Back in the mid-1990s, I worked for a guy who was writing a book on palm-reading. He had worked as a psychic and palmist (the preferred term) for many years, but wasn’t much of a writer, so he needed a good editor. Unfortunately, he died before the book could be finished, which is a shame, actually, because it would have been a comprehensive and detailed book on the subject. Not long ago, his widow gave me his notes and the work that we had completed before his death, hoping I might be able to pull something together to publish posthumously. It will probably be a while before I can get to it, and it’s hard to know whether a publisher would be interested in a subject that’s so old-fashioned at this point; but I hope to give it a shot one of these days.

 

I’m out of practice now, but when I was working with this guy, I was so immersed in the subject that I became a pretty good palm-reader myself. I don’t know how much of it I believe in myself, but it is true that if you’re a palmist, you’re never at a loss for anything to read, even if it’s your own hand. And I can tell you this, too: If you’re ever at a party where you don’t know anyone and have no one to talk to, just pipe up and say, “By the way, I can read palms!” And people will line up to have their palm read, whether they believe in such things or not.

 

Reading someone’s palm is a complex affair, as a number of different elements come into consideration: The comparative length of the person’s fingers, the shape of the fingertips, the whorls on the fingertips, the shape of the hand itself, the lines on the palm (what most people associate with palm-reading), the pads of the palm (known as “mounts”), certain marks on the palm, such as a triangle made up of lines or an asterisk-shape, and certain components of a line. Sometimes a prominent dot or “egg” will appear on a line, which indicates, usually, a challenge or hardship.

 

Just to give you a sampling: pointed, attenuated fingertips usually indicate someone very sensitive, possibly spacey, whereas square fingertips indicate a practical bent. Someone on whom their index finger is the longest finger is likely a born leader. Three major lines appear on just about everyone’s palms: the life line, which is the one closest to your wrist; the head line, which is in the middle; and the heart line, which is at the top of the palm. These three lines tell you about events in your life, as well as personal qualities, and they also can indicate information about your health. A long life line indicates a long life, a long head line indicates intelligence, and a heart line that’s feathered with lots of tiny lines represents someone who is flirtatious.  

 

The reading I remember the most vividly took place at a Halloween party a number of years ago. Somehow the subject came up that I could read palms, and a man I didn’t know asked me if I would read his. Generally speaking, when something “bad” shows up, palm-readers often don’t draw attention to it. You could be wrong, and you don’t want to create fear or set up a negative expectation. This guy had a very deep indentation on his heart line, and such a sign doesn’t augur well. So I hemmed and hawed, finally saying something noncommital about his heart line. But the minute I mentioned his heart, the guy stiffened and insisted on knowing what I saw.

 

“Well,” I said reluctantly, pointing to the dot on his heart line, “this sign here is often not good. It means that you might want to pay attention to any symptoms that involve the heart.”

 

“I just had a heart attack a few months ago!” he told me.

 

“Well, that could have been what this is indicating,” I said, glad that this was behind him. I didn’t see any other dots or eggs on his heart line, fortunately.

 

But then he asked me something that made me even more nervous. “So … can you see anything else?” He swallowed, then specified, “Anything on my life line?”

 

Groaning inside, I checked out his life line and saw that, even though there was a break in the line at the point in his life that would have been right about this time, it had what is known as a “sister line” next to it, which indicated support from some direction or other, and then it resumed strongly afterward.

 

I was very happy to be able to point all this out to him and say that, from his palm, at least, it looked like the worst was behind him and that he had a good many healthy years ahead of him if he took care of himself.

 

At that, tears began running down his face. “I have a ten-year-old daughter,” he told me. “And I’ve been so afraid I wouldn’t be able to watch her grow up.”

 

You can imagine what a kaleidoscope of emotions I felt at this point. I was glad to be able to make him feel better, but I worried that I might be giving him false hope. And who the hell was I, anyway, to tell him any of these things? I wasn’t a health care provider. I wasn’t even a professional palm-reader! What if I was wrong?

 

Well, what if I was? Later, as I thought about the interaction, I told myself that even if I was wrong, I had eased this man’s mind. Even if he didn’t have a lot of years ahead of him, at least he wouldn’t be living them in fear and dread. He could enjoy his daughter instead of grieving every time he looked at her. I told myself that, whatever happened, the quality of his life and the quality of his relationship with his daughter would be better, filled with hope instead of fear.

 

Unfortunately, I was never able to find out what happened to this man, as he was a friend of a friend who attended the party. Our friends who threw the party didn’t know him. But I often think about him. And I think about the power that hope holds, even if it’s given in such an unconventional context. Before this, I didn’t think about palmistry as anything more than a parlor game. But even a parlor game, in the right circumstances, can have a powerful impact.

 

And this might be why I decided to let my palm-reading abilities slide. As I mentioned earlier, I was surprised to realize how many people want their palm read if given the opportunity. And the weight of their desire to obtain a glimpse into their future, combined with the grab bag of circumstances that life tends to throw our way, ended up being more than I could comfortably bear.