Palm Reading
Photograph your palm and see the palm-reading tradition's lines explained. The meaning of the life, heart and head lines — AI-powered palm reading.
Palmistry reads the lines and mounts of the hand. The life line, heart line and head line are its three main paths; their depth, length and crossings each carry traditional meaning.
bakfal examines the photo of your palm, recognises the lines and explains what each of them traditionally represents, in plain language.
How it works
- Open your handUse your dominant hand. Spread your fingers slightly so the whole palm shows.
- Take a photoShoot in natural light with the palm filling the frame, free of shadow.
- Read your linesYour life, heart and head lines are each interpreted in turn.
What it reveals
- Life line — an energy and resilience theme
- Heart line — an emotional-world theme
- Head line — a thinking-style theme
- Fate line — a career and direction theme
- Where the lines cross, and the turning points they mark
Frequently asked questions
Which hand should I show?
Your dominant hand — the one you write with. Traditional reading treats the dominant hand as the one reflecting your present.
How should the photo look?
The whole palm should be visible with even light. If the fingers are clenched, the lines cannot be read.
Is palm reading free?
The app's daily use credit covers palm reading too; additional use is optional.
Is my photo kept?
No — it is deleted after the reading. No photograph is ever stored on the server.
History and origin of palm reading
- Origin
- Unknown; it may have begun in India. It was known in China, Tibet, Persia, Mesopotamia and Egypt and developed in ancient Greece.
- When
- Antiquity. The oldest palmistry text in Europe dates from about 1160.
- In the Ottoman world
- Drawing conclusions from the palm was called “ilm-i kef”; it is related to the kıyâfetnâme (physiognomy) tradition.
- How it is done
- The main lines (life, head, heart) and the mounts on the palm of the dominant hand are examined.
According to Britannica, palmistry may have begun in India; it was known in China, Tibet, Persia, Mesopotamia and Egypt and developed in ancient Greece. In the Indian tradition, palm reading is part of Samudrika Shastra, which interprets the marks of the body; one of the oldest major works in this field dates from the 12th century.
In his History of Animals, Aristotle writes that the lines of the palm differ between long-lived and short-lived people; however, the palmistry books attributed to him in the Middle Ages were not actually his. The oldest known palmistry text in Europe is in the Eadwine Psalter, written in England around 1160, and it describes the three main lines of the palm.
In Islamic and Ottoman culture, drawing conclusions from the palm was called “ilm-i kef”; it is related to the firâset and kıyâfetnâme tradition, which tried to read character from a person's outward appearance. In the 19th century, La Chirognomie by the Frenchman d'Arpentigny and the books of the Irishman William John Warner (1866–1936), who called himself “Cheiro”, made palmistry popular again in the West.
Where did palm reading originate?
It is not known exactly. The most common view is that it began in India, was also known in China, Persia and Egypt, and developed in ancient Greece.
When did palm reading begin?
It has been known since antiquity: Aristotle mentions the lines of the palm in the 4th century BC. The oldest palmistry text in Europe dates from the 12th century.
Sources
This section describes the cultural history of the practice; no fortune-telling method foretells the future. Origins of all types of fortune telling →
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