Jim Carrie has made some weird painting on all sorts of subjects lately but with the picture of Sen. Cruz he was so emotional he wrote all over it. His handwriting goes along with his paintings frenetic and out of control. His thoughts are scattered and do not connect well if at all. The baseline is the line writing sits upon we term it the line of reality. Some graphologists do every word separately and others will pick the first and last letter of the line to draw the baseline. Choose the first method and he can't stay on the line Choose the second method with him and the a in greasy goes nearly through the bar of the a and the o, e of Joe are above the line. Same with the c, a, h of McCarthy and the second a in wanna-be is wobbly. So we will look at his letters next. There is very little slant to his lettering so he doesn't give a damn what you think this is his opinion and he is going to give it to you. As can be seen by the normal writing at the bottom he prefers capital letters for printing. In writing across the painting he wanted it large enough to be seen but here his lettering gets 'funky' with lots of stabs into the lower zone (below the baseline), parts of the letters don't actually touch (this also happens in the words below), and his letters are all sizes. Each of these things in handwriting analysis tells us something about the writer. Most telling is his tall T, some stab into the lower zone but most of all the T-bar's are going upward and most are flying high above the T-stem. The T is considered a letter of the self so T-bars at the top of the stem are pride but go beyond that and it is narcissism or delusion. Now stabs into the lower zone are an attempt to anchor the self or stabilizing moves. Now I know he is from Canada but English would still be his language. Enlarged R's are found in the writing of someone who wants to be more than they are. To be seen as "special" and be well-known. His are large but not well formed. The E is an indication of how well they listen to others and consider other input. His are mostly small and disconnected so he has little interest in other's ideas. For the M we look at the 'humps' and the center. Printing only gives you two of these so it is seen as me and you. As you can see the me side on the left is much lower than the right and the right stabs into the lower zone. The center is expected to go to the baseline to show they bring their ideas to the line of reality. His barely dips. Meanwhile the W will indicate a few things about the writer and normally mirror the M. His do in that the left is shorter and does not touch the baseline and the right is stabbed. As with any letter that he made it has breaks or weird connections. Now the Y in printing does not show much unless it is disturbed but his Y is made with a V and a tail attached while usually they are made with one long stroke from the left to right or vice versa and the small side added.

I just read another story of a person who wasn't sure if handwriting analysis is real or not. In the end, they concluded it was fairly accurate but had some doubts about parts of it. Well, how well DO you know yourself? Are you willing to accept others may NOT see you as you think you are? In my handwriting classes, one other lady and I were the odd men out. Most had sharp changes of direction, heavier pressure, and more upright writing than we had. Now, I must admit, mine has changed some but not all that much. Mary and I were garland writers with scooped connections and sometimes endings. Mary has passed on as has our teacher, but oh we had such great classes. Often when we had a lot of questions that became our next class. Each of us had to read and research our question and present the answer at a later class. The first time he did that to me our class was about 3 minutes long but not once the discussion started and everyone else gave their ideas and opinions. People will ask how do you see vanity, or stubbornness, or attention to detail. The reason why we don't tell you is the old adage "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing". Almost nothing is shown in one place but by combining signs and how often they occur we can make a very educated statement of how you are and sometimes why. That is how handwriting analysis can be of great value to psychologists, whose patients may take years to tell all of their secrets. For teachers, who then have some insight on how to handle a difficult student. Are they extremely bright and bored? Do they have a learning difficulty that is undiagnosed? Our elementary school had a habit of putting out a bed sheet and letting teachers and students autograph it at the start of the year. One of the teachers and I had great fun going over the names of her students and the siblings she had had in earlier years. We went of the how they were different or the same. One boy I knew was a good student, always dresses well, very polite. Where most of the students had signed across the sheet. He had gone to the other side of the table so when hung his signature was upside down. Just a small hint of rebellion at always doing the "proper thing". We also volunteered for a local church's fair doing "quickies", For $5 we would tell people 5 things about themselves with the money to go to the church fund. I loved doing children in front of their parents because sometimes it helped them our for the parents to understand they were not doing things to drive them crazy it was just them. I told one of the father's he often forgot little things and later they came by laughing and said he took his watch off in the bathroom to wash and later found he had left it. Luckily it was still there when he went back for it.

Once again back to some basics. We covered the baseline and slant so far and now we approach the zones. What is on the baseline or line of reality. This concerns our daily life. These letters are the a, c, e, i, m, n, o. r, s, u, v, w, and x. The letters reaching above this area are reaching into the Conscious or intellectual area. These letters are the b, d, j, k, l, and the t. Conversely parts of letters that go into the area below the baseline are going into the subconscious or instinctual area. Psychologist refer to this as the Id the Ego and the Subconscious. These letters are the g, j, q, p, y, and z. If you noticed I left out the f. The reason for this is it is only letter going through all three zones. Therefore, we use this letter to indicate the balance of the personality. You don't have to look at EVERY letter every time because if you look at the writing as a picture you will see what is standing out enough to catch the eye. A few things that jump out are No capitals. Now everyone learns that capitals indicate a word that is important and usually a name, however, many young people of today do not use capitals this is an indictment of the quality of the education they received but also may indicate a self-esteem problem. A k hump, the part on the right of the stem, that goes higher than most of the letters next to it show a rebel or one who usually is in trouble fighting to defend someone else. The height of the t or d stem is an indication of several things. If it does not extend much or not at all above the mid zone they do not have plans for their future and or may have an ego problem. One that is above the mid zone and has a t crossing above the mid zone is good. However, if the t goes way above the other letters and has a t crossing near the top of the stem the writer may be vain and arrogant. While a t of any size with the t crossing above the stem indicates a dreamer with "pie in the sky" ideas. I don't want to get off the subject of zones and into letters too much yet so I will leave you at this point and hope to get responses and or questions in return.

