Face Reader

Rose Rosetree, 58, Sterling

Rose Rosetree can see right through those big blue eyes and full red lips, Mr. Potato Head. (By J Carrier For The Washington Post)

Ever wonder what your facial features reveal? Or tried to gauge another individual based on appearance? Rose Rosetree has studied the art of physiognomy or face reading, as it is more commonly referred to, for 20 years. Before you dismiss face reading as nothing more than a fortune-telling fad, you might want to consider that Rosetree's services ( http://www.roserosetree.com/ ) have been enlisted by numerous companies including USA Today and Freddie Mac. She also teaches a face reading course and has authored eight books on the subject. I recently caught up with Rosetree on the phone to find out a little more about her skill.

So, what is face reading and how did you get your start?

Face reading is reading faces for character, not for expression. It has a 5,000 year-long history; it's as old as acupuncture. And I began it as a hobby in 1975 and turned pro in 1986, about four years after I moved to the Washington, D.C., area.

How does one turn pro?

[Laughs.] Well, I started teaching it, and I wrote my first book about it which was published in 1989, and I started charging people for face reading sessions.

How much do you charge for a face reading and how long does it take?

It's $125 and it takes 55 minutes. And that's only the highlights. Sometimes people come back for different types of readings.

You know the old adage, "You can't judge a book by its cover"? Is face reading saying, yes, you can?

What it's saying is, if you are illiterate you will have no ability to find the quality information from that book cover. Face reading is a form of literacy and -- at the risk of saying something shocking to most people in D.C., sophisticated as we think we are -- most of us are illiterate about this language of the face.

Are a person's eyes really a window to his or her soul?

Your eyes are only one of the windows of the soul. In face reading, every feature of your face is a window of the soul. It's like when you see the advent calendars with Santa Claus and behind every picture you open up the door and out comes the candy? Well, that's how a face is. Every part of your face is like one of those doors and the candy is the information about who that person really is. You can learn more about a person from a good picture or 10 minutes of face reading than you could in six weeks of dating.

Are there insights that you can garner from stereotypical features, like a pointy chin or a round face?