination are keys to healthy humanism and heroism. Taking responsibility for healthy attitudes, critical thinking, constructive planning, realistic goal setting, healthy values, and honest actions, transform our inner and outer worlds. Embrace your best qualities, master your darkness, manage your life, and be an alchemist. Everyone has Taurus in their symbolism and psyche.

LIBRA & HANDS

You don’t need a Libra sun, moon, planets, aspects, or houses to be Libran. As Thinking Types, Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius hands have square palms and long fingers. Libran hands frequently have long clear downwardly curving unobstructed headlines that fork at the end. Librans can see every side of an idea or situation. That’s one reason they’re notorious for resisting making up their minds. Anyone who has long straight strong dominant pinkie fingers and large broad nails communicates clearly, frankly, and effectively. Strong index fingers are common on ambitious hardworking managers, directors, and leaders. Dominant bottom and middle phalanges are well designed for banking, real estate, and food businesses. Dominant top phalanges make great public speakers, lawyers, directors, journalists, educators, and religious leaders. Librans tend to be idealistic, romantic, aesthetic, and refined. Thinking types in general dominate PR, political, publishing, marketing, sales, and entertainment fields.

Wielding logic, tact, and diplomacy like Samurai swordsmen, Librans compartmentalize, analyze, and rationalize their thoughts and feelings until they achieve their desires. Having wide spacing between head and life lines reveals spontaneity, love of freedom, and a desire to initiate. The wider the space, the less the person cares what others think. Changing a Libran’s mind is like mental monopoly. Be direct and make good sense. Don’t get emotional. You’ll regret it.

Healthy Librans have firm sincere handshakes. Pink elastic skin with long graceful heart lines flow from the pinkie to the base of the index finger and embody a romantic and sentimental nature. A branch at the end of the heart line that reaches down to touch the head line means that the person may rationalize, analyze, and compartmentalize their feelings. Black and white and love and hate are cut from the same cloth, opposite only by degree. Librans with gently curving vertical lines within their life lines are lucky in love. Anyone with long vertical lines parallel to their life lines has intimate family ties and friendships. They’re wealthy in relationships.

Athena is a strong Libran archetype with powerful Aquarius and Gemini backup. She’s the Greek archetype for Wisdom and Justice. Clasping the ‘Scales of justice’ in one hand and the sword of thinking in the other, she balances ethics with action. Athena rules the strategic thinking required to win in war. Great warriors like Odysseus (Libra), Achilles (Aries), and Theseus (Gemini) worshiped Athena. Often pictured as a handsome Goddess in battle armor, she sports the shield of Intuition and supports the owl of Wisdom on her shoulder. Athena’s mighty sword is applied with icy detachment. She discards emotion for clarity of thought and cuts to the quick.

 

Libra is the Autumn Equinox, 7th sign of the zodiac, 7th house of marriage, a time for partnership, sharing, and giving. Librans strive for balance, idolize harmony, dislike discord, and despise unnecessary confrontation. As negotiators, they’re very decisive when it really matters. They’re notoriously indecisive when it doesn’t matter… where to eat, what to wear, and when to go… Librans can be annoyingly aggressive and vague at the same time. Most Librans prefer being frank and direct, but then they can’t figure out why some people don’t like them. ‘Nice’ is easy, but safe is not satisfying. It isn’t easy to be honest, but honesty is what makes good sense in the final analysis.

All of us have Libra, Venus, and 7th houses in our symbolism. Deep down, we know what’s true and fair. We must set ethical and moral values and boundaries in order to know right from wrong and see truth. It’s too easy to compartmentalize, rationalize, and analyze our feelings, thoughts, and actions. Some Libran aphorisms are: “Laws keep honest people honest.” “Locks keep honest people out” “Contracts are as good as the people who sign them”.  Why must we lose what we value to not take it for granted?

“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.” Truman Capote understood the truth behind the folly. It’s ironic that Libra rules our Laws and their execution. Legal power enables rich players to shirk social responsibility, manipulate laws, and justify personal and social behaviors and actions. Haves are innocent until proven guilty. Have nots are guilty until proven innocent. The American Dream is a birthright only for folk who can afford it. Poor folk will forever be scraping for pennies at the bottom of the barrel.

