2. THE LINES OF LIFE AND FATE OR DESTINY
生命线与命运线
Once you have learned the Life line and the Fate or Destiny line, you can do good readings, combined with the intuitive method of assessing what you have learned.
The ultimate aim of palmistry is to answer people’s questions about their lives, and so it is important to see both in the Inactive hand and the Active Hand the strengths and potentials to fulfill dreams and overcome obstacles.
For every pitfall or weakness you identify on a line and other areas of the palm in future readings, match it with a strength revealed in the lines and other parts of the palm to suggest a good way forward.
Palmistry by its intimate nature should be a two-way ongoing dialogue so the subject can see for themselves as you interpret on the hand map how the past and present can be used to draw on talents and strengths still in reserve.
ABOUT THE LIFE LINE AND THE FATE OR DESTINY LINE
The line of Life mirrors the life force coursing through us.
It does not reveal how long we will live, whatever its length, but speaks of our passion for life, our pleasure in living, and physical energy.
Where there are breaks or pale areas, it is a good indicator if someone is lacking enthusiasm or energy and not maximizing the potentials of the Heart and Head lines.
The Fate or Destiny line shows whether you control your own destiny; and by studying it, you may decide to take charge of your future if others are too influential.
The Fate or Destiny line also expresses the sense of purpose about life and how important it is to an individual to become successful or take a more laissez-faire approach.
The following diagram will help you to identify the lines of Life and Fate or Destiny, in relation to the other major lines on the palm.
Once you have discovered these two lines on your own hand, you can mark them on your evolving personal hand diagrams and see how the four main lines interact: which is the strongest and clearest, and which is the weakest.
Don’t worry if your Fate line is not clear or indeed starts halfway up the hand, as this and the other vertically running lines can be less obvious initially.
But with practice you will spot them.
THE LIFE LINE
This runs in a curve from above the thumb, between the thumb and the forefinger, to below the thumb, ending on or near the wrist, sweeping in a semicircle around the thumb.
The more impetus put into life, the stronger and deeper the Life line will be, not only physically, but in the pulsating positive vibrations that can be sensed, if you run your hand over the line to feel the vibrations emanating from it.
The amount of palm it encircles is important.
A Life line well across the palm reveals a great deal of stamina and energy, an adventurous person, taking chances, making the most of any opportunity.
If the Life line hugs the thumb, the person may be listless and unenthusiastic and may need to rebalance priorities.
Ultimately it reveals how enthusiastic and passionate a person is for life and the degree of pleasure they derive from that life.
Short, pale Life lines usually lengthen and deepen as life goes on if the possessor finds his/her true destiny that excites and stimulates.
The Life line is especially prone to the effects of stress, and we know that if someone has a delicate energy field, toxic people and situations may cause crosses or grilles and other negative marks (see Chapter 5) to temporarily appear.
Overcome the problem, and this can sometimes involve letting go of past unfairness, and they will disappear.
Different Life Line Formations
• LONG AND WELL DEFINED LINE WITH A BROAD CURVE: An achiever, but not ruthless in life.
• UNBROKEN AND SMOOTH: A potentially smooth passage through life, which may be less exciting than a line with many breaks and chains. Sometimes challenges or setbacks can act as a spur for success.
• STRAIGHT AND CLOSE TO THE EDGE OF THE HAND: Caution in relationships and in accepting life challenges or the unfamiliar.
• STARTING CLOSE TO THE FIRST (JUPITER) FINGER: Drive to fulfill ambitions.
• STARTING CLOSER TO THE THUMB: An easygoing approach to life.
• CONTINUING CLOSE TO THE THUMB: Prone to tiredness/inertia under stress.
• DIPPING/CURVING SHARPLY TO THE BASE OF THE PALM: An opportunity/incentive to take a new direction that may seem difficult, but may ultimately prove worthwhile.
• BREAKS GENERALLY: Changes in outlook on life; how they are handled determines success.
• BREAKS IN THE UPWARD DIRECTION TOWARD THE EDGE OF THE HAND: An imminent journey of positive significance, even if not planned at the time of the reading.
• FINE SMALL SISTER LINE ON THUMB SIDE: Good fortune; if extends the whole length of line, good health in later life.
• DEEP: Strong feelings, leaping into life and embracing every experience.
• RED OR BROWN: Demonstrative and passionate.
• LACKING COLOR: Does not share experiences and feelings with others.
• SHORT AND SHALLOW: Easily manipulated or conned.
• CHAINED THROUGHOUT: Many options and choices in life.
• FORKS: Scattered and sometimes wasted energies.
• DOUBLE: Soulmate love present or coming.
