New Radio Show About the Hands

It's been more than a year since my last blog posts. Now that I've finished moving and getting a few other things dealt with, it's back to the business at hand (sorry, pun intended).

I will be hosting a new show on VoiceAmerica.com, the worlds largest internet talk radio. The show is titled "Your Life is in Your Hands", with topics each week relating to the hands (of course). Starting March 30 it airs live each Tuesday at 11:00am Pacific time on Voice America's "7th Wave" channel. The first episode is an introduction to palmistry and hand analysis, with guest Jennifer Hirsch.

Palmistry and Psychology

Palmistry and hand analysis can be closely tied to psychology in many ways. The Forer Effect and subjective validation are just 2 examples.

I have studied a "bit" of psychology previously, but now it's time to take it further and get some diplomas in the field. I'm enrolling first in a program on child psychology, then after that going on to adult psychology and councelling. The first course will be starting for me next month.

I don't expect my work with the hands will be well received there - In North America and much of Europe, psychologists and medical doctors tend to be among the most anti-palmistry of all occupations. Should prove interesting...

Laws Regarding Palmistry

Palmistry is one of those grey areas when it comes to its governing laws and regulations in most countries. Normally it's the municipal laws and by-laws that you really have to look at. To read palms in one city may require nothing - Not even a business license. In another area you might need a business license and then have to make applications for additional permits as well, all prior to doing any paid palmistry work.

For example, in Santa Barbara California you have to look at Chapter 5.40 of their municipal code. There you'll find that palmistry is specifically listed as one of the "fortunetelling" practices that requires an "appropriate business tax".

The Santa Barbara Independent: We’ve all seen the signs for Madam Rosinka’s fortunetelling businesses, but other than that, we’re no Salem. Or so it seemed before reading Chapter 5.40 of the Santa Barbara Municipal Code.

Not that such practices are discouraged — rather, they’re perfectly permissible, so long as the magician pays the appropriate business tax. Among the professions for which a permit is required are astrology, palmistry, phrenology, life reading, fortunetelling, cartomancy, crystal gazing, and clairvoyance. You think that’s a comprehensive list? No. There’s also clairaudience, magic, necromancy, psychism, psychometry, mind reading, mental telepathy, automatic writing, spirit writing, trance mediumship, and sandgazing. If you’re reading this and asking, how could they have forgotten potion making in this list, rest assured — they didn’t. They also included materialization, ballot reading, conducting trumpet séances, prophecy, augury, divination, and the making of “magic articles.”

For anyone considering palmistry as a profession, it's just one more example of why you need to carefully check out the laws and licensing requirements in your exact area ahead of time.

Fingernail Moons and Driving Habits

Your bad driving habits may be hurting you more than you realize - Perhaps doing as much harm as smoking 2 packs of cigarettes per day.

Take a look at your fingernails. In palmistry the "moons" at the base of each nail show how well blood and oxygen are circulating through your body. Too large of moons reveals excessive action of the heart (such as high blood pressure), while fingernail moons that are too small show weaker heart action and potential circulatory problems.

More and more I have been encountering very small fingernail moons on physically fit, active, and relatively healthy individuals. Sometimes these small moons can be attributed to carbon monoxide exposure from regular jogging along busy streets, or from smoking cigarettes. Yet in so many cases there seemed to be nothing in the lifestyle that would cause circulatory problems.

Well, today I drove on the freeway in rush hour traffic - Something I almost never do anymore. It quickly became pretty obvious where many people are getting their excessive carbon monoxide exposure. Just take a look at how close some drivers stay behind the car in front of them. If you don't leave enough space between you and the car ahead of you (especially in slow or stopped traffic), you may as well just put your mouth around a tailpipe and suck the exhaust straight in that way.

So there's one more reason to develop good driving habits - Follow too close and it's as if everyone in your car (children included) is chain-smoking cigarettes the whole time you're behind the wheel.

Palmistry on BlogShares

BlogShares is a fantasy stock market for blogs. I've been playing the game for 1 month now, and my overall ranking is up to #132.

Although BlogShares is just a game, a nice thing about it is that their search results have far less spam and obsolete blogs than just about any other large index. For example, searching for Palmistry on BlogShares now shows only 2 results - This Palmistry and Hand Analysis blog and one other about PDA's.

