Unlock the Secrets of Chinese
Physiognomy and Discover How to Read
People Like Clockwork
Studying a person’s face to tell if they are truthful is one of the most common ways to assess their integrity. In fact, it’s a fundamental trait that most of us have without even knowing it. At the same time, we also look for concealed emotions behind a person’s face, whether it’s a relative, friend, or coworker.
Did you know there are ways to tell a person’s emotions and decipher their luck just by reading their face? Face reading is an ancient practice in Chinese and European civilizations dating back several millennia.
If you wish to learn more about how face reading works and to try it on yourself or with others, then this book is for you. It will not only help you explore ancient alternative practices but also teach you to interpret the minds and thoughts of those around you. You can use this knowledge to better understand the people in your life, including family members, close friends, new acquaintances, or ordinary by-passers. As opposed to simply understanding the history and theoretical aspects of face reading, this book will teach you how to read faces and interpret a person’s thoughts as well as their temperament.
If you are fascinated by the people you meet and want to get to know them on a deeper level (without flat-out prying), then physiognomy is a great art to learn. This book will give you a detailed history of face reading and how it works. You will learn the facial map and how to read it, complete with diagrams and step-by-step instructions. You will also learn how to decipher character traits, assess health, and read the past, present, and future of those you know, as well as those you will come to meet. By the end of this book, you are bound to see faces in a different way, with a deeper insight and compassion for the people in your life. Without further ado, let’s begin our journey!
Advantages of Face Reading
While the most obvious benefit of face reading is the ability to interpret people’s thoughts, several other advantages come with physiognomy, including:
· A deeper understanding and insight into people and their lives
· Compassion for others
· An eye for detail
· The ability to empathize with others
· Gratitude
The ability to read faces can significantly affect a person’s life as well as their habits. Most people underestimate the amount of information that faces can reveal. How we communicate, behave, expend energy, and express our emotions are thoroughly conveyed through our faces. Along with this, your face also reveals your ability to work either independently or collectively. Moreover, your face will let others know whether you are materialistic or if you place greater value on emotions and experiences. It also shows whether you are in love, in emotional agony, had a challenging childhood, or are awaiting good fortune in the future.
So, which aspects can you hope to discover with face reading? Let’s find out.
· Health: A person’s face is divided into “zones” (per the modern terminology) to figure out health issues in specific organs or internal parts of the body. Whether it’s a nutritional deficiency, lack of physical strength, or an underlying condition, you can read a person’s face to determine the precise root cause. With this, you can also resolve these issues by treating them with proper remedies, natural or otherwise.
· Wealth: You can look at a person’s unique facial features to grasp the amount of wealth they had in the past, what they have now, and how much they will have in the future. There are certain points on the face that tell you whether they will acquire abundant wealth through hard work or by inheriting ancestral property.
· Personality and Character: You learn about a person’s character, traits, and personality by reading their face. Some people can be deceptive and pretend to be someone they are not, which can make it rather difficult to discern their genuine personality. With face reading, you can look beyond the facade
and understand them for who they are. Their strengths, weaknesses, needs, and behaviors will be laid bare for you to assess.
· Career: By simply contemplating a person’s face, you can appraise their luck, talent, and competence, which can help you advise them on their ideal career path. If you are confused about yourself, it can encourage you to choose your professional vocation as well. You can learn how to read the hidden talents and successful attributes in a person, along with their interests and shortcomings. Lastly, facial features also determine a person’s ability to handle money, make connections, and lead others, which are necessary aspects of any professional environment.
· Love and Marriage: If you are lucky, you will meet your ideal life partner early on, but many often struggle to find the soulmate they will spend the rest of their lives with. This is when the art of face reading comes in handy. Whenever you go on a date or meet a would-be life partner, you can easily overlook their superficial features and make out their true, intrinsic self. By learning the art of face reading, you can also analyze a couple’s faces and determine whether they love or are truly meant for each other.
· Children: The vital points on someone’s face determine their luck when it comes to having kids. It also tells the health, luck, fate, and future of their offspring. Since the top part of one’s face is the “Heaven” section, which represents childhood, you can easily determine the child’s fate and the childhood they are destined for.
· Destiny and Life’s Purpose: We often live according to others’ expectations, which suppresses our true selves and can even result in feelings of inadequacy or self-hatred. With face reading, you get to learn what you truly want in life and define your sole purpose. For some, excelling at their work gives them ultimate satisfaction, whereas others will find solace in traveling and world exploration. With this art, you can figure out your life’s real purpose and steadily achieve your goals. Likewise, you get to learn about your own destiny – what your life was
and what it will evolve into. If you don’t like what you read, you still have a chance to change it, giving yourself an opportunity to make amends and get reacquainted with success.
As you can see, a person’s face can reveal virtually everything about them – from their childhood to how their life will be when they retire.
Faces are open books ready to spill their secrets to those who master the art of face reading. Take an open-book exam as an example; you are given the liberty to consult your textbooks, notes, and cheat sheets, but if you don’t know how to locate answers in the materials at your disposal, you will most likely fail the test and earn a poor grade. Similarly, a human face gives you all information; all you need is to learn the art of finding and interpreting answers, which is what this volume is all about.
In the following chapters, you will learn a great deal about the history, techniques, and approaches to effective face reading.
Chapter 1: History of Chinese Physiognomy and Face Reading
This opening section will focus on the history of face reading and its evolution through time. It is intended to give you a sound understanding of how, where, and why face reading originated and why it still exists today.
