After studying chiromancy, let us now take a look at the second branch of palmistry, which is chirognomy, or the study of the shapes of the hand and their respective relationships to the personality of the hand's owner. Chirognomy is not just about hand shape, but also about the color, the texture, and the resiliency of the skin.
The first step towards mastering this branch of study is by understanding first the basic hand shapes. Throughout history, systems of categorizing the shapes of the hand have been developed. In Chinese chirognomy, hand shapes are divided into 5 broad categories based on the five elements: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Metal.
But for simplicity's sake, let us follow an even simler categorization, the one used in Western astrology, which uses only four elements instead of five. In this case, the Metal element is removed and the categorization is limited to the remaining four elements. The elemental type then depends on the size of the palm with respect to the length of the fingers.
For the Earth hand, the palm is square and the fingers are short. For the Air Hand, the palm is also square but the fingers are long. Meanwhile, the Fire Hand has an oblong palm and short fingers. Finally, the Water Hand also has an oblong palm but long fingers.
Earth Hands tend to be small yet solid. The owners of these hands tend to be no-nonsense people who have a clear vision of what they want to do. For them, physical activities matter more than intellectual discourse. The downside is that they tend to be too conservative to the point of being stubborn at times. This is the complete opposite of the Air Hand, whose owners tend to be fond of spending time in intellectucal discussions and thoughts. They tend to be nervous and worried all the time, making them prone to stress. They also have problems maintaining personal relationships because of their intellect.
Owners of a Fire Hand, meanwhile, tend to be energetic and vibrant. These people are easily bored with monotonous tasks. They always look for new adventures, for variety in life. They tend to be very impatient with things. Meanwhile, Water Hand owners are on the emotional side of the things. They tend to be caring, thoughtful, and emotional, but they also find it difficult to cope with stress.
