Hello to all Members

Dear all,
           I am Hitesh from India. Interested in learning Palmistry and while surfing on Internet came across this forum and realized this place is full of useful info on Palmistry and experts keep sharing there views and knowledge. So decided to join and here I am.

Kindly recommend me books, as the market is flooded with books so I am confused.
BTW, i got hold of few books:
1. The Benham book of Palmistry
2. Palmistry for Beginners (i.e the complete book of palmistry) by Richard Webster
3. Palmistry ‘Apprentice to Pro in 24 Hours’ by Johnny Fincham
4. Language of Hand by Chiero
and some ebooks freely available on net.

But while going through initial chapters I got confused.
For Example: While Johnny Fincham ask readers to ignore the types of hand. Other texts says types of Hand as Elementary, Conic, Psychic, Philosophical etc but provides sketches and not the actual picture. So its difficult to understand and recognize. Richard Webster says only two types Square Palm and Oblong Palm.
Kindly guide me on how to start with (as I am confused) and which book to refer and follow initially ?
Regards

Dear Martijn,
                 Thanks for your reply.
Regards
https://2img.net/u/3015/27/05/92/smiles/627427.gif

hello Hitesh,

I notice you have some good books there.
I understand your confusion!
In his first book, Spellbinding Power of Palmistry, Johnny Fincham uses the 4 element hand shapes, earth water fire air. (this is the method I use). He discovered that many people find it difficult to ascertain handshape, and many books have handshape as the first chapter, so students were falling at the first hurdle and feeling that they would never understand hands. Hence Johnny left handshapes out of his second book, Palmistry from Aprentice to Pro.

D'Arpentigny's system of 7 fold hand classification - Elementary, Conic, Psychic, Philosophical etc - as you say was only accompanied by sketches and it is very difficult to distinguish those hand shapes from the pictures. Also because they incude finger shapes in with the palm shape, many hands end up as 'mixed'. Another drawback of that system is that he only intended it for the hands of men, not women!

Handshape is just a general indication of how we use our energy, there are many more aspects of the hands to explore. So don't worry if you are finding handshape difficult, go onto the next chapters and look at other features of the hand.

I think you have seen recommended books on my website? (I guess it was you who emailed me about books?) When I was a beginner,  I learnt a lot from Sasha Fenton "Modern Palmistry".
Also, if it was you who emailed, you mentioned that it is difficult to buy some books in India - yes some of the books I list are out of print, but can be found second-hand online sometimes. Books that are still in print can be bought from the Book Depository who deliver free to many parts of the world, India included - see their link on my books page. http://www.handanalysis.co.uk/books.htm

Welcome to the forum and Happy learning!

Hello Lynn,

Your post is interesting. I'm still learning, so could you please clear my doubts whenever you can spare a few minutes? Thanks in advance.

Like most students of palmistry, I too found it difficult to understand the old classification of hand
shapes. Even after seeing 50 hands of friends and relatives, I cannot differentiate between a philosophic and conic hand or Elementary and Square hands. I find the 4 element system a lot easier.

You say that 'Handshape is just a general indication of how we use our energy'. Could you explain this in more detail or direct me to some literature that explain your thoughts?

You state: 'Another drawback of that system is that he only intended it for the hands of men, not women!'
Does this mean that using the old system, it is useless to attempt classification of women's hands ?
I did try and got lost and confused, so gave up.

Hello Lynn,
               Thanks for your reply.
Yes madam, I wrote you a mail requesting for your guidance.
As per your guidance through email and also over here, I will proceed further and today I will be ordering the book Sasha Fenton "Modern Palmistry".



Regards

hello learner,

Like you, I find the 4 element system of hanshapes a lot easier than the old system.
I think D'Arpentigny's system is more useful for classification of finger tip shapes (conic, pointed, spatulate, square) and knuckles (smooth, knotted) than for overall hand shape. Yes he designed it just for use on men's hands,not women. But we have to thank him for being the first person to ever classify hand shapes.  
You can read more about it here - http://cheirology.net/history/darpentigny.htm

regarding 'Handshape is just a general indication of how we use our energy'. Handshape shows in a general way how we go about doing things, how we express our energy out into the world. For example fire shape will do things in a fiery way! whatever they are doing they like to do quickly in a busy active direct way, whereas earth shape take life slower in a more systematic, plodding way, air hands take a more considered objective approach to everything and water more sensitive drifting and subjective. But we have to look at the rest of the hand to see what type of energy they have (eg quality of lifeline) and for all the other details of the personality. As Johnny said in his 2nd book handshape is related to body type. It just gives a very general overview. So anyone who is struggling to ascertain handshapes, no problem, just go onto study the next hand feature!

Thanks Hitesh - yes after your email I found you here. Good luck with Sasha's book. I learnt a lot from it. I meet Sasha ocasionally when we work at fairs, she is very good at hands, tarot and astrology and is a fun person, very amusing and witty!  

Thanks for your reply Lynn. I think I need to read a few books dealing with 4 element system.