Palmistry

This is the argued ability that some people are capable of reading/interpreting the lines, lumps and marks on anothers hand giving an insight into character and future possibilities. Popular with the media as being connected with Gypsies and Romanies along with the Crystal Ball and divination it is thought to date back to around 3000 BC from either/or both, China and India before it spread through the Western hemisphere. It is also thought by some to be based around the ability of judging a person mearly on their facial features, known as Physiognomy which dates to 1100 BC.

In England during the 15th Century the church confiscated all books to do with the subject but, the art resurfaced in parlours during the 19th Century. In both India and China it is still part of many esoteric studies based on divination and has links with Astrology.