Che reads my palms, Santa Cruz, CA, 10 July 1983

Gloria Anzaldúa: What’s today?
Chela Sandoval: I don’t know. I think it’s the 9th.
GA: Today is July 9th and Chela’s gonna read my palms. How about that?
[Inaudible]
GA: Bueno entonces…
CS: Let’s see, you’re right-handed?
GA: I’m right-handed but my left hand dominates.
CS: Do you write with your right hand?
GA: I write with my right hand.
CS: Were you taught to write with your right hand when you were little?
GA: [cross talk] I was switched when I was little

Title: Natal chart, Gloria Anzaldúa and Chela Sandoval | Location: Box: 5 | Folder: 11

CS: [inaudible] left-handed?
GA: See, the part of me that predominates is the right brain. You know, whichever palm you put over first when you do like that? Okay you’re left-brained–I mean–you’re a right-handed person. I’m a left-handed person even though I write with my right hand.
CS: And when you grab for something, do you grab with your left hand?
GA: Um, up until it broke. I was doing most of the things with my left hand but then I broke this arm so then I started doing things with this right hand.
CS: So would you tell me that you’re left handed or right handed?
GA: Right now I’m right handed but naturally I’m ambidextrous. When I was little…
CS: When you were born, when you were born were you left-handed?
GA: Yes… I think I was.
CS: This is your left hand?
GA: This was in a cast so it's a little more wrinkled. But why don’t you read my right hand since that’s what I am now? They’re very different, no?
CS: Well the thing is that whichever hand you use is the hand that is the manifestation of your life as you're living it.
GA: mmhmm I’m right-handed.
CS: Your left hand, or your other hand--the hand that you use less--is a reflection of the potentials and the dynamics that you needed to work out in this life. For example, let's say it's your left hand. What’s written on your left hand is the markings of your spirit, the things that your spirit needed to work out, the things that your spirit wanted to work out. It’s a marking of the progression you’ve made up until this point–your spirit has made up until this point. The markings on your right hand, or the hand that you use the most, is the marking–marks the progression that you’ve made in this life.
GA: Okay do it on the left.
CS: Left being what you came in with…
GA: Yes
GA: And this is what I am now.
CS: Okay…

Title: Handwriting Analysis | Location: Box: 5 | Folder: 8

CS: Um…okay. You have the hands of someone who has many different kinds of strengths and powers. It’s not as if you are only a philosopher, or only an artist, or only a worker, but you have a potential. You have all kinds of energies running through you. Different kinds of potentials pulling you in many different directions.
GA: Yes, they do pull. [laughs]

Title: C.V.s and Resumes, undated | Location: Box: 1 | Folder: 4

CS: Um, you came into the world with a spirit-self that was very emotional–that required, that very much needed to have an emotional dependence on the family that it was raised with. I mean there was like something that you needed to work out. You had known about emotional dependence with the family to be raised with. There’s something there that you needed to work out. Previously you have been emotionally dependent, and there had been a lot of trauma and anguish, you might say.
GA: Previous to this lifetime?
CS: Previous to this lifetime. And your relationships with your family in your early childhood are…were such that there was stuff that, you know, you needed to work out.
GA: See, I think there was a whole lot of stuff between me and my mother, me and my father.
CS: And…that in this lifetime instead of there being the kind of, hmm…let’s say, the anguish of your early life, emotional life, affected your life and affected your health in the past. In this life you were able to make some kind of breaks away from your sibling, your life, your mother, your father, your sisters your brothers your uncles your aunts, those that you were raised with as a child. You have made breaks of…. They have forced you–or– you have become more independent. Um, you..it was like a forcible…through an act of will you have been able to become more independent as I’m reading this. See but this…I wonder if I should be reading this in this manner… See your fate line is coming in here. Now if we were reading your hand the other way around, I would say that– See my mother knows how to do this better than I do.
GA: You’re doing fine!

