(37) Those Gnostic sects maintaining a more rational attitude on the subject declared the very existence of the lower worlds to signify that the Supreme Creator had a definite purpose in their creation; to doubt his judgment was, therefore, a grievous error. The church, however, seemingly arrogated to itself the astonishing prerogative of correcting God in this respect, for wherever possible it continued to impose celibacy, a practice resulting in an alarming number of neurotics. In the Mysteries, celibacy is reserved for those who have reached a certain degree of spiritual unfoldment. When advocated for the mass of unenlightened humanity, however, it becomes a dangerous heresy, fatal alike to both religion and philosophy. As Christendom in its fanaticism has blamed every individual Jew for the crucifixion of Jesus, so with equal consistency it has maligned every member of the feminine sex. In vindication of Eve philosophy claims that the allegory signifies merely that man is tempted by his emotions to depart from the sure path of reason.

(36) The Christian Church is fundamentally opposed to the theory of marriage, claiming that the highest degree of spirituality is achievable only by those preserving the virginal state. This concept seemingly originated among certain sects of the early Gnostic Christians, who taught that to propagate the human species was to increase and perpetuate the power of the Demiurgus; for the lower world was looked upon as an evil fabrication created to ensnare the souls of all born into it--hence it was a crime to assist in bringing souls to earth. When, therefore, the unfortunate father or mother shall stand before the Final Tribunal, all their offspring will also appear and accuse them of being the cause of those miseries attendant upon physical existence. This view is strengthened by the allegory of Adam and Eve, whose sin through which humanity has been brought low is universally admitted to have been concerned with the mystery of generation. Mankind, owing to Father Adam its physical existence, regards its progenitor as the primary cause of its misery; and in the judgment Day, rising up as a mighty progeny, will accuse its common paternal ancestor.

(14) Consider in thoughtful silence the startling use of pronouns in the above extract from "the most perfect example of English literature." When the plural and androgynous Hebrew word Elohim was translated into the singular and sexless word God, the opening chapters of Genesis were rendered comparatively meaningless. It may have been feared that had the word been correctly translated as "the male and female creative agencies," the Christians would have been justly accused of worshiping a plurality of gods in the face of their repeated claims to monotheism! The plural form of the pronouns us and our reveals unmistakably, however, the pantheistic nature of Divinity. Further, the androgynous constitution of the Elohim (God) is disclosed in the next verse, where he (referring to God) is said to have created man in his own image, male and female; or, more properly, as the division of the sexes had not yet taken place, male-female. This is a deathblow to the time-honored concept that God is a masculine potency as portrayed by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The Elohim then order these androgynous beings to be fruitful. Note that neither the masculine nor the feminine principle as yet existed in a separate state! And, lastly, note the word "replenish." The prefix re denotes "back to an original or former state or position," or "repetition or restoration." (See Webster's International Dictionary, 1926.) This definite reference to a humanity existing prior to the "creation of man" described in Genesis must be evident to the most casual reader of Scripture.

(55) And then God (by the Spirit of this World through the Fiat) built [or formed] out of him the Woman of this World, by whom he i increased his Kingdom. The Woman was out of the Matrix, which (before the Infection) was a chaste Virgin, which Adam should have brought forth out of himself; but when the Modesty of the Wisdom, and Ability [or Potency] departed from him, when he passed into the Spirit of this World, he could not then bring forth [or generate;] for in his Sleep the Spirit of this World clothed him with Flesh and Blood, and figured [formed or shaped] him into a Beast, as we now see by very woeful Experience, and know ourselves to be blind and naked as to the Kingdom of God, [being] without any Virtue, [or Strength,] in the Sleep of the great Misery, clothed with corruptible [frail and transitory] Flesh and Blood.

(36) You must understand [or conceive] it right: Eve got not Adam's Soul, nor Adam's Body, but one only Rib; but she was extracted from the Essences, and got her Soul in her Essences [that were] given her, in the Tincture, and the Body grew for [or to] her in her own sprung-up Tincture, yet in Virtue [or Power;] but the Fiat had already formed [or made] her a Woman. Indeed she was not deformed, but altogether lovely; for she was of a heavenly Kind, in Paradise, yet the i Marks were already also set upon her by the Fiat of the great World; and it could not otherwise be, she must be a Woman for Adam; indeed they were in Paradise. And if they had not eaten of the Tree, and if they had returned to God, then they should have continued in Paradise; but the Propagation must now needs have been after a womanly Manner, and should not have stood [eternally.] For Satan had brought it too far, although he had not suffered himself to be seen, only he strewed Sugar abroad in the Spirit of this World, till at length the lovely Beast laid itself forth upon the Tree as a Flatterer and Liar. The Gate of our Propagation in the Flesh.

