The Equinox (Volume I, Number X)

THE EQUINOX handle. The subtlest hands seize and handle best; hard and strong hands hold longer. Even the lightest wrinkles bear witness to the habitual sensations of the organ. Each finger has, besides, a special function from which it takes its name. We have already spoken of the thumb; the index is the finger which points out, it is that of the word and of prophecy; the medius dominates the whole hand, it is that of destiny; the ring-finger is that of alliances and of honours: chiromancers have consecrated it to the sun; the little finger is insinuating and talkative, at least, so say simple folk and nursemaids, whose little finger tells them so much. The hand has seven protuber- ances which the qabalists, following natural analogies, have attributed to the seven planets: that of the thumb, to Venus ; that of the index, to Jupiter; that of the medius, to Saturn; that of the ring-finger, to the Sun; that of the little finger, to Mercury; the two others to Mars and to the Moon. Accord- ing to their form and their predominance, they judged the inclinations, the aptitudes, and consequently the probable destinies of the individuals who submitted themselves to their judgment. There is no vice which does not leave its trace, no virtue which has not its sign. Thus, for the trained eyes of the observer, no hypocrisy is possible. One will understand that such a science is already a power indeed sacerdotal and royal. The prediction of the principal events of life is already possible by means of the numerous analogical probabilities of this observation : but there exists a faculty called that of pre- sentiments or sensitivism. Events exist often in their causes before realizing themselves in action; sensitives see in advance 212