By Vedic Palmist-Astrologer Guylaine Vallée

Excerpt from The Happy Palmist: My Joyful Adventure in Vedic Palmistry

 

Ghanshyam looked down at my prints and began pointing to various lines with his pen.

“Look here. Your destiny line is fragmented, your Sun line is barely existent, your thumb lacks distance from your Jupiter finger, and your Mount of Jupiter is depleted and your Venus lacks balance.”

I was lost in the details, not understanding a word of the technical aspects of palmistry. I did not know at the time that we all have a dominant hand (the one we write with) that reveals our conscious mind; it denotes where we currently are in our life and what we want to achieve, and a non-dominant hand that reflects our subconscious mind; it denotes where we have been and what we have experienced—let alone that how we hold our thumbs reveals our level of willpower and self-confidence. The flood of data was dizzying, but when Ghanshyam finished his initial analysis his conclusions were painfully accurate.

“You have 12 flaws that are blocking you—they are undermining your spiritual growth and making your destiny unclear. You feel uncomfortable in the world and have closed yourself off—and that is making you unhappy.”

Then, in quick succession, he wrote down 10 of the flaws on my handprint sheet, in the space between the dark, inky images of my two palms.

  • No decision
  • No willpower
  • No direction
  • No discipline
  • No motivation
  • No inspiration
  • No one point of view or single mindedness
  • No meditation
  • No exercise
  • No intellectual and/or spiritual work, which will give you hope, trust, joy, faith and a sense of identity

 

Ghanshyam’s pen hovered for a moment and then, at the top of the page, he added what he said were my greatest flaws of all: no faith in myself and no self-confidence.

“You have a good head line, great intelligence; I’m sure you will find success in your career. But,” he said, shaking his head, “you will probably continue to feel the same sense of emptiness.”

He tapped his pen against my print, in the center of my left palm.

“Your destiny line suggests you could find something that gives you happiness, but not until your early forties.”

Oh my God, I have to live like this for another 20 years? I could not imagine the misery of such a long, unhappy life.

Tears were streaming down my face. Ghanshyam, who had been very calm and respectful through the reading, slid a box of tissues toward me.

“Don’t be upset, the lines on our hands aren’t carved in stone—this isn’t fortune-telling. Our palms show us what we need to change in our life to find happiness. When we make those changes, the lines on our hands will change. Real palmistry is not about prediction, it is about prevention, about growth!” he said with that same smile he had greeted me with.

“But my question for you, Guylaine, is this: Do you want to change, or do you want to stay like you are?”

“I want to change, Ghanshyam,” I sobbed.

“Gooooood! Then you will change!” he announced happily, throwing his arms open and letting out a booming, hearty laugh. “That makes all the difference!”

He fixed his gaze upon me again, disappearing into his own thoughts for a few moments. Then he returned to my sheet with his pen and wrote “12 MONTHS” above my handprints.

“You have a mission in life; you will be of service to many people. But your mission won’t begin for another year, not until you’re ready.”

My heart was pounding so hard, all I could hear for a few seconds was a steady thud, thud, thudding in my ears. Then, all I heard was the echo of his words: You will have a mission in life; you will be of service to many people.

Ghanshyam’s words were a balm on my aching soul.

He suggested steps I could take to “open myself up” and prepare for what life had in store for me. He explained that certain gems and metals correct imbalances in the body’s energy system and promote spiritual growth. He gave me a list of precious stones to buy and suggested I read Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. Ghanshyam pointed to the picture of the man in the orange robe above his desk, whom I now felt had been watching over me since I had entered the room.

“Paramahansa’s book could help you a great deal,” Ghanshyam said. Then he suggested we meet every other week for five more sessions.

“We will devise a program together that will help you to develop trust and confidence in yourself and make the changes you need to bring great joy into your heart and find peace of mind. And then you’ll see, Guylaine—your life will fill up with friendship and trust and love! How about that!”

Ghanshyam had delved deep into my heart during our hour-long session, and when he walked around the desk to give me one of his enormous hugs that I would come to love, I wanted to jump into his golden slippers.

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine,” he promised.

This man I had never met before, who came from another continent and a different culture, had just touched my heart like no one else had ever done.

I was certain that my life was about to change. As I left his office I felt something I hadn’t in a long time—I was happy . . .

 

Part III: Continued next month.

 

AUTHOR

Guylaine Vallée is a teacher and consultant at the Birla Vedic Center. In her 35 years as a professional Vedic palmist, she has helped thousands of clients improve their lives and has inspired tens of thousands lecturing across North America and through her many radio and television appearances.

She is the author of The Happy Palmist: My Joyful Adventure in Vedic Palmistry, co-authored with Steve Erwin, award-winning journalist and author of The New York Times best-selling memoir Left to Tell. Guylaine is the coach of the 90-Day Challenge programs.

