The Hand from A-Z: The Essentials of Palmistry (Paperback)

by Judith Hipskind (Author) "Perhaps the biggest surprise about palmistry, especially for beginners, is the amount of detail involved in decoding the hands' meaning..." (more)
Key Phrases: Line Pattern, Special Feature, Mount of Luna (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Hands reflect the whole person: their motivation, personal needs, temperament, and spirit. Analyzing hands to better understand ourselves and others is what palmistry is all about.

In The Hand from A to Z, Judith Hipskind Collins shares the art of palmistry and explains why hand analysis works. She advises how to read and interpret every facet of the hand, including its shape, gestures, flexibility, mounts, fingers, lines, and nails. This book also includes a unique dictionary that lists more than 250 personality/character traits with their corresponding physical features (long index finger, square nails, yellow palm, etc).  


About the Author
Judith Hipskind has studied palmistry since 1967. She works as a professional palmist in Dallas, Texas, and conducts private research and teaches. <br>

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; illustrated edition edition (May 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738707562
• ISBN-13: 978-0738707563
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #803,626 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars All the Essentials Clearly Laid out for the Beginner, May 26, 2005

By	Boudica (Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Ms. Collins is a professional palmist in Dallas and has been studying palmistry since 1967. She is a lecturer and a teacher.

This book is a collection of her studies, and her experiences in reading palms. Ms. Collins has put together a very in depth study of palmistry with this book.

Ms. Collins explains in the first chapter her system of completely analyzing the entire hand with all the lines and pieces together, not just as individual units. She gives very good details of what she is referring to and how to go about doing it. She also outlines all the interconnecting parts of the hand that you will analyze and gives you some very basic material to work with.

She covers some techniques for reading palms in her second chapter. You can use The Psychic Approach which she seems to treat very lightly or The Book Approach where she goes into detail. Her section on Why Palmistry Works is an interesting look at how Ms. Collins sees the hands as an extension of the brain and how they reflect our character and personality.

She also gives a chapter for self examination as to why you would be interested in being a palmist and the precautions associated with being a reader. A good section filled with some very practical advices for anyone looking to go into a field where people's lives could be shared and discussed in great detail.

Finally there is the meat and potatoes of the book, the examination of the various types of hands, lines and characteristics that are involved in reading palms. Ms. Collins used a two handed approach in reading palms, using both hands for a complete picture of her client. She then examines in detail the different types of hands, lines, finger structures, mounts, colors and so much more.

There are 185 illustrations to help you clearly identify what Ms. Collins is discussing, which also includes a section with actual palm prints and readings for these palms. In all there are 15 chapters covering what she considers the points to analyze when doing a palm reading. Each chapter is very well written, covering a lot of information and examples. The types of lines are discussed as well as what they mean and how to read them in association with other lines on the hand. There are variations discussed, how these are either related or interact with other features on the hand. I found this section to be very well executed and enjoyed Ms. Collins' style of writing, with an exact approach to the process.

It is interesting to take a look at your own hand and use it for comparison against the illustrations as well as looking at the meanings and seeing if how your own personal life measures against the meanings given by Ms. Collins. While not everything was "right on the money" for me, I was able to pick out particular traits and characteristics on my own palms and the meanings were a very good overview of my own self. As an example, my head line touches my life line which indicates a good balance between caution and impulse. I thought that was on the mark. My head line also shows a writer's fork which I thought was interesting as well.

The chapter on Interpreting the Whole Hand was a good wrap up of the entire process and the author did show a very good interconnectedness with the process. The additional information on compatibility was also interesting as you can find some points that could suggest if two people would work well together in certain situations.

There is a chapter in the back of the book called Dictionary of Traits which I thought was well put together and explained. Based on the work of William G. Benham from 1966, Ms. Collins has included an overview of this in her book and is a good compliment to her own work. There is a dictionary of terms used in the book and an actual dictionary of the lines, features, terms and descriptions all relating to palmistry.

The last part of the book features three sets of handprints for which Ms. Collins has provided a basic overview and analysis. Again, a very good teaching tool, allowing the reader to see how Ms. Collins extracts information regarding the palm print and allowing the reader to further explore the variations. This section offers some insights into how Ms. Collins does her own readings, if you have never had the opportunity to have her read for you.

If you are curious about palm reading, this book will probably provide more than you wanted to go into. However, if you are looking for a place to get started, this book can provide some no nonsense basics and some good information. The reference material here is well documented, the illustrations are very helpful and Ms. Collins writes so that anyone can understand her method. This is a good beginner's book as well as being a good book those who already read palms and are looking for additional reference. boudica