• VERY SHORT, JOINING THE LINE OF FATE: Momentous changes caused by external events, that if handled positively can offer exciting opportunities.
• BRANCHES OR EFFORT LINES, ACCORDING TO THE MOUNT, FINGER, OR OTHER LINE THEY JOIN: Indicate a surge toward money, success, or love (Chapters 5 and 6).
THE FATE OR DESTINY LINE
The Fate or Destiny line, sometimes called the line of Saturn, in its ideal fully developed form runs vertically up the middle of the hand, from midway between the mount of the Moon and the mount of Venus toward the second finger of Saturn.
Not everyone has a Fate or Destiny line, and in fact it can start anywhere near the base of the hand and finish close to any finger.
However, most Fate lines in practice start close to or touching the Life line and head toward the second finger.
This line is often faint and refers to what is called the interplay of Luck or Fate in one’s life.
Its full development or clarity does not necessarily indicate good luck, but a tendency to a reaction to life’s unexpected challenges, both good and bad, in fulfilling life’s purpose, rather than leaving results to Fate or others.
It is the vehicle through which the potential of the Heart, Head, and Life lines manifest themselves.
However, it is also relatively common to have an arched or curved Fate line.
Neither is better.
A straight Fate or Destiny line can indicate a more focused life plan and path, whereas a wavering Fate line could indicate the path of someone who spends time exploring or searching for the best-fitting life purpose to undertake—and it can become straighter as the definite choices are made.
It can be fused to other lines, especially the Apollo or Fortune line that rises to the third Apollo or Sun finger to the left in the Active hand, and one line can form a branch of the other.
At its clearest and longest, the Fate or Destiny line extends from the base of the hand to the finger of Saturn, and indicates (not as traditionally thought: that Fate will always favor the possessor) that the suggested pathway will be successful—because of the immense resources of the possessor—to change difficulty into challenge and to adapt rather than be defeated by outside events.
Some Fate lines do not appear until a person is in their 20s or 30s.
Since it is estimated that the Fate line crosses the Head line at about age 35, some Fate lines naturally begin on or near the Head line in the 30s or even 40s when career and life paths are more settled.
However, when a child knows from an early age or is directed by parents into an education and a career traditionally followed by family members, such as the military, teaching, or law, the Fate line will appear clearly and straight near the base of the palm from early on in life and rise to the second Saturn finger.
Different Fate Line Formations
• DEEP AND PROMINENT: Controlled by Destiny and what life offers.
• JOINED TO LIFE LINE: Making your own future.
• STARTING AT THE BASE OF THE PALM AND EXTENDING UPWARD TO THE JUPITER MOUNT OR FINGER: The ability to gain public recognition or follow a career path pre-ordained from childhood or past worlds.
• VERY PALE AND WAVY OR DISAPPEARING IN PLACES: Uncertainty, overly influenced by others, and a tendency to be easily discouraged, but often dramatically improves once this characteristic is acknowledged.
• BROKEN: Career interruption or loss of motivation; if the line continues in a different place, new career path.
• BROKEN BUT OVERLAPPING: Development of hobby or interest into predominant career, following dreams.
• CENTRALLY EVOLVING, WITH BREAKS AND MARKINGS, FROM MIDDLE OF PALM: Obstacles early on in life that have served or will serve to change and determine the life course for the better.
• LINKS WITH THE LIFE LINE: Determination in meeting challenges and a breadth of perspective that can enable problems to be avoided.
• IF LINK IS LONG WITH LIFE LINE: Close to family but may feel undue obligations/guilt.
• IF AWAY FROM LIFE LINE, HALFWAY OR MORE ACROSS PALM: Independence from early on from family and other authority influences.
• ABSENT: Very strong karmic/past life influences, need to determine own course in present life rather than repeating old patterns.
• FAINT: Feeling at the mercy of Fate, drifting through life, unsettled career path. If it disappears, may be due to bullying, undue pressure.
• FORKED: Two alternative destinies according to choices made/to be made.
• EXCEPTIONALLY STRONG, CLEAR, UNWAVERING FROM START TO FINISH:
Competitive in any career or sport, striving and achieving the best, whatever it takes.
• BEGINNING ON MOUNT OF VENUS: Motivations strongly influenced by family, good at physical activity.
• BEGINNING ON MOUNT OF MOON: Self-motivator, follows dreams.
• ENDING ON HEART LINE: May give up career ascent for love or have other priorities, such as life quality; may retire early or take up fulfilling rather than lucrative lifestyle.
• ENDING ON HEAD LINE: Set in career/lifestyle by middle age; if exceptionally pale, may indicate burnout.
