Sun line (Apollo line) meaning in palmistry

What is the sun line in palmistry?

The sun line is a line that runs up the palm towards the ring finger. In Hindi it is सूर्य रेखा (surya rekha). Cheiro calls it the line of Sun, the line of Apollo, the line of brilliancy or the line of success, and Dale’s Indian Palmistry (1895) calls it the Via Solis. They are all the same line.

It ends on the mount of the Sun, the pad under the ring finger, and runs up beside the fate line, on its little-finger side. Benham (1900) describes it rising, when long, from the upper part of the mount of the Moon on the outer side of the palm; when short, it starts higher up, and sometimes it doesn’t reach the finger at all.

The PalmSays scanner traces the four major lines, not the sun line, so the photo at the top shows none. Every sun line on this page is a drawing, in gold, of a form the books describe.

A sun line can be long, short, doubled or missing. Each form has a reading, and none of them is a forecast.

Sun line types and their meanings

Match your own hand to the cards. Each meaning is in our own words, from the books named under it. The old books promise luck, riches and honours from many of these forms; like the PalmSays app, we keep only the part that describes a tendency.

Where does your sun line start?

Cheiro lists where the sun line can rise: from the life line, the fate line, the middle of the palm (the plain of Mars), the mount of the Moon, the head line or the heart line, or only on its own mount under the ring finger.

• Sun line starting on the mount of the Moon

  Work where the response of an audience matters a great deal.

  Do you have this? Does the line start low on the outer side of your palm and sweep up to the ring finger?

  What the books say

  Cheiro links this form with people who work in front of the public, such as performers and speakers, and says it depends a great deal on how others respond. He calls it lucky and changeable; we keep only the kind of work it describes.

  Source: Cheiro (1916, 1900)

• Sun line rising from the fate line

  Effort put into the work you have chosen.

  Do you have this? Does a line branch off your fate line and run up towards your ring finger?

  What the books say

  Cheiro reads it as recognition for the career you choose, brought about by your own effort. Read it as effort in your chosen work; no line can promise the recognition.

  Source: Cheiro (1916, 1900)

• Sun line starting in the middle of the palm

  A habit of pushing on through early difficulties.

  Do you have this? Does the line start in the hollow middle of your palm, below the head line?

  What the books say

  The middle of the palm is the plain of Mars. Cheiro calls this form “sunshine after tears”. The app reads it as a habit of pushing on through early difficulties in the work you want to be known for.

  Source: Cheiro (1916, 1900)

• Sun line starting on the head line

  Work that rests on your own thinking and skills.

  Do you have this? Does the line start on your head line and run up to the ring finger?

  What the books say

  Cheiro reads it as success from your own talents and mental effort, with no one else’s whims involved, and finds it on the hands of students, writers and scientists. His timing for it is left out: no line gives dates.

  Source: Cheiro (1916, 1900)

• Short sun line only under the ring finger

  Sensitivity to surroundings: beauty and order affect how you feel.

  Do you have this? Is there only a short line on the pad just under your ring finger?

  What the books say

  Cheiro notes that on every hand with a sun line, however short, a person is more sensitive to surroundings: beauty, harmony and atmosphere affect how they feel and work. His timing for a short line is left out.

  Source: Cheiro (1916)

How clear is your sun line?

• Deep, clear sun line

  A bright, warm manner that tends to draw people in.

  Do you have this? Is the line deep and clear from end to end?

  What the books say

  Cheiro reads a bright, warm manner that draws people in and gives you some sway with them. Dale reads a straight, unbroken sun line as a manner that tends to win the goodwill of senior and influential people. Both books also promise honours; that promise is not repeated.

  Source: Cheiro (1916); Mrs J. B. Dale (1895)

• Broken sun line

  Putting your work forward may meet rivalry or friction.

  Do you have this? Is there a clear gap in the line, not a crease or a shadow?

  What the books say

  Dale reads an uneven, broken sun line as obstacles and envy from others. The app keeps it as a pattern the tradition describes: friction when you put your work forward, not a forecast about anyone. A crease or a shadow can also make a line look broken.

