Also called: Single vertical line · Medical stigmata · Benefic strokes
Where on the hand: On the fleshy pad of any mount, and on the phalanges of the fingers.
What it looks like: One or more short strokes running up and down on a mount, toward the finger, with no horizontal companions. A single deep vertical is the strong form; several confused ones are the weak form.
The benefic counterpart to crossbars. Vertical lines “heighten a mount's positive qualities,” and a single deep vertical line is, with the star, triangle, circle, square and trident, one of Benham's six strengthening signs. The number of lines matters as much as their presence: one clear line is generally best, and confusion of many lines generally spoils the reading.
On each mount
- **Jupiter** — one single clear line, uncut and uncrossed, is success. Two: divided ambition, unsuccessful. Many confused: “persistent but unlucky efforts”; if crossing, loose morals.
- **Saturn** — one line: “very great luck.” Two: “success, late and laborious.” “The more numerous the lines, the greater the ill-luck.”
- **Sun / Apollo** — one deep straight line: “wealth or fame, or both; one career only.” Two: “real talent but poor success; two conflicting talents.” Many confused: art hindered by scientific instinct.
- **Mercury** — one: unexpected financial fortune; very deep: great scientific aptitude. Three to six parallel: the medical stigmata — aptitude for medicine and healing; in women's hands, attachment to a medical professional and nursing ability. Many mixed: shrewdness of questionable quality; reaching the heart line: unwise generosity. Very short verticals in women's hands: chattering.
- **Upper Mars** — one line: “courage, sang-froid.” Several confused: “violent temper, lasciviousness, brutality in love; a very bad omen,” plus respiratory ailments.
- **Moon / Luna** — one long line: “a presentiment of evil”; many confused: visions, insomnia, nightmares; clear verticals rising from the rascette: long travels.
- **Venus** — two or three verticals: “ingratitude; more frequently, inconstancy”; lines concentric to the life line: love affairs beyond the subject's control.
On each line
- **Not a line mark** — vertical lines are a mount phenomenon; the equivalent on a line is the rising branch.
- **Mercury verticals reaching the heart line** — unwise generosity: the one case where the reading depends on a vertical touching a major line.
- **Crossing a horizontal** — a vertical line crossing a horizontal one is said to neutralise the horizontal, indicating “trials conquered.”
On fingers and phalanges
- **Any phalanx** — generally benefic: energy and capability at that level.
- **Contrast horizontal lines on the ring finger** — Amar Ujala: “signs of misfortune affecting social reputation and standing.”
Where they are positive
- **A single clear vertical on almost any mount** — the standard benefic form: success on Jupiter, great luck on Saturn, wealth or fame on Apollo, unexpected fortune on Mercury, courage on upper Mars.
- **Three to six parallel on Mercury** — the medical stigmata.
- **Clear verticals from the rascette on the Moon** — long travels.
- **The exceptions** — a single long vertical on the Moon is “a presentiment of evil,” and on Venus even two or three verticals read as ingratitude or inconstancy; on Saturn and Jupiter, numbers beyond one reverse the reading.
Western reading: This table is Saint-Germain's, with Benham supplying the principle that a single deep vertical line is one of the six signs that strengthen a mount.
Palmistry is a traditional interpretive art, not a science. Offered for reflection and self-understanding — not medical, legal or financial advice.