I see the question a lot, Is palmistry real? I am glad people are questioning palmistry, they should. Questioning something requires impartiality, wanting to know the truth! This is scientific thinking at it's core.
In this blog I will look at the history behind some of the biggest names in science connected to palm reading, the tale behind the science and try to answer that consistent question the curious ask: Is palmistry real?
yes, it is.
Absence of evidence, is not evidence of absence. The Science is playing the old sticking the head in the sand trick.
Is Palmistry A Science, Or Is Science Ignorant?
Many palmists learn from older palmists and plagiarise their works or steal. These books teach other palmists and the cycle continues. This created the telephone game that palmistry has become today.
The internet and then social media has given even further rise to yet more disinformation. Although it's good to see the interest alive and well, Tick Tock has a lot to answer for, and has seen esoteric art forms reduced to myth, late night party tricks and career diviners seeking views for money alone.
It's harder than ever to know what to believe anymore, and where to start.
When you're next 'doom-scrolling', bear in mind, that if it seems wild or sensational, it's more likely to be disinformation than accurate.
I was lucky now I think about it. There was little about palmistry online when I began learning back in 2001.
There needs to be a safeguarding of information, it should be taught with respect to its accuracy.
Science and academia are meant to be objective by their very nature. To challenge and question. To never outright deny possibilities altogether. This is surely the exact opposite of true scientific thinking.
It was Einstein who said:
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."
What frustrates me most is that if science chose to accept the possibility, chose to recognise the alarming amount of evidence that backs up the validity of palmistry, it could be regulated and governed in a way that would enable healing rather than exploiters and fraudsters.
What has to be done?
We need to take matters into our own hands and do it ourselves.
A History Behind The Science Of Palmistry
At the turn of the century, modern German medicine began to take a fresh perspective of the study of our hands (palm reading). At least one person of science at this time, evidenced the validity of the science of hand reading, only to have been eventually side-lined, ignored and discredited. Why?
Dr Charlotte Wolff (30 September 1897 – 12 September 1986) devoted 20 years of study into hand analysis. Interestingly, to begin with she completely ignored and discredited earlier written works on palmistry, and started her work anew with a complete blank canvass, only to eventually come to similar conclusions herself. Her peers gave her work mixed reviews. She became interested in chirology in 1931 after a friend of hers had her hands read by Julius Spier. She wrote two books to outline the scientific basis for her chirology, 'The Human Hand', published in 1942, and 'The Hand in Psychological Diagnosis' published in 1951. Her attempts to move palmistry into hand analysis were to change the narrative of palm reading and its potential. Wolff demonstrated how palmar information is a representation of mental and emotional activity rather than a cause of external influences. (flexure lines)
Learn more here on Dr Charlotte Wolff Charlotte Wolff here (handreading.nz)
Gustav Carl Jung, (26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961 - a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist and psychologist) was impressed by the hand-reader Julius Spier (see below 1887–1942) and endorsed his work. Spier introduced a 'Jungian' form of hand-reading, which he called 'psycho-chirology'.
Upon the advice of the psychiatrist Carl G. Jung, Julius Spier (seen reading a palm in 1932) opened a practice as a professional, psychologically inclined hand reader in Berlin in 1929.
Dr Heinz Hermann Otto Wolff, was a Consultant Psychotherapist, at Maudsley Hospital in London. Wolff was also invested in the use of hand analysis.
In his clinical liaison work, and in teaching psychosomatic approach to students, doctors and psychiatrists, Wolff strived to communicate the importance of understanding an individual’s inner world and his relationship to his environment, in providing a prognosis.
read his obituary here Heinz Hermann Otto Wolff, formerly Consultant Psychotherapist, the Maudsley Hospital, London | Psychiatric Bulletin | Cambridge Core
Henri Rey, (see below 1912–2000) Wolff's predecessor at the London Maudsley hospital and a contemporary of Terry Stokes who worked alongside him at the hospital as a counsellor.
In Terry Stokes' book, ’50 case studies in modern palmistry’, you can read Terry's palm reading of Henri Rey. Henri Rey was a psychoanalyst who worked at the Maudsley Hospital for 32 years alongside Terry Stokes, one of the UKs best palmists. "He was an inspiring and much loved teacher who had a profound influence on a succession of psychiatrists who trained under him". - Joseph Henri Rey: Formerly Consultant Psychiatrist, Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals 1912–2000 | Psychiatric Bulletin | Cambridge Core
Henri Rey was also a practitioner of palm reading and used this in his psychoanalytical work.
