Sunday, August 18, 2013

Jewish palm reading

ERIC KWAKKEL: Medieval palm reading.

This image with Hebrew annotations is from the 13th century, but Jewish chiromancy (palm reading) is considerably older, and Jewish physiognomy (determining character by a person's physical characteristics) goes all the way back to the Qumran Library. See the Jewish Virtual Library article linked to in Kwakkel's post. I also discuss these matters in my article The Hekhalot Literature and Shamanism and at greater length in chapter 3 of my book Descenders to the Chariot: The People Behind the Hekhalot Literature.