International Hand Reading Association

The IHRA is organised by some of the most experienced and respected hand readers from around the world, all of whom have had over 30 years experience in hand analysis and palm reading. Established since 2019 as an over-arching association for professional handreaders, we have coordinated and integrated our various teaching styles to create a pathway for newcomers to become highly-qualified professional handreaders.

See: www.handreadinginternational.com

Origins

The original Chirological Society was founded in London by Katherine St Hill in 1889  and was the first Society of its kind anywhere in the world to investigate all aspects of chirological analysis, publishing its own journal, ‘The Palmist’s Review’ in the period from 1892-1901. The Society initiated a system of courses and examinations and also functioned as a professional body to safeguard the public from charlatans and imposters but became inactive after the War and had completely folded by around 1925. See more here:  The Chirological Society

SSPP & The Cheirological Society

The Society for the Study of Physiological Patterns  (SSPP) was founded in 1945 by the English handreader Noel Jaquin with an especial emphasis on looking at the significance of the patterns of the hands from a medical diagnostic and psychological point of view.  The SSPP was led by Beryl Hutchinson from around 1956 through to the early 1980’s with Peter West and Mary Anderson being key figures in the group through the 1990’s. Many of the world’s best handreaders, such as Johan Hjelmborg, were members of the society.  The SSPP finally closed in c2005.  See more here:  SSPP

The Cheirological Society was re-started in London in 1975 by Terry Dukes, with Dylan Warren-Davis being the Secretary for much of the 1980’s.  Christopher Jones became the Society Secretary in 1989 and the 1990’s was perhaps the most productive period for the Society with well written journals being produced four times a year, a plethora of new study works and publications and regular research conferences (‘Advanced Study Group’ seminars) in the period from 1990 to 1997.  With a cassette-based postal course students from around the world – such as Talma Brill in Israel, Birgita Birath in Sweden and Jenni Hirsch in South Africa – were all able to study handreading by correspondence course with Christopher Jones. Having established an active and dynamic teaching program, it was in this period that many, now highly-regarded, professional handreaders began their studies, including Johnny Fincham, Lynn Seal and Felicity Booth.

Handreading Cyber Cafe

After the Cheirological Society folded in 1999, the first online handreading study group was established by Hidde Wallaart and Christopher Jones in 1999 as the Handreading Cyber Cafe.  This forum allowed for the meeting with many different handreaders from around the world and spawned many new groups and chirological endeavours. For instance, Martijn van Mensvoort submitted his first research projects on Autism and the Hand and Neo-PI traits for evaluation at the Handreading Cyber Cafe.  Lynn Seal was the moderator and admin for this group (and many others!) until it folded after Microsoft stopped its online Communities webspace around 2005.

​Handreading International

On 27th May 2019, Handreading International was started by Christopher Jones and Felicity Booth as an online study group using the Facebook platform, bringing back together many long-standing professional handreaders such as Johnny Fincham and Lynn Seal.  And it is these four core members of the old UK Cheirological Society who have established the International Hand Reading Association.

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