THE ORIGINAL CHART
Odd that I would choose this chart to focus on because we’re in a retrograde Mercury period right now, meaning communications from the past, scrambled communications and screwed-up travel arrangements. As I studied this nineteenth century oraculum, I realized the original version is something of a mess (see photograph above) and incomplete. It must’ve been created during a retrograde Mercury.
According to the book, the eye and the heart numbers (see the picture above) are the most fortunate of all numbers to draw, but the numbers around that feature are all sort of scrunched. All the parts outside the ‘Oracular Circle’ are to be considered more unfortunate than the numbers within the circle. Those number squares which have the circle’s boundary cross through them indicate ‘luck of a mixed and variable kind.’ The ‘most propitious’ numbers are those which appear between the fingers and inside the Oracular Circle. If by chance you’re using a dropped coin with this chart and it lands on one of the segments of the fingers, it will indicate what month you’ll be married in. If the number-fortune you draw is under thirty-two, it indicates what day of the month you’ll be married.
The author of this oracle didn’t list the forecasts in numerical order on the answer key pages and I have yet to figure out why. When I got the answer key pages in numerical order, I realized there were two number 86 forecasts, and five other numbers in the chart (60, 101, 104, 109, and 123) which didn’t have a forecast at all! Furthermore, I discovered two empty squares inside the circle which, going by the numbering pattern, should have been occupied by numbers. And if you wanted to use it in the way the original designer intended, with a pin in the middle of it, there’s no clear marking to indicate where the pin would go.
My final assessment of ‘Madame Aubrey’s Palmistry Hand of Destiny’ was that it’s usable, but it appears to have been a rush-job which needed closer editing. Also, it tries too hard. The attempt to incorporate palmistry into it, though doubtless meant to increase its allure and specificity, leads to a visually confusing chart. But enough of my ragging-on the long-dead creator of this divination tool. Time to put on my editor’s visor.