ONYCHOMANCY
What is Nail Reading (Onychomancy)?
Nail reading is a form of divination that interprets a person’s character, health tendencies, and financial fortune from the shape, color, and marks of the nails. This service bases its judgments on the nail classification system found in classic palmistry texts developed in Europe from the late 19th century onward.
Overview
- System
- Form Reading (read from the shape, color, and marks of the nails)
- Origin
- Europe
- What You Need
- Answers to questions about the shape, color, and marks of the nails
- Best For
- Life and money
- Time Frame
- Days ahead and life as a whole
Origins & History
The term “onychomancy” is said to have originally referred to a form of scrying in which light was shone on a polished nail surface and the resulting image was read—a different origin from the technique used in this service, which reads character from the shape and color of the nails.
The idea of reading character and health from the shape, color, and texture of the nails appears alongside the lines of the palm in classic palmistry texts (such as those published by Cheiro and others in the 1890s–1900s) that became popular in Europe from the late 19th to early 20th century. This service is implemented based on the nail classification system (correspondences between shape type and color/texture) found in these classic palmistry texts.
How It Works
- 01Answer questions about the shape of the nail (square, oval, fan-shaped, etc.), its color, and whether marks are present.
- 02The answers are checked against the nail classification system found in classic palmistry texts.
- 03Tendencies in character, health, and financial fortune are read from the combination of shape type and color/texture.
What It Reveals
Nail reading is well suited to casually reading innate personality tendencies and the current state of one’s health and finances. However, the color and shape of the nails can change readily with health condition and lifestyle, and the classical meaning of the term “onychomancy” originally referred to a different technique, so the readings in this service should be regarded as a reference based on classic palmistry texts.
Related Methods
References
- Cheiro's Language of the Hand (https://archive.org/details/cheiroslanguageo00hamo)
- Wikipedia: Palmistry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmistry)