The seven rules

• **1. Symbols are line-configurations, not pictures.** A 'temple' is a square with a triangle on it; a 'lotus' is a rosette of fine lines; an 'elephant' is a mass of curves suggesting trunk and ear.
• **2. Clarity and completeness are conditions of validity.** An incomplete symbol, or one cut or crossed by an interfering line, loses most or all of its power — explicitly stated for the conch, the lotus and the swastika.
• **3. Size matters.** A large fish is always more beneficial than a small one; the same holds for lotus, temple and flag.
• **4. Direction matters.** A symbol whose mouth or point faces the **fingers** is stronger and fructifies early in life; facing the **wrist**, weaker and fructifies late. Signs facing inward into the palm give fruit throughout life; facing outward, only in the later stage.
• **5. Which hand.** Indian tradition reads **both hands as equally valid** — the left shows the present/inherited self, the right the future/earned self (for males; conventionally reversed for females in some schools). A symbol on the active (writing) hand is 'earned' energy, on the passive hand 'inherited/latent'. On both hands is the strongest confirmation.
• **6. Fewer lines = louder symbols.** 'The presence of triangles becomes more important if the hand has fewer lines.' A busy, hatched palm dilutes every mark on it.
• **7. No single symbol is a guarantee.** A symbol is read as a *modifier* of the mount or line it sits on, not as an independent prophecy.