The Length of the Mercuty Line

Often there are:

• fine bars crossing the Mercury line
• fine bars crossing the Head line (505).

This indicates great suffering from nervous, bilious, or sick headaches, but they all arise from imperfect action of the stomach and liver.

Such a marking often results in an impairment of the Head line after the bars are seen, showing that the headaches have weakened it. With every form and variation, and every defect in the Mercury line, the Head line should be at once consulted.

An island in the Mercury line (506) indicates a delicacy of health during its presence. This may arise from the liver and stomach, or from appendicitis inflammation of the intestines, or it may be a difficulty of head, heart, or any other organ, which one, can be located by the examination of Mounts and lines.

The peculiarity of the island in the Mercury line is that its detrimental effect upon the health is not always confined to stomach and liver disorders, but relates equally to other kinds of illnesses or delicacy. A single island must be read as a delicacy to health just as is done in the Life line, and its cause located in the usual manner.

If the Mercury line be islanded during its entire course, showing two, three, or more islands of good size, it is an indication of great delicacy of the throat and lungs (507).

These islands are not always perfectly formed, but whether so or not, they will be most accurate indications. When this marking is seen at once examine the nails for any approach to a bulbous condition, and also see if the upper Mount of Mars be grilled or cross-barred.

If these confirmatory markings be present, the case is a strong one, and will be easily verified.

If, in addition, an island be seen on the Mount of Jupiter (508), the subject will need to use the greatest care to avoid any exposure which might induce the development of consumption, bronchitis, pneumonia, or any disease of throat, bronchia, or lungs.

I have recently seen this marking on a patient suffering from cancer of the throat. An old reading of the Mercury line when islanded was as an indication of “Bankruptcy.”

This came from the fact that the health of those with such a marking was precarious and precluded the likelihood of enough effort to produce success in business, This old reading, while it has a strong foundation, will not be accurate if applied to your clients. You will find many islanded lines of Mercury in the hands of those who are by no means financially Bankrupt, but who are Bankrupt in health. Such subjects, if in business, must spend so much time in the care of their health that business will probably be neglected. Certain it is a delicate subject cannot push business with the vigor of one who is well, and these reasons led to the interpretation of “Bankruptcy” by older palmists.

When the Mercury line is broken (509) it indicates that the subject’s health will be impaired, at the time of the break, and, consequent upon this, his business career will suffer.

If the line have only one or two breaks and is good the rest of the way, find the cause of the breaks in the usual manner. If the line be continuously broken, it shows extreme delicacy of the stomach, and has the same effect as a laddered line.

The more the line be broken, the more continuous will be the succession of illnesses, and such a line will show a subject to be in a continual state of dyspepsia. Such a subject will have many headaches, and will have to use constant care not to disturb his digestion. With broken lines repair signs may be seen and squares will be most beneficial.

If a serious break be seen in the Mercury line surrounded by a square (510), a danger to the life of the subject has been averted. The cause of the trouble may come from several directions. You may be able to locate it by a defect in the Head line, or find health defects on the Mounts, or serious delicacy or danger to life in the Life line, all of which should he brought to bear upon the repaired break as a location of the cause for it.

Sister lines are useful in repairing breaks, and all markings which help to continue the Current in the line must be considered as benefiting the broken condition just that much.

If the Mercury line runs deep onto the Mount of Mercury and branches rise from it (511), the subject will have excellent health and great success in business.

If from a deep line branches droop downward, the subject will succeed, but will have to work harder to accomplish these results (512). If a branch leave a strong Mercury line and run to the Mount of Jupiter, the subject will be successful in business, aided by his ambition and his ability to lead and control men.

If a star be seen on the Mount of Jupiter influential acquaintances and friends will greatly assist him (513).

If a branch rise to the Mount of Saturn (514) the subject, aided by soberness, wisdom, frugality, carefulness, and because he looks on the dark as well as the bright side in undertakings, will be successful in business. This is a good marking for a banker.

