What is palm reading?

Palm reading, also called palmistry or chiromancy, is the tradition of reading a person's character from the lines, shape and pads of their hand. It appears in old Indian and European books, and it is presented here as a tradition and a way to reflect, not as fact.

What do I get free and what costs money?

Free: your traced lines, your hand type from your own ratios, one full line reading, a look at what the scan found on the other lines, and your palm as a star map. The Complete Palm Reading is the paid version, and the pricing page says exactly what it includes.

Which hand should I scan?

Either. Cheiro wrote that both hands should be read together, the left for natural tendencies and the right for what you have made of them. So start with one, and scan the other if you are curious. The scan works out which hand it is seeing and draws your lines the right way round.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. It runs in your phone's browser with the camera, and there is nothing to install. If the camera struggles with the light, upload a photo instead.

Palm reading from a scan of your own hand

Hold your hand up to the camera. Watch your own lines get traced, then read what palmistry says about them.

See a sample reading

A real open right hand on a white cloth. The heart, head and life lines are traced in blue along its creases, the fate line is dotted, and small white dots mark the 21 points the scan found. — ExampleA real scan of a sample hand. The dotted line is the fate line, where the scan is less sure. Photo: P1000330 by Dr. Colleen Morgan, CC BY 2.0, cropped and color corrected.

Palm reading, or palmistry, is the old practice of reading a person from the lines and shape of their hand.

People come to it curious about love, money, or a choice they are turning over. It is a tradition rather than a science, and it has always been at its best as a way to look at yourself for a moment. This site traces your real lines and shows you what the old books said about them.

What you'll see on your hand

A hand in the scan, with white lines joining the points found on its fingers and palm and a faint grid laid over it — Your hand, foundThe camera finds 21 points on your hand and follows them as you move. Hold still and it takes the picture.

The same hand turning to face straight on, darker now, under a square grid — Your palm, flattenedThe photo is warped to a straight-on view, so a tilted hand is measured the same way as a level one.

A dark palm with the heart line finished in white and the head line catching light as it runs along its crease — Your lines, tracedA filter picks out the creases. For each line the scan follows the strongest path between where palmistry says it starts and ends, and the lines light up one by one on your own photo. If one looks wrong, drag it to where you see it.

The palm back in full color, with its lines in white and fine contours around the mounts — Your readingYour hand type, one full line reading, and a look at what the scan found on the other lines.

ExampleReal frames from the scan, on a sample hand. Yours will be your own.

A star map on deep blue: the outline of a real hand in white, its traced lines as bright bands of stars, and its fingertips and line ends as larger stars

Example

Your palm, as a star map

The joints of your fingers, the ends of your lines and the places they cross become stars, joined the way your hand runs. It is drawn only from your hand, and you can save it.

Read my palm

ExampleThe sample hand's own map. Every bright star is a real point on that hand, and the dust across the palm comes from its crease map. The sky around the hand is decoration.

The four lines people ask about

Four finer lines, often faint or missing

What's free, and what the full reading adds

Example

Your hand type

Air or Earth: your hand sits right on the line

Your heart line

You asked about love, so we start here. The heart line is the one the old books kept for it: Cheiro wrote that it "relates purely to the affectionate disposition". On your photo it starts at the outer edge of your palm and runs about 0.8 palm widths, ending between your middle and index fingers.

What the other lines found

Your head line runs about 0.9 palm widths and ends towards the outer edge of your palm. Palmists read that as a practical mind that sees things through.

Free, every time

Your lines traced on your own photo, and yours to correct
Your hand type, from your own ratios
One full line reading
Your palm as a star map

See the free reading on an example hand

The Complete Palm Reading reads the rest of your hand for $9.99.What's in it

Four hand types, measured rather than guessed

The usual test is to fold your fingers over your palm and judge by eye. The scan takes the same two proportions from the points on your hand.

Earth
Square palm, short fingers.
Modern pages read it as practical and reliable.
Air
Square palm, long fingers.
Modern pages read it as communicative and analytical.
Fire
Long palm, short fingers.
Modern pages read it as restless and energetic.
Water
Long palm, long fingers.
Modern pages read it as sensitive and imaginative.

Drawn to show the proportions, wrists on one line.

Find your hand type

Most people arrive with a question

A palm can't answer these for you. It can give you a reason to sit with them, in words you didn't choose.

Is this person right for me?
The heart line and the marriage lines on the palm's edge.
Palm reading for love
Am I on the right path with money?
The sun line and what some call the money line, though the older books we checked have no line by that name.
The money line
Should I make this change?
The fate line for direction, and the head line for how you weigh a thing up.
The fate line

Is palm reading real?

As a way of predicting anything, no: no good evidence shows it does, and it is widely viewed as a pseudoscience.

Your palm lines are real, though. They are flexion creases that form before birth and let your hand fold, and the main ones change little over the years, which is why they can be traced at all.

What they mean comes from old books. We pass that on as tradition, for you to take or leave.

The evidence, in full

More ways to look at your hand

Palm compatibility
Scan two hands on one phone and lay their lines over each other.
Palm lines
Place or move any line yourself, and it snaps to the nearest crease on the scan's ridge map.
Ring finger longer than index finger?
Compare your index and ring fingers, and read what the research does and doesn't say.

If you'd rather read first

Questions people ask

What is palm reading?: Palm reading, also called palmistry or chiromancy, is the tradition of reading a person's character from the lines, shape and pads of their hand. It appears in old Indian and European books, and it is presented here as a tradition and a way to reflect, not as fact.
What do I get free and what costs money?: Free: your traced lines, your hand type from your own ratios, one full line reading, a look at what the scan found on the other lines, and your palm as a star map. The Complete Palm Reading is the paid version, and the pricing page says exactly what it includes.
Which hand should I scan?: Either. Cheiro wrote that both hands should be read together, the left for natural tendencies and the right for what you have made of them. So start with one, and scan the other if you are curious. The scan works out which hand it is seeing and draws your lines the right way round.
Does it work on a phone?: Yes. It runs in your phone's browser with the camera, and there is nothing to install. If the camera struggles with the light, upload a photo instead.

Sources

Hand landmarks detection guideGoogle AI Edge, MediaPipe
Palm-Line DetectionLiu L, Zhang D. Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Predicting longevity from the line of life: is it accurate?Lucas T, Dhugga A, Henneberg M. Anthropological Review, 2019
Why do we have lines on the palms of our hands?Susan Blackmore, BBC Science Focus
PalmistryWikipedia
Palmistry for AllCheiro. Project Gutenberg

Your lines are already there

Hold your hand up and see them traced.