Old year dying,
New hopes flying:
Turquoise for December.
Signs of the Stars
There are some who regard the month of their birth with less concern than the star, the constellation, under which they were born. They look into the heavens for the beasts that prowl the sky in the outspread forms of the stars. The ancients, and all astrologers since, have discerned a close connection between us in this world and the “animals” in the sky. For, though a few other forms have slipped in, the circle of stars that mark the year is called the zodiac, from Greek zodion, which means little animal, from zoon, animal. The zodiac is the zoo of the sky, whose beasts “beset us round.”
The Zodiac
The round of the year begins with the springtime. Our starting the calendar with January is a new-fangled notion, as can still be seen in the names of the last three months. The names October, November and December mean, respectively, the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth month. The year used to begin with March, the opening of spring.
Jewels and talismans have long been wrought with the signs of the zodiac. It is better, of course, to wear a ring with only the particular sign under which you were born. But the signs have been divided into cycles, and for each of the three cycles within a sign there is a special stone. Wearing this stone, especially with the sign carved upon it, increases the charm tenfold. In this fashion the special powers of the animal that rules the period, instead of opposing, will enter into and re-enforce the virtues of the wearer. Unfortunately, different astrologers have suggested different stones; but one who has never failed me believes in the list that I present, for its own values, each under its cycle and sign.
Aries, the Ram
The signs of the year begin with the ruttish male of springtime, the season of fertility.