Chiromancy

Spirits celestial influences and signs · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A reading of bodily and natural forms extending beyond the hand.

In the book. Physiognomy and Signatures-related vocabulary offer useful comparisons for interpreting outward form.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 15; facsimile PDF page 343.

Historical Definition

Chiromancy, according to Paracelsus, concerns not only the lineaments of the hands but the whole body, and not only human beings but all natural things besides.

Meaning

The definition is built around two expansions of scope. First, it moves from the hands to the whole body. Second, it moves from human beings to natural things generally. Both qualifications are attributed to Paracelsus. Reducing the term simply to hand-reading would therefore omit the very features this entry emphasizes.

The lineaments remain the starting example, but they no longer delimit the field. In a passage about a plant, stone or other natural thing, the term may concern the reading of its form or signs within this broader historical account. The definition does not provide a method for every such reading or establish that its conclusions were correct.

Use in the Book

Physiognomy and Signatures-related vocabulary offer useful comparisons for interpreting outward form. The link is thematic: the present entry specifically describes the enlarged reach of Chiromancy. It should not be treated as proof that all neighbouring arts had identical subjects, procedures or authority.

Places to Read

Physiognomy. An art of reading character from the face.

Formæ rerum. Forms explained through received celestial influences or active virtues.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 15; facsimile PDF page 343 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Chiromancy ; compare Physiognomy, Formæ rerum

See also. Physiognomy; Formæ rerum