Bill was a born charmer. As a boy he was a mischievous rascal but possessed such natural charisma and magnetism that people were drawn to him. He was always extremely popular and managed to sail through his early life with little effort, struggle or purpose. With the financial support of a doting aunt, he was able to spend his late teens and early twenties flitting from college to college and from girl to girl. His great passion was his freedom and his only real pursuit was partying and having fun. But by the time he was 27, the party was drawing to a close; his wealthy aunt threatened to cut him off if he didn’t find a career, and his long-term girlfriend was pressuring him to settle down.

Feeling cornered and not knowing what else to do, Bill married his girlfriend and took a boring job in retail sales. But just a couple of days into his honeymoon, he was overwhelmed with feelings of being trapped and suffocated by both his marriage and his work. He came to see me in a panic.

“Guylaine, the walls are closing in on me! I am seriously thinking of quitting my job, leaving my wife and just skipping town.”

“But Bill, you’ve only been married for two weeks!” I said. “Take a deep breath, calm down and let’s see what your hands tell us.”

Bill’s first set of handprints were very “raw”, revealing a shallow and immature life. His mounts—the pads of flesh below the fingers that reflect our spiritual and emotional development—were extremely rudimentary. And, with the exception of the heart, head and life lines, his handprints were practically devoid of any other line or sign. These were strong indicators that he led a reckless lifestyle, had failed to develop any of his natural gifts and talents, hadn’t grown as a person and was lacking any sense of spiritual awareness.

When Bill was forced to give up his distracting pastimes and come face to face with who he truly was, he didn’t like what he saw—he was gripped with fear and wanted to run.

As the texture of Bill’s palms was quite coarse, it was an indication that he was ready to explore deeper aspects of himself—he just needed some encouragement.

“Listen Bill,” I said. “You have free will, so you can choose to run away from your wife and your life—but no matter how far you run, you can’t outrun who you are . . . and you could very well end up running forever. If you really want to change your life, you have to change yourself.”

“But I don’t think I can change, Guylaine,” Bill said. “I’ve always been like this—irresponsible. I am who I am.”

Bill and I had a long talk about how palmistry serves as a bridge between the wisdom found in the Vedic philosophy of ancient India and the emerging science of neuroplasticity, both of which deal with changing our lives. The Vedas teach us how to change our thoughts and perceptions by pursuing personal and spiritual enlightenment; neuroplasticity is proving that no matter how old we are, our brains are plastic (changeable), and that by changing our thoughts we can actually physically rewire the way our brain functions. In other words, we are capable of changing our entire outlook on life. Palmistry illustrates the effectiveness of both these techniques by showing us what we need to change and by tracking those changes—as we change our thoughts and attitudes, the lines and signs in our palms change as well, allowing us to monitor and direct our progress.

I encouraged Bill to begin a program of mantra, meditation and mindfulness, and to recite positive affirmations every morning. He slowly began to distance himself from the pursuit of emotional pleasure by setting and committing to goals of lasting value and substance—such as being guided by selfless love and devoting himself to loyalty, kindness, family and faith.

In his “after” prints, we can see that Bill grew many positive lines and signs in his hand, including a deep union line, reflecting his love and devotion to his bride. Bill and his wife went on to open their own successful business and have several children. They recently celebrated a very happy 25th wedding anniversary.

 

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If you happen to be stargazing this week, don’t be startled if Venus appears to have reversed course and is traveling backwards. It isn’t a sign of the Apocalypse, nor have the laws of physics been suspended—it is just Venus in retrograde.

Planets in retrograde appear to move backward due to an optical illusion related to concentric planetary orbits and our vantage place here on earth. It’s akin to the illusion we experience when we stop for a red light and another car slowly rolls past us, making us feel like we are moving backwards. Planets regularly go into retrograde for periods of time—in Venus’s case, it is for six weeks every 18 months.

