In 1987 Terry Dukes published a volume called "Chinese Hand Analysis" through Samuel Weiser publishers, of York Beach, Maine, U.S.A. This book describes a system of handreading used by the Cheirological Society of Great Britain. In the book Mr Dukes claims that society to be a continuation of the Chirological Society founded last century by Katherine St Hill. He also claims the system to be based upon a genuine Chinese tradition of Handreading. This essay examines whether either of these claims is true.

Page 347 proclaims, "The history of Wu Hsing is told only through its spiritual environments; no secular literature exists upon it". This explains why we have never heard of it before Terry Dukes revealed it to the world. A sceptic might assume that it has no history and that he invented this Wu Hsing tradition.

This claim is absurd and untrue. Katherine St Hill advertised her willingness to share all she knew with all who asked. Besides her own books, and the books of other members of her society, there are the published volumes of her two magazines, The Palmist and The Palmist's Review, and scores of newspaper and magazine articles mentioning the society and Mrs St Hill. This substantial body of evidence clearly lays out the teachings of the original Chirological Society and completely repudiates the suggestion of any Buddhist ideas and Chinese ideas, or any knowledge of any Wu Hsing method. It does present, in vast and repetitive detail, a system of hand reading utterly at odds with the system presented in Terry Dukes' book. The Chirological Society drew freely on all the teachings current at that time and make no mention of any system of 'five elements'.

Mrs St Hill did take the trouble to describe her early investigations of Palmistry and the literature of Palmistry from which she learned, such as D'Arpentigny, Desbarolles and Cureau de la Chambre. The Society's magazines, and also the magazine of the society's secretary, Ina Oxenford, "Research" include accounts of many Palmists inside and outside the Society, none of whom correspond to Mr Dukes' absurd claim. There is simply no mention of any 'Chinese' influence on the Society at all.

Page 347 continues, "In 1958, fresh teachers of the Chen Yen sect arrived in Britain and again began to reaffirm the traditions." It is curious that neither the esoteric magazines of that time, nor the Buddhist magazines, appear to have noticed this event.

It is worth noting that the SSPP (Society for the Study of Physiological Patterns) was set up at the end of W.W.2, and that it made an extensive search for surviving members or records of Katherine St Hill's Chirological Society. Noel Jaquin, one of the founders, was writing regularly for Prediction magazine and had the resources of that magazine at his disposal. He was very active in the handreading world in London from the publication of his first book in 1925 and right through the war, yet he obviously had no contact with any 'Chirological Society' which suggests it was inactive by that time. Beryl Hutchinson had made contact with the Chirological Society in the early 1920's and knew Ina Oxenford; she said that the Society faded out during the 1939-45 war and that any members that were left from before the war joined the SSPP.

The SSPP advertised itself through Prediction magazine and two old members of the original Chirological Society did join the SSPP; both were dead by the time I visited England in 1977. Beryl Hutchinson spoke very highly of one - Rev. Rose - and I have seen an advert for one of his lectures in an old copy of Prediction. If 'Henry Barr' had existed as claimed, Beryl Hutchinson would have known him, yet she made no mention of this person who was allegedly so important in the handreading world. These genuine memories of the state of palmistry in England in the post-war years contrast totally with Terry's tale of a "thriving" Chirological Society in 1959.

Are there any grounds for believing the ideas and philosophy expressed in "Chinese Hand Analysis" to be genuinely Buddhist? Doubts as to this are further emphasised by the statements in the book that the traditions are delivered within a framework of Esoteric Buddhism. This implies that they are different to the ideas of the generality of Buddhists and again seems only to serve to explain why we have never heard of them before.

Terry Dukes has also repeatedly stated that most Palmistry in China is Taoist, and that Western writers who have described Chinese palmistry are describing the Taoist traditions. However, the four accounts in French or English of Chinese handreading traditions make no mention of it being Taoist. A recent work, "The Chinese Art of Reading the Head, Face and Hand" by Lee Siow Mong is by an avowed Confucian, a respected authority on Confucianism and Chinese culture. As with so many things, the claim that Palmistry in China is Taoist seems to originate entirely with Terry Dukes.

