Historical writings

Went to an AHAF meeting tonight to see a presentation by Lynn Monroy. Being from Sioux City Iowa she had grown up with the stories of Lewis and Clark and the only man in their unit who died on their two year trek to find a passage to the Pacific across the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. One reason she had started her project was the fact that the journal of Sargent Charles Floyd had been found after 91 years.
Sgt. Floyd was a healthy, strong 20 year old at the start of the trip in May, one of nine young men chosen to accompany Lewis and Clark. The two Sargent's with the unit were charged with journaling the journey. Sgt Floyd started his journal in May a bit tentatively but as time went on you could see he gained confidence in being able to handle his responsibilities but in July he became ill and his writing disintegrated. It is possible to see from the writing the days he felt better as well as the days he truly struggled through the day and in Aug. he suddenly died apparently of appendicitis.
After her presentation Lynn shared with us a project she is working on for her family using family photos and cards, letters and various writing from each person to build a story of their life for the grand children. This will be a great legacy for the children and I know from letters I found after my parents died how much you can learn about the people from the past who had a hand in shaping your parents and their parents through the handwriting.

Verifying a writing

Last year I was asked to help verify a historical document and was given a page of the document along with 4 pages of the person it was hoped wrote the document. The person asking for the verification had done some of the work trying to prove his case but not enough. There are some letters similar in both writings but they may have been copybook at that time period. To make comparison even harder the questioned document was on parchment, written probably with a quill instead of a pen, and the writing was done smaller. After much work I concluded the document was not written by the person we hoped and gave my reasons for this conclusion. But I sure would like to learn who actually did write the document.

Is handwriting analysis universal?

This past year I have had a chance to work with a lady in India as well as a gentleman in Indonesia who are fairly new to graphology. So I can say from experience this has held true. I had a chance to cruise as a guest-lecturer one spring and was worried about running into foreign writing and if I could correctly interpret it. Luckily I did not run into any at that time but after working with these graphologists I have seen first hand that the rules do work even for foreign writing as long as it is based on the Latin alphabet.
The writing in other countries may have more upright slants but this is becoming true in the USA as well. As people print more than they use cursive the whole world is becoming a place of disconnection to one another. People try to hide their feelings in an effort to not be hurt or hide themselves in work often shutting out family as well as the world.
My great grand daughter's school has a big sheet hung in the hall and each year all of the children and teacher's write their names upon it. I love looking it over as you see the personality of so many of the children just in the placement of the name. There is Victorio whose parents have made practice his handwriting so it is very clear and legible but to be different he wrote in such a way his name is upside down. Or Elizabeth who managed to be near the very center of the sheet. She's the one who wants to be a rock star and the center of attention. Then there is timid little Karrie Ann who signed in the corner. So even with this big sheet you get a feel for how placement of your writing on a page can say a lot about your personality.

Grapho-therapy

Lately there has been much discussion on the use of grapho-therapy. This is a very serious topic because while you can make some changes to yourself through graphology it can be hazardous as well. To change things willy nilly can make you jumpy, anxious, argumentative and a host of other things depending upon what you are changing. For example: we often tell a child with low self esteem or very timid to underline their name every time they write it even if they only write their first name. A child who was aggressive with excess pride or vanity would be even more nasty because they would be enforcing in their mind that they are as great as they think.
Handwriting can identify the defences in the writing as well as the fears that create these defences. It is the fears that need work. Once they are addressed then the defences will disappear or alter. Like psychoanalysis it is a balancing act of finding a fear, realizing why it exists and working to get rid of it. Do the wrong thing or go too fast and the fear might surface elsewhere or get worse. So grapho-therapy should only be done by someone with credentials and knowledge of psychology or psychiatry. Even then therapy should go slowly with weekly checks on progress and problems and the only time to change slant would be if the writer's slant was all over the place. The best thing at this point would be to see if one slant was prevelant and if not pick a slant that would be positive for this person. Are the connections garland? Then a slight right slant would fit. Angle connections, then an upright slant would allow them to be logical and analytical.
One change should be done at a time for 30 days writing an affirmative message that would apply to this person's goals. This should be written for 15 minutes a day and if they only finish 1 or 2 while another person writes 4 or more in the same time, fine. It wouldn't hurt to write 2 lines of a focusing pattern before starting. A focusing pattern would be one that rhythmically changes direction like a series of u's connected with a straight line or a wave pattern.
The personal pronoun I also should not be changed except under special circumstances. Then usually it will be changed to a Roman numeral I for independence.