CS: Okay well, your fate line shows on your right hand--Is this your right hand?
GA: Yes.
CS: It shows an independence of will you might say.
GA: mmhmm, I’m very willful.
CS: But your left hand shows even more of an independence of will. And not only that, it shows that you have had a destiny that has affected the lives of many other people up until this point. And it looks like this is right at the point that you’re at right now. I mean, I don’t know which hand is the present hand, you know what I mean, cause you say you’re ambidextrous. Um- it's so weird. This hand is so weird 'cause, um-it shows--this shows a very strong will power. A very strong creation of one’s own destiny. Not like, if this line here were coming from this side here and coming up like mine does, this shows a life that is very much determined by other people. The whims of others or the desires of others–that sort of thing, But this shows a creative willpower–act of will which is carving out your destiny. And it also shows a destiny which is um…. Which is having a great influence on other people’s lives. I mean this is about, shows the life of [inaudible] Someone in their thirties, late thirties. But this…
GA: So you think this might be…
CS: What you came into the world with.
GA: And this is what I’ve made of it?
CS: mmhmm [inaudible] [GA and CS are talking at the same time]

GA: Well, the way that, the last person that read my palm, she had me go like this and she says that the left hand predominates so this is the one that you read now and this is what I came in with.
CS: Shall we do it that way?
GA: Okay.
CS: Okay, so if we do it that way, it shows that you had, let’s see…that you have an independence of spirit. You came in with more of an independence of spirit, although stuff to work with your–you had stuff to work out with your family that you came into the world with, but that there was this independence of spirit there. You had not lived a kind of life which had had a great effect on the lives of other people. Maybe you had been doing growth in your own on yourself, so now in this life you have had a very emotionally heavy relationship with your mom and your dad.
GA: Yes. Very heavy.
CS: I mean even more so, you have not been able– you have a very emotionally dependent relationship with those that you were raised with, let’s say that.
GA: Sí

Title: School and Family Photographs, 1941-1956, 1997, undated | Location: Box: 146 | Folder: 12 | Extent: [See also: Oversized]

CS: And at the same time, you have developed a great destiny. You, through an act of will, you have created that destiny on your own.
GA: Wow! That’s what I was told by a German, uh, Russian woman who read my palm about seven years ago, she says I am creating my own destiny.
CS: Wow. That’s really neat. And not only that you have created a destiny that has had an effect on other people’s lives, but anyway…a lot of people.
GA: My students
CS: mmhmm
GA: But it stopped?
CS: No, it hasn’t stopped, it just hasn’t come into its full– your line’s always change. That’s why it's good to get your palm read occasionally because the lines are always changing.
GA: I have my prints in my journal.
CS: Great!

GA: So this line will be growing?
CS: mmhmm. Mine goes this way and then that way and a little this way. I’m gonna have different transitions in my life. You have a lot of travel lines in your life, in your hand already these things here, these are all travel lines.
GA: You think I’ll be traveling for the rest of my life?
CS: Looks like there’s a lot of travel lines in here….these lines coming up here, I’m not sure how to read them.
GA: Are they worry lines?
CS: These come in sideways in here where nervous tension lines. And you know, you show that you have a very sensuous nature.
GA: mmhmm [laughs]
CS: And that you can be a bit stubborn. Or at least you came in a bit stubborn.
GA: I can be very stubborn. I’m trying to loosen up.

CS: Yeah, you have been able to develop your intellect. You have a long and deep head line. It’s not…in this hand it’s less…
GA: Developed?
CS: No, it's very developed in this hand, but it's a little more developed in this hand.
GA: See, I have a very intellectual part of me which I think is probably dying down. I think I’m becoming more intuitive, relying more on [inaudible]
CS: You have the psychic cross in the middle of your hand. In this hand. And then this one’s not quite as developed, but here you’ve got it
GA: And what is this cross, here?
CS: That’s a blessing over, um, you have a couple of protected–this is a blessing…this is a blessing-but I don’t remember what-you’ve got the blessing on this hand– on this finger, but not here. But here you’ve got it on –I think one is creativity and I don’t know what the other is.
GA: I think this is truth and…isn’t it power? The Saturn finger?
CS: Could be. Um…the traveling could affect your health if you’re not real careful.
GA: Yeah, yeah cause what I do is I wear myself out and then I go home and I’m sick for a week.
CS: And it doesn’t look like anything serious.

GA: Well what is this thing here? This space here? Is that anything?
CS: Well it looks to me that your destiny line has–is connects up with another line which is kind of a protection. See, this line up here, and these lines that come here, they kind of protect and help. These are lines of protection around your [inaudible]. Which you sort of need right here, cause these travel lines seem to cross over your destiny line and meet up with your life line a little bit
GA: And look at all these lines here, isn’t that…
CS: The way your destiny is affecting your life, but also there might be some [inaudible] all of this is nervous energy lines crossing over your [inaudible]
GA: I think this is the healthiest I’ve been, though. I used to be…
CS: You have a good health line–you don’t have–
GA: Okay and the health line is this right? Which is the health line?
CS: Yeah, this must be it, here. It’s kind of an unusual constitution, but it’s not one that is going to detrimentally affect your life, unless the travel–
GA: Why is it unusual?
CS: Because you know it’s interesting because it comes up and it's connected to this blessing you have here. I think that’s the creativity. And it comes up– ‘cause usually the health line begins here.
GA: Sí, yeah this is creativity and this is the finger of Apollo so this would be creativity. This is communication. Mercury. No?
CS: mmhmm
GA: So maybe my blessing is in creativity.

