The Hand Reveals [antikvár]

ForewordBy Olivia BarclayIT is my conclusion that the physical body is an outward expression of the soul, whether it is the body of a human being, or of a creature, or of a plant, or the earth itself. It therefore stands to reason that if you can read the tangible body which you can see, you gain insight into the intangible nature that produces it.The human body is unique in that it can be read not only from its whole, but from many of its separate parts, and most particularly, and very exactly, from the hand, as this book explains to us. Some have tried to read it from the shape of the head, as did Lavater and Fuseli, others from the lines of the forehead, which is called metoposcopy, and others from the position of the moles on the body. Astrologers read it from the heavens, good traditional astrologers could give clear descriptions of physical appearance as well as character, circumstances and events from an astrological chart.The reason our predecessors devoted such energy to the study of appearances was because they believed in the Oneness of life, and the interaction of one part of the whole on the other parts of the whole, and the great intangible reality leaving imprint on solid matter. Beauty was of greater value. Nowadays in our materialistic society a body is simply a body, there is no need to study its appearance. Few distinguish between beauty and ugliness, an observation apparent in most of our arts.The art of cheiromancy is extremely old, as astrology is. It can well be expressed in astrological symbolism. Many famous men, Paracelsus for one, have studied both subjects. Great men of the past have spent a lifetime in the pursuit of such knowledge, and there is much that the two subjects have in common. Both have been besieged by charlatans, whose dishonesty has led, in part, to their present discredited position. They are further misunderstood because the premise upon which they are based is not materialistic, and so they have become subjects of ridicule or entertainment.Yet despite these similarities, the astrologers and cheiromancers work from different points of view. Astrologers look at the vast heavens and from them deduce the lesser details in life and events on earth. An astrologer sees the wood and later the trees, and even the twigs. A cheiromancer on the contrary,