Also called: Via Lasciva · the wanton way · Sister line of the Mercury line

Where on the hand: Benham's placement: it runs from the inside of the base of the Mount of Moon, in a slanting course, terminating on the lower part of the upper Mount of Moon near the percussion. It forms a sister line to the Line of Mercury — a second line running roughly parallel to and outside the Health line, low in the palm.

What it looks like: A slanting, often wavy line low in the palm on and around the Luna mount, doubling the Health line at a distance from it.

Benham reads it as a marker of abundant vitality when a strong Mercury line stands beside it. The traditional name comes from the belief that this surplus energy would be discharged into "lascivious practices" — but Benham insists the result depends entirely on hand type. Its one genuinely useful function is repair: the Via Lascivia can mend Mercury-line defects.

Western reading: Benham's own line, given in Chapter on the Via Lascivia; he stripped the moral reading back to a hand-type-dependent surplus of vitality and kept only the Mercury-line repair rule as reliable.

Read with care: The "wanton way" name and its readings of temptation and base thinking are moralistic period language; Benham himself made the reading conditional on hand type. Do not present it as a verdict on a person's sexual conduct.

from the inside of the base of the Mount of MoonBenham

on the lower part of the upper Mount of Moon near the percussionBenham

lascivious practicesBenham

will devote himself to pleasure, and will pursue it regardless of the cost.Benham