"Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour."- The Bible Proverbs 3:16
History of Palmistry
Palmistry has been practiced for thousands of years but the precise age and origin of this art are not known and will forever be lost in the sands of time. It's believed to have originated as early as 3000BC in either China or India and then spread westward.
Palmistry reached great popularity in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, even becoming a respectable discipline studied at university. Followers believed the palms would reveal character and destiny and were influenced by occult forces.
Palmistry spread throughout Europe with it being essentially known as a gypsy art. The gypsies came to Europe in the 15th century and many of them were regarded as criminals. In a statute of Henry VIII in 1530 the gypsies are described as using "great subtle and crafty means to deceive people, bearing them in hand that they, by palmistry, could tell men's and women's fortunes and so many times, by craft and subtlety, have deceived the people of their money and have also committed many heinous felonies and robberies".
A law was passed in England condemning to death any gypsy found breaking the law, which included the reading of palms. The church forbade palmistry and ordered all writings on it confiscated, driving the practice underground. The popularity of palmistry died out in the 17th century with the advent of the age of science and reason. Thanks to an upsurge in spiritualism and all things occult in the 19th century, it began to become established again and books on the subject were being published.
Near the turn of the 20th century William G. Benham wrote a book called The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading, beginning what was called the "rebirth of palmistry". Benham devoted his life to hand analysis and was determined to move palmistry out of its showground, fortune-telling image into an area of scientific study.
Benham says of his work, "That there is so much information in the hand will be a surprise to many, and when it is seen how logical, rational, and even commonplace hand reading is, perhaps it will then be taken out of the occult class to which it distinctly does not belong, and placed among the other rational means at the service of mankind, whereby they may be enabled to gain a better knowledge of themselves. My ambition has been to make palmistry not an amusement, nor a centre around which cranks might congregate, but a study worthy of the best efforts of the best minds."
Benham befriended a broad sample of humanity to study, which included doctors, lawyers, ministers, speakers, actors, singers, musicians, literary people, hypnotists, spiritalists, murderers and forgers. His work has influenced generations of palmistry practitioners.
Palmistry further became fashionable in the 20th century with the arrival of a highly gifted psychic palmist, Irishman William John Warners, also known as Count Louis Hamon. He called himself Cheiro (Greek for "hand"). As well as being a palmist, he was also a clairvoyant, numerologist and astrologer. He had a legendary reputation as an accurate predictive palmist, as well as a talent for befriending the powerful and prominent people of his day.
Some of the hands he read included presidents and royalty such as Prince Edward the Prince of Wales, and famous literary figures such as Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde. He died in 1936, leaving behind several books on palmistry which are still in print today.
Hand analysis has developed greatly in the past hundred years. In 1901 Scotland Yard introduced fingerprinting to identify criminals.
Now in the 21st century, thousands of scientific research papers have been published on different aspects of the hand, for example there have been studies on links between dermatoglyphics (skin ridge patterns on the fingers and palms) and various health and psychological conditions and/or dispositions.
Palmistry has borne the baggage of being subjected to much myth and superstition. Even today, despite being seriously researched over the last hundred years or so, palmistry often conjures up images of tents, gypsies and fortune telling!
Although there are many different approaches to this art around the world today (in parts of India and Asia some palmists only read the thumbs) it is becoming increasingly recognised amongst many modern palmists that the value of hand analysis lies in reading a person's character, rather than providing fortune-telling type predictions.
Palmistry has survived vast passages of time and cultures and still continues to thrive till this day.
Copyright © 2009,2010 Tania Peterson
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