Featured Hand Analyst for Autumn 2007

For several years I've been selecting featured palm readers and posting their names on the International Directory of Professional Hand Analysts (The Palmistry Directory). Featured for Autumn 2007 is Edward Campbell, for his continuing work on hand analysis and biometrics. His IBMBS 2007 Conference took place on August 19-21 in Budapest, Hungary.

More Palmistry Questions - Back to Work

Next time I take time off from computer work, I'll have to take some actual time off as well. Quite a few palmistry and other hand related questions kept me busy, not to mention regular work also. Here's a few of the interesting questions:

Q: When I close my hand and try to re-open the large finger on each hand remains locked at the knuckle. I can open up by using extra pressure. Is there a cure for this?

A: That sounds like a condition called "Dupuytren’s contracture". You can find some expert information on this at these 2 links:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dupuytrens-contracture/DS00732
http://www.eatonhand.com/hw/hw009.htm

Q: There is fungus under my thumbnail and although it's receding, the bottom of my nail on one side is loose. I suppose I will lose the nail but want to know how to remove it properly.

A: A doctor is best equipped for doing nail removals, especially since you are also dealing with a fungus. If you absolutely must treat it yourself, the best option is usually keeping the thumbnail cut short and let the loose part grow out on its own. It may take several months for the nail to come off on its own, but then there is usually another nail already growing in its place.

Q: I recently went to get my palm read, is it okay to share the details with family and friends?

A: In most cases it is perfectly fine to share with others the info you receive from a palm reading. If anything seems too personal to you, just keep that part to yourself.

If you were specifically told by a palm reader to not share with others anything they told you, I would be very suspicious of their motives and abilities. Some palmists give everyone almost exactly the same reading...

Palmistry on Technorati

Technorati is one of the larger blog directories, and is used by some as a reference on blog popularity. Unfortunately, when comes to searching for palmistry blogs and posts, they are woefully lacking.

Technorati shows 30 blogs and 1588 posts about palmistry. Problem is that most of them are straight blog spam - The exact same 1 page content on each blog and nothing more. Then these spam blogs link to each other, which according to Technorati gives them "authority".

Hopefully Technorati will follow some of Google's example, and take strong steps to eliminate the rampant blog spam found there now.

The Biggest Palmistry Blog

Today is post number 100, making this by far the biggest palmistry and hand analysis related blog in all the blogosphere. (Well, at least in English - There may be larger palmistry blogs in a different language that I haven't found yet.)

So what's next? I expect there'll be a palmistry tutorial coming soon enough, perhaps using someone's hand images and analyzing them step-by-step. (Any volunteers that want to have their hands analyzed here?)

Before I can started on the tutorial, though, there are still many website updates to be done. So until then you'll have to settle for the beginners palmistry guide that's already on the website here.

Free Palmistry Readings Offer Now On Hold

Some deals are too good to last, and Steven Galarnyk's generous offer for free palmistry readings has just been put on hold indefinitely. In an email to me today he wrote:

"I'm going to have to stop giving out free readings. I simply cannot provide decent readings with so many different requests coming in. I'll eventually start giving out readings again but for the time being I must put the offer on hold indefinitely. Those who have already submitted their prints to me will eventually get a reading in their email but only if they have already met the requirements. I'm currently busy trying to catch up on all the different readings but with more and more requests coming in I simply do not have the time to address all the emails."

So for now Steven's offer is on hold. I'll be sure to post when/if his offer starts again, and any other new ones I can find.

Intuitive Life Coach

It was suggested to me yesterday that I should not call myself a hand analyst or palm reader because that doesn't completely describe what I do, nor is it accurate enough. I was told that a much better description might be "Life Coach", or "Intuitive Life Coach".

When I do a private session with a client, or even the short readings at corporate events, my focus is not the typical palmistry hand readings. I examine both hands carefully to assess the person's natural talents and traits, and to see what areas are currently identified as difficulties, problems or limitations. (The "negative" or "bad" markings.) These problem areas can show as almost anything - Cuts and scrapes, faded fingerprints, fingernail problems, palm lines, etc. It's different for every set of hands, and the problems indicated change over time.

Next comes evaluating and comparing all the different problem areas to narrow it down to 1 or 2 "root causes". Most of the other issues and difficulties can be seen stemming from this root cause. It's like a knocking over a row of dominoes - You can either push them over one at a time (treating symptoms instead of the cause), or you can tip over just the first and let them all go down one after the other (dealing with the cause and let the symptoms disappear on their own).

