Islands, Breaks, and Triangle

Island

It is not a single sign. It is a split followed by a return to the original line of the lower end of the part which has broken away.

Chance lines which merely cross each other in such a way as to make the same shaped figure as an island (see 3 B) do not form a true island.

The fact that the ends of these chance lines overlap each other, constituting defects for each other, may spoil the operation of both the chance lines, but it does not form a true island.

A true island is only produced by a splitting of the Main line, and a return of the split to the Main line.

Islands can be as small as mere dots, seen only under the glass. Some can be big.

If it is formed by two chance lines crossing each other, or by a chance line crossing a Main or Minor line at both ends, read the chance lines separately and not as an island. The only reason why palmists have been at all successful in handling the island according to the present acceptation of what constitutes an island, is that the effect of chance lines crossing each other is similar to some of the bad effects of the island, and it has not been because the island itself has been thoroughly understood.

The island is always a defect, always a disturber, a warning to look out for something, and must never be disregarded. The operation of an island is to divide the Current flowing along a line.

One half of the Current passes around one side of the island, the other half going around the other side. These divided currents reunite on the lower side of the island and resume their course.

The word “island” is taken from its geographical namesake, and the true island in the hand is literally what its name implies, an isolated surface of skin surrounded by the divided line. Thus the island is an impeding object in no. 3 the course of a line, which divides the strength of the Current, producing a consequent division of strength and force. The size and length of the island shows the extent of obstruction and its duration, and from the point at which it is seen on a line you can read the age at which this weakening of the force occurs. It is not the intention here to do more than to impress upon you the general meaning of the island. Its specific application will be made to each line as we study it.

When an island is seen remember the divided stream, the impeding, obstructing island, and the consequent weakness and impairment of the line during its presence, and you will always think of a menace to the subject from some direction.

Breaks

These are frequently encountered. They always indicate a defective condition.

In this case. the Current is interrupted and stopped in exactly the same manner as when a telegraph wire is cut. The kind of a break will make a great difference in the outcome of the defect.

It is only by the Electric Current theory that you will be able to judge correctly and quickly what the seriousness of any break in the line is. The theory is this = when the Current reaches the break it is checked, and some repair process is needed at once, else the Current will flow out of all regular channels, producing the same condition as the overflow of a river which is not properly confined within its banks, that of spreading destruction.

If the break in a line is small, and the line continues clearly after the break and in a direct course, the Current may skip over the small break and continue in its regular path. In this case the danger is serious, but not insurmountable. In such an instance the two ends of the line will probably grow together eventually. The wider the break, the more serious it becomes and the less likelihood there is of the Current’s passing over the space between the broken ends.

Everything tending to make it easier to hold the Current in its proper course, or enabling it to get back to it after a break occurs, lessens the serious results of the broken line, and everything that makes it harder for the Current to continue its course without interruption adds to the complication. Thus broken lines may be repaired when the broken ends overlap each other, or by a small cross-line uniting the ends of the two lines, by sister lines running alongside of the line and break, or by squares (5); all of which means help transmit the Current from the broken end of the line to its regular channel, and while during this break and its repair there is a decided check to the best operation of the line, still it is possible of repair, and not so serious as if unaccompanied by any sign of repair.

Always a danger, breaks must be regarded seriously, and from their size, or the repair signs present, you can accurately estimate their outcome. One of the worst forms to encounter is when the end of the line turns back after a break and starts to run towards its source (6), forming thus a sort of hook.

This probably led the old palmists to use this indication found in the Life line as denoting a fatal termination, and you have read perhaps that the “Life line broken and turning toward the thumb means death.” In this case the Current turns back upon itself, and finds it harder to continue its course with such a break than in any other formation; it overflows where there is no channel to carry it forward. If there is no means by which this Current can be carried back to its original course, it produces disaster. There are various methods of repair, some by lines joining the turned-back end of the Main line, by sister lines, squares, or various lines which will attract the Current and take it back

to its regular channel. These methods of repair are shown in Fig. 6. Every turned-back line is a most serious check to the subject, either as to life, health, or career; the line on which it is found will tell in which direction this check leads. If unrepaired it is well-nigh fatal, even worse than when the line ends abruptly, for in the latter case the Current may be forced through new paths, and may dig itself a new channel; but when it is deliberately turned back to its source there is little hope that it will ever go on in its original direction. Of all repair signs the best and most certain is the square, shown in Fig. 7

The Square (7)

This is an individual sign. Old palmists use it to indicate protection from some impending danger.

It is always a good sign. No matter what the break in a line, or what its menace to the subject, a square surrounding it will partially repair and mitigate the danger.

The square I conceive to be a box which forms itself around the break or danger point, and concentrates and boxes in the Current, making escape impossible, holding the overflow in check, and forcing the Current to find and discharge itself again through the regular channel, no matter how great the turmoil inside of the square may be.

Sometimes a square is found on a Mount, where it does not surround a defect in a line. Such squares will indicate that the defects of the Mount will not predominate with this subject. My conception is that lines are channels for the transmission of the Electric Current, and that our effort is to find out how well they can and will perform this function.

