Hand shapes
Palmists sort hands into shapes that reflect temperament. The modern system uses four elements: Earth (square palm, short fingers), Air (square palm, long fingers), Fire (long palm, short fingers) and Water (long palm, long fingers).
Before reading a single line, a palmist looks at the hand’s overall shape. The four-element system, popularised by Fred Gettings in the 1960s, is the one most used today. Earth hands are linked with practicality and patience; Air with curiosity and communication; Fire with energy and enthusiasm; Water with sensitivity and imagination.
To find yours, compare two things. First the palm: if it is about as wide as it is long, from the wrist crease to the base of the fingers, it is square; if clearly longer than it is wide, it is long. Then the fingers: if the middle finger is nearly as long as the palm, they count as long; if clearly shorter, as short.
Older palmistry used other schemes. Cheiro described seven types: elementary, square, spatulate, philosophic, conic, psychic and mixed. Benham sorted hands by their dominant planet, such as Jupiterian or Saturnian. The ideas overlap: all link shape with temperament.
Few hands fit one type perfectly. Cheiro himself included a ‘mixed’ hand, and most palmists treat your nearest type as a starting point, refined by the lines, mounts and thumb.