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 Graphology
"Grapho" is the Greek word for writing and "logy" means study. Therefore graphology is another name for study handwriting in a particular order to reveal personality traits of any person. Graphology is a science to analyze handwriting and signatures of individuals for understanding their personality. It can be used for variety of purposes, which are extremely usefully, as described later in the book.
History of Graphology:
It is very surprising to find that awareness about graphology is very low. It is considered to be a new art by many persons who even know about graphology. In fact, graphology has a history stretching back several centuries. Six thousand years ago, the ancient Chinese were already analyzing their calligraphy, assessing it for revealed personality traits. In Europe, a few thousand years later, in ancient Greece and Rome, handwriting analysis was being carried out to high levels. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle is quoted as saying, "Spoken words are symbols of mental experience and written words are symbols of spoken words."
Suetonius, a Roman historian, included handwriting analysis in his celebrated work "Lives of the Caesars".
Monks in the middle ages also studied how handwriting reveals character, and in 1622, the Italian physician Camille Baldo wrote the first known work on graphology. The term "graphology" was coined by the Frenchman Abbe Jean-Hippolyte Michon (1806-1881). Michon collected and studied thousands of handwriting samples, and later published an account of his system of analysis.
Nineteenth century German graphologists such as Dr. Ludwig Klages (1872-1956) made great advances in the systemization of graphology. Klages created a systematic theory linking handwriting with personality. He established links between graphology and more accepted sciences, such as psychology and physiology. Under his influence, graphology made the first steps toward being viewed as a science rather than an art.
Michon and Klages are often seen as the founding fathers of the modern graphology; yet there have been many since them who have contributed to this discipline. Today, graphology is often studied in universities and colleges (mainly in Europe and the U.S.). In India, graphology has not reached the level of recognition which it deserves. There are various individuals who practice handwriting and signature analysis, and have been doing well, but the level of awareness about graphology is still in its nascent stage. The purpose of this book is to make graphology more popular amongst people in India.
Graphology – How it is different from Astrology, Palmistry and Numerology:
We are not expert in astrology, palmistry, or numerology; but the popularity of these given arts have been primarily in India, since these arts were found and mastered in India. Palmistry is so popular that palm readers are found in abundance almost everywhere in the country. Belief of these arts among the masses is also present to a large extent since they emerged out of the ancient and religious works of Indian culture.
While palmistry and astrology are mainly understood as art forms in which the future of a person can be known and altered to some extent by following some processes, numerology is mainly looked upon as an art where number combinations are understood to tell suitability or lack of suitability for anything. The lure of knowing the future is certainly more than anything else which speaks of the popularity of these arts in India.
On the other hand, graphology is not so mystic. It is very logical in its approach, and can be understood by anyone who is serious enough to learn this science. Graphology can tell, with great accuracy about a person, his habits, psychology, and traits. Graphology has not been proven to predict the future; but in my view, it can be used for indicating broad future predictions based on currents traits. Graphology has also another very useful use, which we discuss later in this book.
Why analyze:
Why would you like to analyze someone's handwriting? The answer is that you want to know something about the person's character, something which they would not like to tell anyone or may not be sure about themselves. Graphology can be used as a tool to assess yourself, friends, and even complete strangers.
Basic principles of Graphology :
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Handwriting is like a fingerprint. No two handwritings are identical, and therefore provide unique insight to a person's individual character.
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Graphology cannot be used to reveal age, sex, or gender. Traits like feminine or masculine, and maturity level, can however be revealed, but such traits have no link to age or sex.
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Graphology cannot be used as a future-telling tool, but in my view some broad predictions can be made based on existing traits. However, for all practical purposes, graphology cannot be used as a crystal ball.
Before you enter into the details of handwriting analysis, some broad indications would help you in understanding the science much better.
Graphology associates personality with direction, pressure, size, openness, joint, and spread of handwriting. Each of these traits are discussed in detail later in separate chapters. However the following table would give a good beginning for you to start understanding graphology.
Trait -- What it indicates
1 Down -- Gloom, depression, tension, past
2 Up -- Happiness, joy, ease of mind, future
3 Left -- Attachment to past, not open to embracing future challenges
4 Right -- Move to future, prepared to take challenges
5 Open -- Open minded, need space, spending money, more individualistic, a giver, easy going
6 Closed -- Needs company, a taker, parsimonious, trouble making decisions
7 Heavy -- Energy, anger, confidence
8 Light -- Lack of energy, submissive, lack of confidence
9 Big -- Large stage, ego, outgoing, extroverted, lack of concentration
10 Small -- Concentration, introvert, submissive
11 Mixed -- Confused, lacks direction
12 Speed -- Intelligence, power of thinking, level of carefulness
13 Slant -- Level of emotions
14 Loops -- Sensitiveness, inclination to material and sexual needs
How Graphology can be Deployed:
Graphology can be used in variety of situations.
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Psychologists often study graphology for the purpose of studying and analyzing human behaviour.
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Graphotherapists believe that changing one's handwriting and signature has effect on human mental health, and this can be exploited to improve the mental state and thereby change a person for the better. Graphotherapy is being used very affectively by many experts to change people for the better, with stunning success.
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Graphopathologists believe that handwriting can provide warning signals for any impending illness. This science, however, is not very popular because of alternate diagnostic methods being easily available.
