Palm Mounts Meaning: The 7 Mounts of the Hand & What They Reveal
By DailyDestiny Editorial Team
Ever pressed the soft pads of your palm and wondered what they say about you? Learn to read the mounts of Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, Mercury, Venus, Luna and Mars by touch and sight, using Cheiro's planetary system, Vedic Hasta Shastra and Chinese palmistry.
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What Are the Palm Mounts and Why Do They Matter?
Imagine you are sitting with a friend who reads palms. Before she looks at a single line, she presses her thumb into the pad under your index finger, then the soft base of your thumb, nodding quietly. You wonder what she is feeling for, and what your hand is giving away.
The short answer: She is reading your mounts, the seven raised fleshy areas of the palm, each named after a celestial body. Palmists believe they show your core personality, natural talents and the planetary energies that dominate your character. Lines show how your life unfolds; mounts show who you are.
Think of mounts as the terrain and lines as the roads. The roads make more sense once you know the landscape they cross. A strong heart line, for example, reads differently depending on your dominant mount: Venus adds warmth and sensuality, Saturn adds depth and seriousness.
The mount system reflects palmistry's deep roots in planetary astrology, each mount carrying its planet's classical qualities. Cheiro, both palmist and astrologer, considered mounts the most reliable personality indicators on the hand, because they come from physical structure (bone and muscle beneath the skin) rather than flexible creases.
In Vedic palmistry the mounts are called parvat (mountains) and judged by firmness, color, texture and special markings as well as elevation. Vertical lines on a mount strengthen it; horizontal lines crossing it suggest obstacles. Chinese palmistry reads palm topography as a balance between upper regions (intellectual, spiritual) and lower ones (physical, material), seeking harmony over any single mount's dominance.
Should mounts be read before or after lines?
Always before, because the same line feature means different things on different personality types. A fate line break on a Jupiter-dominant hand carries different implications than the same break on a Luna-dominant one. Mounts give you the who before lines give you the what and when.
How do you feel mounts on your own hand?
Press each mount with the thumb of your other hand, comparing firmness, springiness and elevation between zones rather than judging any one alone. Practice on several hands to calibrate. Overall hand thickness varies enough that a mount prominent on one person is unremarkable on another.
What if two mounts are equally developed?
Tradition reads a dual planetary influence and a blended temperament. Jupiter and Apollo equally strong suggests ambitious creativity; Venus and Luna, passionate imagination. The pair creates a personality more complex than either mount alone.
Do the palm mounts have any scientific basis?
The anatomy is real; the interpretation is not validated. The Venus mount overlies the thenar muscle group that moves the thumb, and the Luna mount overlies the hypothenar group serving the little finger. No controlled research supports the claim that their size predicts personality. Honestly framed, mount reading is a traditional interpretive system with a long documented history, not an evidence-based diagnostic method.
What Do the Four Finger Mounts Reveal?
The four pads just under your fingers are the easiest mounts to find, and each is said to describe a different side of you.
Jupiter (under the index finger): ambition, leadership, confidence, authority and philosophical wisdom. Well developed, it describes a natural leader who guides others through vision and ethical example. You'll notice it in the friend who always ends up organizing the trip.
Saturn (under the middle finger): responsibility, discipline, wisdom, solitude and contemplative depth. Well developed, a serious thinker drawn to philosophy, research and structured achievement.
Apollo (under the ring finger): creativity, artistic talent, charisma, joy and the desire for recognition. Well developed, a naturally expressive person drawn to beauty and creative achievement.
Mercury (under the pinky): communication, wit, business sense, healing ability and intellectual versatility. Well developed, a quick-witted communicator who excels in commerce, medicine or any field needing verbal and intellectual dexterity.
Cheiro gave detailed portraits of each finger-mount type. Jupiter is the natural leader, magistrate or religious figure: generous, ethical and commanding. Saturn is the scientist, philosopher or monk: solitary, contemplative, drawn to life's deeper patterns. Apollo is the artist, performer or socialite: expressive, charismatic, moved by beauty and appreciation. Mercury is the doctor, merchant or diplomat: quick-thinking, adaptable and skilled with complex human situations.
In Vedic palmistry the finger mounts correspond to Guru (Jupiter), Shani (Saturn), Surya (Sun/Apollo) and Budha (Mercury), with the same essential qualities despite a different cultural framing.
