All palmists agree on the importance of the thumb. Although the thumb is a small body part, it takes up a huge space in the cerebral cortex of our brains. The thumb opposes our other four fingers, which has enabled our minds to develop. It’s the primary reason we have dominion over our ancestors, the apes. We’ve designed all of our tools from a pencil to the most sophisticated computer because of the placement of our thumbs. As our hands carry out the messages of our minds, our thoughts, feelings, and behavior are reflected in the morphology and topography of our hands.
The thumb symbolizes our most valuable resources: willpower, logic, and ability to love. It’s essential to our well-being that these three very important qualities be balanced. Like our other fingers, a thumb has two joints and three segments known as phalanges. The top phalange represents will. The second or middle phalange represents logic and ability to reason. If the will segment is longer than logic, you frequently act before you think. If there’s more logic than will, you may figure whatever out, but then procrastinate. A tiny bit more logic than will keeps us in check. The bottom phalange is the ball of thumb, contained by the lifeline. The ball of thumb governs our capacity to love and have compassion and sympathy for others, to maintain significant relationships, to appreciate people, animals, nature, art, and music. If there’s not enough love and sympathy, all the logic in the world won’t matter.
Unlike our other four fingers, our thumb is not ruled by a single planet. It’s obvious that willpower, logic, and love contain all elements and modalities. You can assign a sun sign to any detail to gain more insight. A particular element or modality may be strengthened or weakened by the shape of the tip and / or fingerprint. For example, a spatulate tip with a whorl print adds cardinality and fire. A square tip with an arch print adds fixity and earth. A round or conical tip with a loop print adds mutability and air or water. Many combinations are possible. I’ve written several blog posts on the thumb: The Basics ~ A Parable ~ The Murderer’s Thumb ~ Generalities
Once you’ve established a dominant element and modality for both hands, examine the fingers. The lengths and proportions of fingers, shapes of tips, knots, and nails reveal our relationships with others and what types of career and work we’re best suited for. How are your fingers spread? If they’re widely spaced, freedom is essential to doing things your way. If they’re held closely together you’re a team player, cautious at beginnings, and prefer not to make important decisions on your own.
Dominant index fingers (Jupiter) are long and stand independently from other fingers. A strong index fingered person prefers to partner. As ambitious types, they visualize their goals and then plan to accomplish them. As career minded individuals, they’re motivated by professionalism. They have natural leadership abilities that attract opportunities for them to manage. They’re drawn to others like themselves who are ambitious and proactive. Controlling behavior patterns, obsessive habits, being critical, judgmental, and indulging in too much good food and drink are weaknesses. Other flaws include false pride, gluttony, vanity, and bossiness. Dominant index fingered individuals must overcome their excesses by practicing moderation. Success comes more easily than most other types, but it still must be earned. Many successful judges, journalists, lawyers, politicians, producers, promoters, priests, speakers, salespeople, and the finest and worst chefs have dominant index fingers.
Basic hand shape will reveal whether the person is more adventurous, practical, thinking, or feeling. Shapes of tips, knots, nails, and fingerprints can dramatically modify any interpretation. You can assign an element and modality to any detail to gain more insight into the issue or challenge you’re addressing. Want to befriend a dominant index fingered person? Be honest, direct, proactive, and take pride in your career.
Many dominant index finger types are of medium height with generously proportioned bodies, wide chests, high foreheads, wide eyes, full faces, and wavy dark hair. Long index finger folk are naturally healthy types who may overindulge in rich exotic foods, luxurious desserts, and fine wines. It’s not a paradox that their physical sense is taste. The older they get, the higher the toll. Temptation knocks and Jupiter unlocks the door to eventual blood disorders, liver trouble, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and problems with hips, thighs, and throat. Many people believe short index fingers are connected to homosexuality. That’s not true. Here’s what I have to say on the subject.
The middle finger (Saturn) is the balance wheel of the hand. It should always be the longest finger, although it may appear shorter relative to index and / or ring fingers, which may be above average. Structure, discipline, and focus are needed. Harnessing these qualities is another story. Saturn is his own worst critic and easily frustrated. Finding healthy uses of will power is essential to having a healthy life. Dominant middle finger types are loners and need alone time. Less inclined to marry than other types, they’re dependable, organized, efficient, patient, and faithful. Their troubles begin with spending too much time feeling guilty, fearful, self-critical, frustrated, and depressed. Being overly responsible and perfectionistic is a recipe for depression, frustration, and fear. Notice how the strong middle finger in this photo magnetically draws the other fingers toward it. This man is an incredible artisan and a confirmed bachelor. He worked as a night watchman for many years.
