The general shape of your hand tells a palm reader a lot about your general character. The easiest way to get a quick read on someone is to look at the shape his or her hands form — and to correlate each shape with a particular personality type. In palmistry, there are four basic shapes and one hybrid or mixed shape.

Each type of hand represents one of four elements that the ancients believed composed all matter of our world: Conical hands are said to be “air” hands; pointed hands are “water” hands; spatulate hands are “fire” hands; and square hands are “earth” hands.

The Conical or Artistic Hand

Conical hands are round, sensual, and feminine in appearance. People with these hand shapes typically have a deep appreciation for the arts or, if the hands feature lots of curved lines, are artists or creators themselves.

Quiet, sensitive, and imaginative, they are nonviolent people who seek solace through music, art, literature, and love. The conical hand is called the air hand, since this element most closely captures the free spirit of the type.

The Pointed or Psychic Hand

Long, delicate, and tapered fingers that characterize the pointed hand lead palmists to conclude that the fingers point to spiritual truths. This is why the pointed hand is always referred to as the psychic hand — and, in truth, the vast majority of those who have pointed hands do have psychic or intuitive ability.

If your hands are pointed and you don’t think you are the least bit psychic, it could mean that you have the power but have chosen not to develop it at this point in your life. Whether or not you become a psychic practitioner in the future, your intuition and creative energy are already powerful, and you tend to have a tremendous amount of compassion or empathy for others. Pointed hands are often called water hands because of their deep sensitivity and intensity.

The Spatulate or Action-Oriented Hand

If your hand is narrow at the wrists, but wider toward the fingertips, you have what is called the spatulate hand. You are action-oriented and love unusual adventures; it’s not unlike you to pack your bags and head to India for a spell, and then go on a skiing trip to Colorado the next month.

An explorer of people, places, and ideas, you are daring, energetic, and fearless, often challenging the ideas or positions of others who aren’t as open-minded as you. Your energy is boundless; you tend to leave others breathless, unable to catch up with you. Spatulate hands are often called fire hands, since that element most closely captures the personality traits of vitality and dynamism.

The Square or Practical Hand

A square hand appears to form a perfect square from the finger bases to the wrists. People with square hands are smooth, easygoing types who are very practical in nature and have a realistic outlook on life. They are rooted in their daily lives, and while they are friendly and outgoing, they also have a tendency to evaluate every situation as black or white, with very little left to interpretation. Still, because they are so sensible and level-headed, family and friends regularly seek them out to help mediate or settle volatile situations.

Square-handed people are most often drawn to careers that require hard work and persistence, since they excel in tackling large and difficult projects. Because they are practical and down-to-earth, these people are said to have “earth” hands. With the square-handed, what you see is what you get!

The Mixed Hand

Although it’s quite a rarity, every once in a while you’ll see a hand that has elements of two or more of the five shapes and types. Palmists call these hands mixed. For an accurate reading of a mixed hand, you’ll need to look for the dominant feature of the hand.

For instance, if you see that the palm itself is basically square but the fingers are long, it could mean that the person seems by outward appearance to be dreamy and intuitive, but that inwardly he is actually strong, practical, and even-minded. If all seems balanced in the hand, your mixed-hand person is completely versatile and has a steady, go-with-the-flow kind of attitude. Both temperaments have their positive and negative sides, but there is much to learn from the mixed-hand balanced individual.