What does an overdeveloped Jupiter mount indicate?
Arrogance, excessive pride, domineering behavior and the belief that you are always right. Healthy leadership tips into authoritarian habits, generosity becomes conditional on gratitude, and the ethical compass hardens into dogma. Balance comes from developing Saturn's humility and self-discipline.
What does a flat Saturn mount indicate?
Difficulty with discipline, structure and long-term planning. You might struggle to follow through, resist routine, and avoid the serious reflection that produces wisdom. Life may lack the gravity and depth Saturn provides.
How do Apollo and Mercury mounts work together?
Apollo supplies creative talent and charisma; Mercury supplies the communication and business skills to market it. Both strong describes someone who makes excellent work and gets it to market. Apollo without Mercury is the struggling artist. Mercury without Apollo is the skilled communicator lacking original vision.
What does a flat Apollo mount indicate?
Traditionally, indifference to appearance, display and public appreciation, not absence of talent. You might do good work with no pull to show it, and find applause faintly uncomfortable. The temperament is plain-living and practical, with taste running to function over ornament. The sun line crossing this mount is a separate matter, covered in Sun Line Palmistry.
What Do the Venus and Luna Mounts Reveal?
The two pads at the base of your palm describe how you meet life: through your senses or through your imagination.
Venus is the large fleshy pad at the thumb base, enclosed by the life line. It governs love, passion, warmth, sensuality, physical vitality, artistic appreciation and the desire for connection. Well developed, it describes a warm, affectionate, vital person who loves beauty and gives time, energy and emotion generously. Its size follows the life line's arc: a wide arc makes a large Venus, read as expansive life force.
Luna (the Moon mount) sits at the outer palm base opposite Venus. It governs imagination, intuition, the subconscious, dreams, travel (especially by water), psychic sensitivity and creative vision. Well developed, it describes a dreamer and visionary with a rich inner world and a strong link to the collective unconscious. You'll notice it in the person who drifts into daydreams on every train ride.
The Venus-Luna axis is the basic polarity between the physical and the imaginative. Venus grounds you in sensory reality: touch, taste, beauty and human warmth. Luna lifts you into dreams and possibilities beyond the physical. Think of Venus as the anchor and Luna as the sail.
Popular Western manuals from Cheiro onward read their balance as realist (Venus dominant) versus dreamer (Luna dominant), and treat development in both as the better combination. That is a value judgment inside the tradition, not a measured result, and worth naming, because a reader who assumes both-strong is the right answer will start finding it.
The Vedic tradition links Venus (Shukra) with bhoga, enjoyment of the senses, and Luna (Chandra) with manasa, the mind's creative faculty.
What does an overdeveloped Venus mount indicate?
Excessive sensuality, indulgence, vanity and superficiality. Warmth becomes smothering possessiveness, love of beauty becomes materialism, and vitality becomes obsession with appearance or appetite. Balance comes from Saturn's discipline and Mercury's intellectual detachment from sensory gratification.
What does an overdeveloped Luna mount indicate?
Escapism, a fantasy-prone personality, disconnection from practical reality, mood swings and restlessness. Imagination blurs inner vision with outer reality, love of travel becomes an inability to settle, and intuition turns into anxiety and irrational fears. Balance comes from Saturn's grounding discipline and Jupiter's philosophical framework.
How do Venus and Luna interact in a reading?
Both strong: passionate, creative, fully engaged with physical reality and imaginative possibility. Venus strong, Luna weak: a grounded sensualist who may lack imagination. Luna strong, Venus weak: a visionary who may struggle with physical reality and human warmth. Both weak: a reserved personality perhaps living mainly through intellect (strong Mercury or Saturn).
What does a narrow Mount of Venus mean?
Where the life line hugs the thumb and leaves only a thin strip of flesh, classical palmistry reads a restricted appetite for physical engagement: cooler affections, lower stamina, and a preference for a small circle over a wide one. Width matters more than height here, since a narrow mount can still be firm. Distinguish a truly narrow Venus from one that only looks narrow beside a large Luna, which is a judgment about proportion, not Venus itself.
Where Are the Mars Areas and What Do They Govern?
