Palmistry guide to palm reading

The method of palm reading involves the palmist assessing, rating, judging, analysing all aspects of the palm, the shape, the size, the feel, the lines, mounts, signs on the palm.

Indian Palmistry

Palm/hand shape size and feel

The size, shape, and feel of the hand will totally alter the reading. If a person is a manual labourer, an army man, a police officer, or an athlete, their hands are likely to be hard, firm, rough and strong. If individual wishes to pursue either of the above careers, their hands must be strong and tight and firm. A top-ranking police officer or a major general, do not have rough, and firm hands. Their hands may be very soft.

The reason why top-ranking individuals have soft hands is due to the mental work they do. As a result, soft hands are more responsive to their surroundings than strong and rough hands. In soft palms, the sensory organs are more active. If the hands are soft, an individual strategises.

• the palm/hand shape
• the palm/hand size
• the palm feel of hands

The above factor makes up a large part of palm reading. People who are unfamiliar with palmistry have the impression that it is just about lines. This is a misconception since the aforementioned characteristics make up a large part of hand reading.

Hand Shape

Palmistry books defined different hand shape. It is difficult to find people with the exact shape as described / defined in palm reading books. The palmistry books are correct, but ands described in the books are rare. People with perfect hand shapes as defined in the book are hard to find as we all are imperfect.

Perfect hands do not mean more money/success/fame but means perfect qualities represented by hand shapes/size/feel.

Hand shape palm reading

The shape of hands has variations if very soft or extremely hard, the whole meaning changes. The person may be practical with a squarish/earth hand but may develop laziness with the extra soft hand. Still, the person may remain practical due to square hands. This is the reason why even with laziness the person is still successful.

In real life, very few people do have hands as described in Palmistry books. People do have hands with a mixture of all four categories. Rarely do anyone has perfect earth, fire air or water hands. Life is not perfect therefore, how can hands be perfect?

Earth Hand: The Foundation of Stability

The earth element offers stability—it gives us solid ground to build our homes, grow crops, and produce goods. Because of this, it stands as the most grounded and dependable element.
A house or a room is usually square in shape, and similarly, people with earth hands have square palms and fingers. These individuals tend to be practical, steady, and grounded.

Many successful businesspeople have earth hands because they need to operate with logic and practicality. However, it’s a misconception to label them as manipulative. In truth, these individuals make things happen through real-world action and persistence—not tricks.

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Fire Hand: The Spark of Action

A fire hand features a long palm and short fingers—a combination that reveals dynamic potential in palmistry.
The longer palm increases the surface area where planetary influences are believed to manifest, offering more room for personality traits and life events to express themselves.

These individuals tend to act quickly, driven by passion and instinct. The fire hand belongs to doers—people who ignite ideas and pursue them with energy, often before fully analyzing the consequences.

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Air Hand: The Flow of Ideas

Air flows freely, without limits—and so do people with air hands. These hands usually appear square-shaped with long, bony fingers.
Such individuals stay mentally active, love exchanging ideas, and often seek intellectual stimulation.

When you try to restrict or confine them—whether in routine jobs, rigid environments, or narrow roles—they resist. Just like air, they need freedom to think, move, and express. They thrive in open discussions, innovation, and brainstorming sessions.

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Water Hand: The Depth of Emotion and Intuition

Water flows with grace and emotional depth but doesn’t move as freely as air. People with water hands—long palms and long fingers—are often described as sensitive, intuitive, imaginative, and creative.

However, based on real-life observation, the story isn’t always so simple. For example, Pablo Picasso had square, well-padded hands—not the delicate, long-fingered ones typically linked with artistic genius in palmistry books.
Despite this, his creativity was undeniable. That’s why I don’t rely solely on textbook definitions. Real palmistry comes from observation, experience, and understanding the broader picture—not rigid stereotypes.

Types of Hand in palmistry

While trying to judge what kind of a palm we try to find if our palm is elementary, square, spatulate, conic or psychic palm. In real life, you do not find hands that we can, without a doubt, categorise into one. Generally, palms can be seen to be a mix of one or more types. It is not necessary that your hands should be only categorised into one it can be a mix of two or three different types.

• Elementary hand: hard coarse squarish not so good looking hands. These people have the ability to do elementary work, routine work without much of brainpower work.
• Square hand: Square hand square nails. These people are practical, logical, and problem-solver.
• Spatulate hands: Spatulate means broad at the apex and tapered to the base. Inventors scientist, and mathematicians, have this type of hands.
• Conic hands
• Psychic hands

Different types of and the lines and sign on Mounts in Palmistry

• Horizontal lines on any mounts to be considered a bad indication.
• Grill lines on the mounts overwork the mount, therefore, bringing about bad qualities or excess qualities to the mount. Excess qualities are to be considered a bad sign, just like excess sugar will taste bitter and is bad for health.
• Upwards perpendicular lines on the mounts is a positive sign it brings quality to the mounts.
• Cross on almost any mount is a bad sign and brings negative qualities represented by the mount. A cross on Mount of Jupiter is the only exception if found is a good sign indicating good union. It means a person gets married to a person from a good respectable family.
• V or Y like lines pointing towards fingers on any mount is a good sign indicating good results represented by the particular mount.

How important are Mounts in Palmistry?

The mount refers to the padded or non-padded area beneath the fingers and different parts of the palm. Each mount is associated with a distinct planet in palmistry.

In palmistry, the size or padding of the mount is not essential. Even if the mount appears flat, it is still classified as a mount.

Mounts exhibit diverse characteristics, including shapes, sizes, tilts, textures, and levels of padding. Even if an area designated for a specific mount appears negative, depressed, sunken, or poorly marked, it is still identified as part of that mount. Conversely, mounts can be fleshy, raised, prominent, and generously padded.

Determining the quality of a mount involves considering various factors such as markings, shapes, and sizes to reach a conclusion. As a fundamental guideline, a mount with few lines is generally viewed as positive. Additionally, having one, two, or three deep, clear, and perpendicular lines on the mount is considered favorable and indicative of potential success. Conversely, an excessive number of crisscrossing lines on the mount suggest an overactive planet, which may yield negative outcomes.

Lines in Palmistry

Lines on the palm tell about general well being, health, physical, mental, emotional strength or weakness. The presence of a line does not mean success while the absence of a line does not mean failure. Still, three lines can be seen in most people that is life, head, heart.

Deep clear lines are a good indication for well being and success. Broad lines are the worst kinds. Simple straight deep and clear lines give strength to a line.

Life line

The lifeline depicts the life forces and flames that exist inside us. The lifeline is also a reference to our well-being, but we must weigh other lines to reach a decision in terms of health.

The lifeline is a curved line that begins under the first finger and ends at the base of the thumb with a big curvature. The Negative Mount of Mars and Venus are encircled by a life line. Mars is associated with fire and flame, whereas Venus is associated with steam.

A long lifeline can not guarantee a long life. A short lifeline does not mean a short life. The clarity of lifeline without branches and a deep line indicates good health.

Life lines will predict not just our physical but also our financial health. Everything in life is interconnected with each other.