Librans must find a balance between ethics and honesty. Maybe a Libran knows something that would change an outcome, but fails to mention it. Philip Morris always knew cigarette smoking was unhealthy. Monsanto knows that ‘Roundup’ causes cancer. Bayer knows they’re killing butterflies. The powers-that-be in Flint knew they were poisoning the people who depend on their protection. Short-sighted Republicans care more for themselves than democracy. Our self-appointed Emperor has deceived, exploited, and manipulated the huddled masses with mountains of alternative facts, hordes of toxic pussy grabbers, and a limitless supply of poisonous propaganda.

Libras with square palms, long fingers, strong pinkies and well-balanced phalanges are well-suited for commerce. You’ll see them in chic designer clothing taking clients to trendy restaurants. Long unobstructed straight headlines are innately practical, honest, and dependable. Strong index fingers embody an ambitious strategic hardworking nature. Strong stiff thumbs along with a firm percussion under the pinkie finger reveal strong will power, dogged determination, and relentless persistence. A wide gap between head and life lines at their beginnings exposes an impatient, independent, freedom loving individual with plenty of initiative and corresponding need to take action.

The most challenging task in reading hands is learning to judge hands. One person’s long is another’s short. Your firm may be my soft, depending on the particular person. Rigorous practice (reading thousands of hands) and asking the right questions is essential to observing and interpreting human character as reflected in the topographical maps of our hands. The counseling part is another story.

Many of us behave contrary to our sun signs. Few of us are pure types. My brother, Gary is a Pisces, a mutable feeling type. Neptunian on the inside, Gary’s hands reveal a Libran character. His behavior is rooted in cardinal thinking.

Gary is a psychiatrist who specializes in geriatric clients. He’s a practical philosopher with an adventurous spirit. I used to threaten that I’d go completely nuts with age, but then (luckily for both of us), as a Gemini, I decided not to get old. Gary’s analytical and logical thinking graciously and gracefully merges with his intuition and compassion, enabling him to nourish and heal the most stressful of clients and situations. Pisces gives Gary a natural empathy that many Librans lack. They’re too busy analyzing, rationalizing, and compartmentalizing their feelings to trust them. Gary is a devoted husband, father, son, brother, friend, human being, and an awesome psychiatrist.

The first two hand illustrations in this post belong to Gary’s daughter, Andrea, my niece, a healthy Libra and person. When the sun sign and hands match, that can be very good or very bad or both depending on what the person chooses to do with their choices and free will.

VIRGO ~ HANDS ~ HEALTH

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

You don’t need a Virgo Sun, Moon, planets, aspects, or planetary placements to be a Virgo. Virgo has square palms and short fingers. Dominant middle phalanges and square fingertips are less meaty and more flexible than Taurus types and pinker and more elastic than Capricorn types who have whitish flat palms, well-developed first knots, and lean fingers. Virgo is the most adaptable of three practical types.

Virgo is well-known for their methodical hands-on natures and for being critical. No matter what your type, square fingertips, enlarged second knots, and short fingernails add physical and mental order, practicality, and responsibility.

Individuals with strong middle fingers that crook or lean toward ring fingers at the first joints strive for perfection and need personal  space. Depending on what element is rising, or moonsign, or balances and imbalances of elements they manifest certain gifts and curses. People who chew their nails are self-critical and critical of others (many lines crisscrossing under middle finger enhances that). Compulsively bitten nails belong to contrary people who choose the other side of an argument to make a point, even if they agree with you.

Virgo is best where discriminating, reliable, modest, and orderly service is required. Famous for cleaning up everyone else’s messes, Virgo sometimes obsess on details while being overly thorough and meticulous. Contrary to popular belief, Virgo doesn’t really like details. Short fingered people in general (Practical and Intuitive) dislike details and prefer to see the whole picture. Details are a nuisance; something others should do, but few can do them better than Virgo who selflessly reasons and wills themselves to do what needs to be done. Virgo must be valued and appreciated. Virgo asks too little for themselves. They know their value, but reticent to ask for it. Ego gratification is not a motivation. Never ever take Virgo for granted. Virgo works hard to feel useful, but must be valued and appreciated for hard work. Virgo must learn to cherish every molecule of what they earn. Careers like accounting, medical, nursing, social work, maintenance, cleaning, and health food are magnets for Virgo.

