Earth hand
Square palm, short fingers
Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
A practical, concrete hand: builds patiently, trusts what it can touch. Loves solid things, long timescales, work done well.
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Learn to read the hand
The shapes, the four lines, the seven mounts and the planets they are named after. Which hand to read and how to photograph it.
Reading the hand is an ancient practice, born in India and China and brought to Europe through Greece and Rome. Aristotle wrote about it, and in the Middle Ages it was studied alongside astrology: it is no accident that the two arts share the same names.
The palm is read like a small map. The lines tell of ways of being in life; the raised areas at the base of the fingers, the mounts, are each named after a planet and keep its character. Where astrology looks up, the hand looks down: two ways of reading the same person.
Here the hand is read the way a birth chart is read: as a portrait, not a verdict. No dates of death or of meetings, no promises. The lines change with the years, and the reading changes with them.
The shape of the hand
Start with the whole: the palm, square or long, and the fingers, short or long compared to the palm. The four combinations are named after the four elements, the same as the signs.
Air hand
Square palm, long fingers
Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
A curious, communicative hand: thinks, compares, needs to talk and to understand. Moves lightly between ideas and people.
Fire hand
Long palm, short fingers
Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
A hand of impulse and drive: decides quickly, gets enthusiastic, carries others along. Needs a direction and some room to breathe.
Water hand
Long palm, long fingers
Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
A sensitive, intuitive hand: feels before it understands, absorbs the atmosphere. Needs protection and boundaries.
The four main lines
These are the ones to look for first. They need not be perfect: a broken, doubled or faint line tells of a nuance, never a destiny.
The life line
It curves around the base of the thumb, from the edge of the palm toward the wrist.
It does not measure how long you will live: it tells of vitality, of the way you stand in daily life. Deep and continuous says steady energy; thin or in pieces, an energy that comes and goes and needs rhythm.
The head line
It starts near the life line and crosses the palm.
The way of thinking. Straight and long: reasoning, concreteness. Sloping toward the Moon: imagination, intuition. Short does not mean less intelligent: it says a quick, direct mind.
The heart line
It is the highest, under the fingers, running from the outer edge toward the index finger.
The way of feeling and bonding. Curved and long: expansive affection. Straighter: reserve, measured feelings. Where it ends, toward the index or between index and middle: your idea of love.
The fate line
It rises vertically from the wrist toward the middle finger. Not everyone has it.
The sense of direction, the relationship with duty and with one's path. Those without it are not without destiny: often they change road more than once, or choose it every day.
The mounts and their planets
They are the fleshy raised areas at the base of the fingers and along the edges of the palm. A full, soft mount says that quality is alive; a flat one, that it stays in the shade; a very marked one, that it weighs a little too much. For each you will find the planet: in your chart it is worth seeing where it stands.
Mount Jupiter
At the base of the index finger
Ambition, self-confidence, the wish to lead and to grow.
Mount Saturn
Under the middle finger
Responsibility, measure, chosen solitude; the need to give things a shape.
Mount Sun (Apollo)
Under the ring finger
Creativity, light, the need to be seen and for beauty. It is the mount of the Sun.
Mount Mercury
Under the little finger
The word, exchanges, practical intuition, a sense of business and humour.
Mount Venus
At the base of the thumb
The senses, affections, warmth: the capacity to love and to enjoy life.
Mount Moon
On the outer edge, low
Imagination, dreams, memory: the inner world and sensitivity.
Mount Mars
Two areas: above the Moon and above Venus
Courage and endurance: the drive of one who attacks and the tenacity of one who holds on.
Which hand to look at
The tradition is this: the hand you use less, the one that does not write, tells what you were given, your starting tendency; the other tells what you have made of it. Both are looked at, but the photo reading reads one at a time: you choose which.
The hand and the birth chart
With the photo reading, Astra looks at your hand and your birth chart together. Where a mount is strong and its planet is strong in the sky, the two readings reinforce each other; where they differ, that is often where there is something to understand.
How to photograph your hand
- The light
- Daylight, near a window, no flash: reflections erase the lines.
- The palm
- Open hand, fingers slightly spread, palm facing the camera, still. Rest your wrist so it does not shake.
- The distance
- The palm should fill almost the whole photo. Close, but not so close that you lose the fingers.
- The focus
- Tap the screen on the palm to focus, and check the lines are clearly visible before sending.
Your photo is not kept
The photo is sent once to the artificial intelligence service that writes the reading, and right after that it no longer exists: we do not save it, neither on the server nor in your archive. Only the text remains. Put only your hand in the photo: anything else is ignored.
With care. Palm reading is a symbolic and entertainment practice, written by an artificial intelligence. It is not a prediction, nor medical, psychological or legal advice. Use it to look at yourself from another side, not to decide.