Although the reverse motion of a retrograde planet is illusory, it’s astrological effect on us is very real and can be profound. The energy of retrograde planets is more subjective than that of a planet in direct motion; it is an energy we tend to internalize rather than project. This dynamic internalization pushes us to reflect on our lives (and our pasts) through the lens of the retrograde planet’s specific qualities and attributes. In the case of Venus, those qualities and attributes are embodied in our approach (and the value we attach) to love, romance, pleasure, beauty, creativity and finances.

So for the next month-and-a-half we may find that Venus retrograde is stirring up memories of bygone relationships and of how we treated others; the worth we assigned to ourselves, to our time, our jobs, our passions, our loved ones, and to money and the material possessions money gets us. This period of intense self-examination can be isolating, making us appear neglectful, self-absorbed, standoffish or just plain rude. But, if we take advantage of Venus retrograde by making an honest and thorough inventory of our values and actions, we can learn important lessons about why we love the people and things we love, who we truly are, and who we want to become. The self-knowledge we can potentially acquire during Venus retrograde can be a driving force for dramatic, personal growth.

We should be mindful not to alienate our loved ones during this period, but to honor the truths we discover when reflecting on our lives. If we happen to have Venus retrograde in our natal chart, we can expect the next six weeks to be even more intense.

Venus is in retrograde until April 15th.

 

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Dr. O was an opinionated, no-nonsense physician whose motto at work and at home was: “It’s my way or the highway”. His attitude had won him few friends and alienated his colleagues. Despite his brashness, he’d been acknowledged as one of the finest surgeons in the country until a recent skiing accident damaged his wrists and left him incapable of operating. All the specialist told him the damage couldn’t be repaired.

He reluctantly agreed to see me at the insistence of his wife, a regular client of mine who was a doctor of non-traditional medicine. She had long complained about her husband’s stubborn closed-mindedness and unwillingness to try new things. Since the accident, she’d pleaded with him constantly to seek alternative therapy for his injuries and to help his overall outlook. He steadfastly refused and the marriage was quickly deteriorating.

“My wife says I’ve become bitter and mean-spirited,” he complained. “What does she expect? I can’t work, I can’t even hold a scalpel—my career is over.”

Dr. O’s handprints revealed why he was an excellent surgeon. His long, unbending head line stretched into the hand’s great energy center of Mars positive, giving him the drive, strength of mind and cool nerves to perform with grace under pressure. And his passion and dedication were evident in his strong destiny line, but the destiny line ended abruptly at his head line, confirming the sudden break in his career.

A destiny line ending at the head line indicates there is something wrong with our way of thinking, which disrupts our destiny—our purpose in life. When the head line is properly used, we think constructively and our destiny will continue uninterrupted regardless of mishap or setback. A destiny-head line disruption can be a staggering blow to our self-confidence and sense of identity, as well as damaging our personal relationships and financial well-being.

I suspected the rigidity of Dr. O’s head line had interfered with his destiny—his inflexible thinking fully manifested following the stress of his accident, sending him into a downward spiral. Fortunately, there were two potentially helpful features in Dr. O’s handprints. Foremost was a second, overlapping destiny line above the head line suggesting that, after a period of self-reflection and the adoption of a more positive attitude, Dr. O was capable of continuing his career. Secondly, a square on the original destiny line where it broke at the headline meant he had to ability to be receptive to new ideas and to accept the support and advice of friends and family. I was certain that successfully guiding him in this direction would improve his situation.

“Dr. O, your wife has urged you to see an alternative practitioner. . . why not swallow your pride and take her advice? Look at it this way: You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

Thankfully, Dr. O took my recommendation. He began an alternative therapy program and adhered to it religiously. One year later he returned to my office.

“Great news, Ghanshyam! I’ve resumed my hospital duties. My wrists are healed; I’m operating even better than before!” he told me. Even better, he said, he was making friends for the first time—his colleagues loved his new-found openness to their ideas.

“The only person happier than I am is my wife,” Dr. O smiled. “She keeps asking me what I did with her husband!”

 

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