J.C. Cooper, in An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols, offers the following information regarding gestures of the hand:
On the breast – submission, the attitude of a servant or slave
Clasping – union, mystic marriage, friendship, allegiance
Folded – repose, immobility
Covering the eyes – shame or horror
Crossed at the wrist – binding or being bound
Laying on – transference of power and grace or healing
On the neck – sacrifice
Open – bounty, liberality, justice
Clenched – threat, aggression
Outstretched – blessing, protection, welcome
Placed in another’s – pledge of service, the right hand pledges the life principal
Placed together – defenselessness, submission of the vassal before the sovereign, inferiority, inoffensiveness, greeting, allegiance
Placed on each other palm upward – meditation, receptiveness
Raised – adoration, worship, prayer, salutation, amazement, horror, also receiving of the influx of power
Raised with palm outwards – blessing, divine grace and favor,
Both hands raised – supplication, weakness, an implication of ignorance, dependence, surrender, also invocation and prayer
Raised to head – thought, care
Shaking the hand – forms the cross or ankh of covenant, a pledge
Washing hands – dinner innocence, purification, repudiation of guilt
Wringing hands – excessive grief or lamentation