By Dylan Warren-Davis
Cheiromancy is the art of handreading in which all aspects of a person's hand are considered in order to gain an accurate picture of their inner nature. Cheiromancy is distinct from the fortune telling of palmistry. What has come down to us as palmistry today is a rather degenerate and effete form of this ancient discipline. The word cheiromancy comes from the Greek chir meaning `hand' and manteia meaning 'divination', literally meaning 'divination through the hand'.
The Hand Reveals is written as a practical guide to reading hands; it is not merely theoretical. As various points are described, through out the book, try to apply this knowledge at every opportunity to find confirmation of the ideas. There is a considerable amount of knowledge and information compressed into these pages, and even the most diligent student would have difficulty in digesting it in one reading. It is recommended that you refer back as often as necessary to go the material you have read, to allow your understanding of cheiromancy to grow gradually. Originally published in 1993 this edition has been revised and updated with new material.
The Hand Reveals
Dylan Warren-Davis is a second-generation herbalist. He was first exposed to the healing properties of herbs by his mother Ann Warren-Davis, FNIMH, at 10 years old, while she trained to become a herbalist. In 1982 he qualified as a prize-winning student with the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, and has subsequently spent over 30 years researching, teaching and writing about the metaphysical basis of the European herbal tradition.
Dylan first became interested in handreading whilst a herbal student, from needing to find a holistic diagnostic tool as an alternative the reductionist thinking of conventional medicine. He originally studied the Chinese Buddhist tradition of Mudra & Teso. After 10 years of practicing and teaching hand reading in the Chinese idiom, he became interested in the Western Cheiromantical tradition. The Hand Reveals was first published in 1993 as the summation of his Western research. He was subsequently invited to contribute a section on palmistry in the Oxford Companion to the Body, published by Oxford University Press, 2001. The latest 4th Edition of The Hand Reveals is further expanded with material derived from the Western Hermetic tradition. Dylan has travelled widely, reading hands and exploring different cultures in Europe and Australasia, for over 40 years.