Psuedoscience or not? What do you think?

Once again I have been reading about graphology being a pseudoscience and my biggest question is how would you "scientifically" prove what we term the signs in writing. For one thing, one sign may change the meaning of another making the second sign more or less likely to be acted upon. Also your writing is affected by the way you feel. Do you have a headache today, is your health good, did you sleep well, are you angry with the person you are writing to, angry about a product they make, etc. Did you start out angry and then calm down and become more reasonable. All of these will make changes to your writing so how do you "scientifically" prove anything about handwriting?
There is a handwriting recognition program that is supposed to be quite remarkable but I do not believe it analyzes handwriting for personality or character. Though I believe it has been deemed able to detect forgery. I also knew of one graphologist who was working with a computer programmer to measure many points of the writing in an attempt to be more consistent and accurate. Accurate at what? There also is a professor in the Phoenix AZ area working with a program and a computer tablet to analyze writing. I have seen samples of how the tablet works and it even will show the air strokes when the pen is moved above the tablet. These air strokes can be amazing at times. One man who had to sign his legal name actually wrote Bill in the air between his first and last name and it showed on the tablet. It is scientific but what is it proving about graphology?
Graphologists through observation and sharing of experience have found that certain letters relate to different aspects of a person's life and personality. The slant of the writing and types of connections used indicate the openness and friendliness or if you will how outgoing they may be. Open ovals how talkative, though you may be talkative and have closed ovals. It's been found that the upper zone relates to the mental activity, middle zone to the day to day, baseline to the line of reality and the lower zone to the physical, sexual, instinctual and material. When the writing is messy, tangled, and varies in size, pressure and letter shape the writer is as confused as you are. They either don't know what they want or don't know how to go about getting it. They may want friends but are so intrusive they push people away. Want education or a better job but feel everyone looks down upon them so they act negatively. If they do get a chance they may not take full advantage because they feel unworthy. Humans are complicated and by-products of their individual life, personality and experiences that's why I ask how do you prove graphology scientifically?

Mixed printing

Printing that mixes upper case and lower case letters should give you more information than the other two styles because you do have zones. It is also more likely this style could have a slight slant to the writing.
Any style of printing can have a superfluous stroke acting as a lead-in, connected letters, or a slant but it is most likely to appear on mixed printing. Even in printing when letters connect it is an indication the writer is able to connect his or her thoughts together. Also that they are friendly and outgoing needing contact with other people.
As with cursive writing the three zones and their size show the focus of the writers life. If the upper zone is larger they have more mental activity and often use this as a defense that keeps other people at bay. They steer clear of personal discussions preferring to talk business, philosophy or other non-personal issues.
A large middle zone indicates the writer focuses on the day to day life. They seldom have plans beyond the immediate future.
The large lower zone indicates a person who is more physical. They may watch sports if unable to participate, crave more material possessions, and be more in tune with their instincts.

Manuscript and mixed upper and lower case printing

Manuscript style printing does have three zones so will reveal more than block printing. Actually the size of the writing and any anomalies give you the most information. Extra strokes on the beginning of a letter act as a lead-in and indicate a person who thinks before acting. One who is cautious until they know what is going on and what is expected, especially of them. T and D stems that go above the rest of the mid zone letters will indicate pride, vanity or conceit while short stems will be indicators of independence, low self-esteem or wanting to be "special".

The lower zone unlike typing has no serif on the p and the g is normally straight rather than the connected double oval. As for the y it may be done like the typed y with the right side going into the lower zone for the tail or as a v with a tail. Again deviations from this will give you more information than one made in the usual manner.

So far I have only seem three writings done in true manuscript and I have been studying and analyzing writing since 1993. One was a librarian, one a researcher and one a CPA. In each I was amazed that writing so miniscule could be so totally legible.

A p longer than the rest of the lower zone that tapers off so it looks like an ice pick could be a signal of hostility or a problem in the sexual or instinctual area. The g or y going straight down especially if it has a blunt end would indicate agression or determination. A club ending would be a warning sign of cruelty. While a ladle or cup like ending indicates an unfulfilled need.

Pasty or muddy writing which looks thick or has filled ovals such as an e will indicate the writer's five senses are fully active. They enjoy the pleasures and comforts of life some even too much. They especially like material possessions, luxury, color and textures.