The Magic Powers of the Human Hand

For those who have been following me since I started this blog, you may have noticed my profile picture is a mysterious looking hand. While it may look spooky and occult to those who don’t know what it means, it is actually an extremely exoteric symbol.

Ἰησοῦς Χριστός (Iesous Christos) is how the Greeks spell ‘Jesus Christ’. The shape of the hand resembles the abbreviation ICXC: IC being the first and last letters of Ἰησοῦς (Jesus), XC being the first and last letters of Χριστός (Christ).

If you are an Orthodox Christian, you’ve most certainly seen this hand in real life every Sunday. This is the hand gesture a priest makes when he gives a blessing, making the sign of the cross with this hand sign. It represents the priest or bishop carrying the name of Jesus and His authority within him, since the priest serves as the proxy for Christ.

Seeing that the priests and bishops are direct descendants of the apostles, only they are allowed to make this hand gesture when blessing someone. If a layman wishes to bless something or someone, they must make the same hand gesture they make when they cross themselves. The thumb is joined together with the index and middle finger, symbolizing the trinity, while the ring and pinky fingers are tucked into the palm, symbolizing the two natures of Christ.

While the name of Jesus Christ is undoubtedly the mightiest symbol that can be conveyed with human hands, hand gestures and their metaphysical implications have been a staple of religions and cultures around the world for thousands of years. Buddhist and Hindu iconography are rife with various hand gestures, all of which have deep symbolic meaning.

Outside of religious symbolism, there are many hand gestures we make unconsciously in our every day lives when communicating. We all know the stereotype of how Italians like to talk with their hands, but did you know that the Romans actually codified a lot of these hand gestures into an exact language? Orators, whose job it was to speak on behalf of the Roman government, were tasked with memorizing these hand gestures and used them in tandem with their official announcements.

In fact, many of these hand gestures from Roman oration were used in Christian iconography alongside the ICXC hand sign, since most ancient people would’ve recognized the meaning of these gestures.

Unsurprisingly, the symbolism of hand gestures becomes even more cryptic when we look at Western occult traditions. Palmistry, also known as chiromancy, is the practice of performing divination by reading the lines of one’s hand. But the occult symbolism of the human hand is not limited to mere fortune-telling. Henry Cornelius Agrippa, a well-known Renaissance-era occult philosopher, made this infamous diagram of the human hand with planetary correspondences:

For those who are curious about the meaning of this chart above, here is the best explanation I could find:

• Thumb: Often associated with Venus, representing love, beauty, and creativity. The thumb is seen as essential for grasping and holding, which may symbolically represent how love and attraction are essential for connecting with the world.

• Index Finger: Linked to Jupiter, the planet of expansion, wisdom, and authority. The index finger is used for pointing and commanding, reflecting Jupiter's rulership over law, authority, and growth.

• Middle Finger: Connected to Saturn, the planet of discipline, structure, and limitations. The middle finger, being the longest, symbolizes Saturn’s influence over boundaries, hard lessons, and the passage of time.

• Ring Finger: Associated with the Sun, symbolizing vitality, ego, and life force. The ring finger has been traditionally connected to the heart, particularly in many cultures where the wedding ring is worn on this finger, symbolizing life and personal identity (the Sun’s qualities).

• Little Finger: Linked to Mercury, the planet of communication, intellect, and movement. The little finger is nimble and agile, reflecting Mercury’s influence over the mind, communication, and trade.

• The Moon might be placed at the palm (representing emotions and the subconscious) and Mars might be associated with the base of the thumb or palm (reflecting action, energy, and conflict)

The planetary attributions to the hand also had magical significance. Agrippa, being an occultist, understood the planets as not only physical bodies but also as spiritual entities which one could communicate with. Through hand gestures, seals, and symbols associated with the planets, a practitioner could invoke specific planetary energies for magical or spiritual rituals.

For instance, one might perform certain mudras (hand gestures) or draw planetary symbols on parts of the hand during rituals to focus the energy of that planet for a desired outcome, such as invoking Venus for love or Saturn for discipline.

The word "mudra" comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as "seal," "mark," or "gesture." The Buddhist and Hindu hand gestures shown above would be considered Mudras. They are seen as more than mere symbolic gestures; the specific positions of the hands and fingers are believed to influence the flow of energy in the body and mind. By putting the hands in these different positions, it is believed that one is changing the ‘circuitry’ layout of their nervous systems. In theory, by connecting different fingers to each other and to different areas of the palm, we can direct the energetic flow of electricity through our nervous system via the various circuits we create in our hands.

Now, some of you may feel like all of this stuff is merely symbolic at best or New Age mumbo-jumbo at worst. But the concept of hand positioning being connected to your health is not intrinsically linked to spiritual practices found in Hinduism or Buddhism. Reflexology is a field of study that finds its roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) alongside practices such as acupuncture and acupressure. By massaging specific zones in the hands and feet, we can alleviate pain or other symptoms located in the corresponding organ systems connected to those zones.

THE SCIENCE™️ in the Western world likes to say things like “there is no conclusive scientific evidence for the effectiveness of reflexology” (probably because you can’t make as much money compared to selling pharmaceuticals). However, there have been several studies that indicate the efficacy of reflexology:

Frankel (1997) conducted a pilot study to identify the effects of reflexology and foot massage on the physiology of the body, measuring baroreceptor reflex sensitivity and the link between pressure to the feet, as well as the baroreceptors of the heart (neurons). Results showed that pressure sensors in the feet are linked to the same part of the brain as the baroreceptor reflex. This small, single-blinded study included 24 subjects - 10 received reflexology, 10 received foot massage, and 4 were the control.

For a comprehensive list of studies, including the one cited above, check out this page here.¹

1. https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/what-does-research-say-about-reflexology