What matter if the words be said,
The license paid—they are not wed;
Unless love link each heart to heart,
’Twere better keep those lives apart.
Cheiro.
Of the many books that have been written on cheiromancy, I am sorry to say that almost all have ignored or have barely noticed this naturally interesting and important point. I will therefore endeavor to give as many details as possible in connection with this side of the study.
What is known as the line or lines of marriage, as the case may be, is that mark or marks on the Mount of Mercury as shown by Plate XIII. It must be first stated, and stated clearly, that the hand does not recognize the mere fact of a ceremony, be it civil or religious—it merely registers the influence of different people over our lives, what kind of influence they have had, the effect produced, and all that is in accordance with such influence. Now, marriage being so important an event in one’s life, it follows that, if events can be foretold by the hand, marriage should certainly be marked, even years in advance, and I have always found that such is the case in respect to all important influences; and it is also natural that affaires de cœur, liaisons, and so on, can thus be singled out and divided from what is known as marriage, except when the liaison is just as important and the influence on the life just as strong. Why there should be a time set apart in one’s life to marry, or not to marry, as the case may be, can only be answered by referring to the other mysteries that surround us. If any one can explain why a permanent magnet brought into an ordinary room has the power to magnetize every other bit of iron in the room, what that power is, and what the connection p. 115 is, then he may be able to answer the question; but until all the secret laws and forces of nature are known, we can take no other standpoint than to accept these strange anomalies without having the power to answer the cry of the curious, the perpetual, parrot-like “Why?” of the doubting. The only theory I advance is that, as the press of the finger on the telegraph keyboard in New York at the same moment affects the keyboard in London, so by the medium of the ether, which is more subtle than electricity, are all persons unconsciously in touch with and in communion with one another.
In studying this point of the subject, I wish to impress upon the student that what are known as the lines of marriage must be balanced by marks on other portions of the hand, as I have shown by the influences by the side of the line of fate (Part II., Chapter XI.), and by the lines of influence by the side of the line of life (Part II., Chapter V.).
We will now proceed with the marks in connection with these lines of marriage on the Mount of Mercury.
The line or lines of marriage may rise on the side of the hand or be only marked across the front of the Mount of Mercury.
Only the long lines relate to marriages (g, Plate XVIII.); the short ones to deep affection or marriage contemplated (h, Plate XVIII.). On the line of life or fate, if it be marriage, we will find it corroborated and information given as to the change in life, position, and so on. From the position of the marriage-line on the Mount of Mercury a very fair idea of the age at the time of marriage may also be obtained.
When the important line is found lying close to the line of heart, the union will be early, about fourteen to twenty-one; near the center of the mount, about twenty-one to twenty-eight; three quarters up the mount, twenty-eight to thirty-five; and so on. But the line of fate or the line of life will be more accurate, by giving almost the exact date of the change or influence.
A wealthy union is shown by a strong, well-marked line from the side of the line of fate next Luna (h-h, Plate XX.), running up and joining the line of fate, when the marriage-line on Mercury is also well marked.
When, however, the line of influence rises first straight on the Mount of p. 116 Luna and then runs up and into the fate-line, the marriage will be more the capricious fancy than real affection.
When the line of influence is stronger than the subject’s line of fate, then the person the subject marries will have greater power and more individuality than the subject.
The happiest mark of marriage on the line of fate is when the influence-line lies close to the fate-line and runs evenly with it (l-l, Plate XX.).
The line of marriage on the Mount of Mercury should be straight, without breaks, crosses, or irregularities of any kind.
When it curves or drops downward toward the line of heart, it foretells that the person with whom the subject is married will die first (j, Plate XX.).
When the line curves upward, the possessor is not likely to marry at any time.
When the line of marriage is distinct, but with fine hair-lines dropping from it toward the line of heart, it foretells trouble brought on by the illness and bad health of the person the subject marries.
When the line droops with a small cross over the curve, the person the subject is married to will die by accident or sudden death; but when there is a long, gradual curve, gradual ill health will cause the end.
When the line has an island in the center or at any portion, it denotes some very great trouble in married life, and a separation while the island lasts.
When the line divides at the end into a drooping fork sloping toward the center of the hand, it tells of divorce or a judicial separation (j, Plate XIX.). This is all the more certain if a fine line cross from it to the Plain of Mars (k-k, Plate XIX.).
When the line is full of little islands and drooping lines, the subject should be warned not to marry. Such a mark is a sign of the greatest unhappiness.
When full of little islands and forked, it is again a sign of unhappiness in marriage.
When the line breaks in two, it denotes a sudden break in the married life.
When the line of marriage sends an offshoot on to the Mount of Sun p. 117 and into the line of sun, it tells that its possessor will marry some one of distinction, and generally a person in some way famous.
When, on the contrary, it goes down toward and cuts the line of sun, the person on whose hand it appears will lose position through marriage (i-i, Plate XXI.).
When a deep line from the top of the mount grows downward and cuts the line of marriage, there will be a great obstacle and opposition to such marriage (i, Plate XVIII.).
When there is a fine line running parallel with and almost touching the marriage-line, it tells of some deep affection after marriage on the side of the person on whose hand it appears.
It is not within my province in this work on palmistry to go deeply into my opinions as to the laws relating to marriage, or to marriages as entered into by men and women of the present day. It is almost incredible what men and women have told me during the pursuit of this study. They generally say, “You have read so much, you may as well now know all,” and so they unravel the greatest secrets of their hearts. The palmist’s lips are sealed, as are those of the father confessor, but if he did speak he would tell that half the smiling faces are but masks of gaiety to hide hearts of woe, that half the so-called truths are falsehoods cloaked, that half the vows are mockeries, and that the greatest mockery of all is, alas! too often, that so-called ceremony of marriage. The Protestant Church allows its children to be divorced if the marriage has turned out unsuitable, and yet the last words dinned into the ears of the bride and bridegroom are, “Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” The Catholic Church, equally inconsistent, will not even allow the wretched pair to divorce and marry again unless on certain special occasions through the “mediation of the pope,” and on the other hand the divorce courts pour back into the coffers of the state that which is in reality the blood-money of its citizens. How long, how long will this lip-service dethrone and crush the service of the heart? How long will this slavery of custom degrade and destroy the better nature, making men brutes and women beasts of burden? How long must men and women exist and live together because they have not the money to buy their freedom, or because of their dread of that torture-chamber of divorce? Men who were noble once, women who were p. 118 queens of truth and souls of honor—how often do we see them, the husband hating the wife, the wife fearing the husband, and outside of all and seeing all, like the spectators in the arena, are the pale faces of the children, the reincarnated ghosts of buried faith, edging closer and closer to the scene, fearing too much, loving too little, wrapping around them, closer than their very garments, the cloak of parents’ shame, going out into the world to deceive as mother did, to drink as father did—going out into the world to do likewise.
Let men and women, once and for all, read nature more and fiction less; let them study one another as they do the art of flattery or of costume. Let them marry, but if they make mistakes, give them a chance of redeeming those mistakes; give them children, but teach them to be responsible to those children; preach not goodness for the sake of gain, but goodness for the sake of good; honor for honor’s sake, truth for truth’s. And lastly, give them pride, not in self—for they are servants—but in that part of life in which they serve, that as they be sons of humanity and daughters of the world, so may they live as helpers of the world. And so may they be till the end draws nigh, till the task is done, till the universe is finished, till the destiny is spun.