Dominant middle-fingered folk are frequently tall, slender, and angular in appearance. Pure types have dark hair, large bones, stern features, and bland complexions. The prevailing physical sense is smell. Many Saturn types love string instruments and prefer classical music with a tinge of sadness. They eventually have problems with teeth, knees, ligaments, and hardening of arteries, rheumatism, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, or deafness in the left ear. When the middle finger leans toward the ring finger, you’ve got an individual with a very strong need for privacy. When he’s feeling confined, controlled, or restricted, he gets cranky. Notice the curved middle finger on Donald Rumsfeld’s left hand. There’s no doubt he’s a curmudgeon. Abraham Lincoln (Aquarius) and Clint Eastwood (Gemini) are quintessential Saturnians.
Many conservative business people, real estate moguls, writers, technical individuals, craftsmen, therapists, night watchmen, master criminals, morticians, undertakers, and derelicts are middle finger types. Powerful individuals with dominant top phalanges lead the way in research, science, mathematics, and humor.
Have a dominant middle-fingered boss? Do your homework with a very sharp pencil. Your precision, attention to detail, and realism are vital to achieving your goals. Don’t be late and don’t make excuses. Assume responsibility and be pragmatic, reliable, and dependable. You’ll avoid criticism and maybe even get some praise.
The middle finger is the finger of fate. It’s where illusion and delusion meet reality. No matter what else is happening in your hands, the middle finger forces you to face the facts. Then you have to do whatever needs to be done. It’s always about work on your part. The remedy for many maladies is inherent in the challenges in and around the middle finger. Whether you do the work or not, what you do will show in your hands. A grille (schmutz) is a bunch of lines crisscrossing in every direction under the middle finger and a sure sign of frustration resulting from too much perfectionism or not doing what needs to be done. People with schmutz below their middle finger are their own worst critics. They must lighten up, buckle down, and bite the proverbial bullet. Taking one step at a time is the best medicine for letting go of frustration. Healthy attitudes will in time reduce or erase the grille. Healthy people have strong healthy middle fingers.
Ring finger types are happiest. Dominant index fingered folk are the most ambitious. Middle finger types are the most serious. The sun (Leo) finger is symbolized by Apollo, who hauls the sun across the sky each day in his chariot. Apollo types are attractive, brilliant, charming, graceful, artistic, and successful on the inside. Healthy dominant ring finger types are versatile, adaptable, creative, and expressive.
Being so brilliant with so many natural talents and abilities has a downside. It’s easy to be spread too thin (“jack of all trades”). Concern with outward appearances and being tempted by casual attractions is a waste of valuable time. They enjoy marriage, but have very high expectations of their mates that can lead to disappointment. So much solar energy makes them irresistible. Apollo types are healthy, medium height, naturally muscular, and athletic. Their dominant sense is sight. Physical weaknesses are heart problems, eyesight, and circulation. Dominant ring fingered people are lucky. They can trust their gut. When they take calculated risks, they often succeed. I’ve read the hands of many gamblers with very long ring fingers. Their biggest challenge is in knowing when to stop. Their optimism and idealism cloud reality. The most successful actors, artists, musicians, designers, and sales people have dominant ring fingers.
This powerful pinky finger fits a communicative, curious, and quick-witted individual. Dominant pinky fingered people are bottom liners. As quick thinkers and excellent communicators, they’re well aware that if their presentation doesn’t add up, they won’t make the sale. They’re eternally childlike and cherish their freedom. In relationships, they love variety until they end up marrying someone like their mother or father. They love children and will bear any burden for family.
Hermes is the Greek god attributed to the pinky finger. Peter Pan (adolescence), Puck, Knight of Swords, Court Jester, Magician, Thoth, Loki, and Mercury are all Hermes. Clever tricksters can also be great communicators and potential archetypes of wisdom.