If you have ever wondered whether you are a fighter or someone who quietly endures, palmists look to Mars, which occupies three areas reflecting its dual nature as warrior and protector.
Lower Mars (Mars Positive) sits in the webbing between thumb and index finger, between the Jupiter mount and the start of the life line. It governs physical courage, assertiveness, combativeness and willingness to fight for your beliefs. Well developed, it describes someone who meets challenges head on.
Upper Mars (Mars Negative) sits on the outer edge of the palm between Mercury and Luna, roughly at its midpoint. It governs moral courage, resilience, endurance and withstanding adversity without breaking. You'll notice it in the person who keeps showing up, calmly, through a long hard year.
The Plain of Mars is the hollow center of the palm and reflects overall temperament: firm suggests steadiness under pressure, hollow suggests vulnerability to stress.
In Western astrology Mars governs both aggressive action and defensive resilience. In Vedic astrology Mangal (Mars) stands for warrior energy (kshatriya dharma) and protective courage (raksha shakti). The Lower (offensive) and Upper (defensive) split mirrors attacking versus standing firm under attack.
Classical literature treats strength in both as ideal for anyone whose work involves sustained conflict: Lower Mars supplies the push, Upper Mars the capacity to absorb what comes back, and neither is much use alone. Like a boxer who can punch but not take a hit, or the reverse. That is the tradition's internal logic, not an observed finding; no one has tested whether either area predicts behavior under pressure.
Chinese palmistry reads the central palm similarly, taking the depth of the hollow as a sign of resilience and constitutional strength.
What does a very developed Lower Mars indicate?
High physical assertiveness, competitive drive, quick temper and readiness to confront, meeting threats with action rather than deliberation. Balanced, that is healthy courage and self-defense. Overdeveloped, it becomes aggression, bullying and hair-trigger anger. Mars needs Saturn's discipline and Jupiter's wisdom to express itself constructively.
What does a flat Upper Mars indicate?
Difficulty staying resilient under prolonged stress. You might start strong but lose stamina in sustained adversity, and avoid situations that demand endurance and patience rather than a burst of effort.
What does the Plain of Mars tell you?
Its firmness is a quick read of temperament and resilience. Firm suggests steady composure under pressure. Hollow suggests sensitivity to stress and emotional overwhelm. Very thick and padded suggests stubbornness and resistance to change.
Why is Lower Mars so hard to assess?
Because it sits on working muscle. The web between thumb and index finger builds visibly in anyone who grips for a living, from climbing to stringed instruments to manual trades, so a bulky Lower Mars may record an occupation rather than a temperament. Ask what the hands do all day before reading assertiveness there, and compare the non-dominant hand as a rough control, since the working hand usually carries more bulk.
What Does a Displaced Mount Apex Mean?
If your mounts seem to lean to one side, that tilt is a reading in itself.
A mount rarely sits perfectly centered under its finger. William Benham, in The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading (1900), argued that a mount's true position is its apex: the point where the fine skin ridges converge into a triangular or looped pattern. Under magnification each finger mount shows such a center. When it sits toward a neighboring mount instead of under its own finger, tradition reads the two planetary characters as blended, with the neighbor adding the secondary flavor.
Jupiter apex leaning toward Saturn: ambition tempered by patience and long study.
Jupiter apex leaning toward the thumb edge: ambition in the service of family and appetite, since that direction belongs to Venus.
Apollo apex sliding toward Mercury: creative talent bending toward commerce and communication rather than pure expression.
Whole mounts shift too. Venus can sit high near the thumb joint or low toward the wrist, and Luna is divided into upper, middle and lower thirds with distinct readings.
Displacement answers a question beginners ask constantly: why do two people with equally prominent Jupiter mounts read so differently?
Benham's preference for the apex over the fleshy rise rests on a genuine anatomical fact. Epidermal ridge patterns form before birth, roughly in the tenth to sixteenth weeks of fetal development, and stay unchanged for life apart from deep scarring. The padding above them changes with weight, age and manual work. So Benham treated the ridge apex as the permanent skeleton of the mount system and the flesh as a variable overlay, like a riverbed beneath changing water. The personality meanings he attached to apex position remain traditional interpretation, not anything demonstrated.
The same ridge reasoning covers loop patterns between mounts, known in modern hand analysis as the loop of seriousness between Saturn and Apollo and the loop of humor between Apollo and Mercury, each read as a fixed trait rather than a passing one.
