How to read your palm

By Maren Tremblay, Fatesight editor · Last updated October 29, 2026

To read your palm, choose your dominant hand, note its shape, find the four main lines (heart, head, life and fate), look at the mounts under the fingers and then read everything together. A single line on its own tells little.

Steps	Five
Time	About ten minutes
You need	Good light and an open hand

Step 1: choose a hand

Start with the hand you write with. Hold it open in good daylight with the fingers slightly apart. See the guide on which hand to read for how the other hand fits in.

Step 2: look at the shape

Notice the shape of the palm and the length of the fingers against the palm. Palmistry sorts hands into four types, named after the elements, and each is read as a style of temperament. The hand shapes guide lists them.

Step 3: find the four main lines

The heart line is the highest long crease and is read as how you love. The head line sits below it and is read as how you think. The life line curves around the thumb and is read as vitality. The fate line runs up the middle and is read as direction. Each has its own guide.

Step 4: check the mounts

The raised pads under each finger, called mounts, are named for planets. A full, firm mount is read as that planet's quality coming through, such as warmth for the mount of Venus below the thumb. Flat mounts are read as quieter qualities.

Step 5: read the whole hand

Lines are read together. A strong heart line beside a faint head line says one thing, and two strong lines say another. Palmistry is a tradition of interpretation, so treat each reading as a prompt for thought and not as a verdict.