Early family dynamic can be observed in the way the pinky is set on the hands. When it’s short or low set, trust is a major issue. Many women with very low set pinkies have told me that they have trouble having orgasms. Their real challenge is in trusting themselves and others enough to have real intimacy. A pinky finger emphasizes technical, language, and family, in addition to sexual potentials. Hermes’ dominant physical sense is hearing. Hermes prefers musical instruments that require dexterity.
The pinky finger is normally the shortest finger. To determine whether the pinky is considered long or short, look to where it lines up with the ring finger. When the tip of the pinky finger is above the crease between the first and second phalange of the ring finger, it’s considered long. When the pinky finger is shorter than that crease in the ring finger, it’s considered short. Hermes was the shortest of the gods. A dominant pinky fingered person tends to be short in stature. His or her body and face are slender, with expressive hands, dark hair, and penetrating eyes with crow’s feet in the corners. Ed Harris is a great example. Pinky fingered folk are youthful looking with men frequently having thin beards. Johnny Depp is a Mercurial type. Mercurial types are androgynous. Many (they may not know or admit it) are bi-sexual. David Bowie was Mercurial. Michael Jackson (Peter Pan) actually lived in his very own Neverland.
Health issues center around the nervous and bronchial systems. Problems with headaches, thyroid glands, memory loss, and speech impediments are common. Healthy types can be intuitive geniuses and great judges of character. Their liabilities are trickiness, fickleness, nervousness, restlessness, and superficiality. People preaching on soapboxes, pickpockets, and successful con artists have dominant pinkies (most inwardly curving). Mercury types make great lawyers, doctors, orators, writers, engineers, teachers, accountants, bankers, shopkeepers, and magicians. I work at special events with famous magicians. These amazing tricksters are very Mercurial. They surprise and astound by deceiving the eye and mind through sleight of hand. Hermes leads the way in science, law, medicine, writing, and banking.
Is this man telling the truth?
The chirological equivalent of Pinocchio’s nose is a deeply inwardly curving pinky finger. If your pinky finger is curved inwardly, you typically hate confrontation and spend too much time behaving in ways that work. You’ve spent so much of your life acting and bending the truth that you aren’t even aware you’re doing it. Most curved pinky fingered people learn early in life that “nice” works. Their biggest challenge is that “nice” ends up becoming safe instead of satisfying. Curved pinky fingered people are peacemakers. They try to fix other people and circumstances. If you’re one of these people, be yourself and not who you think everyone else wants and needs you to be.
Gold and diamond rings are often found on the pinky finger of acquisitive people. Pinky rings can symbolize the sublimation of sexual energies in order to achieve something requiring a lot of energy. I once examined a group of fifty young men and women, all born into wealthy families in the 80′s. Considering the prosperity of the period, it seemed a paradox to me that every single one of them had an obviously short phalange on the bottom segment of the little finger of his or her dominant hand. The bottom phalange represents the material world. Money will never be a motivation for this group’s career choices. Family issues and personal values will drive these individuals.
Cardinal signs are 
Mid-seasons embody fixity. 
I have Scorpio rising. Jupiter in Scorpio in my first house is a singleton in the bottom hemisphere of my horoscope. Saturn and Pluto closely straddle my Leo midheaven. My Gemini Sun is conjunct Uranus and Venus is conjunct my North Node in my Gemini eighth house. You’d think my hands would be Scorpion, but instead, they’re Gemini with square palms and widely spread long flexible fingers. That’s not to say I’m not Plutonian. I am, but not in the ways I behave.
A natal horoscope is a unique map of the positions of planets in the heavens at the specific time and place of a birth. Expert astrologers offer accurate and in depth perspectives of our personalities, possibilities, probabilities, and prospects. Emperors, kings, presidents, dictators, philosophers, mystics, scholars, and artists throughout history have used astrology (and still do) to understand and influence world events.
Middle fingers should always be longest no matter what your type. Short middle fingers are lives out of balance and control. Middle fingers embody our need for structure and reveal our ability to focus, be disciplined, and responsible. We can see from our middle fingers how serious and reliable we are and how we manage our restrictions, obstructions, obligations, and guilt. Saturn types tend to be well organized, efficient, patient, dependable, and faithful. Stiff knotty joints, bent middle fingers, long middle phalanges, square tips, and short broad nails combine to reveal obsessive order, methodology, and punctuality. The most self-critical of all types, he habitually must learn to “lighten up and smell the roses”. Traditional music and dry humor helps. Practical, prudent, and persistent, Saturn types become easily frustrated and aggravated when their strategies don’t go according to plan. An overdeveloped sense of responsibility and obligation causes them to feel guilt, shame, and depression. Many have a cynical, sarcastic, or fatalistic sense of humor rooted in a pessimism they’d much prefer to hide. They become extremely defensive or offensive when they’re depressed. Pure types rarely stray from provincial, traditional, or conventional boundaries.