How do you find a mount apex?
Hold your palm under bright light angled from the side so the ridges cast small shadows, and use a magnifying glass of about five times power. Follow the parallel ridges up from the palm center toward each finger until they stop running parallel and form a triangle, a whorl or the crown of a loop. That convergence is the apex. On smooth hands, a light dusting of chalk or talc wiped off with a cloth makes it easier to see.
What does a high versus low Mount of Luna mean?
Traditional palmistry reads Luna in thirds. Fullness in the upper third, just below Upper Mars, is imagination applied to ideas and mental work. The middle third is linked to restlessness and the urge to travel. The lower third, near the wrist, is read as the deepest subconscious layer: dreams, instinct and material that surfaces uninvited. A Luna bulging outward at the percussion edge rather than upward reads as imagination spilling into outward expression.
What does a Saturn apex displaced toward Apollo mean?
The scholar with an aesthetic streak: Saturn's seriousness and patience aimed at something beautiful rather than austere. Stock examples are the restorer, the art historian and the craftsperson who spends years on exacting work that also has to look right. The reverse, a Saturn apex leaning toward Jupiter, reads as ambition entering the contemplative temperament: someone who wants their discipline recognized.
How Do You Read Mount Combinations Together?
You are never just one trait, and palmists agree: single mounts describe traits, but combinations describe people.
Benham's 1900 system named seven personality types after the mounts (Jupiterian, Saturnian, Apollonian, Mercurian, Martian, Lunarian, Venusian) and taught readers to find a primary and secondary type instead of forcing a hand into one box.
The method: rank all eight areas from most to least developed, counting the seven mounts with Upper and Lower Mars separately. Then read the top two as a compound. A Jupiterian-Mercurian is the leader who sells the vision. A Saturnian-Lunarian is the solitary thinker whose material comes from inner sources. A Venusian-Martian is warm and combative in equal measure, defending people rather than positions.
Direction matters as much as pairing. If both leading mounts sit on the thumb side (Jupiter, Venus, Lower Mars), tradition reads a self-directed, initiating temperament. On the outer percussion side (Mercury, Luna, Upper Mars), an other-directed, receptive one. Pairs that pull against each other, like strong Saturn beside strong Apollo, read as real inner tension between wanting solitude and wanting applause, not a contradiction in the hand. Does that tug feel familiar?
Many modern hand analysts formalize this with quadrants, using a vertical line through the middle finger and a horizontal line across the palm's midpoint. The upper half holds the conscious, outward mounts and the lower half the instinctive ones; the thumb side concerns self and material life, the percussion side others and imagination.
Seeing which quadrant carries the most padding gives a fast reading before any mount is named, and it is more forgiving because it does not rely on fine distinctions. Cheiro worked comparatively for the same reason, ranking mounts against each other within one hand rather than against an ideal. That is also the safest habit for a beginner, since it removes the need for an absolute standard. The two hands often rank differently, covered in Left Hand vs Right Hand Palm Reading.
What does a prominent but soft mount mean?
Firmness and size are separate readings. High and springing back under the thumb: the quality actively in use. High but soft and slow to recover: the same quality present as potential or appetite rather than expression, which is why a large soft Venus is linked to indulgence and a large firm Venus to vitality. Hard and unyielding: the quality held rigidly and defended. Press every mount with the same pressure so the comparison means something.
What does a strong Venus with a strong Saturn indicate?
Warmth under strict management: real affection and appetite governed by a temperament that values restraint, duty and privacy. Classical descriptions attach it to people deeply loyal in a few relationships and reserved to the point of coldness outside them. The tension shows in how time is spent, since Venus wants company and Saturn wants solitude. Readings usually turn on which mount is firmer, not larger.
What does a strong Mercury with a strong Luna indicate?
The classic percussion-side pairing. Mercury supplies language and quickness, Luna the images, so the pair reads as someone whose material arrives from inside and is then shaped for an audience: storytellers, teachers of abstract subjects, people who explain hard things in pictures. The traditional failure mode is fluency outrunning substance, so a reader checks the thumb side for ballast from a firm Venus or Lower Mars.
What Common Myth About Palm Mounts Needs Correcting?