Virgos who have worked hard and been rewarded for their efforts: Writers Agatha Christie & Leonard Cohen; Lawyers Alan Dershowitz & Marcia Clark; Financiers J.P. Morgan & Warren Buffet; Actors Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, Paul Walker, Keanu Reeves, and Cameron Diaz; Singers Michael Jackson & Beyonce’; Political figures Margaret Trudeau, Lyndon Johnson, George Wallace, Yasser Arafat, & John McCain. McCain’s hands are more Taurus than Virgo. His short index finger, slightly crooked pinky, and intuitive tips say what you see is not necessarily what you get.

 

Mercury, winged foot messenger, holds a caduceus (medicine) ruled by Virgo (healthcare). Gemini rules communications. Virgo is earthy and practical. She represents more scientific and technical aspects of thinking and empathy. Virgo is feminine in gender, logical, and healthier than Gemini, more masculine, intellectual, and cleverer. Imagination is more important to Gemini than practicality. I’m very Gemini.

 

 

 

I was practicing palmistry in my early thirties. One day, a young man showed up and asked “When will I die?” He was a healthy looking Virgo, very well built, energetic, handsome, smart, and a multi-talented craftsman. He appeared in excellent health. His well-balanced square palms were pink and firm with short straight fingers. Pink elastic skin, resilient palms, flexible wrists, and mildly flexible finger joints revealed a healthy balance between determination and adaptability. His basic lines were clear and deeply engraved. How lucky he is, I thought, but fate had sealed his future when he got AIDS.

AIDS was a death sentence at that time. I couldn’t see his illness in his hands. Nothing stood out. I lacked experience to counsel him. Instead, I said, “I’m sorry, only god has the answer to your question. You’re a naturally healthy type. If anyone can beat this disease, you can.” Awkwardly, I talked about his positive qualities, but he wasn’t interested in hearing about them. We chatted about what he planned to do about his situation. He wanted to be proactive. I helped him to decide to begin a regimen of healthy diet, exercise, sleep, more meaningful relationships, and quality time management. There was no charge for his session.

My curiosity about AIDS and desire to make a difference motivated me to volunteer weekly at Bailey House, an AIDS housing organization. I showed up twice weekly for two years to read hands, astrology, and cards for clients and staff. I use metaphysics as a lens to view issues and challenges in a symbolic way to help choose what’s next.

I printed hands of AIDS victims monthly to monitor the progress of the disease. I began noticing changes in skin ridge patterns on the percussion of hands. Lack of adequate funding, limited time, and not enough statistical data made it difficult for me to be thorough or scientific. Most people with AIDS suppress their potentials because they obsess on the harsh realities of their fragile impending mortality. I affirmed their talents and strengths and tried to inspire as many as possible to continue making positive choices and taking positive actions. We all looked forward to our weekly sessions.

Your health is in your hands. In the days before computerized medical diagnosis, doctors used their intuition, tasted a patient’s urine, looked into their eyes, and examined their tongue, skin, and especially their hands to diagnose illness. Hands reflect a person’s physical, mental, emotional, philosophical, and spiritual health. I encourage seekers to examine and reflect on their hands and the hands of people they care about. There’s so much more to see in a mirror than a reflection.

Fingernails are windows to a person’s health. Some illnesses seen in nails are anemia, thyroid disease, malnutrition, carpal tunnel syndrome, psoriasis, eczema, liver disease, heart, lungs, colon, chronic respiratory disease, lymph system problems, diabetes, Raynaud’s disease, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcers, Hodgkin’s disease, and sickle-cell anemia. Whew…

Dozens of stress related problems and types of cancer can be seen in skin ridge patterns (dermatoglyphics). Conditions of lines indicate conditions of heart, brain, kidneys, liver, and stomach in male and female systems. Palmistry is prescriptive, but I never diagnose or prescribe. When I observe a potential health problem in hands, I let my clients know I’m not a health expert and suggest they see a specialist.

Many health problems are natural predispositions to specific character types. Know the type and understand the corresponding potential health problems. Here’s a generalized list of health issues that correspond to particular fingers. Click links to learn when and how a finger is dominant and what other qualities in addition to health are represented. No health problems are easy. Good News ~ forewarned is forearmed! Free Will Rules.