Dominant middle-fingered people are often tall, slender, and angular in appearance. They have dark hair, large bones, stern features, and bland complexions. They’re loners; needing private time, including from family and partners. Their prevailing physical sense is smell. Pure types love string instruments and prefer classical music with a tinge of sadness. Eventually, they have physical problems with teeth, knees, ligaments, rheumatism, hardening of the arteries, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, or deafness in the left ear. When the middle finger leans toward the ring finger, there’s a need for privacy and personal space. I guarantee that when Donald Rumsfeld is feeling confined or controlled, he gets cranky and irritable. You can readily see it on his face. A majority of scientists, technical individuals, conservative businessmen, researchers, writers, craftsmen, therapists, night watchman, undertakers, morticians, and derelicts have dominant middle fingers.
“Father Time” is a strategic planner. In ancient Greece, he was called Chronos. In Roman myth and western astrology, Capricorn is ruled by Saturn. Where structure, discipline, and focus are required, Saturn is always present. At best, he’s healthy, happy, wise, prosperous, and compassionate. At worst, he’s frustrated, controlling, greedy, and self-destructive.
The most famous Capricorn of all time was Jesus Christ. Jesus was the first not for profit Prophet. This self-styled Jewish self-help guru would have reformed the business of religion had he stuck around. Who needs codes, dogmas, and doctrines when they’ve got spirituality? Jesus shared God’s essence as he spoke the words “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Jesus was crucified and martyred for loving too much.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1/15/1929 – 4/4/1968) was martyred for his fervent beliefs. A Baptist Minister and passionate Social Rights Activist, Dr. King led the black civil rights movement in the United States from the mid 1950’s until his assassination in 1968. Dr. King’s mission was a pursuit of truth, peace, justice, and equality for all. Dr. King’s dream has become his legacy and a legal holiday.
Capricorn Mel Gibson irreverently and irresponsibly exploited the dark side of love in his ‘The Passion of the Christ’. Jesus writhed as Mel punished us for torturing him. Maybe Mel can capitalize on Dr. King’s final moments. He can call it, LETHAL WEAPON 666 ~ even more reasons to spread shame, guilt, fear, hate, and terror. Mel would be much less harmful as a used Hummer salesman. He could market ‘already been road-warriored’ models, like worn jeans or distressed furniture.
Capricorns want to be number one. Muhammad Ali was King of Boxing. Elvis Presley was King of Rock ‘n Roll. Tiger Woods was Prince of Golf. David Bowie and Rod Stewart are mega-musical prodigies. Daniel Day-Lewis (Taurus / Saturn) played Abraham Lincoln, a pure Saturnian type. Clint Eastwood is a Gemini with dominant middle fingers. Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse were great Post and Neo-Impressionist French artists. Albert Schweitzer was a famous humanitarian. Louis Pasteur was the father of pasteurization.
Master criminals ruled by Saturn don’t depend on cleverness like 
Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future haunt Bernard Ebbers. As former CEO of WorldCom, Ebbers contributed to society by making telecommunications competitive. Too bad he compromised his principles to reach his goal of power and worldly achievement. Bernie played both sides against the middle and got caught in the squeeze.
Janet is a pragmatist with crooked middle fingers and separated head and life on her dominant hand. This combination of features makes her a very independent freedom loving perfectionist with an overly developed sense of responsibility, obligation, and guilt. There’s always a ‘should’ or ‘supposed to’ in the way of that adventure she wishes she was having. Janet was a high-powered corporate consultant in the publishing industry when I met her and took this picture.
During the late twentieth century, Uranus revolutionized Capricorn from 1989 to 1996. Political institutions and structures were transformed. The Iron Curtain and Berlin Wall were ripped down. On October 3, 1990, Germany was reunited as the political demarcation between East and West vanished. The Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen republics in 1991. The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibited discriminating against the disabled.