If the Life Current has an unobstructed channel across the hand, the life will be unobstructed. But if the channel shows defects at a certain point we know trouble is going to occur there, and that if the Current is kept in the channel and from breaking its bounds and overflowing, the danger will be overcome. When the defective place is boxed in by the square, we feel that the Current cannot get out of the box, but must find and discharge itself through its regular channel. Thus a square is always a protection from danger, a boxing in of the Current, and a repair agent of certainty and reliability. In thousands of examinations I have never failed to verify this estimate of the square.

The Fork and the Tassel (8) are found at the termination of lines which shows the end of the operation of its peculiar qualities, and must be noted to see in what manner the end will be accomplished.

Some lines gradually fade away until the line is lost in the capillary lines of the skin; in other cases the line ends abruptly, sometimes with a cross, a star, a dot, or an island, and often it terminates in a fork or tassel. These tassels may be found on the end of a short Life, Head, or Heart line, and, whenever found, indicate the dissipation and diffusion of the strength of the line and the end of its usefulness.

The Current, instead of continuing, is scattered and diffused.

• It spreads itself like a tassel or fan, dissipating its force.
• It ends the strong operation of the qualities indicated by the line.

If a fork composed of two lines occur in the end of a line, it amounts only to a split. It is not so bad as a tassel, for this split may form itself into an island and continue the line;

The tassel, composed of many lines, is the distribution of the Current over so wide a space there is no hope that it will be gathered together again in a single strong line, though, if it occur early in the line and not at its end, you may sometimes find a single thin line continuing after a tassel.

In some cases, you find the tassel protected by a square.

The tassel is always a defect, sometimes overcome, but producing while it lasts great disturbance of the Current.

By following the theory of the Current over the line, you can accurately estimate the extent of seriousness, the possible repair, and the outcome, though a tassel generally marks the end of the usefulness of a line. The Dot (9) is a sign which is not frequently seen, but is worthy of note. It varies in size and depth, some being mere specks, and others large enough to put in the point of a pencil. Dots are always a defect, either of a line, when seen on one, or they may be found independent of the lines. On a line the dot forms an obstruction to the flow of the Current, and if it is a large one it produces destruction of the line by interposing so deep a cavity that the Current cannot pass.

Very small dots are not serious, but often come after severe illness, generally of a febrile character. I have seen, dots on the Life line marking the spot when a severe attack of scarlet or typhoid fever had occurred, on the Head line under the Mount of Saturn in deaf and dumb subjects, under the Mount of Apollo in heart-disease subjects, on the line of Mercury showing when severe intestinal disturbances had occurred, and in other parts of the hand indicating the occurrence of difficulties peculiar to the parts of the hand on which they were seen. Dots may be red, blue, white, or yellow, and will indicate by their color the disturbances peculiar to the locality or line on which they appear. They are subject to repair by a good square.

The Chained line (10)

This is formed by the joining together of a number of links, forming a line not clear, even, and deep, but one which has a continuous series of obstructions from the beginning.

It weakens the line. If it is the Head line, it makes a vacillating subject, lacking in self-control, and liable to headaches and other brain disturbances.

If chains are seen in only part of a line, the weak, poor operation of the line will occur only during the period occupied by the chained condition, though the line following the chain is apt to be thin.

The chains make it impossible for the Current to flow freely and evenly through the line, in which case the channel is full of shallows over which the stream makes its way with difficulty. It is a labored, strained, obstructed condition, consequently the chain is always a serious defect. It is one of the hardest lines to repair, for, unless the chain is very short, it takes a square larger and more regularly placed than is usual in order to enclose the chain.

In almost all hands the chain is repaired by a sister line, or lines, and in no other way. The chain is seen on nervous Life lines, and on sentimental and deficient Heart lines, sometimes on Head lines, but not often on the other Main or Minor lines or chance lines. Remember in reading it, that it is a shallow, obstructed channel, and form your estimate from this basis, applying the weak operation of the Current to that part of the line covered by the chained condition, and estimating how much it is repaired by any sister lines which may be present.

Triangle

This is often a single sign, though triangles are frequently found in the course of a line, in which case carefully note whether the triangle is formed by the splitting of the line, as in the case of an island, or whether it is a sign by itself and has formed over the line. Triangles are sometimes formed by crossing of the Main lines. In that case they do not have all of the power which belongs to them as single signs.

When a well-marked triangle is not formed by Main or Minor lines, and when the lines at the angles do not overlap each other, but make well-cut points, it shows great mental brilliancy of the line, Mount, or finger on which it is seen.

On the Mount of Jupiter it will tell of lofty ambitions and Jupiterian mental qualities; on the Mount of Moon, of brilliant imagination. It must always be used as showing brilliancy of mental attributes, and is never a health indication.

If the triangle is formed by crossing chance lines it is not as powerful in its operation as when it is a single sign, still it adds greatly to the subject in whatever direction its location indicates. On all of the Mounts a triangle applies only to the upper world of that Mount.

It is not intended here to apply the single signs to the Mounts, fingers, lines, and individual phalanges, giving their meaning in each location, but to outline the general principles governing them, and in a subsequent chapter to apply them. Remember the strongest triangle is the single sign, that it is always a favorable indication, never applies to health, but adds brilliancy to the mental side of the location where it is found.