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?A Host of Generals

By Richard Unger.

Reprinted from the Hand Analysis Newsletter Vol. 6 Issue 3

In this issue of the Hand Analysis Journal we visit a series of fingerprint charts that each pertain to living our power, one of the common themes I encounter in hands. The question affects each one of us in its own way: can we live out the powerful version of ourselves without losing that which is essential to our well being? Good question.

The UnToranaga Chart

Lord Toranaga (from Shogun by James Clavell) was a 16th century feudal lord in Japan. Not content, to be one of 500 local big shots, LT dreamt of uniting Japan under his Emperorship. Then all would be in order and peace would reign supreme.

For those of you who did not read Clavell's 1500 page epic, I'll save you some time and cut to the chase. LT, most ruthless of the warlords, won out. But at a price. The process of becoming Emperor left a shell of the former man. At the end, there was nothing left with which to enjoy his victory.

The same theme appears in our current century. Take the idealistic law school student, champion of civil rights, winding up managing leveraged buyouts, or the daring entrepreneur considering selling out to a chain store. Or, like a recent reading, imagine a single parent with a special talent that absolutely requires expression. Those with these fingerprints are inevitably challenged to ascend a throne without losing their heart in the process.

It can be done. It is done. But not without enduring a personal obstacle course, a series of emotional tests. Those with the UnToranaga (or Leader With Heart) fingerprint chart deserve our praise for the attempt alone. It is one thing to achieve highly, it is entirely another matter to do so with one's heart intact.

The General Who Cleaned the Cannons

"General, General, what are you doing?"

"Can't you see, I'm cleaning the cannons."

"General, we've got privates to do that."

"But no one cleans the cannons as good as I do and they need to be cleaned."

"General, even if you are the best cannon cleaner in history, we can't allow your talents to be wasted on such matters. We need you in the map room."

With the above chart, the Life Purpose is Service (9 whorls), but the Life Lesson is Self Worth (right Saturn). The life challenge here is to recognize one's true value, to seek a form of Service appropriate to one's capabilities.

An alternative title for these prints is: Too Many Lifetimes Sweeping The Monastery. Maybe this life's assignment can be better served running the monastery instead of cleaning it.

The Architect For The Great Pyramid

Somebody had to be lead architect on the Cheops project, but could a person with these fingerprints pull it off? The Life Purpose matches: High Achiever/Leader + The Artist + Service; but the right Saturn Life Lesson shows up again, raising issues of Self Worth (more on this in a moment).

The Life Purpose here has two delicious dualities, each one capable of forestalling success. First, this fingerprint chart requires its owner to balance worldly accomplishment with creative endeavor. In most of the cases I have seen, one side of the personality emerges quickly, the other stays hidden. This remains the case until what most call a mid-life crisis erupts. At this point the person either integrates their two disparate halves or puts one permanently to sleep.

For instance, a person gives up music for a more practical career. Later in life, they feel something big is missing. Then again, the opposite is just as likely: a musician struggling to pay the bills gets fed up with poverty. Either way, with only half the formula in place, life scale satisfaction remains elusive. Only by combining these two seemingly opposite characteristics (the worldly and the creative) is true satisfaction possible.
v The second duality involves the Service component of the Life Purpose. Service implies a certain selflessness, an involvement and concern for others, yet both the High Achiever and The Artist require high self focus. "Carnegie Hall is on line one, they need you to commit to the May date now. But Aunt Mathilda is on line two asking about your attendance at her 92nd birthday on the same date. Which should I put through?"

What to do?

There is no automatic answer. Think of a kayaker with a doubled oar paddle. Left stroke, right stroke, left, right. Equal strokes and the kayak moves straight ahead. But if the kayaker pulls with either arm more than the other, the craft will veer. This is natural enough. No one is perfect. The challenge here is to be alert enough to catch the drift and correct accordingly. Not as easy as it sounds when its Carnegie Hall on the left oar, Aunt Mathilda on the right.

For each of us, our Life Purpose depends upon making progress in our Life Lesson. In this case, right Saturn is the Life Lesson and lack of progress will mean the kayak goes in circles.

With right Saturn as the Life Lesson we can be sure that issues about money and proper self valuation will occur (like The General Cleaning The Cannons). But another possible expression point for right Saturn involves issues around contracts and responsibility. Owners of this fingerprint chart have a tendency to give away all their leverage on a hand shake, winding up in Servitude (burdensome obligation instead of Service).

Imagine this scenario: having worked on the pyramid plans for eighteen months, Fred is ready to bring them to the Pharoah for final approval. "Here, Ill take them," offers Phil. At the big meeting Phil is taking credit for the work and Fred has no proof he is the real author.

In this scenario, Phil is the no-good-nick, not Fred. But why did Phil (and others like him) pick Fred to finagle? And if these are Fred's fingerprints, why is he the victim of broken contracts and irresponsibility?

"In your hands means in your life," we like to say the International Institute of Hand Analysis. The irresponsibility somehow comes back to Fred. Where is his receipt? Why is he trusting someone as sleazy as Phil? To answer these questions, Fred would have to look his right Saturn Life Lesson square in the eye, to hold himself accountable for the contracts he enters.

So, back to our earlier question: could someone with these fingerprints be the architect at Cheops? They could if they bring their integrity up to an appropriate standard. Doing so would create the balance necessary for the multiple sides of their character to work together on the task at hand. And isn't that the very type of person we want building one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?

P.S. The pyramid at Cheops is the only of the Seven Wonders still extant.