From the top: -Curved. -Average, straight line. -Long, straight line
The heart line describes our emotional tendencies, the way we love, and the health of our heart as an organ. It reveals information about all of our relationships, from friendships, to familial relationships, to intimate relationships and marriage. The heart line indicates how open- or closed-hearted we are, to what extent we give to others, and how emotionally demonstrative we are.
To meaningfully evaluate the heart line, we want to first look at how long it is and then notice how curved, or straight, it is. We can then refine our interpretation by studying the quality of the line.
Length
The average heart line ends somewhere in the area between the index and middle finger. A heart line that reaches to only under the middle finger, also known as the Saturn finger, indicates someone who lacks real emotional involvement and tends to be more rational and controlled emotionally. This short heart line sometimes points to a certain selfishness in the realm of relationship, often manifesting as an incapacity to understand the impact one’s actions have on the emotional well-being of others. When it comes to relationships, someone with a short heart line may well wonder foremost: “What’s in it for me?”
A long heart line, in contrast, ends somewhere under the index finger (the Jupiter finger) and indicates the ability to love in an idealistic, self-sacrificing way. The longer the heart line, the more mature the person’s emotional patterns. The question in the mind of someone with a long heart line is likely to be: “How can I support my partner?”
A very long heart line that reaches the middle of the area under the Jupiter finger or beyond is a clear sign of a humanitarian. This is a person committed to helping others, whose emotions are focused on a larger context, and who gets a lot of their emotional needs met by being of benefit to all.
As we mature emotionally in life, our hearts soften and we become better able to express subtle emotional patterns. This process of heart-energy expansion is sometimes reflected in the hands as small faint thin lines that grow out of the radial (the thumb side) end of the heart line, extending the heart line further in that direction. These subtle lines, or growth tendrils, are a wonderful indicator of the desire to become more giving.
It can be profoundly instructive to examine our own heart lines for an objective view of our emotional character and growth.
Curved or Straight
Whether long or short, the heart line takes one of two main forms: curved or straight.
A person with a straight heart line tends to express their love and affections in a thoughtful manner. Their emotional attitude is less amplified, less demonstrably passionate, and they are more likely to show their feelings through thoughts and words rather than through actions. This makes them appear cool on the emotional front. They usually play a more quiet and receptive role in love affairs, and look for partners who are sincere.
If a straight heart line is also distinctly short (ending before the space under the index and middle finger), the capacity for real loving and caring is diminished, especially if confirmed by other signs like a rigid, hard hand with rough skin.
A person with a curved heart line, on the other hand, will be more demonstrative in their affections—the greater the curvature, the more impulsive the emotional expression. Those with curved heart lines are warm, affectionate, and like to play an active or dominant role in their relationships.
It may seem from the above descriptions that people with straight heart lines are less emotional than people with curved heart lines, but this is not quite the case. They just have different ways of expressing their emotions. The person with a curved heart line is not able to love more or better than one with a straight heart line, or vice versa; they just employ different strategies for managing their emotions and displaying their affections.
While it is easier to find compatibility with those who share our same tendencies around heart matters, and therefore a similar curvature of the heart line, those with mismatched heart lines can get along famously once these emotion-related differences are understood and accepted. A person with a curved heart line, for example, might use a loud voice, gesticulate, and stomp around when in an altercation, while their straight-heart-lined partner sulks, broods, and suffers in silence in a corner. Mismatches only create problems when we do not understand what’s really at the core – that we are all different creatures with different strategies around relationships.
Quality
As with all lines, we want the heart line to be clear and well marked. It is normal for the heart line to be somewhat chained and tangled under the little finger, which is actually a good sign for the health of the heart as an organ. But a significantly chained or frayed-looking heart line can indicate one who contends with tangled emotions. Whether the person’s convoluted relationship dynamics are dealt with functionally or not depends on how much feathering/chaining there is, and on the overall structure of the hand.
The journey towards healthy and mature emotional expression is a lifelong dance of learning how to pursue our own freedom while simultaneously supporting the freedom of those around us. If in the quest for our own freedom, we make others feel small or insignificant in any way, we reinforce the limited aspect of our being and cut ourselves off from the love of Spirit. If, instead, we move and act in the world in a way that makes others feel respected and free as well, Spirit will rush in to support us just as we support life.