Reading the hand

The Marriage Line: What Those Short Lines Really Show

Also called the relationship line or the affection line. It's one of the most searched features of the hand, and the one where the gap between what people hope it says and what it can say is widest.

Where they are

Turn your hand slightly and look at its outer edge, between the base of the little finger and the end of the heart line. Most hands have one to three short horizontal lines there, starting on the side of the palm and running a little way onto the face of it. That's the area palmists call the Mount of Mercury, and those are the marriage lines.

They're short, shallow and easy to miss in a photograph taken straight on. If you want them read, photograph the edge of the hand as well as the palm. The photo guide shows how.

What the tradition reads them for

Despite the name, older books are clear that these lines are read for significant attachments, not legal marriages. They're read for the relationships that left a mark, whether or not anyone signed anything. The modern name "relationship line" is the more honest one.

• One long, clear line. Read as one deep and lasting attachment.
• Several lines of similar strength. Read as several significant relationships, or a capacity for strong attachment more than once.
• A line that curves up toward the little finger. Traditionally read as someone who prefers independence within a relationship.
• A line that curves down toward the heart line. Read as an attachment that weighs heavily, for good or ill.
• A forked end. Read as a parting of ways, though forks this small are often shadow rather than line.

What they can't do

They can't count your marriages, date your wedding, or tell you whether a current relationship will last. Some websites will tell you that the distance between the heart line and a marriage line gives the age at marriage. That method has no consistent basis even within palmistry, and different authors place the same line decades apart. We don't use it.

If a reader tells you something precise from these lines, it's worth remembering what Ray Hyman found when he started telling clients the opposite of what he saw.

How we read them

In our readings the marriage lines are a supporting feature, never the headline. We note how many are visible and how clearly, and what the tradition makes of their shape, then read them alongside the heart line, which carries far more weight on how someone attaches to people. If a photograph doesn't show the edge of the hand, the reading says so instead of guessing.

For two people, the couples reading compares both hands side by side, with no compatibility score, because compatibility scores are made up.

The short version

Short lines under the little finger, read by the tradition as the attachments that mattered. They don't count marriages or put a date on anything.

Photograph your palm and the edge of your hand, and we'll tell you what's visible. Two readings free, no card.