Handwriting Analysis: Some Elaboration Is Healthy & Perfect Penmanship Isn’t

Elaborate handwriting, including lots of embellishment
such as unnecessary loops, curves, spirals, underlining
circles, wavy lines, and other forms is an important, and
telling, handwriting analysis consideration.

Handwriting analysis, or graphology, is so informative because
it reveals subconscious character, the real personality, not
just the persona and the one seen when a person is at his or her
best.

The U.S. Library of Congress classifies graphology as a branch
of psychology.

All in all, there are over 300 handwriting traits to consider
when doing an analysis. Some of the more obvious ones include
the following: connectives; connectivity; consistency;
contradictions in script; compression; contraction/
expansiveness; down-strokes; elaboration; expansion; finals;
fluidity; form;harmony; hooks; jabs; knots; lead-ins; legibility;
loops; margins; movement; organization; originality; pressure;
retracing; rhythm; shading; signature compared to the rest of
script; simplicity; size; slant; overall arrangement and picture
of space; letter, word and line spacing; speed; spirals;
tension; ties; zonal balance and much more.

Does any single consideration, such as the excessive
elaboration, override the cumulative strength of the collective
body of other considerations? No.

The collective body of traits in a handwriting sample either
supports or mitigates the energy of any one individual aspect.

Also, in order for a specific graphology trait to accurately
reflect personality, it must be throughout the handwriting
sample at least three to four times to qualify.

Accuracy in graphology demands that the context of the entire
writing sample be considered and that all individual aspects and
parts of the script must be interpreted independently and then
built into a complete picture describing the personality.

Also, you need at least a half page of cursive handwriting and
not just a signature if you want to start on the right track.

For the highest level of accuracy in handwriting analysis,
formal graphology training is recommended. However, we created
our Graphology Resource Keys for anyone to gain a very good
understanding of their own or other’s subconscious character
simply by comparing a handwriting sample to the Keys:
holisticmakeover.com/GraphKeys_TraitGuide.htm

More information about handwriting analysis can be found at
decadcorp.com/Graphology.html

Copybook form, or “perfect handwriting,” varies somewhat from
country to country and it’s best to be familiar with the
standard copybook form of the country in which the person
learned to write.

It’s good if your handwriting is not perfect, because you
don’t want perfect handwriting. It’s natural to gradually
move away from the basic copybook form you learned in grade
school to develop your own unique style.

Just as everyone has a unique personality, everyone has unique
handwriting. Aristotle remarked, “Spoken words are the symbols
of mental experience and written words are the symbols of spoken
words. Just as all men do not have the same speech sounds, so
do all men not have the same writing.”

Adults who write in copybook form (considering there is
corroborating energy from the rest of the handwriting
considerations) strive to follow all rules exactly and abide by
all laws. They are usually conformists, traditional, and
inhibited. They commonly carry guilt and repression is customary.
Hence, “perfect” handwriting is far from perfect.

If your handwriting has a lot of originality with high form
level (good balance, movement, harmony, etc.) and other positive
traits, it could indicate flexibility, resourcefulness,
confidence, inward motivation, and possible leadership skills.

On the other hand, if you see originality in an off-balanced,
inharmonious script (low form level), you could find
rebelliousness, defiance, turmoil, confusion, dishonesty, and
even psychosis or criminal-minded behavior.

Spirals are generally a negative sign relating, in part, to
deception or self-deception.

Normal elaboration includes longer than usual t-bars and finals
at the end of words, for example.

Excessive elaboration, such as artificial flourishes, many added
strokes, long lower zone length (loops of letters such as lower
case g and j), etc. could indicate an ostentatious personality
with a need to impress others, a need for drama, flirtatiousness,
vanity, exaggeration, bluff, a mind too rooted in fantasy,
insincerity, a need to be told they are loved, façade of
intrigue to mask an inferiority complex, possible deception,
scattered energy, affectation, defense for self-consciousness,
unstable self image, too much focus on trivial matters, and
difficulty concentrating.

As the level of inharmoniousness increases with excessive
elaboration, the negative traits listed above will also
intensify.

If you see excessive elaboration mainly in the upper zone (e.g.,
where the t’s are crossed), which is the zone of the intellect,
you may find someone whose thinking is ruled by illusion, and
even someone who is a compulsive liar.

But remember, although it’s alluded to above, it’s important
enough to say again: no single graphology indicator, by itself,
absolutely describes any one personality trait.

Yes, straight-across, blunt ending strokes can indicate
cautiousness, but there could be ten or more other indicators in
a person’s script that would mitigate the notion.

If you find elaboration that is excessively complicated,
especially with many complicated circle letters, such as a and
o, it could point toward someone who is trying to hide
something, even if it’s on an unconscious level and not in an
intentionally deceptive way.

Look to the zone of handwriting for more clues to what the
excessive elaboration with inharmonious handwriting indicates:
in the lower zone (where the loops of letters such as g and j
reside) it’s an imbalance relating to sexuality, social life,
materialism, and physical energy, among others; in the middle
zone (where letters such as n, m, and o reside) it’s an
imbalance in practicality, daily routine, here-and-now, ego,
consciousness and more; and in the upper zone (where the t-bar,
tops of t’s, and h’s reside) it’s an imbalance in mental,
intellectual, philosophical, literary interests, the
imagination, and more.

When you see a Hollywood star’s signature that has over-the-top
elaboration, if the rest of his or her script is much more
subdued, it’s a sign of pretentiousness.

Alternatively, elaboration with positive indicators is
favorable. With harmonious handwriting it can symbolize charm,
healthy imagination, and originality.

Copyright © 2007 Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo