The Grammar of Hand Analysis

Every hand has a Delicious Dilemma. Find it and you are at the core of your reading.” – Richard Unger

Every language has an essential grammar, that you can ignore at your peril, including the language of hands. These are rules that you need to know, or you risk saying completely the wrong thing or miss vitial information. For example, when I first started learning German, I made the mistake of learning a large vocabulary of nouns without learning their associated article (die, der, das, dem, den). English has only one article, namely “the”, so I didn’t think that these little articles were that important.
Result: I made the mastery of German an impossible task for myself. German is incredibly precise. I couldn’t figure out how mother tongue German speakers instinctively knew which article to use and why I was always getting them wrong. It was only when I learnt the Swiss nickname for a toy doll as “Babelli” and then heard the kids saying “s’Babelli” that I realized, even in the colloquial dialects, Swiss kids were always learning the article “das” shortened to “s’-” as part of the word. To learn one without the other (like I did) is like learning only half of each word. Naturally you are never going to be fluent if you do that, no matter how huge your vocabulary.

Learning to decipher the language of hands is a lot like learning a language. We can figure out a lot intuitively when we know the meaning of some markings that we keep seeing again and again and if we make constant attempts to keep practicing and get feedback. However we can speed up our fluency and really master the language when we actively learn its grammar.

Why am I telling you this?

The same applies to hand analysis. Look for the “delicious dilemmas” in a hand. (Abbreviated here to DD.) As soon as you find the “delicious dilemma” DD you have the key to understanding the person.

What are delicious dilemmas?
These are opposing strengths or inclinations, indicating an “inner tension” – in what way a person feels torn or conflicted.

The beauty and power of hand analysis is that these inner DDs are clearly visible in the hand and having these pointed out to you in your hand gives you a clearer understanding of yourself thereby enabling you to make conscious healthy choices about which strength to play instead of unconscious “not-always-in-one’s-best-interest” choices.

What I am suggesting is that, just like the articles (die,das ,dem) in any language, if you learn the associated DDs right up front, each time you learn the meaning of a new marker, this could shave decades off your learning curve in fluency and proficiency in hand analysis.

An example of a delicious Dilemma?
A long Pinkie finger with a very curved fiery heart line. The heart line (marked in red here) curves up towards the middle finger.
What does this mean? Long Mercury – is aware of consequences (strategic) and there is a danger that this strength short circuits the heart line type’s need to be fiery (spontaneous, passionate, not worried about consequences.)

Here’s the list of “Delicious Dilemmas” to look for. Usually one, but sometimes more than one, dominates each hand.

Where are the contradictions? This should be one of your first questions with every set of hands you encounter.

“Me first” orientated versus “You first” orientated
Do vs. Be (outer world orientated vs inner world orientated; introspection vs action; process orientated vs outcome orientated)
Hide vs. Be Seen (For example, Sensitivity to criticism vs Need to be seen)
Needing Freedom vs. needing Control (there could be numerous variations, for example: strategic or concerned about outcomes vs. impulsive)
Extrovert vs. Introvert
Outer world vs. inner world orientated
Superficial vs. Depth
Family orientated vs. Independent
Creative vs. Conservative
Abstract vs. Concrete (e.g. Philosopher / Large Knuckles / Big Uppers vs Earthy, etc.)
Analytic vs intuitive
objective vs subjective
Energetic vs. Lethargic (e.g. soft hands vs wow marker or Simian line)
Grounded vs. ungrounded
Structured vs. unstructured
Timid vs. Courageous
Ambitious vs. unambitious
and so on..
(As you can see, unlike English with one article or German with 3-5 articles, hand analysis is more like some African languages that have 13 or more noun classes.)

How to spot a delicious dilemma?

Look for contradictions in the hand. As soon at you spot a key marker in the hand, look to see if there are any markers indicating contradictory qualities.

Here’s an example:
If you see a freedom indicator, look to see if you can spot any control markers. (This doesn’t mean there will be any. But it is worth checking).
Examples of freedom indicators:
Bohemian spread, free bird, independent headline, Gina heart line, spatulate tips, wide explorer fork on line line, via lascivia.
whereas the following Markers are all examples of control indicators:
straight thumb, knuckles, tight lower zones, nice garden syndrome (fingers evenly spaced and all zones equal size), square tips, high set Jupiter, head line and heart line joined, D fork on heart line.

If the hand has one or more from both categories this indicates that this particular Delicious Dilemma (freedom vs control) is present.

So now your homework. Go through all the markers you already know and see if you can categorize them into the above polarities.
For example, some heart line types are “me orientated” and other heart line types are “you orientated”.

Big hearted “Donna” (nurturing) heart line types are built play a supportive role ( “you first” orientated) but what if they also have gift markers that they need to live? (Require them to be “me first” orientated)? This in itself is an automatic Delicious Dilemma, says Unger.
*(for more on other heart line types see note 1 at end of post.)

Do this exercise for all markers, shapes and fingerprint combinations in future. And look at your own hands and see if you can identify one or more Delicious Dilemmas. (As soon as you spot one clear characteristic look to see if any characteristics that conflict with this characteristic are also present)
Notice how this brings clarity to your readings and also your own personal understanding of yourself through recognition of your own Delicious Dilemmas.

Some hand shape types have within them a built in Delicious Dilemma or multiple DDs and so too with some fingerprint combinations. (For example, the Fire + dominant Saturn hand shape type (Hephasteus) is especially conflicted with several DDs at play: action vs introspection and extrovert vs introvert, public vs private, precision and discipline vs creative excess…)
So too with some fingerprint combinations eg. Public Impact in the Healing Arts (inner vs outer orientated DD)

Purchase a class on Delicious Dilemmas here.


Where to get more info on this?
read another post on delicious dilemmas here
Learn to analyze hands professionally, e forthcoming courses here.


***
note 1: Heart lines ending under the middle finger (reserved types and also passionate fiery types) are more “me orientated” and those with a longer heart line, ending under the index finger ( big hearted nurturer types and also rational and romantic idealists are more “you orientated”.

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