(46) And now when Eve was impregnated, her Tincture was wholly murderous and false, for her Spirit in the Love looked not upon God with a total Trust and Confidence. Also the Wisdom of God stood hidden in the Center of the Light of her Life. Eve did not unite [or yield herself] to it with Love and Confidence, but much rather to the Lust of this World; she must bring it to pass, if any Thing was to be done; and seeing her Trust was not in God, so also God was not in her, but in his own Center [or Principle;] and the Wrath begun to flow forth [boil or work;] and this is that which Christ said, An evil Tree brings forth evil Fruit; and so out of a false Tincture grew a sour evil Root, and consequently such a Tree and Fruit. Also that which goes forth [is] as the Tincture in the Mixture was, and such a Child is generated, for the Spirit of the Life generates itself out of the Essences.

(69) Yet Men cannot say, that Mary was born out of a barren Womb, although the Body of Anna was unfruitful, which was from the Council of God; in that they were honest [virtuous] People, fearing God, that their Tincture might not be defiled, because they were to generate that which the Lord would highly bless. God knew how to open it in due Time, and that in old Age, when the wanton Lust of this World from the Elements was extinguished, as in Sarah, Abraham's Wife.

(20) Therefore you must know for certain, that Eve was created out of all Adam's Essences. But there were no more Ribs nor Members broken from Adam; which appears by the Feebleness and Weakness of the Woman, and also by the Command of God, who said; Thy Will shall be in Subjection under thy Man [or Husband,] and he shall be thy Lord [or Ruler.] Because the Man is whole and perfect, except a Rib, therefore the Woman is a Help for him, and must help him to do his Work in Humility and Subjection; and the Man must know that she is very weak, being cut of his Essences; he must help her in her Weakness, and love her as his own Essences: In like Manner the Woman must put her Essences and Will into [the Essences and Will] of the Man, and be friendly towards her Man [or Husband;] that the Man may take Delight in his own Essences in the Woman; and that they two might be but one only Will. For they are one Flesh, one Bone, one Heart, and generate Children in one [only] Will, which are neither the Man's nor the Woman's alone, but of both together, as if they were from one only Body. And therefore the severe Commandment of God is set before the Children, that they should with Earnestness and Subjection honour their Father and Mother, upon Pain of temporary and eternal Punishment: Of which I will write concerning the Tables of Moses. Concerning the Propagating of the Soul. The Noble Gate.

(10) Yet as concerning Eve, we must acknowledge that she was created to this corruptible Life, for she is the Woman of this World; and at this Time it could not be otherwise. For the Spirit of this World with its Tincture, had overcome and possessed Adam, so that he fell down into a Sleep, and could not generate out of himself the Image of the Virgin according to the a Discovery of the noble and chaste Virgin, the Wisdom of God which was the Matrix in him, which was joined [or espoused] to him out of the heavenly elementary Woman was given to him, viz. Eve, who (in the Spirit of the World's overcoming) was figured after a bestial Form.

(14) Had the World-Soul remained Neuter, there would have been no Universal Manifestation or Creation. It was necessary that the Principle of Sex should appear, in order that Creation should begin. It is only by the constant and continuous action and reaction of the Two Sex Principles in Nature that Creation, Process, Becoming, and Change is possible—and as all Things are but the products of Change, Process, Becoming, and Creation, it follows that without Sex there would have been to Things in the Universe—and in that even the World Soul would have abided apart, alone, and single until the end of its days. With the introduction of Sex came the beginning of Generation and Creation, under which the One became the Many and Sameness became Variety and Diversity. The ancient teachings furnish the only logical explanation of Creation. The One becomes the Two, and from the Two proceed the Many.

(80) But if Men search very deep, this [that follows they will find] is the very Ground. Eve was the Child in the Matrix of Adam, which Adam (if he had not been overcome) should have generated out of himself, in great Modesty [Purity] and Holiness; but because Adam' Matrix was impregnated from the Spirit of this World, therefore God must frame a fleshly Woman out of it, which afterwards (in her first Fruit) became lustful, and infected from the Devil, as well as the Limbus in Adam. 8 1. And therefore they also generated such a towardly Child as looked only after Covetousness; as Eve also did, who would be like God; and surely Adam had some Mind that Way, or else he should not have entered into the Spirit of this World.

(2) 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.

(45) Reason saith, how might that come to pass, that the first Man born of a Woman was [so evil] a malicious Murderer? Behold, thou immodest vile whorish World, here thou shalt find the great Secrets meet us in the Light of Nature, very clearly and plainly to be understood. For Adam and Eve were entered into the Spirit of this World, and the Region of the four Stars, with the Infection of the Devil, had miserably possessed them. And although they did somewhat stick to the Word of the Promise, yet the true Longing and Love towards God was very much extinguished; and on the contrary, the Longing and Desire after this World was kindled in them; and besides, they got (from the Region of the Stars) a bestial Lust [or wanton Desire] towards one another, so that their Tincture thus became a fierce bestial [Lust or] Longing; for they had no Law but the Light of Nature, which they suppressed, and kindled themselves in wanton [Lust,] to which the Devil helped them.

(1) Moses asks the Almighty, "Why hast Thou made men to destroy them?" Moses said, "O Lord of the day of account, Thou makest forms; wherefore, then, destroyest Thou them? Thou makest charming forms, both men and women; Wherefore, then, dost Thou lay them waste?" God answered, "I know that this query of thine Otherwise I should chastise and punish thee; Yea, I should rebuke thee for this question. But thou seekest to discover in my actions The ruling principle and the eternal mystery, In order to inform the people thereof, And to make 'ripe' every 'raw' person.