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Forensic graphologists are employed to solve forgery cases or even to understand the criminal mind of convicts. Checking authenticity of suicide notes and many more such things are analyzed by forensic graphologists.
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Personal and HR departments often make use of graphologists for assessing handwriting and signatures of applicants to select the best fitting candidates for the job. It is almost impossible to understand a person in a short period of time or during an interview session. Handwriting or signature of a person can give the required insight to the HR manager to finalize his/ her candidature. A good graphologist would be able to find out if anyone has doctored his handwriting, and can also estimate someone's IQ.
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Counsellors can use graphology to advise people on compatibility or help assess personal relationships. Cases of disturbed marriages, understanding compatibility before marriage, understanding issues with teenagers, etc., can be very effective through graphology.
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Hobbyists take up graphology to learn more about themselves and about people close to them. This art can also be used in gatherings and parties for entertainment. A piece of advice: When discussing the handwritings of others in a gathering, restrict yourself to positive comments, and avoid spending more than 10 minutes.
How Does Handwriting Reveal Someone's Character?
Handwriting reveals character in a variety of ways, each of which is covered in more detail in the rest of this book. How writers form letters, the strokes they use, the general style of writing, etc., all provide the graphologist with clues. Physical movement is an expression of personality, and handwriting is a particularly unique sort of movement for which great concentration is required. Graphologists sometimes talk of handwriting being brain-writing, since it is such a good mirror of a person's thoughts, both conscious and subconscious
Fixed Vs. Unfixed Traits
What qualities of ourselves, and therefore what qualities of our writing, are fixed, and what parts of us are unfixed or temporary, and what aspects can be changed, are discussed here.
Fixed Traits :
- IQ
- Aptitudes
- Temperament
- Identity
Many scientists believe that we are born with a given intelligence level and that, while it can be enhanced or diminished by environment, we are basically born with that innate, fixed IQ. Many people believe that we are born with innate aptitudes and with innate temperament.
In addition, our identity is also fixed, which is why we can recognize our own handwriting from any other. For example if we hid your handwriting in a hundred samples of other people's handwriting, no matter how you wrote that sample, you would be in a position to immediately pick out your own sample. That's because, although your moods may change, part of your handwriting always stays the same, just as part of you always remains the same.
Unfixed Traits:
- Ability
- Attitudes
- Moods
- Beliefs
- Motivation levels
- Physical condition
What can change? For one thing, our health or physical state of being can change. We can be sick on one day and healthy on other, tired at one time and at ease some other time, on drugs at one time and not at other time. The ways that we think, feel, and behave are also temporary states for many of us. Those are the kinds of things which may change over time, and are reflected in our handwriting.
Graphotherapy :
Graphotherapy was first used in the 1930's in France, by psychologist Dr. Edger Berillon. Others tested his theories at the Sorbonne University in Paris, and their results seemed to support his findings. Various studies have been published on this therapy, and today it is an established science with many graphotherapists changing the lives of people for the better.
The theory behind graphotherapy is that when the brain guides the hands and fingers to put the writing in a particular way, the person's moods and thoughts affect the handwriting; and therefore if the reverse is done, the affect of change of handwriting would force the brain to change the way it used to think and behave earlier.
For instance, open "o" and "a" reveal that the person is a man of many words. If a change is to be done by changing handwriting, and the person closes all his letters, then his brain would signal to him not to talk excessively.
Graphotherapy should be carried out by a person who is sufficiently trained in graphology and who understands the affects of any change that could come on a person by changing their handwriting. An inappropriate change may affect a person negatively, rather than what was intended. In a real life example, a person was having traits of shy nature and was sensitive to criticism. A change made him outgoing and very open; but his ability to listen to his criticism remained negative, which made him pick fights and even going out on drinking bouts. To make the change work well, both of his traits should have been changed simultaneously.
Graphotherapy in itself is a detailed work and needs a separate book to explore the details. This book however focuses only on graphology.
The Basics Before Analysis :
Before any handwriting or signature analysis is carried out, one must take care of a few essential things. The most important aspect of graphology is collecting samples.
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Samples must be written in script and not printed, and not in capital letters.
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Getting samples written both on plain paper and lined paper would be ideal.
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Ensure that the choices of pen and colour are recorded somewhere when the handwriting is analyzed. It is possible that the person gave the sample using ink and a pen which he may not be using regularly.
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Along with handwriting, a signature sample also should be collected. If all the signatures used by the person are taken in the sample, then it would be even better for the analysis.
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Ask the person to write his name below the signature, in case the signature is illegible.
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If a sample already exists, then it is better than a person writing for the purpose of analysis.
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Try to collect more than one sample per person. If the sample consists of handwriting samples over a period of time, then that would give better insight about the person.
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As far as possible, use the A4 size of stationary for sample collection.
Warning :
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The absence of any indicator has no meaning.
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A person's handwriting can vary based on his/her fixed and unfixed traits, and for this reason it would be wise to collect samples for a person over a period of time.
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Never look at one indicator in isolation. Before you assume that a person has certain personality traits, look for repetitive signs of that indicator. Also make sure that it is backed up by at least one other indicator.
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Indicators discussed apply to adult handwriting only. A slightly separate treatment needs to be given to handwriting of children.
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