ciples; Gender manifests on all
planes."--The Kybalion.

The great Seventh Hermetic Principle--the Principle of Gender-embodies
the truth that there is Gender manifested in everything-that the
Masculine and Feminine principles are ever present and active in all
phases of phenomena, on each and every plane of life. At this point we
think it well to call your attention to the fact that Gender, in its
Hermetic sense, and Sex in the ordinarily accepted use of the term, are
not the same.

The word "Gender" is derived from the Latin root meaning "to beget; to
procreate; to generate; to create; to produce." A moment's consideration
will show you that the word has a much broader and more general meaning
than the term "Sex," the latter referring to the physical distinctions
between male and female living things. Sex is merely a manifestation of
Gender on a certain plane of the Great Physical Plane--the plane of
organic life. We wish to impress this distinction upon your minds, for
the reason that certain writers, who have acquired a smattering of the
Hermetic Philosophy, have sought to identify this Seventh Hermetic
Principle with wild and fanciful, and often reprehensible, theories and
teachings regarding Sex.

The office of Gender is solely that of creating, producing, generating,
etc., and its manifestations are visible on every plane of phenomena. It
is somewhat difficult to produce proofs of this along scientific lines,
for the reason that science has not as yet recognized this Principle as
of universal application. But still some proofs are forthcoming from
scientific sources. In the first place, we find a distinct manifestation
of the Principle of Gender among the corpuscles, ions, or electrons,
which constitute the basis of Matter as science now knows the latter,
and which by forming certain combinations form the Atom, which until
lately was regarded as final and indivisible.

The latest word of science is that the atom is composed of a multitude
of corpuscles, electrons, or ions (the various names being applied by
different authorities) revolving around each other and vibrating at a
high degree and intensity. But the accompanying statement is made that
the formation of the atom is really due to the clustering of negative
corpuscles around a positive one---the positive corpuscles seeming to
exert a certain influence upon the negative corpuscles, causing the
latter to assume certain combinations and thus "create"