(6) But that Text says; God looked upon all that he had made, and behold, it was all very good: Now if it were good in the Creation, then it must needs have become evil when God said [afterwards,] It is not good for Man to be alone. If God would have had them like all Beasts to have bestial Propagation, he would at one and the same. Instant [at first] have made a Man and a Woman. But that God did abominate [the bestial Propagation,] it appeared plainly in the first Child of the Woman, Cain the Murderer of his Brother, also the Fruit [or the Curse] of the Or a propagated Generation. Earth shows it plainly enough. But what shall I spend the Time for, with these Testimonies? The Proof of it will clearly follow. And it is to be proved, not only in the Scripture, which yet makes it, and not spend our Labour about vain and unprofitable Things.

(1) [Asclepius] Thou speak’st of God, then, O Thrice-greatest one?

[Trismegistus] Not only God, Asclepius, but all things living and inanimate. For ’tis impossible that any of the things that are should be unfruitful. For if fecundity should be removed from all the things that are, it could not be that they should be for ever what they are. I mean that Nature, Sense, and Cosmos, have in themselves the power of being born, and of preserving all things that are born. For either sex is full of procreation; and of each one there is a union, or,—what’s more true,—a unity incomprehensible; which you may rightly call Erōs or Aphroditē, or both [names].

(35) Whereby then you see here, that God has not willed the earthly Copulation. Man should have continued in the fiery Love which was in Paradise, and generate out of himself. But the Woman was in this World in the outward elementary Kingdom, in the Inflammation of the forbidden Fruit, of which Adam should not have eaten. And now he has eaten and thus destroyed us; therefore it is now with him [the Adamical Man,] as with a Thief that has been in a pleasant Garden, and went out of it to steal, and comes again and would fain go into the Garden, and the Gardener will not let him in, he must reach into the Garden with his Hand for the Fruit, and then comes the Gardiner and snatches the Fruit out of his Hand, and he must go away in his burning Lust and Anger, and come no more into the Garden, and instead of the Fruit there remains his desirous burning Lust with him; and that he has got instead of the paradisical Fruit, of that we must now eat, and live in the Woman.

(48) But the Fault lies in Man; if he did put his Trust in the Love of God, then the Kingdom of God would have the Victory; but if he puts it in his evil Lust and Wantonness, in himself, in his own Ability [or Power,] then he is captivated by the Wrath, and his Body and Soul are in the Wrath. But when he puts his Mind and Confidence in God, then he goes out from the Wrath, and the Kingdom of God works (in him) to Righteousness; and thus it is seen as clear as the Sun, what the Cause is that the first Man born of a Woman became a Murderer.

(27) Therefore now we know, that we were not created to generate [that which is] earthly, but heavenly, out of the Body of the pure Element, which [Body] Adam had before his Sleep, and [before] his Eve [was,] when he was neither Man nor Woman [Male nor Female,] but one only Image of God, full of Chastity, out of the pure Element. He should have generated an Image again like himself; but because he went into the Spirit of this World, therefore his Body became earthly, and so the heavenly Birth was gone, and God must make the Woman out of him, as is before mentioned. Now if we, the Children of Eve, are to be helped, then there must come a new Virgin, and bear us a Son, who should be God with us, and in us.

(50) And xhere, thou fair lascivious Whore in Babel, full of Immodesty and Lechery, in such Whoredom thou hast a Gloss in thy [evil or] false Copulation without the Fear of God; thou shouldst look [well to it] what thou sowest, that there grows not a Tree in Hell-Fire. Thou supposest that it is a small Matter to commit Whoredom. But I pray consider thyself, whither dost thou send thy Tincture? Which, if it be true [or faithful,] reaches the Element of God; and now, if you pour it forth thus, in such a false [or evil] Way, in the Impulsion of the Region of the Stars, with the Infection of the Devil, and also into such an unclean Vessel, what dost thou suppose shall accept it? Dost thou not know that the Tincture in the Seed is a Blossom of the Life, which qualifies [or mingles] with thy Body and Soul, which (as often as it is generated) is a Figure before God? How dost thou think, whether does it stand in the Love, or Anger of God? 51.0 thou Babylonish Whore, when thou thus committest Whoredom, and breakest afterwards the Limbus, together with the Matrix, wherein the Figure of the Image of God stands, only for thy filthy Lechery Sake; what dost thou think, how shall this Figure appear? Seeing all (whatsoever is generated at any Time out of the Tincture) shall after the Breaking of this World stand before God. And will not these Figures appear in the Anger of God? Or hast thou an Absolution for that which thou sowest in Hell? Look to it that this Figure does not qualify [or mingle] with thy Body and Soul; for the Tincture [then] is not yet become the Blood of Christ) then thou must bathe [swim or swelter] therein eternally. It is not I that say this, but the high Spirit in the Bosom of the Virgin.