Every palm reader has had someone hold out a hand, point at a short life line and ask, quietly, how long they have. The answer is that the line has nothing to say about it. The life line is a record of vitality and of the shape of a life, its energy, its resilience and its turning points. A short life line is common in people who live to ninety; a long one is common in people who do not. Once that fear is put aside, the line becomes one of the most useful in the hand.
Where it is
The life line begins on the edge of the palm between the thumb and the index finger and curves down around the base of the thumb toward the wrist. The fleshy area it encloses is the mount of Venus, and the size of that enclosed area is the first thing to read.
The curve
A life line that sweeps out in a wide arc, leaving a large mount of Venus inside it, belongs to a person with plenty of physical energy, warmth and appetite for life. These are the hands of people who are generous with themselves. A life line that runs close to the thumb, leaving a narrow mount, belongs to someone more reserved, who conserves energy and prefers a small circle. Neither is a judgement; the wide-arc person burns out more easily, and the narrow-arc person is often the steadier one in a crisis.
Depth and clarity
A deep, clear line means good constitution and stamina. A faint line means a person who tires easily or who has been running on reserves, and it often deepens again after a period of rest. A line made of chains or small islands shows stretches of poor health or low spirits, read along the line from the top downward.
Breaks and overlapping lines
A break in the life line is a change of direction, not an ending. It might be a move to another country, a change of career, an illness recovered from, or a marriage. The reader looks at what happens after the break. If a new line starts before the old one ends, overlapping it, the change was managed and the person landed well. If there is a gap, the change was abrupt and took time to recover from. A square drawn over a break, four small lines forming a box, is the traditional sign of protection through a difficult period.
Branches
Lines branching upward from the life line toward the fingers are efforts and ambitions that succeeded: a new business, a qualification, a recovery. Lines branching downward toward the wrist are losses of energy, often a period of overwork. A branch that runs toward the mount of the Moon on the outer edge of the palm is the traveller's mark, and it is common in the hands of Sagittarius and Gemini, the signs that cannot stay put.
The start: joined to the head line or separate?
Look at where the life line begins. If it is joined to the head line for a short stretch, the person was cautious and family-minded in youth and learned independence later. If they run together for a long way, the person still finds it hard to act without approval. If the two lines are separate from the very start, the person was independent early, and sometimes reckless; it is a frequent Aries and Aquarius pattern.
A second life line
Some hands show a fainter line running inside the life line, closer to the thumb. Palmists call it the line of Mars or the sister line, and it is read as a reserve of strength: a person who recovers from illness faster than expected and who has someone or something to fall back on. It is a good line to find.
Reading it with the rest of the hand
The life line tells you how much energy a person has to spend; the head line and heart line tell you where they spend it. A wide, deep life line with a sloping head line is an artist with stamina; a narrow life line with a long, straight head line is a careful thinker who paces themselves. In astrology the same information is read from the Sun and Mars in the chart, which is why ruby and bloodstone, the Sun and Mars stones, are the traditional remedies for a life line that has gone faint.