From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA reading of bodily and natural forms extending beyond the hand.
- In the bookPhysiognomy and Signatures-related vocabulary offer useful comparisons for interpreting outward form.
- A place to readThe 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
- ChiromancyRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- PhysiognomyAn art of reading character from the face.
- Formæ rerumForms explained through received celestial influences or active virtues.
Source note
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