Although many of Dr Charlotte Wollf's predecessors did not continue to attempt to scientifically prove the potential of palmistry, its use was continued on for over a century by high profile figures, medically trained professionals. My mentor and good friend, Terry Stokes continued this psychoanalytical approach in his readings the 60s and 70s, combined with his inexplicable ability to read palms by feel.
So is palmistry real?
Instead of asking is palmistry real? the science should look to disprove and work from there.
Surely, if it was so flawed and fraudulent, it'd be easy to discredit.
I'm hardly going to be unbiased. But I have challenged palmistry. Like most people, I didn't trust it at first, and wanted to understand the science behind palmistry. Part of the reason palmistry gets a bad name is because it is both a science and an art. It requires both logic, fact based thinking and analysis, as well as instinct and intuition. Academia makes little time for subjects related to the abstract, the subconscious and imagination. Sadly, our greatest scientists have all been both highly imaginative and creative, able to boldly ask, 'what if?' It was Albert Einstein who said "imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Logic and the abstract rarely go hand in hand in the west. Have you ever heard of an instinctive doctor or intuitive scientist? Every great detective however follows their gut, their hunches. This is a commonly accepted trope in popular media. This is why I liken palmistry to detective work.
Other reasons for the rejection of palm reading in modern Western medicine are as follows.
Big pharma doesn't like alternative healing methods that might impeach on their profits, this is hardly a conspiracy anymore. Palmistry is a healing practice. It is from Hippocrates that doctors to this day take their oath. Hippocrates was a palmist, among other titles, like the father of modern medicine.
Medical studies that continue to emerge in the west regarding the hands, just as colonialists 'discovered' America, seem to discover new findings relating to how the hands display information; consistently ignoring the fact that palmists have been saying those same things for hundreds or even thousands of years!
(Chinese palmists were diagnosing health issues 200 BCE)
See below these 3 studies on how finger length ratios provide insights into ASD, testosterone levels, physical ability and character analysis and even luck in adulthood!?
Fourth finger dependence of high-functioning autism spectrum disorder in multi-digit force coordination | Scientific Reports (nature.com)
Human 2D (index) and 4D (ring) finger lengths and ratios: cross-sectional data on linear growth patterns, sexual dimorphism and lateral asymmetry from 4 to 60 years of age - PMC (nih.gov)
Also see how medical science has examined skin ridge patterns (dermatoglyphics) in determining the genetic abnormalities in ailments, personality disorders, and criminal tendencies.
Despite all that is written here, Science it seems, does not wish to consider the possibility that palmistry has an essence of truth to it. Perhaps science has painted itself into a corner?
If it were possible to in fact prove palmistry wrong, it would be easy, and definitive evidence for this would have been provided long ago. It's been around 5,000 years..
Line up 50 doctors, lawyers, mathematicians, farmers and artists from all around the world and I'm certain there would be distinctive patterns yielding undeniable results in each role. As I write this, I feel an urge to carry out this study, however I doubt my study would get peer reviewed..
As science chooses not to disprove the validity of palm reading, it would appear that instead it has collectively and consciously chosen to ignore its potential, rather than anyone person risk losing credibility.
If western medical science and big pharma along with it genuinely cared for the well-being of the masses instead of profiting from them, efforts to prove or disprove palmistry would be made. It is far easier to believe something is fake, rather than provide proof, and just because palmistry has not been proven fraudulent in western science, it doesn't mean it is.
Is no one willing to risk their career in the name of truth? Isn't that the aim of science? No one appears to be as bold as Dr Charlotte Wolff since her day.
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence - Carl Sagan.
Until we actively challenge our preconceptions, blinkered logic and white coated clipboard thinking will continue to prevail in western minds.
If palmistry could move away from the common misconceptions woven into mainstream society, it would be a win for palmists. I can't help but feel that this will never be achieved, so strong and embedded is this false image.
All it takes is a drop of ink to darken a glass of water, to enhance doubt, and it would be neglectful for me to omit the fact that there are indeed fakes and fraudsters out there, and they are many. This is in part because palmistry it is an unregulated practice. a parlour trick with a price tag. So what is the answer?
If palm reading became recognised by western society as a legitimate holistic counselling service, if we as palmists could become fully licensed; palmistry could be governed, regulated to reduce and eradicate those that would seek to exploit people in need and abuse palmistry.
I dream of the day.
Pisces Palmist
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