Itchy sensation on our bodies are often ascribed some mysterious meanings, if there is no other cause found.
If someone gets an unexplained intermittent itch and there is no actual origin or a medical cause behind it, people are very inclined to think it is some sort of a sign.
Itches are commonly associated with energies of the universe and spiritual meanings. All sorts of body sensations have various meanings in different cultures-
Why we seem to put so much symbolism into body sensations? Well, our physical bodies are temples of our soul, as ancients would say. Our body gets all the sensations from the outer world.
We feel the world we live in by our bodies and our senses. We see, hear, touch, smell and more. Our senses are delicate.
The sense of touch, which is closely related to the phenomenon of itching is particularly sophisticated in its own way.
Itchy feeling often resembles a touch. It could be a touch of some invisible energy, if there is no obvious or physiological cause to it.
When it happens that your body part suddenly becomes itchy, so that you have to rub the spot and there is nothing on it, it could be a ‘symbolical’ itch. Most common symbolical itches involve arms, hands and nose.
Any body sensation that is sudden and intermittent often makes people wonder if there is some special meaning behind it.
Superstitions related to body sensations are ancient and sources are many.
In some traditions, an itchy nose means someone will soon visit you or that someone is going to kiss you. Itchy hands are usually associated with money and fortune.
Hands significance
Itchy hands are a common motif in all sorts of folk beliefs. Itchy palms are the most widespread element of superstitious sayings and beliefs. When people talk about itchy hands as a symbolic phenomenon, they usually think of itchy palms.
These superstitions are very old and they vary all across the globe. It greatly depends on the local tradition and cultural concept.
Why people think itchy hands are a sign of anything? Well, hands are one of the most used parts of our body, to say so. We are practically unaware of how much we use them in our daily life.
We use hands to pick things, to touch things, which help us have a sense of space around us. We use hands to work; literally all activities require the use of our hands, from typing on your laptop or mobile to working in the fields.
Hands are our defense mechanism and our weapon. We raise them instinctively to cover our face when threatened, but we could also hit someone or something by hands. Hands are our important creative tool; we play instruments and paint with our hands, for example.
The last, but definitely not the least important, we use hands to caress, to hug, to show affection and closeness.
Gesticulation makes for a great part of non-verbal communication. It is culturally dependant, but all people use their hands to express certain emotions or opinions. Certain professions, for example, have the whole system of hand signs.
All sorts of regulations are expressed by hands. Hand language is very important. Deaf people communicate by using hand signs.
Hand signs are a regular part of traffic officers’ job, for example. In school, you raise hand to ask questions. In church, you conjoin your palms in a prayer and so on.
Many of these actions are simply part of our routine and of how we are, as social and cultural beings.
All kinds of instinctive actions are also hand movements. Hands are, thus, a very important symbol in traditions around the world.
Hand symbolism
Hands’ symbolical meanings could be very simple, but also greatly dependant on cultural context. As universal symbol, hands represent ideas present in all traditions and cultures.
These are meanings closely associated with basic and general use of hands. Hands symbolize work, protection and defense, attack and fight, care and nurture.
In each and every tradition, people use hands to communicate and express what cannot be said in words.
Since every society has their own gesture language, to call it so, hand meanings and signs greatly vary.
One of the most basic interpretations on hands symbolism is related to the number two, as an element in numerology, people have two hands. This reflects the idea of duality, found everywhere in the universe.
Duality greatly shapes up our lives. We are organisms made of all kinds of dualities and pairs.
We have two hands, two legs, two eyes and two ears. We need our ‘other half’ in many ways. We need a partner so to make offspring; we need a partner as our emotional half and so on. We live according to dualities of day and night, summer and winter, sun and rain, light and darkness. We think in dualities.
Our hands are an important element of such dualities; we usually have one dominant and the other less active hand.
Two hands also represent balance. Hand symbolism is culturally dependant and so it varies.
For example, in old Celtic tradition, hands represent power; this is found in many other traditions, of course. The idea of power is also associated with the idea of two hands or, probably, the right hand, as it is usually the dominant one.
Thus, a king who lost his right hand in battle was considered unfit to rule.
Hands are commonly associated with mystical energies and even magic. You know how powerful sorcerers and magicians are often depicted as using only their hands to make some magic; it is as if their hands were a channel for certain energies provoked by chanting spells or so.
The idea that hands channel mystical energies of the universe are present in modern day.
In Asia, hands are commonly used to channel healing energies; to balance energies between people. There are all sorts of practices using only hands; reiki is a good example of that.
Therefore, we could say hands also symbolize healing. Hands are universal symbol of creation and creativity. Thy very shape and appearance of a person’s hands could even tell about that person’s character and potentials.