  Source: Mrs J. B. Dale (1895)

Does your sun line fork, double or branch?

• Forked sun line

  Effort spread across more than one line of work at once.

  Do you have this? Does the line split into two near the top?

  What the books say

  Markun reports older readings of a fork as money from more than one source or, when the fork is unclear, too many interests. The app keeps only the working style: effort spread across more than one thing at a time.

  Source: Leo Markun (1927)

• Two or three sun lines

  Interests in two or three different kinds of work.

  Do you have this? Do two or three lines run side by side towards your ring finger?

  What the books say

  Cheiro reads two or three even, parallel sun lines as success in two or three different lines of work, while calling one straight, clear line the best form. Read it as interests in more than one field.

  Source: Cheiro (1916)

• Many small lines under the ring finger

  An artistic nature with so many ideas that effort gets scattered.

  Do you have this? Are there several short lines on the pad under your ring finger?

  What the books say

  Cheiro reads many lines on the mount of the Sun as an artistic nature, but one whose many aims and ideas get in each other’s way.

  Source: Cheiro (1916, 1900)

What does no sun line mean?

• No sun line

  Normal. At most, an easy-going attitude to small, everyday sums.

  Do you have this? Is there no line at all running up towards your ring finger?

  What the books say

  Markun, quoting other palmists, says a missing sun line does not mean poverty: at most it shows someone careless with small sums. Cheiro reads a missing sun line darkly; we don’t repeat that. Benham (1900) warns that this line has been badly misread, and that some careful students stopped using it.

  Source: Leo Markun (1927); William G. Benham (1900)

Is the sun line the success line?

Yes: “line of success” is one of its old names. But Benham (1900) calls it one of the most misunderstood lines on the hand. Palmists who saw a good sun line used to tell people they had great artistic gifts or would win fame and wealth, and clients were let down. He concludes that it had better be dropped than read that extravagantly.

Cheiro himself notes that the chief thing the line shows, when well marked, is a sensitive nature. So the honest reading is about temperament: how much beauty and surroundings matter to you, and how you come across to people. The PalmSays app reads it the same way. The sun line is also one of the lines people call the money line, and career palmistry reads it beside the fate line.

Sun line vs fate line

The fate line runs up the middle of the palm towards the middle finger and is read for direction and work. The sun line runs beside it, towards the ring finger, and is read for how beauty and surroundings affect you and how you come across. A sun line often starts from the fate line or runs parallel to it.

Cheiro says both lines must be read with the shape of the hand: a sun line is more heavily marked on philosophic, conic and psychic hands, and means less there than the same line on a square or spatulate hand. The hand types in palmistry guide explains those shapes.

Marks on the sun line

The old books read small marks on this line too. Cheiro reads a star as very good fortune, a square as protection for your name and position, and an island or a cross as trouble for them. Those are promises and threats about events, so we leave them out. The mystic cross and other crosses on the palm have their own guide, and the palmistry terms glossary explains each mark in a sentence.

These marks are also usually only a few pixels wide in a phone photo, too small to see reliably. What a good photo does show is whether the line is there, how long it is, and whether it breaks or forks.

Sun line in the left and right hand, for women and men

The sun line is read the same way for everyone; there is no separate sun line for women or men. What changes is which hand you look at. Tradition reads your writing hand as the life you are making and the other as what you started with, so for a right-handed person the sun line on the right hand is the one read for the life you are making. Compare both. Which hand to read explains the traditions.

Check yourself: sun line quiz

Three quick questions. Pick an answer to see if you are right. New to palmistry? Start with how to read palm lines.

Myths about the sun line

MythNo sun line means no success.

Reality

A missing sun line is normal. Even Markun’s old book says it does not mean poverty, and no line decides success.

MythThe sun line shows how rich you will be.

Reality

The books that promised riches from it are the reason Benham called it misunderstood. The app reads it for temperament only.

MythA sun line means you are an artist.

Reality

At most it is read as a feel for beauty and surroundings. Cheiro says that may show only as a love of beautiful things around you.