If you have been told a big mount is good news and a flat one bad, it is time to let that go.
The most common myth is that mount readings are simple and universal. In reality an overdeveloped mount can be as much a problem as an underdeveloped one, as the Venus, Jupiter and Luna sections above show. The ideal across every tradition here is balance: several mounts moderately developed rather than one dominating the rest. Like a garden where no single plant shades out the others.
A second myth is that mount reading is quick to learn. Hand thickness, weight, age and ordinary variation make comparison genuinely hard. What feels flat on a thick hand can feel prominent on a thin one, which is why comparing within a single hand is the only reliable method for a beginner.
The Indian Samudrika Shastra states the ideal plainly: moderate, harmonious development across all mounts, with no extreme prominence or depression anywhere. This echoes the Ayurvedic idea of dosha balance, where health comes from all constitutional forces holding each other in balance rather than one dominating.
Notice, though, that the balance ideal is a preference inherited from these sources, not a finding. The texts recommend the balanced hand because they recommend the balanced life; the hand is read as an emblem of a temperament they already approve of. A hand with one towering mount and little else is read as concentrated talent bought at the cost of range: a description, not a verdict.
Is a dominant mount always your strongest trait?
Usually it shows your strongest natural inclination, which is often your strongest trait. But if life has required you to develop different qualities, it may point to potential that is partly unexpressed. Compare it with your actual life patterns. Are you using your natural strengths fully?
Can you develop an underdeveloped mount?
You can develop the qualities it represents through conscious practice. A flat Jupiter does not stop you building leadership skills; a flat Luna does not stop you cultivating imagination. The physical mount may not change dramatically, but the qualities can be strengthened through focused effort and life experience.
How do mount readings differ between Vedic and Western traditions?
Both use the same planetary associations and basic meanings. Vedic palmistry adds mount color, texture and auspicious symbols (tridents, fish, lotus) on specific mounts, and tends to be more detailed about mounts. Western palmistry focuses on relative elevation and firmness and often gives more weight to lines.
How Can You Read Your Own Palm Mounts Right Now?
You can map your own mounts in a few quiet minutes, with nothing but your two hands and a pen.
Rest your dominant hand palm-up on a firm surface in good light. With your other thumb, press each mount from the fingers down: Jupiter (under the index), Saturn (under the middle), Apollo (under the ring), Mercury (under the pinky). Note which feel firmest and highest. Then compare Venus (thumb base) with Luna (opposite outer palm base). Finally, press the palm center to judge the Plain of Mars.
Write your ranking down, because a remembered ranking drifts toward what you expected. Your top two are the pair to read as a compound.
Then check whether the mounts under your lines agree with those lines. A well-developed Venus under a strong life line reinforces the same theme of vitality; if they disagree, that is worth noting too.
For deeper self-reading, check each prominent mount with a magnifying glass for markings. Vertical lines strengthen its qualities. Horizontal lines suggest blocked energy. A grille suggests scattered energy needing focus. Stars point to sudden events in that mount's area. Crosses suggest challenges. Triangles suggest intellectual mastery of its qualities. Squares suggest protection.
Also note mount color in natural light: healthy pink suggests active energy, pale suggests underactivity, reddish suggests excess. The Vedic tradition recommends reading at a consistent time of day, since blood flow and hand temperature change how mounts look through the day.
What is the easiest way to identify your dominant mount?
Hold your hand at eye level and look across the palm from the side. The mount rising most clearly above its surroundings is your dominant one. Confirm by pressing each with your other thumb; the dominant mount will feel distinctly firmer and higher.
How does mount reading combine with line reading?
A line is read as strengthened where it crosses a well-developed mount: a heart line over a strong Venus intensifies the emotional reading, and a head line reaching a strong Mercury sharpens the communicative one. The mount supplies the context, the line the sequence.
What if your mount assessment contradicts your line reading?
Contradictions point to inner tensions, not reading errors. A strong Jupiter (ambition) with a weak fate line (unclear career direction) suggests ambition without a vehicle. A strong Luna (vivid imagination) with a straight head line (analytical thinking) suggests creativity channeled through logic. These are common and simply show you are complex.
Should you take a handprint to study the mounts?
