"When
the zodiacal signs were engraved on gems to give them special virtues
and render them of greater efficacy for those born under a given sign,
the Hebrew characters designating the sign (or at least the initial
character) were often cut upon the gem. As the letters in which the
earliest of our sacred writings were written, a peculiar sanctity was
often ascribed to these Hebrew characters, which were perhaps the more
highly valued that they were unknown to the owners of the gems, and
hence possessed a certain air of mystery for them. The subjoined list
of the signs with the Hebrew equivalents may be of interest on this
account.
