A Most Dangerous Science
What’s in a hand? If you’re a believer in chiromancy, everything. In this episode, we encounter Oscar Wilde, Carl Jung, and even Adolf Hitler, as we explore the history of palm reading in modern Europe.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben, with original music by Purple Planet.
Still curious? Check out Alexandra H.M. Nagel's recent article, "From Chiromancy to Psychochirology: The Modern Transformation of a Mantic Art," Aries 21, No. 2 (2021): 246–270.
Music
Purple Planet - Emotional Wilderness
Purple Planet - Heavenly Waters
Purple Planet - Ethereal Eternity
Purple Planet - Spiritual Moment
Purple Planet - Shadowlands
Sources
Primary
Aristotle. The History of Animals. Translated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson. Book I. MIT Internet Classics Archive.
Heron-Allen, Edward. “The Cheiromancy of To-Day.” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine (July 1890).
Heron-Allen, Edward. A Manual of Cheirosophy. London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1885.
Wilde, Oscar. Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories. London: Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1891.
Secondary
Nagel, Alexandra. “Jung, Julius Spier, and Palmistry.” Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche 14. No. 1 (2020): 65–81.
Navarre, Joan. “Oscar Wilde, Edward Heron-Allen, and the Palmistry Craze of the 1880s.” English Literature in Transition, 1880–1920 54. No. 2 (2011): 174–184.
Pack, Roger A. “Aristotle's Chiromantic Principle and Its Influence.” Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-2014) 108 (1978): 121–130.
Perkins, Maureen. The Reform of Time: Magic and Modernity. London: Pluto Press, 2001.
Thorndike, Lynn. “Chiromancy in Mediaeval Latin Manuscripts.” Speculum 40. No. 4 (Oct. 1965): 674–706.
