The mounts are the fleshy pads on your palm. Run a fingertip across an open hand and you can feel it: some areas are soft and raised, others flat and firm. Traditional palmistry divides those areas into eight mounts, each named after a planet, and reads them alongside the lines.
Ground rule first: palmistry and mount reading are folk tradition, not science. What follows is the traditional reading, offered as a lens for thinking about yourself — not as a claim about your health, lifespan, money or relationships.
Where the eight mounts sit
Two rules cover the whole map.
Each finger base has a mount. From the index finger across: Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo (or Sun), Mercury.
Each side of the palm has a large one. The thick pad at the base of the thumb is the mount of Venus; directly opposite, below the little finger toward the wrist, is the mount of Luna. The remaining two are Mars: Lower Mars inside the web between thumb and index finger, Upper Mars above Luna and below Mercury.
| Mount | Location | Traditionally associated with |
|---|---|---|
| Venus | Base of the thumb | Warmth, appetite for the sensory side of life |
| Luna | Little-finger side, near the wrist | Imagination, receptivity, intuitive leaning |
| Jupiter | Base of the index finger | Drive, ambition, leading instinct |
| Saturn | Base of the middle finger | Self-discipline, comfort with solitude, patience |
| Apollo | Base of the ring finger | Expressiveness, aesthetics, creative urge |
| Mercury | Base of the little finger | Communication, quick adaptation |
| Lower Mars | Inside the thumb web | Initiative, forward push |
| Upper Mars | Above Luna | Resilience under resistance |
The slight hollow in the centre of the palm is the Plain of Mars. It is not counted as a mount; tradition treats it as where the surrounding mounts meet.
How to judge raised versus flat
The usual mistake is comparing your hand against a diagram online. Palm thickness varies enormously between people, so the only useful comparison is within the same hand.
- Keep the palm open and relaxed; tension flattens every mount at once
- Press each of the eight spots with a fingertip and notice which spring back and which barely give
- Look across the palm in profile from the thumb side; raised areas show a visible ridge
- Identify the highest one or two and flattest one or two on that hand — that contrast is what is worth reading
Tradition reads relative prominence only: if all eight feel similar the reading is "balanced", and a mount gets emphasis only when it clearly stands above the rest of the same hand.
The pair that matters most: Venus and Luna
The two largest areas sit directly opposite each other, which is why traditional palmistry reads them against each other rather than separately.
Mount of Venus
Bounded by the curve of the life line at the base of the thumb, with one consequence worth noting: the size of your Venus mount is defined by how far your life line arcs out.
- Full and springy: warmth expressed openly, with real attention to the tangible side of daily life
- Flat: warmth held more inwardly, less pulled by physical surroundings
- Covered in fine cross-hatching: traditionally read as a busy, circling mind
Mount of Luna
On the opposite edge, below the little finger toward the wrist. The Venus–Luna contrast is a standard entry point in traditional reading: Venus leans concrete and present-tense, Luna leans imagined and internal.
- Full Luna: imagination and receptivity showing outwardly; drawn to atmosphere and imagery
- Flat Luna: more literal, starting from what is visible
- Luna clearly fuller than Venus: the inner world carrying more weight than external comfort
- Roughly equal: balanced, with no extra emphasis either way
Combining mounts with the lines
On their own, mounts carry very little. The full traditional method treats mounts as the tone and lines as the direction. Standard combinations include:
- Head line sloping toward Luna — with a full Luna mount, read as associative thinking; a flat Luna weakens it
- Fate line starting on the Luna side — read as outside circumstances playing a larger role
- Heart line reaching onto Jupiter — with a full Jupiter mount, read as taking the initiative in relationships
- A clear vertical crease on Apollo — the Apollo line, read as a pull toward expression
These are conventions between traditional readings, and schools word them differently. When two sources disagree there is no authority to appeal to. If the three major lines are still unfamiliar, start with How to read your palm lines and come back to mounts.
Three common mistakes
- Assuming higher is better. Raised and flat are style differences, not a ranking, and balance is the more frequently favourable description.
- Reading mounts for physical condition. Avoid this entirely. Mount thickness shifts with weight, manual work and age, and nothing supports inferences about health or illness.
- Judging mounts from a photo. Mounts are three-dimensional relief; a flat photo shows outlines and creases, not height. Photograph your palm to read the lines, read the mounts with your fingers.
Related guides
- How to read your palm lines: life, head and heart — the pillar guide, read this first
- Left hand or right hand for palm reading?
- The life line explained — it defines the edge of your Venus mount
- The head line explained — including the slope toward Luna
- How to photograph a palm properly
See your own palm mapped
Take one photo in good flat light with the palm open and the camera square to it, then upload it to our Palm Reading Chart. The major lines and mount regions get marked on your own photo, which is far easier than matching your hand to a diagram.
For a different angle on yourself, Face Reading Basics: The Three Zones, Five Features and Twelve Palaces.
FAQ
Is a raised mount better than a flat one?
Traditional palmistry does not rank them. A raised mount is read as that trait showing more outwardly, a flat one as it showing more inwardly. Balance across all eight mounts is treated as more notable than any single dominant mount.
Which matters more, mounts or lines?
They cross-check each other. Lines give direction, mounts give the underlying tone, so the same head line is read differently next to a full Luna mount than next to a flat one. Reading either alone is how people end up over-interpreting.
I cannot feel any mounts on my palm. Do I have them?
Everyone has all eight regions; only the amount of relief varies. On a thin palm none of them stand out much, which is completely normal. Compare the mounts on one hand against each other, never against someone else's hand.
FAQ
Is a raised mount better than a flat one?
Traditional palmistry does not rank them. A raised mount is read as that trait showing more outwardly, a flat one as it showing more inwardly. Balance across all eight mounts is treated as more notable than any single dominant mount.
Which matters more, mounts or lines?
They cross-check each other. Lines give direction, mounts give the underlying tone, so the same head line is read differently next to a full Luna mount than next to a flat one. Reading either alone is how people end up over-interpreting.
I cannot feel any mounts on my palm. Do I have them?
Everyone has all eight regions; only the amount of relief varies. On a thin palm none of them stand out much, which is completely normal. Compare the mounts on one hand against each other, never against someone else's hand.