Dominant index finger ~ blood disorders, liver trouble, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and problems with hips, thighs, and throat. A huge challenge and temptation is refraining from overindulging in rich 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 ~ nervous system, bronchial, and respiratory systems, thyroid gland, headaches, memory loss, and speech impediments.

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

Dominant heel of hand ~ bodily fluids, stomach, tumors, female disorders, epilepsy, mucous membranes, gout, rheumatism, kidney, 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 ~ reproductive system, ruptures, hemorrhoids, ulcers, venereal diseases, and problems with prostate or urethra.

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

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

Virgo Psyche

Outer planets have a powerful influence on our personal psyche and symbolize massive transformations in our collective psyche as they change sign. When Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto transited the sign of Virgo in the 20th Century, preconceived ideologies about ways of being were revolutionized and transformed. It’s no surprise we’re experiencing the consequences of ignoring history as Virgo reminds us again through the current opposition of Neptune in Pisces and transits of Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto in earth signs.

When Neptune entered Virgo in 1929, her dark and nebulous side manifested as Wall Street crashed and catalyzed a great depression. When Neptune left Virgo in 1943, we were submerged in confusion over the Second World War. Mass propaganda and deception 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. Neurotics feared reality and ran from responsibility. “We Want Beer” marches were held in cities across the country to protest prohibition, which was soon 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, complete with wicked stepmother; handsome prince; woodland setting; huntsman, seven doting dwarves; and a happy ending. The best-selling book of 1936 was Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. Silk stockings transformed into nylon stockings.  Dupont 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 to reduce shortages. People born between 1929 and 1943 with Neptune in Virgo were destined to “serve or suffer”.

When transformational Pluto entered the sign of Virgo in 1957, we realized how we’d become slaves to scientific and technological trends. Awareness of the dangers of chemical pollutants affecting our environment entered our mass 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. Daniel Ellsberg was indicted for espionage and conspiracy. The 26th amendment giving eighteen year olds the right to vote became law.

Uranus transited the sign of Virgo from early 1962 to late 1968. Revolutionary `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 on packaging and advertising.

Health is a mundane correspondence for Virgo. Good health is a birthright we all deserve. Everyone has physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and other challenges. Partisan government, acquisitive pharmaceutical companies, and purveyors of health insurance have greedily transformed our healthcare system to extort people who can’t afford health insurance or advocate for themselves. Gluttonous insurers care more for profit than people. Materialistic money managers and megalomaniacal managed care providers bribe prejudiced politicians to embed their strategies and enforce us to play by the rules of their game. Selfish money managers prosper while dedicated doctors are forced to ignore root causes and treat symptoms with overpriced medications. When Saturn was in Virgo from 9/2007 – 10/2009, seeds for structural change were sown and the Affordable Care Act sprouted.

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.

When will we honestly examine history and choose to live in a healthier world? Can we actually see the handwriting on the wall? Must history repeat itself? The Emperor and his cronies are wearing very dirty clothes. Alternative facts only work without evidence and statistics.

MY CANCER BEST FRIEND

LLOYD WILSON

Cancer is a feeling type… instinctual, empathic, emotionally complex, and hard to comprehend. Pry into their private lives and watch them retreat into their shells. Cancers hide their most vulnerable selves beneath a facade of nurturing actions. Cautious and vulnerable, Cancers avoid emotional confrontation wherever and whenever possible, although, they prefer being frank and direct over tactful and diplomatic. Their feelings can swing from loving, devoted, and nurturing, to secretive, obsessive, and fearful of the future. Their smartest option is always choosing satisfying over safe. Cancers can become dark and moody when they feel controlled or confined. They must feel protected and secure before they can fully trust. Once trust is earned, loyalties run deep. Cancer needs to cultivate intimacy wherever and whenever they can. Healthy families, close friendships, and satisfying work nourish and support them. Creating structure, organization, and detail also helps them feel stable and secure.