If a branch from a strong Mercury line rise to the Mount of Apollo (515) the subject, owing to great shrewdness and business ability, aided by brilliant mind and agreeable manners, will be most successful. This is an ideal marking for a merchant. The long Mercury line in these cases will show that this type will lead and the branch lines show which type will aid him.

In all these instances place the subject in his proper world by the phalanges of his Mercury finger. If he have the third world strongest he will have business success. If the second be strongest he will have success in the scientific or professional world. If the first phalanx be strongest he will succeed as an orator or writer, and this latter indication will be increased if a branch from the upper third of the Mount of Moon merges into the Mercury line (516).

A branch from the Mercury line rising and merging into the Head line (517) will indicate success due to the subject’s mental powers.

Such persons will be best adapted to literary or scientific careers, especially if the Head line be deep and strong. Note here the formation of a triangle, which, in this position, always indicates mental brilliancy and power.

The termination of the Mercury line will indicate the general outcome of the career of the subject, as regards the health qualities of the line and the success of the subject in the directions peculiar to the Mercurian type.

The Mount of Mercury has so many markings that some of them may be confused with the termination of the Mercury line if care be not observed. If the line ends on the Mount, the lines of Affection may cross it (518).

If there are a number of these lines, one of which is deep and cuts the Mercury line sharply, there will be one affection which will be a bar to the best interests of the subject.

If the Mercury line ends in a bar or a cross (519) the career of the subject will be hampered, and if the type of hand be bad, with crooked fingers, and the Heart line thin or absent, the deceitful or tricky qualities of a bad Mercurian will cause the lack of success.

If a grille terminates the line, even worse ill-success is indicated, resulting from either poor health or dishonesty. If with this marking a dot be seen on the Mount of Apollo, the subject will lose his reputation.

If the line terminates in a star (520) the career will be successful in the world indicated by’the phalanges of the fingers, and if the lines of Apollo and Saturn be present and good, this indication will be strengthened.

If the Mercury line terminates in a fork (521) the subject will divide his energy among several talents, and will not achieve as great success as would be possible by concentration. If the line terminates in a tassel the efforts will be so scattered that no great success can be achieved. If the Mercury line has a star at the point where it crosses the Head line it is, in a woman’s hand, an indication of serious female trouble.

In the hand of a man it indicates, if on a good line, an added brilliancy, and if on a defective line, danger of serious brain trouble, even insanity. If in the woman’s hand the lower third of the Mount of Moon be grilled or cross-barred (522), the female weakness will be very serious.

Such subjects will have great difficulty in child-bearing, and with a Life line which runs close to the thumb and restricts the Mount of Venus, they will probably be childless. This is valuable as a pre-roarriage indication. Whenever this marking is found the woman is nervous and highly strung. She will at times become depressed, and then recover her cheerfulness, alternating between exaltation and despair.

These subjects should receive the greatest care, and ought always to be the recipients of very tender treatment They often magnify or even imagine ills, but they suffer just as much as if these were real. Hysteria and hypochondria are often thus indicated, and pronounced mental unbalancing frequently occurs.

If the star should not be exactly on the line it still gives the same indication. The combinations of the indications contained in this chapter are innumerable, but the general principles governing them are always the same.

If a good Mercury line shows defects it is not so bad an indication as when a defective line has these same flaws. If a wavy line be also full of islands it is a worse condition than when a straight deep line has them. Often there are two different defects seen in a line, and each will refer to a different cause. These can both be found in the usual manner. The Mercury line should be used continually in connection with the Life, Head, Heart, and Apollo lines, and the type of each subject should never be overlooked.

The value of the line is largely its use in combination, and especially is this true with the Life and Head lines. Health and brains are essential to successful lives, and the Mercury line, in connection with the Life and Head lines, will always enable one absolutely to estimate these elements.

By keeping in mind for what the line stands, what each change in its character and each defect means, and by following the line from source to termination, noting every change and working out its meaning, the Mercury line will yield a fund of confirmatory evidence which will sustain the testimony given by other lines and signs, and enable you more completely to understand your client.