手相 · shǒu xiàng · the hand reading
Palmistry
Shou xiang is the Chinese art of reading the hand, a branch of xiàng shù (相術), physiognomy, parallel to face reading. Tradition reads the hand you were born with for the temper and gifts fate dealt you, and the hand you favor for what you have made of yourself. The three great lines are the heart line (感情線, how you love), the head line (智慧線, how you think), and the life line (生命線, read for vitality and rootedness, never for the length of your days). Around them rise the mounts, the fleshy seats of temperament named for the classical planets, and the hand takes one of five shapes after the Five Elements. There is no shuffle and no cast here. A palm is already written, so you build your own from what you see when you look down, and the same hand always reads the same. The palm speaks; the choosing stays yours.
Hold up your right hand and match the picks to what you see.
Whose hand leads
Your right is the hand you reach with. We read it as the made self, what you have shaped, and read the left as the born self, what you were given.
Find your hand
Your palm is broad and squarish, and your fingers are short and sturdy.
Trace your heart line (感情線)
Your heart line sweeps upward and ends high between the first and middle fingers.
Trace your head line (智慧線)
Your head line runs long and level clear across the palm.
Trace your life line (生命線)
Your life line sweeps out in a generous curve, leaving a broad mount of Venus.
Thumb angle
Finger spread
A fate line