Healthy Cancers are loving, compassionate, and devoted. They’re compatible with other feeling types (Scorpio & Pisces). They feel safe with practical types (Taurus ~ Virgo ~ Capricorn) who are reliable, responsible, and dependable. They’re challenged by thinking types (Gemini ~ Libra ~ Aquarius) who compartmentalize, rationalize, and analyze their feelings. They’re cautious around intuitive types (Aries ~ Leo ~ Sagittarius) who are passionate, spontaneous, and impatient, and afraid they’ll be left holding the psychic garbage bag (they are) and scared of dealing with the collateral damage when idealism, optimism, enthusiasm, and logic wane (and they do). Cancers are acutely consciousness of everyone else’s emotional needs. When they feel insecure, they can become internally secretive and externally aggressive at the same time. Cancer works hardest when income matches output. Motivated by good food, emotional security, and cozy surroundings, their mission is to nurture family, home, and creative imagination.

The impudent young guy on the left in this picture is me, captured forty-four years ago in a photo booth at Kennywood Amusement Park in Pittsburgh, Pa. Lloyd and I met while working part time at a model making shop where we fabricated preschool children’s learning devices for the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning, Research, and Development Center. We made toys for ourselves and our loved ones on our own time. About to graduate from different colleges, I was to become an industrial designer. Lloyd would continue being an artist. We were a couple of Peter Pans on our way to Neverland.

Lloyd didn’t get much nurturing as a child. He developed his quick wit and sense of humor while trying to avoid extreme physical abuse. When his mother was happy, Lloyd was safe. When she was unhappy, she’d incite Lloyd’s rage filled father to beat him up. Lloyd tried hard to fix his broken parents, but they were too sick to support his efforts. Instead, they judged, criticized, and abused him. Lloyd’s mother finally abandoned him by killing herself; his father was committed to a mental institution, and years later, his lovely sister who I had met in Florida (two beautiful children, great husband, and an apparently idyllic life), suddenly and unexpectedly blew her head off with a shotgun.

Lloyd’s slender rectangular palms and long fingers embody his Cancer sun, which is conjunct my Mercury. His Gemini ascendant and my Gemini sun harmonize with one another. Lloyd’s head and life lines tightly intertwine at their beginnings. That reveals his need to feel appreciated and his tendency to take things too personally, even when they aren’t. A sensitive child, Lloyd desperately craved love and support, but didn’t get any.

Lloyd survived childhood without much approval. Meanwhile, he thrives on love and appreciation. Lloyd will give you the shirt off his back if you need it, but you had better never take him for granted. I know because Lloyd has literally given me the shirt off his back in my moment of need. I was on my way to an important meeting and got a nasty stain on the front of my shirt. Before I could blink, Lloyd took off his shirt and traded with me. What I love about him is that it never occurred to him not to do that.

Cancers are collectors. Some stockpile food in case of shortage or emergency. Lloyd collects art books, literature (most well-read person I know), religious art, art supplies, tools, raw materials, and clothing. When wealthy people die, their families donate their wardrobe to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Lloyd has a keen eye for the finest designer clothing. He skillfully sorts through the merchandise for great finds. I call him my personal dresser. We wear the same sizes. Lloyd chooses suits, coats, and jackets with me in mind and has gifted me with outfits worth thousands of dollars that he paid ten or fifteen dollars for. Many had never been worn. He’s a master bargain hunter.

Lloyd’s very flexible thumbs symbolize his ability to adapt to the most horrible of circumstances. They also embody his frequent generosity of heart and spirit. It’s very hard for Lloyd to say “NO”. The gold ring on the bottom phalange of his middle (Saturn) finger on his unconscious hand symbolizes his need to have clear boundaries, be frugal, and learn how to be less available so that he won’t be taken for granted. Of course, Lloyd knows that, but it’s still fun to see his character, motivations, and challenges embodied in the morphology and topography of his hands.

Lloyd would say to me, “People who tell the truth don’t need to have good memories”. I’d reply, “We may be bastards, but at least we’re honest”. Over fifty years of friendship have witnessed many challenging lessons in humility for us. We delayed finding balance between our outer and inner worlds by always choosing to learn the hard way. We had to let go of our need to be more than we were. We learned there are no shortcuts.

Lloyd Wilson is Pittsburgh’s best kept secret because he loves his anonymity. His artwork reveals a magical spirit, but few will truly get to know it. Lloyd personifies Cancer’s best qualities. He’s supportive, sympathetic, receptive, reflective, intuitive, imaginative, extremely devoted to friends and family, and my best friend (male).