• ENDING UNDER FIRST INDEX JUPITER FINGER FROM ANY POSITION: Gifted in politics, religion, law, teaching, benevolent leadership; can rise high.
• ENDING UNDER SECOND SATURN FINGER OR BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD FINGERS: Will do well in any chosen career path, especially conventional salaried appointments.
• EXTENDING RIGHT UP INTO SECOND SATURN FINGER: Exceptional destiny, may succeed in psychic work and/or materially.
• ENDING UNDER THIRD SUN/APOLLO FINGER: Creative arts, design, imagination often manifest in writing.
• DIAGONALLY CROSSING PALM TO LITTLE/MERCURY FINGER: Communicator, business success, salesperson, entertainer, medicine, money-making abilities.
• DOUBLE DESTINY LINE FOR ANY PART: Versatility or may follow two careers or career and important hobby that eventually becomes second career or combine career/family.
Timings for Life and Fate
There are many alternative ways of calculating timings on all four lines.
Decide or adapt a method that works in practice for you, or simply use your intuition over timings.
It may be that the same system works for you on all four lines.
The real key is looking at change points in the line markings that may reveal sticking points from the past.
The Life line traditionally divides from the beginning of the line in increments of ten to the end 80/90 plus.
You can in practice use this method for Heart, Head, and Fate or Destiny as well, as it is relatively straightforward.
Another method divides the Life line initially into two, the first half nearest the wrist representing the first 20 years of life, and the other half divided into two again.
The first part of the divided second half signifies 20 to 50, and the rest of the Life line is the remainder of the person’s life.
A traditional method of measuring the Fate line is to divide the distance between the bottom crease of the second Saturn finger to the wrist line into four equal parts.
The first quarter begins from the wrist line and deals with the first 21 years, the second represents 22 to 29 years of age, the third 30 to 50 years, and the final 50 to 100 years.
This however, only works with a clear long Fate line starting on the wrist, which many don’t.
If the Fate line does begin higher on the hand, imagine the line extending from the wrist upward and divide as above.
Balancing the Lines
The lines are closely linked with one another, and now you can consider the interconnections like a growing jigsaw puzzle.
A predominant Heart line indicates emotions as the driving force and, if the Head line is not sufficiently strong to harness these emotions, then these creative energies may not be channeled into worldly success but may, however, be used for a fulfilling love and family life or to develop a passionate interest.
Equally, if the Head line is strong but the Life line is weak, there may not be enough drive to carry through plans and so there may have been a series of half-finished projects or careers that did not flourish.
The relative strengths may change at different times of life and can suggest where other aspects need to come to the fore.
It can be especially helpful to compare the four major lines in both hands so that potential and undeveloped strengths can be utilized to create a balanced life.
USING PALMISTRY FOR POSITIVE CHANGE
As in Chapter 1 with the Heart and Head lines, once you have added and analyzed your Life and Fate or Destiny lines to your own hand diagrams, study the hands of the person whom you have been following closely and see how the lines build up the picture of the person you know.
Study also the Life and Fate lines of people you meet in different careers, different ages, and different lifestyles—you will by now be getting good at quick assessment.
Using the descriptions of different line formations in this chapter, see how the outer appearance, career, and lifestyle of the person coincide with the line markings.
Where possible, gently question people whose hands you study.
But palmistry is more than a diagnostic tool; it’s primarily an instrument for positive change.
When you feel ready, work with someone with whom you feel comfortable and ask them if they have any questions.
Feel by running your fingers over each major line on the Active hand from beginning to end, to identify where the past still is having a negative effect.
Relax, and you may see images in your mind and impressions of the issues, and then tactfully ask questions.
USING PALMISTRY CREATIVELY
When I read the palm of 50-year-old James, who was frustrated in his career and felt he had never achieved anything, he had a broken Head line occurring early on.
This felt heavy and slow.
It did not pick up in clarity or depth in the ensuing Head line.
The break coincided with a serious setback at school when his bullying teachers and father told him that he was useless and would never achieve anything because, although he was intelligent, he had trouble reading and writing.
In his case, the Fate line started much higher on the Heart line and ended on the creative Apollo mount of the third finger.
I asked about his creative passions and how developing these could offer him fulfillment.
Many an artist or writer deterred at school or by parents will flourish, given the activation of the passion of the Heart line or even an intersection of Life-line energy with the dormant Head line.
James went for tests and discovered that he had undiagnosed dyslexia; with the help of a good spell-checker and some extra night classes, he is now moving toward his dream of becoming a writer.
Always remember, the point is to be of help in enabling another person to fulfill their destiny in their own way, not to prove how good you are.
In the next chapter, we will work with other subsidiary but very relevant lines on the palm.