One of the most famous and colorful occult figures of the early Twentieth Century, Cheiro was a clairvoyant who used
palmistry, astrology, and Chaldean numerology, to make startlingly accurate predictions, including
world events. Born in Ireland as William John Warner, Cheiro also went by the name Count Louis Hamon, claiming a noble
ancestry that may or may not have been accurate.
He had a wide following of famous European and American clients like Mark Twain, Sarah Bernhardt, Mata Hari,
Oscar Wilde, Grover Cleveland, Thomas Edison, the Prince of Wales, General Kitchener,
William Gladstone, and Joseph Chamberlain. He spent his final years in Hollywood, seeing
as many as 20 clients a day
and doing some screenwriting before his death in 1936.
Amazingly, editions of many of Cherio's books are still in print today in both English
and foreign language editions
and are available through major chains like Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.
They include his astrology book, When Were You Born?; Palmistry, The Language of the Hand (first self-published
in 1897); Cheiro's Book of Numbers;
Cheiro's Book of World Predictions; and Cheiro's Palmistry for All.
No editions of his astrology book, You and Your Stars were found.
BIRTH AND DEATH INFORMATION
AstroDatabank gives the following data, rated A,
from memory, as given to Kraum by him. He was born on November 1, 1866, at 10:53 LMT in Dublin, Ireland.
However, in a page devoted to the history of palmistry, Jon St. Germain
notes that Cheiro was born in Bray, just south of Dublin.
(The book cover above came from there, and there are more wonderful
photos and stories on that site.)
Cheiro died on October 8, 1936, in Hollywood, CA, at the age of 69.
Joyce Mason, long-time editor of the much-missed Chironicles, remarks, "Do you suppose Cheiro knew the legend of Chiron? Cheiron is one
spelling of Chiron, and of course, Chiron rules hands and all kinds of esoteric arts,
especially ones that involve the hands (palmistry) or come through them in some form (tarot).
I never knew of him before this. The picture is compelling ... and he was born on Chiron's
'Birthday', though 111 years earlier. (Chiron's discovery date was November 1, 1977)"
Cheiro's chart features Venus on the Ascendant in Sagittarius, with Chiron square both, and Chiron
forms a number of water trines, though not precisely a grand trine in water. It loosely trines Saturn and Mercury
in Scorpio and Mars in Cancer. Clearly his signature planet!
TRIBUTES:
I am a palmist myself, and I have been practising
for more than 30 years now. I am French and I live in Tahiti, French Polynesia, a
small island in the South Pacific. I am 54 and I started studying Cheiro's books
and methods just one year before my son was born, that is in 1977. My son will
turn 30 next June.I just wanted to say that up to now, I never found any author
as interesting and accurate than Cheiro.His portrait in on the wall in my
office. I even turned into French, for myself, his book "The Cheiro book of Fate
and Fortune" . I think this one had never been translated before, I was unable
to find any French sample of it, nowhere.I also realised, on the basis of
Cheiro's teachings, two "school books", one for first year students, one for the
second year, and I am at the moment working on the third one. None of them have
been published so far. They contain Cheiro's basic teachings as I told before,
plus my own experience, prints and portraits that describe authentic
cases.
For years and years, I read other authors whose
names I will not mention here, because I wanted to see if there was anything
more to learn from them, and I found nothing. Most of them just focus on
unprecise details, repeat what Cheiro tought ages before, trying at the same
time to call it a different way, or give completely false
indications.
This was just to pay my respects to this
extraordinary man, because on account of what I learnt from him, I never, for
years and years, made one single mistake on my predictions. But of course, I
spend five years studying his methods before I starded to read the palms of
people myself!
Thank you for your attention, yours sincerely,
Sonia de Braco.
Memorials A-K, Continued
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CREDITS: Biographical information from AstroDatabank and Astrological Pioneers of America.
The photo of Cheiro is courtesy of Daniel J. Byrnes.
The old book cover comes from Jon St. Germain's history of palmistry
web page. The drawing of Chiron was found at Art Today. Graphic treatment by Donna Cunningham of Word of Mouth Web Design.