CHAPTER XXI

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ON THE RING OF VENUS, THE WRIST LINES AND THE LETTER M TO BE SEEN IN MOST HANDS

The Ring of Venus seems to enclose, as in an island, the Mounts of Saturn and the Sun; this line is not seen in many hands and, when fully developed, signifies unbridled passion and debauchery of all kinds when, in conjunction with it, the Mount of Venus is strongly developed and marked with crossway lines.

If, with the signs mentioned above, the Ring of Venus is strongly marked, yet _broken_ at its centre in _both_ hands, it is a sign of eccentric and depraved passion; still, there are always modifications of these bad signs, and a very good Line of Head would, by bringing reason to bear upon passion, considerably mitigate the evil indications of the broken ring.

When the Ring of Venus is seen on a hand where both the planets Venus and the Moon are strongly indicated and where it is traversed by innumerable fine lines, it is a true sign of an hysterical temperament.

Sometimes the Ring of Venus will be seen to ascend and lose itself on the Mount of Mercury, leaving one end of the semicircle open, which mitigates, in some sort, the terribly strong instincts of voluptuousness indicated by this mark; but if, on the contrary, the semicircle, after extending itself to the Mount of Mercury, closes itself at the root of the finger, such a mark in the hand would indicate a terrible and absorbing power of passion, which would not hesitate at any means to secure its end.

A line traced on the wrist is a sign of long life and, if there are three of these lines, as is sometimes seen, it forms the triple bracelet. These lines indicate, in Chiromancy, thirty years of life each and the three lines form what is called the magic bracelet, indicating long life, health and riches. If these lines are formed irregularly, like the links of a chain, and more especially if the first one--that next the hand--is so formed, it indicates a long life of labour, but acquiring ease and competency at its close. If a cross appears in the centre of the wrist, it indicates a rich heritage at the close of life.

When lines start upwards from the bracelet, and ascend towards the Mount of the Moon, they denote as many travels by land as there are lines. If a line starts from the wrist and, after traversing the Plain of Mars, goes to the Mount of the Sun, such a line presages riches and honours coming from royalty.

When these travel lines go as high as the Line of Head and Heart, they denote journeys during which some person is met who influences either the fortunes or the affections, according to whether the line stops at the Line of Head or Heart.

Lines lengthways on the Mount of the Moon mean sea-voyages; if these lines terminate with a star, it denotes shipwreck; if on both hands, death by drowning.

The letter M, formed more or less regularly in every hand by the Line of Life, the Line of Head and the Line of Heart, represents the three worlds--the material, the natural and the divine.

The first, the Line of Life, surrounds Love and Generation, as represented by the thumb, which is, as we have seen, sacred to Venus--the material world, or world of sense--but the Mount of Venus may either degenerate love to vice, or perfectionate it to tenderness. With high instincts the Mount of Venus is a good quality, since, _without it_, all the other passions are hard and selfish.

The second line--the Line of the Head--stretches across the natural world; it traverses the Plain and the Mount of Mars, which represent the struggle of Love and Reason in existence--the natural world, life as it presents itself to most persons. There is in the hand the Plain of Mars and the Mount of Mars; both mean a struggle: the Mount is the struggle of resistance; the Plain of Mars (which is between the Lines of Head and Heart) is the struggle of aggression.

The third line, that of the Heart, encloses the divine world, for it surrounds the mounts which represent Religion, Jupiter; Fate, Saturn; Art, the Sun; Science, Mercury; all of which are especially influenced by the astral light, or fluid, emanating from the planets.

According to the proportions--the relative proportions--which these three lines bear to one another, so the life is influenced by the three different worlds represented. Thus we have a hand in which material (sensual) pleasure dominates: the line of the material world enclosing a space greatly superior to that of the two others. It is needless to give further examples of these differences, for, after all, this matter is but a _résumé_ of what has been said before about the power of correction which one line has over the others. Given a wide range to sensual pleasure in the hand, but a good and extensive Line of the Head, the former will be corrected by it, as reason dominates passion; or given the strong powers of sensuality, with a wide range to the divine world by the space occupied between the Line of Heart and the mounts, and again, religion, love of art and science, will correct and keep under extreme sensuality. In reading the hand, each line must be judged with reference to the others, and the hand must be considered in all its bearings, before an opinion on the tendencies it indicates can be arrived at with any degree of correctness.

[Illustration: _To face Chapter XXII ._]

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