From the top: -Average, straight line. -Long, straight line. -Long, curved line
The Head Line is one of the primary lines in the human hand, and is found on every hand with no exception. It is the second horizontal line at the top of the palm. It begins on the thumb side of the hand and travels across the palm towards the little finger side. This line exhibits great variety in length, clarity, shape and position.
The head line is known as mātṛ rekhā in sanskrit. While ‘rekhā’ means ‘line’, ‘mātṛ’ means ‘the measurer’. Indeed, this line gives lots of information about how a person measures their world and how they make sense of their environment. Everybody measures their world through the five senses, enabled by our minds, yet we all do so differently. By careful analysis of the head line we gain insight into a person’s thought patterns, their capacities and their creativity. The head line reveals details about how we think and our quality of mind. It also reveals to what extent we are original and innovative in our thoughts, how much we like to dream up new things, or how much we like to stick to what is known.
The character traits revealed by the head line are valuable because we want to accurately evaluate our talents, and then find a field in which to apply them. Because we measure our world through our thoughts, certain ways of thinking are better suited for different activities. For example, a psychologist has the talent for slower, more detailed thinking than an air traffic control operator, who instead we expect to be a decisive and quick thinker.
Length
The length of the head line is directly related to how long or how quickly a person assesses their world. It reveals how elaborate or simple a person’s thinking is. We have different ways of processing information, and neither is better than the other. Just as with the example of the psychologist and the air traffic controller above, we appreciate that different ways of thinking are better suited for specific situations.
An average head line is one that ends approximately under the middle of the ring finger. That means that a head line that approaches the side of the hand under the little finger is long. A head line that ends in the middle of the palm is short.
Long head lines indicate the capacity for detailed, complex thinking. These lines are found on the hands of those that are able to consider many details when thinking about something, giving them the ability for more intricate thoughts. For example, long head lines love to analyze the world, discovering more and more details about it as they go along. They enjoy problem-solving and puzzles, and generally thinking things through deeply. The downside to a long headline occurs when over-thinking or over-analyzing a situation can make decision-making difficult (analysis leads to paralysis).
Short head lines, instead, reflect the ability to be decisive and quickly assess a situation. A short head line may be found, for example, on the hand of an engineer who is capable of linear, practical, clear and simple thinking. A common palmistry misconception is that short head lines correspond with short intelligence, but this is not found to be true in experience. What is true is that, given a complex problem, a person with a short head line is less inclined to think about it for a long time. Their strategy is to try something, see if it works, and if it does not work to try something else. Someone with a long head line, on the other hand, will be more likely to think deeply about a solution and its implications before trying it.
Path
The straighter the head line, the more pragmatic the thinking process. Straight head lines are analytical, efficient, logical, practical and think of things in terms of how useful they are. These head lines are attracted to mathematics, science, technology and business.
The curved headline, in contrast, is associated with creativity and imagination. The more curved a head line, the greater the imagination is likely to be and the person will enjoy doing things in new ways.
Origin
A head line that is joined at its origin with the life line is the most common, and suggests a certain caution, but also a reasonable and pleasant character, all other things being equal.
Less frequent is the head line that is not connected to the life line and seems to float above it. This is a sign of somebody who is unique in their way of thinking and values independence in their career and their environment. The greater the gap between the life and head lines, the more spontaneity, boldness, and optimism about life.
Simian Line
There is one variation of the headline that is worth mentioning and this is when the head line and the heart line merge into one clear line that cuts horizontally all the way across the palm. This is also known as a Simian line. For most people, what one thinks (head line) and what one feels (heart line) are different things, but for the Simian line these channels converge into one and what results is laser-beam intensity. This intensity can manifest as a bold personality and an ability to persevere no matter what. In fact, the sanskrit name for such a line is ‘ākrama rekhā’, whose meanings include ‘attaining, approaching, obtaining and overcoming’. In an otherwise stable hand, an ākrama rekhā
gives the ability to accomplish a lot through focus, leadership, and organizational capacity. Many successful people have such a line, including many wise spiritual teachers, for whom the integration of heart and mind takes them one step closer to the full integration of being with our true, infinite nature that is the hallmark of an authentic spiritual path. In a less stable hand, this line can indicate a tremendous quantity of internal stress. For those with a Simian line that are learning to manage the associated intensity, the most productive avenues of expression are through creativity and the arts, and through knowing oneself deeply (meditation, spiritual questing).