Editing Palmistry (section)

===Ancient palmistry===
Palmistry is a practice common to many different places on the [[Eurasia]]n landmass;<ref name=Dwivedi16>{{harvnb|Dwivedi|1970|pp= 16–20}}</ref> it has been practiced in the cultures of Sumer, Babylonia, Arabia, Canaan, Persia, [[India]], Nepal, Tibet and China.

The [[acupuncturist]] Yoshiaki Omura describes its roots in [[Hindu astrology]] (known in [[Sanskrit]] as ''[[jyotish]]''), [[China|Chinese]] ''[[Yijing]]'' (''I Ching''), and [[Romani people|Roma]] [[fortune telling|fortune tellers]].<ref name="omura173">{{harvnb|Omura|2003|pp= 172–174}} According to this theory, palmistry developed in India and then extended across the world.</ref> Several thousand years ago, the Hindu sage [[Valmiki]] is thought<ref name=Dwivedi25>{{harvnb|Dwivedi|1970|pp= 25–26}}</ref>{{BSN|date=January 2021}} to have written a book comprising 567 stanzas, the title of which translates in English as ''The Teachings of Valmiki Maharishi on Male Palmistry''.<ref name=Dwivedi25 /><ref name=hari95>{{harvnb|Sharma|1995|p=95}}</ref> Since ancient times, palmistry is considered to be a branch of Samudrika Shastra ([[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]]: सामुद्रिक शास्त्र) which included the studies of marks all over a person's body such as [[astrology]] and palmistry (''Hast-samudrika''), as well as [[phrenology]] (''kapal-samudrik'') and face reading ([[physiognomy]], ''mukh-samudrik'').<ref>{{Cite book |title=Modern Asian Studies Volume 41 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |pages=504 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Robert Svoboda & Hart De Fouw - Light On Life |publisher=Lotus Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-940985-69-1 |pages=14 |language=English}}</ref> From India, the art of palmistry spread to China, [[Tibet]] and to other countries in [[Europe]].<ref name="omura173"/><ref name="chinn24">{{harvnb|Chinn|2000|p=24}}: "It was not until the mid- to late nineteenth century that palmreading took off in Britain, France and the United States thanks to three major figures: Casimir Stanislas d'Arpentigny, Edward Heron-Allen and Cheiro."</ref>

Palmistry also progressed independently in [[Greece]] where [[Anaxagoras]] practiced it.<ref name="omura173"/> [[Aristotle]] (384–322 B.C.E.) reportedly discovered a treatise on the subject of palmistry on an altar of [[Hermes]], which he then presented to [[Alexander the Great]] (356–323 B.C.E.), who took great interest in examining the character of his officers by analyzing the lines on their hands.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Benham|first=William George|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qjCskHHrLMgC|title=The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading: A Practical Treatise on the Art Commonly Called Palmistry|date=1900|publisher=Putnam|language=en}}</ref> A chapter of a 17th-century [[Aristotle's Masterpiece|sex manual]], misattributed to Aristotle, is occasionally incorrectly cited as being the treatise in question. The text is not contained in his [[Corpus Aristotelicum|canonical works]].

[[File:ObidosDestin.jpg|thumb|The infant [[Jesus]] having his fortune told whilst sitting on the lap of the [[Madonna (art)|Madonna]] by [[Josefa de Óbidos]] (1667)]]
In [[Renaissance magic]], palmistry (known as "chiromancy") was classified as one of the seven "forbidden arts", along with [[necromancy]], [[geomancy]], [[aeromancy]], [[pyromancy]], [[hydromancy]], and spatulamancy ([[scapulimancy]]).<ref>[[Johannes Hartlieb]] (Munich, 1456) ''The Book of All Forbidden Arts''; quoted in Láng, p. 124.</ref> During the [[16th century]] the art of palmistry was actively suppressed by the [[Catholic Church]]. Both [[Pope Paul IV]] and [[Pope Sixtus V]] issued papal edicts against various forms of divination, including palmistry.<ref name="Byrne">{{cite web |last1=Byrne |first1=Laura |title=Palm Reading |url=http://1000things.org/en/article/palm-reading |website=1000 Things |publisher=Royal Academy of Fine Art in The Hague |access-date=10 November 2020 |date=8 October 2013}}</ref>