Finally, I make suggestions or recommendations on how to directly deal with the root cause in the most efficient way possible - Their maximum gain from minimum effort. Sometimes it's a major issue that needs to be tackled head-on, other times it can be something as simple as reducing the intensity of exercise or doing a bit of basic meditation.

This can all be done in just a few minutes per person, which is how most corporate events go. A private session last much longer, of course, and usually includes palmar massage with directed energy work to make handling the root cause(s) much quicker and easier.

It goes way beyond just hand analysis as well. With each reading I also draw on my experience in meditation, martial arts, shamanism, hand gestures, and other metaphysical fields.

So it's probably correct that a better description of what I do is "Intuitive Life Coach". Time to think about getting some new business cards...

Sciences of Palmistry Are Garbage?

Have you heard yet about the tragic (and ongoing) story of palm reader and author Andrew Fitzherbert, who was convicted of murder based solely on questionable DNA evidence? The prosecutor even mentioned "the garbage bin of the sciences of palmistry".

Online Opinion: In August 1999, palm reader Andrew Fitzherbert was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Brisbane veterinarian Kathleen Marshall, 52.

Fitzherbert, then aged 49, had no criminal record and those who knew him described him as a pacifist. An acclaimed palm reader, with three books on palmistry published, he did readings from his home.

The hearing began in July 1999 in the Brisbane Supreme Court. The cornerstone of the defence was DNA evidence given by Ken Cox, a forensic biologist from a laboratory with a history of errors.

Fitzherbert had a rock solid alibi. If the evidence of the alibi witnesses was to be accepted, there was simply no opportunity for the accused to commit the murder, and what was conspicuously absent was a motive.

Prosecutor Paul Rutledge described the DNA evidence as going “cleanly, directly to the heart of the matter”, and said Fitzherbert was a liar, reminding the jury they’d been given the “expert evidence” of a scientist compared to the “garbage bin of the sciences of palmistry”.

However, Bond University’s Chair of Criminology Professor Paul Wilson points out that DNA evidence is not infallible, as most people think. “Forensic Science is part art, part science. It’s very, very dangerous to convict purely on forensic science evidence and even with DNA evidence there can be problems. How DNA is collected, transported, stored, analysed, interpreted can lead to errors and miscarriages of justice.”

Fitzherbert’s lawyer, Laura-Leigh Cameron-Dow says. “Ken Cox included test results in his analysis that shouldn’t have been recognised in court as reliable. The defence didn’t query Cox as to whether the results received from samples were strong enough to be recorded as positives under scientific guidelines established for use of DNA evidence in the courtroom.”

Fitzherbert appealed his conviction in March 2000 and acted for himself. He was unsuccessful.

Fitzherbert had the right to retest the blood samples at the government’s expense at the time of his trial and at his appeal, but was not made aware of that right. Since 2003, Cameron-Dow has made several requests to the Queensland Attorney-General to release crime scene samples for testing.

Attorney-General Kerry Shine said he wouldn’t allow further testing as all items had been tested, and there was nothing wrong with the DNA testing method. Cameron-Dow claims not all items were tested and Cox admitted this.

Read the full article by Mary Garden

Sounds to me like it was more of a persecution than a prosecution. So why wasn't more done then, and what can be done now?

Free Palmistry Reading Update

Steven Galarnyk is still offering free palmistry readings, but there are now a few requirements if you'd like him to to read your hands.

Steven says: "If you are going to ask me for a palm reading please tell me a bit about yourself and your experience with palmistry (none is fantastic!). In addition if you would like to know about what your future MAY hold I require your age and your permission to tell you if you want to know what your future MAY hold. Please be patient about your readings as they are free. I'm working hard and for free. I also require that you give me YOUR WORD that you will tell me percisely how accurate I was in the reading. I REQUIRE this because I wish to grow in the skill."

Send your hand images and info to JohnnyFett@hotmail.com

Free Palmistry Reading From a Real Person

Steven Galarnyk is one of the youngest people to complete a Palmistry International course. He is now offering free palmistry readings to everyone who asks.

An offer like this is unlikely to last for long, so request your free reading now or you'll probably miss out. Send your palm image(s) to him at JohnnyFett@hotmail.com.

