Fred Gettings

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hi Zeblethai;

My rule of thumb whether to read a book or not is just to read forward or intro.

If the writer is first and foremost selling positive info and is claiming to improve the life or knowledge, I would go for it. If the writer is trying to induce fear and problems and then claiming the solution, I would throw it away.

Thanks

By the way how the foreword or intro of this book is written?

I think i know this book but do not remember enough.

hi Zeblethai, which book is it? 'The Book of the Hand', or 'The Hand and the Horoscope'?
Are you able to give page numbers where you found the quotes, I've quickly looked through both books but can't find the quotes you mention. thanks.

zeblethai wrote:

I have this older book by Fred Gettings. It's interesting but extremely negative, I couldn't imagine saying some of things that he's written to a client. It has some questionable material in it as well

Hi, This is what I initially wrote. After re-reading it for the said material, I found the negativity to be only in relation to a reading. He actually sites caution, when looking at someone's palm, not to jump to conclusions.
as an example.

Fred Gettings wrote,
IF on this finger the first phalanx is long, it betokes sadness and supersition, very long it betrays a morbid desire for deathh... lastly is the third phalanx is long it dontes avarice.

Ok I found the above quote about Saturn finger in "The Book of the Hand". The quote is out of context above. He is merely quoting Edmund Heron-Allen. Gettings is not advocating use of such interpretations. He precedes the quote with
"Blood and thunder and all manner of evil progonostications have huddled themselves around Saturn and have completely obscured it's role".
After the quote he says "The reason for this unpleasant connotation are complex, but it probably springs from the ancient belief that the 'morbid planet' of Saturn represented the evil characteristics in a man. To understand the true significance of this finger...." and goes on to explain a more reasoned approach to Saturn finger.

As you said, he cites caution, explains why some of the old meanings are not reliable etc. He is very good on the history of handreading. Gettings was also the first to use the element hand shapes. Thanks for reminding me to read this book again - actually I think it is an excellent book! :-)

[quote="zeblethai"]

something that I questioned from the book.

The refining role of smooth skin reflects the agency of venus, the planet of Taurus. It imparts a quality of feminity to the hand type, and one is led to suspect a deficiency of thyroid hormone which leads to mental , physical and emotional sluggishness and to bodily fatness.

The reason why I question this is because when this book was written the rate of Thyroid related problems was substantially higher than now. The use of such chemical as DDT, Diazinon etc.. caused a generation of children born with Thyroid problems. I've noticed these traits on people who claim to be neither sluggish nor having a Thyroid problem. If someone was to have a thyroid problem wouldn't it be shown on the lower phalange of the Thumb?

Again, the quote is out of context because he is specifically referring to smooth skin on "practical hands". Earth hands do not usually have smooth skin, so one would suspect some health imbalance. But I agree with you that thyroid problems could not be diagnosed from smooth skin. In underactive thyroid, the skin is usually dry and 'puffy' but you would also look to other aspects of the hand (eg nails, lower phalanges) and body (eg weight & hair) for other clues. Yes in the past more people had thyroid problems. Lack of iodine was another factor - I remember as a child seeing people with goitres, that you almost never see nowadays.

I agree with you that we can't make diagnosis from any one feature such as smooth skin. Gettings also agrees - he says (p155) "I have tried to emphasise that palmistry is essentially the art of combination."

zeblethai wrote:The forward is netural and well rounded as the book tends to be.

thanks for the info. it must be good then as Lynn mentioned.

hi Zeblethai. Thanks for starting this topic. It's good to see that, now you've re-read Gettings book, you noticed that he isn't advocating use of the negative interpretations, he is quoting old books (the old 'doom & gloom' type interpretations - as in the quote you gave from Martijn). Gettings explains how some of the old meanings came about in context with the time they were written.
This evening I noticed the 7 indexed references to 'schizoid tendencies'. I'll read them tomorrow

Waqar, the intro to "The Book of the Hand" is a few pages long, but I scanned the preface "Note from the author" which gives you an idea of Gettings' approach.

Hi, Lynn I am am guilty of mixing astrology calculations with palm reading. My reasoning behind this is when you see a major change in the the lines and it points to a few different things quite often a planet will be changing signs. Palmistry is more of an exact science than astrology. Astrology like palmistry involved looking at a variety of different factors before coming to a conclusion. Quite often one can see the month the subject someone was born in (I've been looking into seeing the year but through Chinese astrology which can translate into so-called standard astrology. eg. year of the snake is Taurus which rules Venus and if the person is a Leo than the mount of Apollo and Venus may be shown to be prominent (it's something I'm looking into.)

I like that he's open to receiving prints through his publisher.

Have you got Gettings book "The Hand and the Horoscope" which combines palmistry & astrology?
if anyone has this book, can you tell me please what is on page19-20. I just noticed that these pages have been torn out of my second-hand copy!

No I don't but I would be interested to read it.

I'm wondering what is of more importance, the year or month of birth?

Thank you Lynn. Getting is clearly a genuine guy and his approach is based upon possibilities, opening up new ways of awareness. I would love to read his work.

Hy Lynn,

if you can wait until the beginning of Spetember I'll scan it for you.

Regards
Manfred

Hi Manfred I've had "Hand & Horosocope" for years and never noticed there was a page torn out, so 2 more months is no problem!!

Hi Lynn, would you share with us some of his findings in 'Hand and Horoscope' ??

HyLynn,
greetings from Sydney, yesterday just arrived here.

I tried to study this book of Gettings, but I find it relative confusing and can"t use anything while combining palmistry and astrology. I think his books of hands gives more. Specially the histroical part is (was) a very good work. - Beside all, everyone here knows that I like the chiromanty classics. I think it is wrong to deny it completely, because I found in very worthy informations, but the thing is, that we have to "translate" it in our times.

Regards
Manfred