Marilyn Monroe’s Palm Reading

“November 1954, Beverly Hills, California, USA — Marilyn Monroe has her palm read by Hassan, the fortune teller, at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The Swami said that the tell-tale lines indicated that Marilyn is passionate and will have two children. Hassan also said that Marilyn is an excellent sailor, though Marilyn commented that she gets seasick just by looking at water.”

Let’s have a closer look.

As it turns out, Hassan was an actor. He made 12 movies. Here’s his IMDb page.

And finally, here’s Hassan’s hotel card, from an auction on ebay. The same listing also appears on abebooks.

I love the last line on the card: “Your courteous waiter will summon Hassan to you at your convenience.”

A Show of Hands

Someday, I’d like to master the art of palmistry. In the meantime, I’m fascinated by this blog by Alissa Hall.

Secrets Within Celebrity’s Palms

Gordon Ramsay

“Shut it down!” It’s Gordon Ramsay’s tag line, and any fan knows Ramsay is as choleric as they come. So, you’d expect to see a Fire hand, or a Water hand to denote his emotionalism, or maybe even an Earth hand since he’s a chef (like Emeril’s)?

I thought so too, until a good look at Gordon’s hands shows him to be none of the above. He’s an Air hand.

Incongruous, yes, but true!

Air hands are the intellectuals in our society, the ones who are happy to put their nose in a book, or simply to be left alone to study the subjects that tickle their fancy. With Gordon’s rough-and-tumble childhood, he hardly seems the type to seclude himself in the rarified air of higher learning, but Air hands are also known to be self-studiers. Perhaps it was his innately intellectual nature that took hold of Gordon years ago when he left “football” to study culinary arts.

Read more at Alissa’s site.

Palms Up

I’ve been trying my hand at palmistry over the last few weeks, and so far, the best book I’ve found for mastering the art has been Palms Up by Sheila Lyon and Mark Sherman.

The two specialize in palm reading for big clients like Microsoft and Starbucks. They play the party circuit, and they’re good at it.

But they’re equally good at sharing the wealth.

The whole book reads as though they’re actually at a party, bantering away with the reader. It’s like sitting down with two palmistry teachers who can simply talk you through the whole palm-reading process. Lyon and Sherman start with the basics — like the length of the fingers, and the position of the thumb — and work their way all the way to squares, triangles, and other special markings on the palm.

It’s an easy read, but it’s surprisingly packed with information.

It’s also modern. While Lyon and Sherman refer to some of the archaic language of most palmistry books, they concentrate on bringing those historic concepts into the 21st century.

They focus on the positive aspects of palm reading — not the gloom and doom associations that many people fear.

What’s more, they also offer a wide range of conversation starters and catch phrases that beginning palmists can incorporate into their readings.

I’ve read the book twice already, once for fun, and once to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Now I’m on my third reading, so I can commit most of their techniques to memory.

If you’ve ever thought about trying your hand at palmistry, this is the book you need to read.

Show me your hands

So many people have asked me if I read palms that I’ve decided to learn a little palmistry.

Until now, I’ve always thought that palm reading was too complicated and too time-consuming to learn, especially without a teacher. But then again, I learned how to read tarot cards, and they seemed complicated and time-consuming at first, too.

Over the past few days, I’ve been poring over palmistry and hand-reading books … and now I’m kind of itching to see some real hands.

If you wouldn’t mind letting me practice on you, email me a full-size, high-resolution scan or a digital photo of your hands. You can scan both of your hands, if you like, and let me know if you’re right- or left-handed. If you send just one image, make it your dominant hand.

Try to make sure your whole hand shows, including your wrist and thumb, and that all of the lines and creases are visible. If you use a scanner, don’t press down too hard; I’ll want to see the natural curves and contours of your palm.

The hand in the photo, above, belongs to Phyllis, who works with my sister Claudine. She sent an excellent scan of her hand. She even added her name! (That was a nice touch, but don’t feel obligated to compete with Phyllis. I think she’s a graphic designer.)

I’ll post what I see here on my blog. Sadly, I can’t promise to be fast, because I’m still looking everything up in books … but I’ll do my best.