CS: You um you have some stuff to work out about…in your–you came into this world with a knowledge about love but you weren’t really able to completely love. Give yourself in love and receive in love. But you had a pretty clear knowledge of what love was about but not really a complete ability to give or to receive in love.
GA: It’s hard for me to receive
CS: Mmhmm so that was what you came in as, with. But in this life you’ve had a lot of. This life, or what you came in with, you didn't come in with a lot of trauma about love. You know you pretty much knew [
GA: mmhmm] what love was about, you just, for some reason, hadn’t really acted to out its potential. [
GA: mmhmm] The knowledge of your potential. [
GA: mmhmm] Potential of your knowledge and after that the potential of your knowledge. This hand shows that you haven’t had an easy life when it comes to love. You’ve had some sort of traumas about love. But somehow these traumas have done several things. One is that you sometimes may have kind of a romantic idea about what love is about. You may tend to romanticize [
GA: [giggling]] your love, lover, or potential lover [
GA: Si] So that you may be thinking of them more in an imagistic kind of way, because you’re romanticizing them so much.
GA: Sí
CS: So that’s one thing that this--
GA: I also have--I also want perfectness.
CS: mmhmm That’s what that tends to do. This is what this trauma in your experiencing of love has done, it’s–for one thing, it's given you this tendency to romanticism in love. And

Title: "El Amoramiento/Love-sickness" | Box: 67

GA: What is this break?
CS: I see it as being another direction possible for you
GA: [ahh!] So in the heart line there’s another direction so that that means like maybe lesbian? No?
CS: I don’t know. I see it as
GA: I mean that’s probably something else
CS: I see it as a potential to experience. A potential to be able to have a deep loving connection with another human being or with people in general, but it’s not quite actualized yet, it's like more of a potential. And it has to break from this romanticism stuff, because the romanticism stuff keeps you, will keep you distant from people. And this other line here shows another direction that you have in you to act out and it shows like the come up real high. See how it’s kinda comin up in there?
GA: mmhmm
CS: This coming in between these two fingers shows an ability to love in a complete way in a realistic way.
GA: Oh. so this line in the heart line that goes off, that is in romanticism? And the one that curves between the Jupiter and Saturn finger is the one that is the more complete, more whole one?
CS: mmhmm
GA: Hmmm!
CS: And I think a healthier kind of love. And see how it’s kind of coming in here but it's not quite actualized yet.
GA: mmhmm
CS: So, that’s probably something that you're working on now. [long pause] The romanticism stuff I think may give you a tendency to be kind of narrow-minded about some things.
GA: [laughs]

CS: But your psychic-self keeps you broad-minded. This bridge is a kind of bridging here that keeps you is keeping you broad-minded but that’s kind of–is a tendency in you to be kind of narrow-minded
GA: I’m very stuffy and narrow-minded and picky about the people that I want to be lovers with and stuff.
CS: Hmm! So maybe that’s what’s showing up here. You have some relationship lines coming in here. See it looks like one towards the end of your life that’s that’s a marriage it looks pretty good, and then another one in the middle of your life that looks…that’s all there already in marked in your hand.
GA: hmm…Wow
CS: This one in the end of your life looks like it’s a real positive, "up" relationship, and the other one looks like you go through a lot of shit together.
GA: Yeah, I think this line must be me and Randy. We had real hard times. This one. I don’t know who the other one is.
CS: You haven’t met them yet.
GA: So there’s only two lines?
CS: Well, there could be more coming in. The lines are always changing, you know? More come, some come, some go.
GA: And what are the ones that are like this?
CS: I don’t really know how to read those. They’re not good enough to discern which things mean stuff and which things don’t. I think that’s all that I can do.
GA: That’s very good.