Uranus brought the Voyager space probe that successfully explored the outer limits of our solar system. Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years behind bars and successfully galvanized the Anti-Apartheid movement around the globe. Jean Bertrand Aristide, a radical priest, became Haiti’s first freely elected president. Ten months after his election, the military seized control of the government. After Asylum in the USA, Aristide returned to office in 1994, accompanied by 20,000 American troops. Operation Desert Storm liberated Kuwait from the Iraqi invaders. Bosnia declared their independence from Yugoslavia that resulted in a religious civil war pitting Serbs and Croats against Muslims.
At the end of Uranus’s transit, the US and the UN brokered a prickly cease-fire and did what they could to end ethnic cleansing. Representatives from over a hundred countries met in Rio de Janeiro in June of 1992 to discuss how to better preserve the earth. Good intentions haven’t worked. Johnny Carson retired after 30 years of hosting The Tonite Show on NBC TV.
Expect the unexpected. PLO leader Yassar Arafat shook hands with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to try to end hatred. The Irish Republican Army agreed to lay down its arms in exchange for a role in Northern Ireland’s political future. The Brady Bill for gun control was signed into law thirteen years after Brady was shot and paralyzed. The NRA became more powerful than ever. Smoking was banned in New York City restaurants. Women began smoking cigars.
When the planet Neptune transited the sign of Capricorn from 1984-1998, lines between chemical industries and moral responsibilities dissolved. A gas leak at a Union Carbide plant in India killed over 3,000 people. British scientists pinpointed a hole in the earth’s ozone layer. Two years later in 1987, seeing the hand writing on the wall, fifty-three nations signed a treaty pledging to reduce the number of CFCs in the atmosphere. The most serious nuclear accident in history occurred at Chernobyl. Thirty-one people died instantly. Another 40,000 were later diagnosed with cancer from exposure to radiation. The Exxon Valdez shipwreck was the worst oil spill in history. It contaminated hundreds of miles of Alaska shoreline and killed thousands of creatures.
Neptune transformed the illusion of fatherhood. Bill Cosby was the most popular father in 1984. Saturn was in 
Neptune dissolves both political and financial structures. Mikhail Gorbachev reformed the controls that kept the Soviet Union together. Growing concerns over a growing federal deficit catalyzed the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act. The Reagan deficit soared to 2 trillion dollars (2X 1981). On Black Monday, the stock market suffered a mini-crash with a huge drop in stock prices. Texaco filed the largest bankruptcy in history.
Pluto entered Capricorn in 2009. Ninety-nine percent became aware of the power of one percent. Plutocracy, faulty financial foundations, and deceptive business practices were beginning a never ending journey directly to hell. Commerce, politics, and religion will transform as greed, corruption, and secrets are exposed on all levels of business, government, and religion.
Nostradamus made astrological predictions. His ‘whether’ forecasts for Pluto in Capricorn include the demise of the NY Stock Exchange and the bubble created by the illusion of social security. How can society prepare for widely fluctuating interest rates and inflation? How can we reform broken systems? Cyber-Terrorism can reach into anyone’s computer, cell phone, or electronic devices these days. Revolutionary new ways of managing our energy needs and environment must be implemented on a large scale. Recycling and reuse needs to be more practical and cost effective. More women must have positions of power. The Federal Reserve Bank, a Capricorn, will experience major upheaval. Its purpose was to keep the mega-rich from controlling all the wealth by forcing banks to keep certain percentages of their assets in the Federal Reserve. Neo-plutocrats own the majority of votes in Congress and the Senate.
Astrologers agree that the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4 1776. There’s a dispute over the USA horoscope as to whether Gemini or Sagittarius is rising. Either way, our Sun, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury are in the sign of Cancer. As Pluto opposes them, the USA will try even harder to control everyone and everything, but will have great difficulty maintaining economic power and its status as a world leader. The world will see our behavior like short sighted little children. NYC’s charter was signed January 1 1898 at 12:01 am. Pluto conjoined NYC’s Sun in Capricorn in 2013, creating chaos concerning physical and financial infrastructures, public transportation, and corruption. Future world challenges will include hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, droughts, and other unnatural anomalies. The USSR Constitution has Capricorn rising. It promises political and economic upheaval as Pluto highlights where real responsibility begins and accountability ends. We will all learn the hard way that the bottom line cannot justify the means.