Yes, because a print records elevation in a way a photo cannot: mounts ink darkest since they touch the paper first, so relative height reads at a glance, and the apexes transfer for later ridge work. Inking technique is general groundwork, covered in How to Read Palms: Complete Palmistry Guide for Beginners. For mounts, consistency is what matters, because ink density only means something as a comparison. Use the same paper and pressure each time, and date every print.
Questions people ask
What are the seven mounts on the palm?
They are Jupiter (beneath the index finger, ambition), Saturn (beneath the middle finger, wisdom), Apollo/Sun (beneath the ring finger, creativity), Mercury (beneath the pinky, communication), Venus (thumb base, love and passion), Luna/Moon (outer palm base, imagination), and Mars, which has two areas: Upper Mars between Mercury and Luna for moral courage, and Lower Mars between Jupiter and Venus for physical energy. Each is named after a celestial body whose qualities it reflects.
How do you read palm mounts?
Press gently on each area and compare firmness and elevation. A well-developed mount feels raised, firm and springy. A flat mount blends into the surrounding palm. A depressed mount looks hollow. An overdeveloped mount bulges. Your most prominent mount is read as your dominant planetary influence and strongest trait. Compare mounts against each other, not against an absolute standard.
What does a strong Mount of Jupiter mean?
A well-developed Jupiter beneath the index finger is read as strong ambition, natural leadership, self-confidence, and a desire for recognition and authority. You would be drawn to positions of influence, with the charisma to inspire others. Jupiter people are described as generous, philosophical and guided by strong ethics. Overdeveloped, the energy turns into arrogance, domineering behavior and excessive pride.
What does a strong Mount of Venus mean?
A well-developed Venus, the large fleshy pad at the thumb base enclosed by the life line, is read as warmth, passion, love of beauty, sensuality, vitality and generosity. Venus-dominant people are described as affectionate, artistic, deeply engaged with physical pleasures and human connection, and often popular because of their warmth. Overdeveloped, it becomes excessive sensuality, indulgence and superficiality.
What does a strong Mount of Luna mean?
A well-developed Luna, at the outer palm base opposite the thumb, is read as vivid imagination, strong intuition, love of travel and water, restlessness and a rich inner life. Luna-dominant people are described as dreamers, psychics, poets and creative visionaries who draw on the subconscious, often drawn to the ocean and said to have prophetic dreams. Overdeveloped, it becomes escapism, disconnection from reality and moodiness.
Can mount development change over time?
Yes. The bone structure beneath stays fixed, but the fleshy overlay changes with physical health, emotional development, age and weight. Tradition goes further and holds that cultivating a mount's qualities thickens the mount, so leadership practice would show up as a fuller Jupiter. That cause and effect has never been tested, and changes you see are more plausibly explained by muscle use, weight and age. Fairly put, the landscape is not fixed, so a reading describes your hand as it is now, not forever.
What does it mean when all mounts are flat?
Uniformly flat mounts suggest a personality without strong dominant traits yet, or someone who spreads energy evenly across all areas without specializing. That can mean versatility, but also a lack of passionate focus. Flat mounts sometimes go with thin hands (air or water types), where elevation is naturally less pronounced. On thin hands, judge overall vitality and firmness rather than elevation alone.
Is there a Mount of Neptune on the palm?
Not in the classical seven-mount system. Palmists writing after the outer planets entered common astrological use added a Mount of Neptune at the palm base, in the small bridge of flesh between Venus and Luna just above the wrist. Where it is raised enough to make the palm base look continuous rather than notched, it is read as a link between Venus's conscious warmth and Luna's subconscious imagination, and associated with public magnetism. Treat it as a later addition, and do not let it displace the seven mounts.
Which mount matters most in a palm reading?
No single mount outranks the others by default. What matters most in any hand is whichever mount is clearly more developed than its neighbors, because tradition reads dominance comparatively. If nothing stands out, the Plain of Mars and overall palm firmness carry the reading, and the interpretation becomes a balanced or undifferentiated character. Beginners often decide in advance that Venus or Jupiter is the important one and then find what they expected, the most common way a mount reading goes wrong.
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Related topics: palm mounts meaning, mounts of the hand, mount of Jupiter palmistry, mount of Venus meaning, mount of Luna palmistry, seven mounts palmistry, palm reading mounts, mount of Apollo meaning, mount of Saturn meaning, mount of Mars palmistry