CS: Let’s see the other one just one more time. This is what we decided you were born with, huh?
GA: Yes.
CS: This one shows that you haven’t traveled as much. That you were more sure of yourself, but maybe almost…
GA: Arrogant?
CS: Lacksadaisical in your approach to life. And you know things were more or less simple. Clearcut. Black and white. You know, for you. And that your health wasn’t as good–physically. That your attitude toward life, maybe your kind of indolence caused you to be lazy about your health and that may have affected your life, but it didn’t really affect your ability to love or your–the way you thought about things. Things were pretty clear, black and white. You did some traveling. You still had a blessing around your creativity and you were a very sensuous person. But you have done a lot of growing in this life if you read it this way. I think you should.
GA: Yeah I think so too.
CS: And um you know, you’ve done a lot more traveling. You've chosen to come into a family where there would be a lot of complicated issues for you to deal with. It’s enabled you to love a great deal more and in more complexity, but you still have a lot of stuff to work out about love. You have more of a capacity to love now than you did before. But that’s still something you’re kind of stopped at. You are much stronger–you’ve been forced to develop a willpower that enables you to go beyond yourself, and it's caused you to have a lot of experiences which are going to affect every aspect of your life but you have a very strong mind and will power. And actually your health is much better, your constitution, because of the changes that you’ve made in your life and family. And you’ve got the psychic cross in the middle of your palm which tells us that you’re psychic.

Title: Psychology/Metaphysics/Health | Box: 166

GA: What about a Girdle of Venus?
CS: My mom knows about Girdles of Venus. I don’t think you have a Girdle of Venus. Do you think you have one?
GA: I don’t either. But I–I don’t either.
CS: I almost bought a palmistry book in the store. I’ve never read a palmistry book so I don’t know.
GA: You just learned from your mama?
CS: Just listening to her like Rose is probably gonna be able to do this cause she’s heard me do it so many times I bet she’s picking up on how to do it. But you know, I didn’t think I knew how to do it I just kinda started getting interested in what people’s palms were like cause I saw my mom doing it, so I’d say can I see your palm, and I’d just look and they’d say, well what do you see what do you see? And I thought I don’t know how to do it, I was just interested in what it looked like. But um, I’d have to get a palmistry book and study up on this cause you've got some designs in here that I don’t know how to read.

GA: And also, there are all these crosses and stuff, you know?
CS: mmhmm. I think these all have to do with traveling.
GA: But you know these wrinkles have gotten bigger cause I remember when I discovered this was communication and this was creativity they weren’t that long.
CS: But you’ve definitely got a blessing on your creativity. Both sides.
GA: That’s like an X?
CS: mmhmm. It’s there… Here, it's even more definite. Really definite here.
GA: Someone told me that if this curves in like this, that you’re a lesbian.
CS: Oh really? I hadn’t heard that before.

Title: "Creativity Is a Coping Strategy," A View From the Loft 13 (1), 1990 August | Location: Box: 59 | Folder: 22

[inaudible; a woman speaking loudly]
GA: What is that sound?
CS: It’s the tape recorder going. Oh, it’s somebody walking by outside. There are lines connecting.
GA: See this thing coming down, let me see your other hand. No, instead of curving down it curves up.
CS: This may be stuff coming up.
GA: I don’t know, it's just someone told me that. You’ve got lots of creativity. No? What are these?
CS: Yeah, that’s a big X.
GA: Y aquí? Communication. What is this big X, you have it over here, too.
CS: Yeah, same thing.
GA: Did your mother tell you?
CS: It’s communication. No, uh uh. But I had a lot of stuff to work out about love. And…
GA: Well this–
CS: mmhmm. I came in with a good mind but my intellect is not as developed in this life as I had the potential to have it be.
GA: I think its very developed, no?
CS: Well, I mean because of the work I do it forces me to think but actually I had kind of a traumatic childhood. See I have these nervous energy lines that come up past my life line. And they cross my head line and make this island here and continue over and cross my heart line and reach up to my health line here.
GA: And these are all nervous lines?
CS: This is a nervous energy line that crosses all the way over here, and it makes an island here which shows a type of insanity that occurred, and I think that affected my ability–my intellectual abilities–because this line is not as long as it is on my other hand. On my other hand it comes all the way to here. It stops here. And it’s also not clear, and that break in it–see how yours is clear and straight? That shows that you can think clearly. So I had some damage here in my life that I have to overcome. And here, you can see some of the stuff around my heart.
GA: Bueno, and this is your health line?
CS: Mmhmm
GA: It’s so straight. So straight…
CS: I know, but it's not good that it's there. The less of a health line you have, the better off you are. Which line, which hand is this? Your right hand?
GA: This is my right hand. What I came into the world with.
CS: And this is your left hand. See–you have all this protection stuff around your life line and you have a very small health [inaudible] but here you’ve got a definite health line [inaudible]. See this shows that I have kind of a delicate—

[Tape Stops]