I first made contact with Terry Dukes when he wrote to me on April 31^st, 1976. I had begun publishing a magazine called Palmistry International, which I advertised in England's Prediction magazine and America's Fate magazine, as well as writing to various palmistry authors. In Terry's letter to me, in which he was praising of the magazine and its contents, it is noteworthy that the impressive letterhead is for something called "Mushindokai" established in 14 countries, proclaiming 11 specialities but making no reference to cheirology or palmistry at all.

His second letter speaks of his approval of the works of Charlotte Wolffe, and goes on to say, "My own studies began in Japan in oriental forms, which were rather quaint and archaic but good in many respect." 'Quaint and archaic' is a very different description to his later extolling of those studies. If there is any truth to his tales of having learnt from Japanese teachers, it is clear that he thought what they taught him was primitive superstition.

He goes on to say, "Jap palmistry comes direct from Chinese school. The school I studied in, within Japan and while living as a Buddhist Monk, I think must have come from India as it is based on the 4 elements (a la Gettings) but I think he misinterprets what he knows of it - he seems to have drawn from Taoist sources rather than Buddhist ones." This suggestion about India is completely contradicted by the history on page 347 of his book. This is just nonsense as Gettings, being extremely familiar with the Western magical/occult tradition of course, did not need to draw on 'Taoist' or any other eastern sources for his use of the four elements at all.

Terry's letter to me of November 5^th 1976 includes the line; "I've begun a group here - under the name of the London Cheirological Society." There was no previous mention of this group in any of our prior communication.

In 1977 I visited England. I made an appointment to see Terry at his home. His girlfriend (who talked to me about Terry's love of fancy letterheads and the worry of getting enough martial arts students - Terry being a martial arts teacher) told me that Terry does not always come down to see visitors who call on him. However, Terry did come downstairs, and we spent a pleasant time together. We talked of the old Chirological Society of Katherine St Hill. I asked him about his society and he remarked, "I thought, why not re-found the Cheirological Society?" So the Society had not been in continuous existence since 1889; Terry Dukes had founded it in the autumn of 1976.

He told me that as a child he had seen a notebook belonging to a female relative who had studied Palmistry, he thought with Katherine St Hill. He expressed regret that he did not have that notebook, and I understood that he never actually had it in his possession. On page xiii of the book he credits his Grandmother Edith Engeham with having imparted teachings on divination to him, although he also says that she actually taught him cartomancy (divination from cards). This 'lost notebook' seems to the only basis for his claim to any connection with Katherine St Hill.

However, as we have seen, there is no similarity between Terry's "Chinese Hand Analysis" book and the written works of Mrs St Hill, Ina Oxenford and any other member of the original Chirological Society. Moreover, the extant writings from the Chirological Society show no knowledge of any Chinese or Wu Hsing approach to Palmistry at all. The material in the book also has no relation to any of the material actually known about Chinese palmistry. Both Arlington and de Morant spent decades researching Chinese palmistry inside China and they make no mention of anything remotely like the traditions Terry says he has from his oriental teachers. Other texts in English by Chinese palmists are also quite oblivious of the sort of material presented in Terry's book.

The chapter in the book entitled "The Wu Hsing School History and the Cheirological Society" is an evident fabrication that bears no careful scrutiny at all. One must suspect that with so many untrue statements, the credibility of those statements which are yet untested (or untestable) is equally not likely to be very high. The claims that 'Chinese' Hand Analysis comes from China and that the society run by Terry Dukes is a continuation of the Chirological Society of Katherine St Hill are both entirely fraudulent.

Compiled from letters and essays by Andrew Fitzherbert, 1976-1996
(reproduced with permission)