Keywords embody concepts that unlock the doors to knowledge. They reduce an idea to a single word and are universal to all languages. In metaphysics, keywords are used to represent symbols and embody specific principles. When you learn palmistry, astrology, numerology, tarot, or any occult language for that matter, it’s important to have a set of key words to guide you. Whether you’re optimizing a search engine, exploring science, observing art, playing music, designing your home, or examining human nature, the key to keywords is in their collective recognition and interpretation.

My metaphysical teachers always provided me with a list of key words at the beginning of my journey into a particular discipline. When I began studying astrology (over 35 years ago), I learned that our solar system was the basis for constructing a horoscope. To an astrologer, planets are basic archetypes of nature and also keywords for specific energies, ideologies, and potentialities. As Apollo drives the chariot of the sun across the sky each day, he sheds light on all things. Sun is a patriarchal archetype that symbolizes spirit and consciousness. Moon is matriarchal and represents emotion and the unconscious. Mercury communicates. Venus senses. Mars energizes. Jupiter expands. Saturn contracts. Uranus revolutionizes. Neptune imagines. Pluto transforms. This is extremely superficial, but you get the point. Planets are one of four basic elements required to interpret a natal horoscope. Astrological signs are adjectives that describe the basic qualities and energies of planets. Houses in a horoscope represent the areas of life in which planets and signs reside. Aspects are the relationships between planets, signs, and houses that challenge, enhance, and impel a person or circumstance. Humanity consists of masses of harmonious and contradictory computations, permutations, and probabilities rotating and revolving through time and space. We’re one big dysfunctional family, mainly because in our individual consciousness, all of time and space revolves around each of us.

It’s impossible to define human nature with keywords, and yet keywords are absolutely necessary to understanding human nature. One challenge in relying on keywords in palmistry is that a majority of palmistry books are obsolete cookbooks and notoriously confusing, full of stale ingredients and unreliable recipes passed down for generations. Inaccurate information and inadequate illustrations are cloaked in esoteric and technical jargon.

Palmistry keywords are not meant to define human nature, but instead, to evoke images, ideas, and feelings that give us insight into our selves and others. That being said, l will attempt to generalize all of the literature of western palmistry using keywords in my next blog entry. I’ll tie them to past blog entries wherever possible so that they can be viewed in the context of the gestalt of palmistry. If you want to learn how to read hands, you can print out the list of keywords in my next entry and consult it as you observe and examine hands.

Keywords in palmistry are derived from the basic formations and qualities of hands.

• Size, shape, and proportions of hands reveal a combination of four basic archetypes: Intuitive, Practical, Thinking, and Feeling.
• Hand texture, color, elasticity and consistency of skin, and flexibility of joints explain how we initiate, maintain, and adapt to new ideas and circumstances.
• The lengths and proportions of fingers, knots, shapes of fingertips, and qualities of nails represent how we relate and are fulfilling our potentials in our world around us.
• Fixed skin ridge patterns (dermatoglyphics), lines, and gestures reveal more detailed information about life path and circumstances.

Before proceeding, here are two very important ideas to keep in mind.

1. Always consider the dominant archetype. Remember that every detail is capable of modifying the whole and all other details at the same time. The basic shape and proportions of hands is the place to start. Finger lengths are crucial to understanding motivation. Shapes of fingertips flavor the thinking of the type. The development (or not) of knots modifies that flavor. No matter what else is happening, the color, consistency, elasticity, and flexibility of hands in general are critical to understanding a person’s energy, natural resistance to life’s knocks, and adaptability. Without a healthy thumb, it’s hard to have a healthy life because will power or logic can be excessive or deficient. Reading hands is satisfying when hand qualities are consistent, which they usually are.

2. There are relatively few pure types. Pure types tend to be extreme. They can be taxing to be around. Fortunately, most of us are mutts. Once you recognize a dominant archetype, look for a secondary type, which modifies the motivation and behavior of the pure type. With a dominant middle finger and secondary index finger, forget about middle finger melancholy. This person is a disciplined ambitious leader in their chosen career. If the index finger is dominant and middle finger secondary, a person’s powerful ambition may be tempered or hindered by a lot of structure, discipline, and pragmatism. If the middle finger is dominant and the ring finger is secondary, forget about being a loner. This person is gregarious and much better at selling himself than the pure dominant middle fingered person. If the ring finger leans toward the middle finger, you may have a great craftsman or an overly responsible perfectionist. Your dialogue with the person will help you to understand how these qualities manifest in each individual. If a pinkie finger is secondary, that increases shrewdness, adaptability, spontaneity, and a person’s sixth sense. On the dark side, he could be the master criminal who can pick your pocket and rob your life savings at the same time. Some people are harder to judge, as you will see when I begin to share fascinating stories of family, friends, clients, and celebrities.