Years ago, I saw a cartoon of a gypsy traveling on a train. While the people around her read books, she was busy reading her hand. Amusing as that cartoon was, I must confess that from time to time I like to study my own hand. I'm continually amazed by the way that the lines are constantly changing, reflecting things that have happened or are currently happening in my life.

About ten years ago, when I was traveling overseas, my plane ticket was stolen in an Eastern Block country. That night I had a tormented night of sleep. The next morning I looked at my hand and was surprised to see that during the night there had been a significant change to a travel line. This change reflected exactly what would now transpire due to the ticket being stolen. In this case, the event (the theft of the ticket) preceded the change on my hand. However, marks on the hand also warn of events that will occur in the future.

The most significant lines on the palm are the heart, head, life, fate and Apollo lines. Important changes in a life can be gleaned from the presence or absence of any of these lines; from their trajectory; breaks and markings thereon and their depth, width and color.

A palmist will find that the two questions everyone seems to ask are 'how long will I live?' and 'will I win the lottery?'. Can the answers to these questions be seen on the lines of the hand?

One would expect that the life line would be the best indicator of the length of life. I once heard an interesting story. A man had examined his young son's hand and noticed that he had a very short life line. This worried the father greatly and his fears were confirmed when his son drowned at the age of seven. As tragic as this event was, the man was somehow comforted by the belief that his son had been destined to live a short life.

On the other hand, another man with a very long life line was admitted to hospital with a serious illness. His wife studied his hand both on his entry to hospital and during his stay, and noticed that the life line actually shrank during this period of time. The man died soon after at a quite young age.

So, even a long life line is not a guarantee of longevity. If we are blessed with 'good' lines on our hands then poor lifestyle can undermine them, just as poor lifestyle can undermine good genetics. It does help though, to have a strong life line. This would be a line that is robust in appearance with no breaks and a consistent strength throughout its entirety.

One person's life line was extremely robust in appearance until the age of sixty. After that time the line became stringy and pale. It transpired that the owner of the hand had indeed enjoyed good health until the age of sixty. However, after that age he found his health failing and now, at the age of sixty five, he felt that he had no energy and that everything he did exhausted him.

When islands appear on the life line they indicate a weakening of the life force. At the point where the island appears, the life force could be diminished in some way. For example, a friend of mine has a life line that has so many islands on it, the life line looks like a chain. Coincidentally or not, during her life she has suffered from many illnesses, some extremely serious.

Is it possible to forsee a lottery win on the life line?

A friend of mine examined the hand of a man who had won the lottery. At the exact point of time of the lottery win an island appeared on his life line. She was surprised by this sign and she told the man that rather than seeing good signs on his hand indicating a joyful win, all she could see was a bad marking. He sighed and agreed with her. Apparently from the moment he'd won the money he'd had nothing but misery. Everyone knew of his win and he was constantly being bombarded with demands from family and friends asking for money.

Part two of 'Your Fate in Your Hands' will discuss other lines on the palm.