From the Box to the Ladder: Walking Counterclockwise Toward the Self and 42

There is something ancient in the act of walking in circles.

To move counterclockwise is to walk against time, to retrace the spiral of becoming, back toward origin. In nearly every mystical tradition, this direction—called widdershins in old magic—is not simply the reverse of forward. It is the movement of unraveling illusion, dissolving the bindings of matter, ego, and linear thought.

In ritual, counterclockwise motion is used to release. To clear. To unbind.

Seven cycles around the six is forty-two

Nowhere is this embodied more powerfully than in the pilgrimage to the Kaaba, the black cube at the heart of Mecca. Every year, millions circle this six-sided structure seven times, always in a counterclockwise direction.

Why this way? Why seven times? Why a cube?

The cube is the perfect symbol of matter. Six sides—four directions, up, and down—encasing space. It is stable. Fixed. It is the realm of form, the manifest world. The box.

We are born into the box.

Into density. Into structure.

And yet, something within us seeks the ladder.

The ladder has seven rungs. It is an ancient motif: seven heavens, seven chakras, seven seals, seven musical notes. Seven levels of consciousness. Seven steps of the pilgrim around the cube. Each step is a shedding, a loosening of identification with form.

As you walk seven times around a six-sided cube, you cross a threshold.Mathematically: 6 sides × 7 circuits = 42.

The answer is....42

In esoteric lore, 42 is not just a number. It is the number that answers the question, “What is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything?” as jokingly offered in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But humor holds truth. The answer is not outside of you.

The answer is you.

You, 42 and the Universe

You are the one walking. You are the one unwrapping the illusion of separateness. You are the bridge between cube and cosmos.

The pilgrimage is not only to a place, but to a presence. Each counterclockwise circuit peels back the veil. Each step is a return—not to the past, but to the origin behind time.

We spin widdershins not to regress, but to remember. To remember the ladder hidden inside the box. To recall the sacred pattern.

To walk counterclockwise is to say: I am ready to step out of illusion. I am ready to meet the truth of what I am.

The box is beautiful. But you were never meant to stay inside.