Click here for a list of other sites that also offer free palmistry readings.

Animal Hands - Ostrich Feet

It can be fascinating to observe animals' hands and paws, and then apply palmistry and hand analysis interpretations to the characteristics. The shape, size and structure of the hands/paws/feet may give some insight into how each animal lives and thinks.

When my daughter and I went to the zoo on Wednesday I was looking at animal paws, and couldn't help but notice that the ostriches had only 2 toes. Apparently they are the only bird with just 2 toes (and also the fastest land animal on 2 feet). An ostrich's feet look as if the inner toe was cut off - For a bird, where the thumb would be. No thumbs would indicate a serious lack of intellect, and according to the zoo ostriches are perhaps the dumbest bird of all. (Their brain is even smaller than one of their eyes.)

Palmistry Books - Don't Believe Everything You Read

One of the biggest problems in getting palmistry more recognized and established as a science rather than a pseudoscience is due to book publishers, the content they select for publication, and their methods of promotion. A lot of questionable content is readily available on the market, and being promoted quite effectively.

Book publishers are concerned with what they can sell, not with ensuring accuracy of all printed material. This means that as long as they can move enough copies it really doesn't matter to them whether or not the content is truly accurate, or just more examples of the Forer Effect and subjective validation passed off as fact.

For example, I received an email from a book publisher promoting a newly revised palmistry book. (Times have sure changed - Publishers used to send me free copies...) Their email and press release state that it's a "book regarded as the standard in the art of palmistry" and "widely regarded as the definitive guide to palmistry". Well, I suppose those quotes are true inside their own publishing house at least!

Nominated for Bloggers Choice Awards

Palmistry and Hand Analysis is nominated for the Bloggers Choice Awards in 4 categories:



Show your support and cast your vote - Remember to vote for this blog in all 4 categories!

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Whatever Happened to Merlinscope?

One of the first palmistry software programs I ever saw was called "Merlinscope" - It was a large photocopy machine connected to basic hand analysis software, and located in several shopping malls. It came out in 1987, and was run by Merlin Systems Ltd. You made a copy of the left palm for men, or the right palm for women, and for about $25 you got back a printed 5 paragraph analysis. I still have the analysis done for myself and my wife from back before we were married.

Even today when I read over my Merlinscope analysis, it still seems uncannily accurate. Better, in fact, than any other palmistry software I've seen since. Some of the details could perhaps be attributed to the Forer Effect. Most people received very similar content to each other in their reports, but not me. Here are a few pieces from my analysis:

"...able to work out simple solutions to very complicated problems."

"...enables you to make new discoveries"

"...rather impatient and rebellious"

"...the opposite sex fails to understand you"

"...willing to sacrifice your personal wealth and career for the sake of love"

"...you have your own way of thinking and this baffles others"

"...others may consider your behaviour rather odd"

"...your talent is yet to be discovered"

Pretty much sums me up. I haven't seen a Merlinscope booth for years - Too bad. Anyone know if the're still around somewhere?

Palmistry on MySpace

I finally got onto MySpace awhile ago in order to comment on a couple of blog posts there. Unlike FaceBook, palmistry is a common enough topic on MySpace where a search shows more than 2,300 results. Unfortunately, most of those pages have almost no good information whatsoever. There's a lot of blog spam and cheap promoting, and plenty of plagiarism. And page after page has ideas and teachings that are just plain wacko.

After getting onto MySpace, I quickly received 2 messages from people I don't know - Both were spam.

I certainly would not recommend MySpace as a way of finding any reliable information on palmistry, or for connecting with people interested in the art. See you on FaceBook instead!

More Palmistry Plagiarism

The palmistry scams page has another new member - www.astropalmistry.com.pk

Much of his website content is plagiarized from various sources, with entire pages copied directly from www.cheirology.net

The most amusing part about this plagiarist is that in the fine print at the bottom of his front page you see his copyright statement:

"It is difficult to tell where one person's observations, theories and rules leave off and another's starts, so I don't lay claim to any of this palmistry material as fully my own, because I think it is universal truth and I am just reporting it as I learned it from others and my research results."

Ummm, when you copy a full web page and reprint it on your own site without permission, it's pretty easy to tell "where one person's observations leave off". As for "reporting universal truth" without citing sources - That's got to be the worst excuse for blatant plagiarism I've ever heard.