Palmistry

Palm reading, palmistry or chiromancy, Chiromantik, chiromancy ( altgr. χεῖρ, ός cheir "hand" and μαντεία, ας manteia " prophecy " ) refers to attempts of form and lines of the hand, the physiognomy of the hands ( chiromancy, Chirognomie ) of a person to be considered for this useful conclusions. The palm reading was largely suppressed already in the age of Enlightenment fairs.

Antiquity to Early Modern

The endeavor, systems and destiny of man to read palms, dates back to the early civilizations of India, Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria. In ancient palmistry was considered a prestigious secret science. A special suitability of hands for conclusions on investments, personal traits or future personal events was derived from the fact that they represent the distinct most individual part of the body besides the face.

Around 1160 AD, an English monk in Eadwine Psalter written for the first time in European literature, a chapter on Chiromantia or Chiromanticus, as it is called there. In the 16th century interpreted Robert Fludd ( 1574-1637 ) and Agrippa ( 1486-1535 ), the hand in the image of the cosmos, trying to revive the traditional form of Chiromantik as chiromancy.

Baroque

In the Baroque one attempted a scientific approach Chiromantik. From a prediction about the future was being said, instead they confined here to the attempt to chirognomischen diagnosis of the health status of a person. At several universities, colleges were then read about this form of Chiromantik.

Modern Times

Between 1924 and 1935 the Berlin Chiromantin Marianne Raschig took from 2500 handprints of famous people, including Hans Albers, Gerhart Hauptmann, Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Theodor Heuss, Bertolt Brecht and Alfred Döblin. As Chiromantin she saw in hand lines and forms a mirror of psychic and physical properties. In 1985, the collection of the Raschig heirs for 200,000 marks was sold to an antique dealer, the handprints of Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg and Richard Strauss was later auctioned at Sotheby's at a profit.

One of the most important Chirologinnen of the 20th century is Charlotte Wolff. In the early 1930s they came to Berlin by Julius Spier to Psychochirologie with which they initially denied their livelihood after their escape to France and England. In exile, they did extensive hand investigations that earned her an honorary membership in the British Psychological Society.