The mounts of the hand are the padded, fleshy elevations you feel when you press your fingertips lightly against your own palm. There are seven primary mounts, each named for a planet, each associated with specific qualities and drives. Reading the mounts is one of the most tactile and three-dimensional aspects of palmistry – you are not just looking, you are feeling.
The planets in palmistry carry the same basic symbolic associations as in Western astrology: Venus for love and pleasure, Jupiter for ambition and authority, Saturn for discipline and limitation, Apollo (the Sun) for creativity and recognition, Mercury for communication and intelligence, Mars for drive and aggression, and the Moon for imagination and the unconscious.
A well-developed mount – one that stands notably above the surrounding palm – suggests that the corresponding planetary energy is strongly expressed in the person. A flat or underdeveloped mount suggests that energy operates more quietly, or that it was suppressed or has not yet found full expression. An overdeveloped mount, one that is disproportionately large compared to others, may indicate that the energy of that planet overwhelms the others – sometimes positively, sometimes not.
The Mount of Venus
Location: At the base of the thumb, encircled by the life line. This is typically the most prominent mount on most hands.
Venus governs love, physical affection, sensuality, warmth, and the appreciation of beauty. A well-developed mount of Venus indicates someone who values connection, who has a strong capacity for physical pleasure and enjoyment, who is generous with affection, and who finds the sensory world genuinely pleasurable. These people are often warm, engaging, and physically expressive.
A flat mount of Venus can indicate someone more restrained in physical expression – not cold, but more contained. It may also suggest a period of withdrawal from pleasure or connection.
A highly developed, very firm mount of Venus sometimes tips into excess – an overemphasis on physical pleasure, difficulty with moderation, or placing too much of identity in romantic relationships.
Crosses or grilles (crosshatch patterns) on the mount of Venus in traditional palmistry sometimes indicate obstacles in love or repeated patterns of difficulty in romantic life.
The Mount of Jupiter
Location: Directly below the index finger.
Jupiter governs ambition, leadership, authority, pride, and the desire for recognition and status. A well-developed mount of Jupiter suggests someone with real leadership capacity – confident, naturally authoritative, with a clear sense of their own worth. These people often move toward positions of visibility and tend to want their efforts to be recognized.
A flat mount of Jupiter may indicate less drive toward status or leadership – not a lack of ambition, but a different orientation. The drive may be present but directed inward rather than toward external recognition.
An overdeveloped mount of Jupiter can tip toward arrogance, self-importance, or an excessive need for acknowledgment. The same quality that makes a good leader can, in excess, make someone difficult to be around.
The Mount of Saturn
Location: Below the middle finger.
Saturn governs discipline, responsibility, patience, solitude, and the understanding of limitation and structure. A developed mount of Saturn suggests someone with strong capacity for self-discipline, for working within constraints, and for accepting the slower, harder truths of life. These people often develop expertise over time through patient effort.
A flat or underdeveloped mount of Saturn may indicate difficulty with routine, with accepting limitations, or with the slower kind of work that produces deep results.
Saturn-dominant hands often belong to people who are serious, somewhat solitary by preference, and drawn to fields that require long study – law, medicine, the sciences, philosophy, the craft trades.
The Mount of Apollo
Location: Below the ring finger (the Apollo or Sun finger).
Apollo governs creativity, artistic expression, the desire for beauty, personal radiance, and the pursuit of recognition through artistic or creative achievement. A well-developed mount of Apollo indicates someone with genuine creative drive – not just talent, but the desire to express and to be seen in that expression. These people often gravitate toward performance, visual arts, fashion, design, or any field where aesthetic sensibility matters.
A flat mount of Apollo does not mean a person is uncreative. It may mean the creative impulse is directed through other channels – through intellect (Mercury) or through physical craft – rather than through performance or display.
The Mount of Mercury
Location: Below the little finger (the Mercury or communication finger).
Mercury governs communication, intelligence, commerce, adaptability, and the capacity to read people and situations quickly. A developed mount of Mercury indicates a sharp, quick mind, natural facility with language and social navigation, and often an interest in business, trade, or persuasion. Mercury people tend to be nimble – good at seeing angles, at negotiating, and at adapting their approach to their audience.
A flat mount of Mercury may indicate less natural facility in these areas, or simply that the person directs their intelligence through other channels.
The Mount of Mars
There are two Mars mounts, and this is where palmistry notation can be confusing.
The upper Mars (or inner Mars) is located on the inside edge of the palm, between the mount of Jupiter below the index finger and the mount of Venus at the thumb base. It governs active, aggressive drive – courage, initiative, and the willingness to push forward.
The lower Mars (or outer Mars, sometimes called Mars negative) is located on the outer edge of the palm, above the mount of the Moon. It governs passive resistance – endurance, persistence, the capacity to hold ground under pressure.
A well-developed upper Mars mount indicates someone willing to take the first step, to start conflict if necessary, to act. A well-developed lower Mars mount indicates someone who does not give up easily, who can sustain effort under difficulty.
In traditional readings, a prominent Mars in either location points to physical energy, competitiveness, and a strong survival instinct. Overdevelopment can tip toward aggression, domination, or a hair-trigger temper.
The Mount of the Moon
Location: The outer lower portion of the palm, below the lower Mars mount and above the wrist, on the pinky side.
The Moon governs imagination, intuition, dreaming, the unconscious, and the draw toward distant places. A developed mount of the Moon indicates someone with strong imaginative capacity, a rich inner life, sensitivity to atmosphere and to other people’s moods, and often an interest in travel, the mystical, or the subconscious. Writers, poets, therapists, and wanderers often have a prominent Moon mount.
A flat mount of the Moon is not associated with lack of imagination – it may simply indicate that imagination operates more quietly, without the accompanying emotional flooding that a strong Moon can bring.
Reading the Mounts Together
No mount should be read in isolation. The character of a person emerges from the balance – or imbalance – among the mounts.
A hand where most mounts are flat and only one is highly developed tells you that one planetary energy dominates the landscape. A hand where several mounts are well-developed tells you about a person with multiple strong drives that may sometimes compete.
Start by feeling the hand – literally pressing the pads of your fingers lightly against the palm – before you look. The most developed mount is often the first thing you feel rather than see. That tactile quality is one of the reasons palmistry has remained a hands-on (in every sense) practice.