Briefly, face reading is about analyzing a person’s facial features to understand their character, personality traits, strengths, weaknesses, and more. Every feature of the face – nose, eyes, mouth, lips, chin, etc. – reveals something about the person and their unique attributes. If you look carefully and learn to read facial features properly, you can unravel hidden stories, some of which could even be dark, layered secrets of their past. In addition, it also gives deep insights into a person’s fate and future. In many ways, a face resembles a blueprint that lays out a person’s life story, right from their childhood to their golden years. That said, it is not as easy as it sounds; you must learn how it is done and keep practicing consistently to become a master of face reading and analysis.
Aside from learning about a person’s story and predicting their future, you can also determine the state of their health through face reading. This practice has endured many centuries since Taoist monk healers used the art of face reading to diagnose underlying health issues and diseases. This technique’s accuracy was so remarkable that Traditional Chinese Medicine (or TCM) still employs it in medical practices today.
Before we discuss the history and significance of physiognomy, it is first important to understand what physiognomy is and what it entails.
Physiognomy is the art of deciphering one’s character and personality through their facial expressions and outer appearance.
Stemming from ancient Greek times, the term “physio” means nature, and “gnomon” means interpreter or judge. Though sometimes considered a form of pseudoscience, this technique influenced a great many scholars and teachers throughout Europe during ancient times. It is often also referred to as the art of learning about an object or terrain through specific physical attributes. For instance, physiognomy would explain the genetic connection between a person’s physical traits. If someone had Down syndrome, it was apparent through their slant eyes and flat face. In time, the study of physiognomy progressed and was actively incorporated in other scientific disciplines, such as biochemistry and physiology.
While the study of physiognomy was exceptionally popular in European culture throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the practice can be traced back to 500 B.C. when Pythagoras, the Greek scholar, judged his students based on their looks. If they were not
“gifted” enough, he would instantly reject them. The term
“physiognomonia” appeared in the fifth century B.C. in Of the Epidemics, a treatise written by Hippocrates. It also appeared in a scripture authored by Antisthenes, another eminent Greek philosopher.
In one historical finding, Aristotle’s assessment of people’s traits based on their face’s size and shape further established the study of physiognomy. According to Aristotle, people who possessed broad faces were half-witted, small faces were faithful, round faces were courageous, and large heads were hostile. He also studied the noses in particular, as this body part was believed to reveal a lot about the person. The philosopher believed that people who had a sharp, pointed nose could easily be provoked, while those with a thick and bulbous one were insensitive. People with a slender and hooked nose embodied the might of an eagle, and an obtuse nose signified the courage of a lion.
In his treatise, Aristotle also clarified the approach to his study of the general and particular characteristics of the subjects’ individual traits that conveyed stupidity and genius, along with strengths and weaknesses. These aspects were then studied individually and collectively to determine the outcomes. Individual features such as hair, voice, color, body, and gait were all considered.
These studies and findings slowly evolved and spread to all of Europe during the 16th century. All kinds of intellectuals, including scholars, physicians, scientists, and philosophers, set out to find the connection between a person’s face and their personality and fate.
Several classical Latin authors like Suetonius, Juvenal, and Pliny, the Elder drew inspiration from these studies and conducted their own research. However, in the late medieval era, these studies were more astrological than descriptive, which inspired people to use them in magic and esoteric spells.
Other European scholars also dipped their toe in the study of physiognomy and contributed their own versions to this discipline.
These scholars were the most well-known figures at the time, of whom were Sir Thomas Aquinas, Avicenna, John Duns Scotus, and Albertus Magnus.
Here are the most notable works in physiognomy that date back to Ancient Greece:
· Physiognomonics by Aristotle – A book divided into two parts.
The first volume focused on human behavior and how nature is aligned with the human form. The second part tackled animal nature and behavior, along with the gender roles of animals in their kingdom.
· Polemon of Laodicea, de Physiognomonia (2nd century), in Greek
· Adamantius the Sophist, Physiognomonia (4th century), in Greek
· An anonymous Latin author, de Physiognomonia (4th century)
Sir Thomas Browne
Sir Thomas Browne was an English physician and philosopher who influenced the discipline of physiology. In 1643, he authored a book entitled Religio Medici, in which he discussed the possibility of a person’s inner qualities being reflected in their external appearance and facial features. In part 2:2 of the book, he writes the following:
“There is surely a Physiognomy, which those experienced and Master Mendicants observe. (…) For there are mystically in our faces certain Characters that carry in them the motto of our Souls, wherein he that cannot read A.B.C. may read our natures.”
Browne also claims that the eyes and nose communicate without speaking and that the eyebrows can tell the truth. He posits that a person’s individual features, complexion, and overall constitution also give away truths about them. He also coined the term
“caricature” to convey political satire in visual form.
Giambattista Della Porta’s work on celestial physiognomy was also a breakthrough in the discipline. The Italian scholar argues that a person’s temperament was responsible for their outer appearance,
not the stars as it was commonly believed. In another one of his works, he represented the human form with animal woodcuts.
Browne and Della Porta concurred on the fact that a plant’s roots, leaves, fruits, and structure were responsible for the effectiveness of its medicinal properties, a concept also known as the “doctrine of signatures.”
John Kaspar Lavater
John Kaspar Lavater was a Swiss writer, pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Zurich, and founder of physiognomics, a movement associated with religion and anti-rationalist beliefs. He was always the subject of vivid controversies, most of which related to religion. Lavater was deported to Basel in 1799 for leading an illegal protest. Upon his return to Zurich, he was injured in a fight with French soldiers, after which he died.
Given his interest in religion and “magnetic” trace conditions, he conducted several studies that he claimed could help trace and ascertain the divine energy present in all humans. He believed that the mind and body were in constant interaction, which led to the awakening of spiritual energy and its influence on a person’s body.
His findings can be read in Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe, his most notable work, and the reason behind his notoriety.