One Power
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In The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan, the One Power is the force that maintains the continuous motion of the Wheel of Time. It comes from the True Source, and it is separated into two halves: saidin (pronounced 'sah-ih-DIHN'), the male half, and saidar (pronounced 'sah-ih-DAHR'), the female half. It is used in the series (like magic) by people who can wield it called channelers.
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Nature of the True Source
It can be seen as a source, quite literally, of magical power, and prolongs the lives of its users many times. It is also called the True Source; despite this, it is never used up by someone channelling it, only woven into a purpose temporarily. Each half of the One Power is able to be used only by people of the associated sex.
Channelers
Not everyone has the ability to "channel", or access, the One Power. Most have none at all, and some only have the ability to be taught, to one degree or another. But a few channelers are born with "the spark" -- an innate inclination that will lead them to touch the Source, whether they wish to or not. These wilders often die without ever gaining control over their innate ability; some research indicates the mortality rate for untrained channelers is 75% or more. Often, this survival comes with a price; they may not even know they are using the One Power to do things, they just know that sometimes, "things happen" when they want them badly enough. Wilders are also frequently saddled with a block -- an instinctive self-preservation behavior that causes them trouble when they do try to channel purposely. This can take the form of only being able to channel while angry, or only with one's eyes closed. Those who do not have the spark can go their entire lives without touching the Power or even realizing they can.
Channelers are also not born equal--some are stronger in the Power, can handle more of it, than others. Men and women are different in this and many other regards when it comes to the One Power.
Differences between Male and Female Channelers
When using the One Power one weaves flows of different elements: Earth, Spirit, Water, Air, and Fire. Men are generally stronger with Fire and Earth, while women are generally stronger with Air and Water; significant strength in Spirit is distributed equally, and relatively rare in either. Male channelers, in general, are capable of holding more of the Power than female ones, while women generally are more dextrous in the weaving of the Power. Also, male channelers cannot link to form a "Circle" of multiple channelers working together without a woman's aid; only women can initiate a Circle.
Female channelers can tell when other women are touching the Source - a white glowing aura appears around their body, only visible to those trained to touch the One Power. There is no way for a woman to tell when a man is channeling without the use of a ter'angeal that has been discovered as yet. Men feel women holding the Source as a tingling on their skin, like goosebumps; they can also sense when another man is holding the Power (though they cannot see it). Finally, male and female channelers experience the Power differently: a woman would describe it as a gentle force requiring patience, acceptance, guidance, and relaxation (which they term Embracing), while a man frequently describes it as a rough torrent requiring strict control and exertion of force (which has been described as Seizing). This essential difference in the "feeling" of the Power means that a woman cannot teach a man to channel, and vice-versa (and it has been tried many, many times). In fact, many weaves which work for one sex do not work the same way for the other, and may in fact be dangerous for the wrong sex to use. As an example, a woman may set things burning with a weave of Fire, but must use Air or Water to put it out, while a man is able to use another weave of Fire to absorb the heat and displace it harmlessly, an act which would seriously harm a woman who attempted it.
Channelers must always be careful, as the One Power is dangerous. Besides providing an addictive stimulating quality, channelers who draw too much of the Power into themselves can kill themselves or render themselves brain-dead. If they are lucky--relatively speaking--they will only burn the ability out of themselves, leaving themselves unable to channel ever again. Channelers can also be permanently denied the Source by another party. In modern Aes Sedai parlance, this is called "stilling" when done to women, "gentling" when done to men, but archaically it was called "severing" for either gender. Regardless of the circumstances, those who lose the ability permanently also tend to lose the will to live. Very recently, an Aes Sedai named Nynaeve al'Meara, and some Asha'man, have discovered how to heal severing, but the process only works completely when used on the opposite gender.
All men and women with the spark come to a point of crisis in which they are in severe danger of dying without training, as the One Power is dangerous. Many women who die of mysterious circumstances in their late teenaged years are actually wilders who have failed to cope with their abilities. The women who survive invariably develop mental blocks that prevent channeling in the absence of certain conditions; two known blocks required severe anger, thoughts about men, or even closed eyes (which would prevent most channeling, as sight is required) before their sufferers could allow themselves to channel. Serious and sometimes drastic counseling is often required to overcome blocking.
Aes Sedai
The current Aes Sedai are the largest organized group of women who wield the One Power. Their headquarters, the White Tower, is on the island city of Tar Valon. Other groups of organized channelers have sprung up on the mainland (the "Westlands"), such as the Kin (or Knitting Circle) and the Daughters of Silence, but they have either kept themselves totally secret or been neutralized by the Tower. Some Aes Sedai will refer to any female channeler who is not affiliated with the Tower as a "wilder", although this is not strictly correct. Many of the peripheral cultures in the Westlands have their own independent associations of female channelers, separate from (and frequently unknown to) the White Tower.
The Taint on Saidin
In the current age, the Dark One's taint on saidin causes male channelers, even those who survive the struggle to learn to channel safely, to inevitably go mad and succumb to a wasting sickness which causes the sufferer to rot alive (these curses may come in either order, or concurrently, at varying speeds for each male channeler). The taint came into being at the end of the Age of Legends, when Lews Therin Telamon and the Hundred Companions (actually 113 male channelers) re-sealed the Dark One into his prison, but not before the Dark One caused saidin to become tainted, driving all of those attempting to seal him in immediately and irrevocably insane (other male Aes Sedai took longer for the taint to affect them). The ensuing chaos and destruction caused The Breaking of the World or the Time of Madness. Some Aes Sedai in modern times, the Red Ajah, dedicate their lives to hunting down and gentling male channelers before they can cause trouble. Possibly as a result of this, fewer and fewer people of either gender are born with the talent, although this is inconclusive.
At the conclusion of Book 9, Saidin has purportedly been cleansed through the use of two of the most powerful sa'angreal ever made, called the Choedan Kal. They were used by Nynaeve al'Meara and Rand al'Thor in a linked Circle. The complex process destroyed the ruined city of Shadar Logoth and was "felt" by most, if not all, channelers of both genders in the Westlands. However, some have confessed doubt over the effectiveness of the cleansing, due to three thousand years of fear. It is not been shown conclusively that the cleansing was successful, however it is known that any madness or sickness that was inflicted before the cleansing has not been healed by this cleansing.