Palmistry reads the hand as a small map of a life. The lines, the mounts (the pads of flesh) and the shape of the hand are taken to reflect tendencies of character and temperament. Among the countless marks on a palm, the place a beginner starts is usually three or four major lines. One thing to hold from the outset: palmistry reflects tendencies rather than a fixed fate, and the lines themselves shift a little over the years.
The heart line runs across the upper palm, just beneath the fingers, and speaks of love, emotion and relationships. A long, gently curving line is read as a warm, expressive grain; a short, straight one as a more reserved, even-tempered grain. The head line runs across below it and speaks of how you think and learn. A long line suggests thoroughness and deep thought; a short one, quick decisiveness; a curved line leans creative, a straight one practical.
The life line curves around the base of the thumb and speaks of vitality, life energy and major changes. Contrary to a common myth, it does not measure the length of your life. Deep and clear is read as robust energy; faint, as a delicate and sensitive grain. The fate line runs vertically up the centre of the palm and is not present on every hand; it speaks of work and life direction, and the sense of a guiding path.
The knack of reading lies in seeing the whole together. Compare both hands — the dominant hand for how things stand now, the other for inborn potential — read the lines together rather than one in isolation, and weigh the nuance added by the mounts beneath the fingers and the overall shape of the hand. The hand is read as a single picture.
Seen this way, palmistry is a mirror of tendencies rather than a sentence, for the lines change as you grow. As always in FortuneLeaf, it is offered for reflection rather than as fate — a way, through the grain written on your palm, to look at your own character and current a little more kindly.