Right hand and left hand symbolism
Right and left hand represent duality of our world. They represent numerological number two and inseparable pairs that exist in this world.
Thus, left and right hand symbolize balance and harmony. They represent a pair of opposites.
An average person would have one dominant and the other more passive hand; most commonly, right is the active one. There are people who use the left one more and exceptions of those given the same level of capability in both hands.
The left and the right hand symbolize opposite sides of an individual.
They stand for heart and mind, feelings and reason, passivity and activity. They also represent activities of receiving and offering. It is interesting to observe symbolical meaning of each hand.
The left, which is usually the passive one, represents our emotional, unconscious side. The right hand stands for logic, action, decisions and rationality.
Our hands also embody ideas of feminine and masculine principle. The left side is lunar, maternal and gentle side. The right channels solar power and is associated with the masculine principle.
These are only some of the meanings. If you are into spirituality and think cosmic energies really make sense, soul could use these symbolic meanings as guidelines.
Itchy hands meaning
Here we come to itchy hands. People are usually interested in what an itchy palm means. Palmistry is the practice of palm reading; according to this practice, lines and shapes of your palm could talk about your life and destiny and even predict your future.
Palm reading is an old practice, based in ancient knowledge. It requires time, training and learning to master this interesting art of understanding palm messages.
An itchy palm could mean various things, depending on the source. The most common superstition about itchy palm is related to money.
Depending on the culture, an itchy right or the left palm means you are going either to receive or to lose money. This itchy palm superstition is present all around the globe. There are other interpretations on itchy palms.
Itchy palms are sometimes considered indicators of certain energies flowing throughout your body. It could also be an indicator of active or passive energy.
It depends on which hand is itchy, passive or active one. If the passive hand is itchy, it means someone else will awaken your energy. It the active one is itchy, it means some future fruitful activity of your own.
Interestingly Chinese do not thong itchy palms are a good sign. In fact, they consider the sensation a very bad omen.
They do not associate itchy hands with any fortunate event, so they would see to relive the sensation as soon as possible, in order to ward of the bad energy.
This belief is related to your both palms itching. It means bad luck.
Itchy palms are mostly associated with money superstitions, though. Where does this belief come from? Why we associate hand and palms with money?
Obviously, we use hands to make money, but these superstitions possibly have another origin. Since ancient times, people would say those whose palms itch are greedy; they want money.
People commonly rub their palms one towards another when they are up to something, usually when they make plans. It is commonly associated with plans for making money, so it is loosely associated with the idea of itchy palms. In this case, it is more likely the itchy feeling is allegorical.
Let us see what an itchy right hand or palm means?
Itchy right hand meaning
Itchy palms are mostly associated with money. If your right hand itches, it could mean you will get or lose money, but it depends on the part of the world and local tradition. One belief says if your right palm is itchy, you will receive some money.
It is a lucky omen. However, it also says that if you touch the itchy spot, in order to make it go away, you will lose it! Both palms itching mean you are going to be wealthy.
Therefore, if you are inclined towards the positive interpretation of the right hand itching, then the left one has the opposite meaning. It means you will lose money.
In some societies, people would rub the left itchy one to make the feeling god away, in order to prevent the potential financial loss. It is a very interesting interpretation.
However, in some traditions, interpretations go exactly the other way around. Your left hand itching means you are about to receive some money. You should ask around about local beliefs, because these interpretations vary.
In certain contexts, left hand represents possibilities, while the right represents activity. This is the context that suggests you have to invest money in order to get something, which is related with potentials.
Activity means your work will pay off. This potentially explains those superstitions that suggests right hand itching means fortunate outcome and the left itchy hand means getting out money one way or another.
If your right hand itches, it means the energy is flowing out of you and it will come back in a fortunate result. Perhaps this belief should be modified according to which hand is actually active.
An Irish superstition about itchy right hand has nothing to do with money. It is similar to one of itchy nose superstitions variations; it means someone will soon visit you.
All of these superstitions are very old and no one knows if there is any actual truth behind them.
These are common old wives tales. If you do believe certain energies affect our lives, the best thing would be to follow your intuition.
If you believe an itchy right hand is a sign, trust your inner voice. See how you feel about it, not what the superstitions says. If you feel good about it, it could really be a good sign.
Do not strictly stick to a common belief, because it varies.
Of course, an itchy palm does not have to mean anything in particular. It could be just a normal sensation.
Additional note on itchy hands
If either your right or your left hand itches for too long, maybe it has some medical cause.
It could happen that you got in touch with a substance that irritates your skin.
Allergic reactions are commonly found on our hands’ surface.
However, if there is no rash or anything else, but your hands keep being tingly or itchy, maybe you should check it out at doctors.
Sometimes unexplained itches could be a sign of some medical condition.
