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"Don't complain, this means we've finished palmistry. I was getting sick of her flinching every time she looked at my hands."
Harry Potter to Ron Weasley[src]
Palmistry HM Icon

The practice of Palmistry

Palmistry was the art of predicting events in the future through the study of the palm. It involved the studying and interpretation of one's palm lines.[1][2] A standing model demarcarted with palm lines could help students of palmistry, for which the different palm lines could be read at different angles.[3]

History[]

"Welcome, my children. Today we will be exploring the Palmistry, the art of reading palms. Now, with open palms and open minds, we shall begin. Your future rests in the palm of your hand, but you first you must broaden your minds!"
— Professor Trelawney teaching Palmistry to sixth-years[src]
Palmistry

Sybill Trelawney reading Hermione Granger's palm

Palmistry was taught to third-year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Divination class. Harry Potter and other students in his year learned from Professor Trelawney in early 1994 about Palmistry in Divination class.[1] Palmistry was taught in the sixth year as well.[2]

In June 1996, when Harry Potter sat his Divination O.W.L. examination, which involved palmistry as its last part. As with the rest of his Divination exam, this part went very badly; he mixed up the life and head lines in his examiner's hand, thereby informing her that she ought to have died the previous Tuesday.[4]

Palm lines[]

Etymology[]

Palmistry is Late Middle English from palm + -estry (of unknown origin), later altered to -istry.[5]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 12 (The Patronus)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 6, Chapter 4 (Friends in Low Places) - Divination Lesson "Palmistry"
  3. Hogwarts Legacy
  4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 31 (O.W.L.s)
  5. palmistry - Wiktionary
Divination
Trelawney's first Divination lesson in the trio's third year
Professors: Percival Rackham · Mudiwa Onai · Sybill Trelawney · Firenze
Known Seers: Calchas · Cassandra Vablatsky · Cassandra Trelawney · Gellert Grindelwald · Inigo Imago · Johan Hoffman · Liz Tuttle's mother · Mopsus · Professor Mopsus · Susie Sooth · Tycho Dodonus · Unidentified Canadian Seer · Unidentified female Seer · Unidentified male Seer
Textbooks: The Dream Oracle · Unfogging the Future
Methods: Astrology · Bibliomancy · Capnomancy · Cartomancy · Catoptromancy · Crystal-gazing · Crystal ball · Dream interpretation · Fire-omens · Heptomology · Horoscope · Ichthyomancy · Lithomancy · Myomancy · Ornithomancy · Orrery · Ovomancy · Palmistry · Personal chart · Phyllomancy · Prophecy · Rune stone · Scrying mirror · Tarot cards · Tessomancy · Xylomancy
Divination at Hogwarts: Divination (class) · Divination Classroom · Divination staircase · Sybill Trelawney's office · Classroom 11 · Xylomancy (class)
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