The Head Line: The Palm’s Line of How You Think

Start looking at the edge of the palm between the thumb and the index finger. A line sets out from there, crosses the middle of the palm and heads towards the side with the little finger. That is the head line. On many palms its start is joined to the life line, so the two seem to begin from the same point.

Above it lies the heart line, and below it the life line, curving round the thumb. Once you can pick out all three together, reading a palm becomes much easier.

Tradition looks most closely at the direction this line takes.

• Straight, right across the palm: This is linked to practical, logical thinking. It is said that solid facts and a clear plan put the mind at ease.
• Gently sloping: This is linked to a blend of the practical and the imaginative: keeping your feet on the ground while thinking in fresh ways.
• Sloping steeply towards the Mount of the Moon: The lower outer part of the palm is called the Mount of the Moon. Tradition links a head line that dips towards it to imagination, creativity and a love of stories.

A long head line, one that reaches close to the far edge of the palm, is linked in tradition to the habit of looking at a matter from many sides. A short line is linked to going straight to the point and deciding quickly.

Here too, no form ranks higher or lower. Sometimes thinking deeply is what helps, and sometimes deciding swiftly.

If the head line begins joined to the life line, tradition links this to taking careful steps and valuing the views of the people close to you. If there is a little gap between the two from the very start, it is linked to independent thinking, going your own way and the courage to try new things.

How far the two run together is also noticed. Lines that travel side by side for a short way and then part are very common, and tradition simply reads them as a habit of making your own decisions that formed gradually.

Many head lines split into two at the end. Some call this the writer’s fork, and tradition links it to being able to see both sides of a matter and to put ideas across in different ways.

A wavy line is linked to having many interests at once and to ideas that keep shifting. If the line looks broken somewhere, tradition takes it as a mark of a change in the direction of your thinking or your interests. Remember, in a photo a break is often just an effect of the light.

• The head line does not tell the whole story on its own. Look at it together with the heart line: according to tradition, the two together show how your heart and head work in step.
• This line does not tell exam results, jobs, or whether a decision is right or wrong.
• A faint line does not mean less understanding. Often the line simply shows less clearly in the photo.
• Compare the head line on both your hands. Tradition reads a difference as a sign that your way of thinking has changed with experience.

Read your head line as an interesting question about the way you think: do you find it natural to plan first, or to follow your instincts and set off? Set what tradition says beside your own experience. Keep what feels right, and let go of what does not.