WHAT'S NEW: This Fall, Guylaine will be hosting a weekly webinar: The 90-Day Mounts Challenge: Unleashing the Power of the Planets in Your Hands. Click here for more info.

By Vedic Palmist-Astrologer Guylaine Vallée

Excerpt from The Happy Palmist: My Joyful Adventure in Vedic Palmistry

 

On the morning of my appointment, I woke up with more excitement and enthusiasm than I had felt in months. Could this be the day I finally discover what I’ve been searching for?

I wore my most colorful clothes from Paris, including my electric blue leather pants that went so well with my bleached, pixie haircut. My outfit’s pièce de résistance was a transparent plastic purse with a huge plastic fish inside—a one-of-a-kind Paris original!

The Palmistry Center was across town in the Montreal neighborhood of Westmount and during the long ride on the Number 24 bus I thought of questions to ask the palmist, all of which I forgot the moment I arrived at 351 Victoria Avenue and saw the sign: The Birla Center for Hast Jyotish.

When I opened the door, an alarm chimed with the sound of songbirds, whose sweet singing followed me up the stairs into the reception area, fragrant with the soothing aroma of burning incense. I felt as though I had just climbed up to heaven.

A woman with long, black hair named Lydia met me in the lobby and led me to a sink, where she used a little rubber paint roller to coat my hands with black ink. She then pressed each of my palms onto a sheet of blank, white paper. And there they were: my handprints. I had no way of knowing that I was looking at my two new best friends—friends that held the secrets of my past, the path to my future and the key to unlock them both. When I saw my prints for the first time, I was shocked at how crooked my fingers were and how big my hands looked. I felt a little exposed, knowing that my hands—and all they might reveal about me—would soon be scrutinized by the eyes of an expert.

Back from Paris

This is it, the moment of truth.

I washed the ink from my hands and sat down to wait for my reading. A few minutes later, Ghanshyam walked into the room. I was struck by how dignified he looked in his beige Nehru suit—and a pair of golden slippers! I was amazed someone could be confident and comfortable to wear slippers to work. He had a thin, black moustache and penetrating brown eyes that lit up like birthday candles as he welcomed me with a warm smile.

Oh my! He looks even more beautiful than before, I thought, feeling a powerful surge of déjà vu. Guylaine, don’t be silly! This is the first time you’ve ever seen him!

“Hello, hello, helloooo! It is so nice to meet you!” Ghanshyam said in a sweet, lilting East Indian accent. He took my hands in his and shook them with such genuine affection—it felt like a reunion with a long lost friend. He radiated with an honest-to-goodness kindness that put me instantly at ease.

“Please, come with me, my dear.”

I followed him into his office, which was dominated by an armoire filled with books about palmistry and astrology, many of them worn by age and use, bearing titles in languages I did not recognize. A large portrait of an Indian man wearing an orange robe hung above Ghanshyam’s desk. The man’s face was serene and his eyes were half-shut in a trance-like state. His arms were raised with open palms, as though he were bestowing a blessing upon me while I took my seat.

A translator joined us for the session, as Ghanshyam spoke no French and the extent of my English was “How are you today?” She informed me that Ghanshyam practiced Vedic palmistry, a form of traditional Indian palmistry that originated in the ancient Hindu scriptures known as the Vedas.

Ghanshyam placed the paper with my handprints on the desk, next to my astrological chart, which he had drawn up before my arrival. I had been unaware that astrology was related to palmistry, but I learned they are twin sciences and that hast jyotish is a phrase combining two Sanskrit words—hast, meaning hand, and jyotish, meaning light. So hast jyotish described the light from our planets being reflected in our hands.

After studying my chart and making all sorts of notes and scribbles on my prints with various colored pens, Ghanshyam looked up at me. His brown eyes shone with such intensity I felt he was staring into my soul.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” His voice had the tone of a compassionate doctor who had examined a patient’s X-rays and had both good and bad news to deliver.

“You are on a mission to find God and you have been on this quest for a long time,” he said, “but you haven’t made a spiritual connection. You’re miserable because you are stuck in one place and have no direction, which has made you feel lost and alone. You can’t decide what to do, and that has left you without any meaning or purpose in your life. Does that sound right to you?”

I was too overwhelmed to speak. He knew exactly what I had been feeling for the past decade—as if he had known me my entire life. I nodded.

He looked down at my prints and began pointing to various lines with his pen . . .

 

Part II: Continued next month.

AUTHOR

Guylaine Vallée is the author of The Happy Palmist: My Joyful Adventure in Vedic Palmistry, co-authored with Steve Erwin, award-winning journalist and author of The New York Times best-selling memoir Left to Tell.

Guylaine is the coach of the 90-Day Challenge programs.

And don’t miss Guylaine’s webisode every Wednesday on the Birla Center Facebook page.