This is not on the basics of handwriting analysis but on some of it's uses. Even if you never get into it deep enough to go for a certification it can be useful. I used to do the handwriting of my daughter's friends at school and later her co-workers and they seemed to enjoy it and it helped them understand each other better. When it comes to the different uses for the study of handwriting it amuses me how each discipline tries to claim no relation to graphology or handwriting analysis as if it were demeaning. This is largely because of the universal opinion that it is a fraud or pseudo science used by charlatans in carnivals. In fact, it took about 8 years of lobbying the National Library to get graphology out of the occult section. Since handwriting analysis is used in job placement, document examination, jury selection, and grapho- therapy you can see why they were afraid of any connection to the occult. Handwriting has been used since Socrates noted that a man's character could be seen from his writing with similar notations throughout the centuries. In order to do any of these jobs it is essential to examine the writing in great detail and thereby form opinions on the person to whom the writing belongs. While they may not tell the client about the personality of the writer they do tell of the traits revealed. I made a listing of 277 traits and missed some but my Trait Directory lists indicators for each and room for a drawing of the examples for reference. With job placement a client would be interested in knowing how focused the writer is, would they be loyal, does the job description fit the prospect, would they be reliable and honest, can they take stress if it comes with the job, can they communicate readily with others or are they a loner. This is just a fraction of what an employer may want to know. Often in a big case a lawyer will go to a person who works with the jurors writing to see if they would be sympathetic or not, are they racist, can they be swayed easily or only with a determined effort. Any thing that could effect their case. Grapho-therapy is another area which should only be done by an expert and it must proceed slowly. Too much too soon can be worse than nothing at all. Also they need to work on the right things not just what the client might think needs worked on. Analysis first then discuss and make suggestions. Document examination requires a lot more training because you are asked to verify writing that may be of a person who was ill or is now deceased as well as a verified writing and it is up to you to determine if it is legitimate.

Now that the baseline or line of reality has been explained we move on to the slant of the writing. You can find this by using a protractor on the baseline under your writing and checking several letters from the place it touches the line to the top of the letter. What is the angle of this slant? An analyst uses a similar tool but with only a few slant lines to make it easier to read. Of course, the center line is straight up and down and we also use the slant lines on the left side of this center line as well though most writing is right slanted. The person whose writing is up and down or up to 15 degrees to either side is very much a head over heart person. They may even seem cold because emotions do not sway them in their decisions. To them rules are rules and they toe the line and expect you to do the same. Most people write in the 20 to 50 degree right slant. They are more outgoing and friendly. The more the slant the friendlier they will be but once it goes beyond 50 degrees you have a person whose emotions rule him. They invade your personal space with an in your face attitude or lose their temper at things you find funny or normal. These are manic reactions so be very careful in dealing with them. We don't see left slant as often but the same rules apply unless it is the really heavy slant over 50 degrees. Then the slant reaches into hysteria, paranoia and psychosis.

To really start with the basics your handwriting has a baseline which can be the line of the paper you are writing upon or lacking that seen by drawing a line from the bottom of the first letter to the last ignoring if it goes through any of the letters written. This we refer to as a baseline or line of reality. You will find many variations in just this one thing. If the writing clings to this line even between letters the writer is exercising supreme control or on rare occasions actually uses a ruler to direct their writing. This used to be done by people with really bad eye sight especially when learning to write. A young persons writing may look like it was written by a drunk rising off the line and then falling below. Their emotions are all over the place and often their hand and arm control are lacking. A mature baseline normally keeps close to the line with small variations because of the letter forms. However, a baseline that angles downward indicates a problem. It may be temporary depression, tiredness or just pessimism. On the other hand one that angles upward is enthusiastic, spontaneous and upbeat.

I am really in a snit over Common Core and just generally the education of American children today. For one thing We are told that cursive writing is not necessary because of computers and technology. Well when computers came into vogue we were told it would eliminate the use of so much paper. Has that happened? NO! Computers may fail but paper and pencil don't. Cursive has so many things it imparts to the writer and in some countries it is done before printing. Why? Look at a child's scribbles. They do angles, loops, crossovers, waves. humps. All the forms they need to write. At an early age they get that words flow across the paper and some even break it into groups like words. Doing these forms in penmanship class not only taught control of the hand, wrist, arm and fingers but there were subliminal messages as well. To close the ovals, the letters of communication as well as the mouth. The open e loop also meant to open the ears and listen, practicing the forms of v's and w's to focus as well as to stay sharp with angles and change of direction. To make propeller f's just a loop above the line as well as below the line is relaxing. So which would you do before a test? When a class is rowdy? A line of u's is like a wave a line of humps like a catapillar. Mixing these forms try memememe. Then tell a small child to break it into me me me me and that they have just written ME! This can spark an interest in learning to write their individual name in cursive. So don't tell me cursive is a waste of time. I used soap chalk in the bath to let my grandchildren write on the tub and wall for practice as well as fun but nursery schools can write in a thin layer of sand on a cookie sheet. If using paper just use unlined because it doesn't matter if it is a straight line or not that comes later with lined paper.