When I was a young girl, perhaps around my budding teen years, a particular advertisement on TV mesmerized me: it was an ad for handwriting analysis. Would-be customers needed to write out a paragraph or so of text, sign it and mail this paper to the posted address. Then, some weeks later, an analysis of Who You Are and What You’re Like would magically show up in your mailbox.
I was enthralled.
I was mystified.
I was curious and wanting.
How could they tell? What would they see? What would I learn about myself?
But such was the time in my life and era in the world when I had no credit card or check to send, and with my allowance of $2 per week, the cost was prohibitive.
Still, I pined for such insights and knowing.
And while I didn’t pine enough to do anything about it then in my early teen years, the idea and concept of personality analysis through handwriting intrigued me.
Then, one day, I was roaming the bountiful aisles of the Howard County East Branch Library when a book title on handwriting analysis caught my eye. I picked it up, scanned a few pages and put it down. Sure, it was interesting to see how the upper case F of a serial killer differed from that of a past POTUS, but I wasn’t interested enough to read such a book.
Then my eyes lit on Your Handwriting Can Change Your Life by Vimala Rodgers.
What?!!! Now, this I had to explore. And so I did. I checked the book out, read her backstory, comprehended her logic and dove into the handwriting practices she offered. For a while, at least. (I do have ADHD and I can get into something, then chill, then get into it again; lather, rinse, repeat.)
Rather than using handwriting to analyze people and find their likely personality strengths and psychological weaknesses, she focuses on the “inherent spirituality of the letters of the alphabet and their effect upon the psyche.” Rather than saying “wrong, wrong, wrong,” she shows how to write each letter in the healthiest way possible to speak to that letter’s origins, meaning and purpose.
Fascinating stuff.
Garlands, spacing, loops, strokes; upper, mid and lower zones — yes, the mechanics of handwriting are interesting, but Vimala goes much deeper into the soul and purpose of each letter, offering intentions to think while practicing each letter, and providing insights into letters connected in families and groups of shared meaning (such as letters focused on communication, learning or status). T is the matriarch of status; O communicates respectful speech; V is the letter of evaluating. And so on, 26 times over.
She encourages folks to pick a letter, practice it for 40 days (yikes) and see how their life changes in regards to the purpose, intention and meaning of each letter and its attendant psychological impacts.
I’m not saying it’s a panacea or an absolute miracle-cure for what ails your soul, though I will offer that I was fascinated by her “healthy letters” approach. I noticed right away my handwriting was missing a lot of loops, such as those in the lower case Fs, Gs and Js, which gave me pause to see such a pattern; and, yes, I’ve made some changes since encountering her work, including a change in my signature.
It’s an interesting body of work, if such things call to you. Maybe you’ll just focus on the initial letters of your signature. Maybe you’ll discover your S’s need an overhaul. Maybe you’ll just say “Eh, not my thing.” Maybe your new capital H will make you feel dynamic and self-expressive. IDK. That’s for you to decide and discover, assuming you have–as I did–some graphological curiosities.
