The Forgotten Feminine: Are We Facing the Wrong Direction?

Exploring Tao Te Ching 42, the teachings of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the two hemispheres of the brain, and the missing balance between masculine and feminine consciousness.

The Wisdom of 42

For some time, I have been exploring the significance of the number 42. To me, 42 represents Remembering — rediscovering something humanity may have forgotten about who we are and how we create our reality.

One of the most remarkable connections comes from Verse 42 of the Tao Te Ching, written more than two thousand years ago.

The Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to Two. Two gives birth to Three. Three gives birth to all things.

And then comes a passage that caught my attention:

All things have their backs to the female and stand facing the male. When male and female combine, all things achieve harmony.

What if this is more than philosophical poetry? What if it describes the orientation of human consciousness?

What if humanity has spent centuries facing the masculine, material world while turning its back on the feminine, unseen world?

And what if Jesus was teaching us to restore that balance?

Two Triangles, One Heart

Through my exploration of numbers, planetary symbolism, chakras and consciousness, I developed a diagram consisting of two opposing triangles meeting at a single point.

The lower triangle represents the masculine, material world — the physical reality we see, touch and experience. It includes Saturn [3], Jupiter [4] and Mars [5], associated in my framework with survival, desire and personal will.

The upper triangle represents the feminine, unseen world — wisdom, intuition, truth and the possibility of divine intervention. It includes Venus [7], Mercury [8] and the Sun [9].

At their intersection stands Earth, the Heart, represented by the number 6.

The 6 is us.

Now imagine standing at that intersection, facing downward into the material triangle.

The masculine is directly in front of us.

The feminine is behind us.

Suddenly, the words of Tao Te Ching 42 [free audio file] take on a remarkable geometric meaning.

We stand facing the male, with our backs to the female.

This is my symbolic interpretation, not a claim that the ancient Taoist author described this exact diagram. But the parallel invites us to consider whether our attention has become disproportionately focused on material existence.

We are continually encouraged to pursue, acquire, compete, consume and achieve. Yet how often are we encouraged to become still, listen, receive and trust?

Perhaps harmony requires us to become conscious of both directions.

The Left Brain, the Right Brain and Consciousness

There is another relationship worth exploring.

The human brain has two hemispheres, each contributing differently to our experience of reality.

The left hemisphere is particularly important for many language functions, sequential processing and detailed analysis. The right contributes significantly to spatial awareness, broader contextual understanding and aspects of nonverbal perception.

Both hemispheres participate in nearly everything we do. Neuroscience does not support categorizing one hemisphere as exclusively masculine or carnal and the other as feminine or divine.

Nevertheless, as a symbolic model, I find the distinction useful.

Could the analytical, categorizing aspects of consciousness represent our masculine orientation toward the material world?

Could our capacity to receive, perceive relationships and experience a greater sense of wholeness symbolize the feminine?

The question is not whether one hemisphere is superior. It is whether we have allowed one way of experiencing life to dominate the other.

We have become exceptionally skilled at analyzing the world around us.

But have we forgotten how to listen to the world within us?

Jesus and the Significance of the Right

When I began looking at the teachings of Jesus through this perspective, I noticed repeated references to the right.

In John 21:6, the disciples have been fishing unsuccessfully when Jesus tells them:

Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.

They follow his instruction and discover an abundance of fish.

Consider the symbolism.

The disciples are already working. They are already taking action. Yet their efforts produce nothing until they listen and change direction.

Action alone is not enough. Receptivity changes the outcome.

Could casting the net to the right symbolize a movement toward the receptive principle?

This is not the conventional biblical meaning of the passage, and the right side is not explicitly identified with femininity. In biblical tradition, the right generally represents honour, authority and divine favour.

Still, the story provides a compelling illustration of the relationship between effort, listening and receiving.

In Matthew 25, Jesus places the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. In Mark 16:5, the women entering the empty tomb encounter a young man seated on the right.

These passages do not establish a hidden feminine code. But together they encourage me to examine how direction, awareness and spiritual understanding might relate within my framework.

Mary Magdalene: The Feminine Voice We Nearly Lost

The story of Mary Magdalene raises an even more important question.

For centuries, Western Christianity associated Mary Magdalene with prostitution, despite the canonical Gospels never identifying her as a prostitute.

In 591 CE, Pope Gregory I delivered a sermon that helped merge Mary Magdalene with the unnamed sinful woman in Luke 7 and Mary of Bethany.

This interpretation influenced Christian teaching and art for generations.

In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church revised its liturgical calendar, separating Mary Magdalene's commemoration from those other women and removing the conflation from the associated readings.

Think about that.

For approximately fourteen centuries, a woman whom the Gospels identify as a devoted follower of Jesus and a witness to the Resurrection was widely portrayed through a reputation the biblical text never explicitly gave her.

And Mary was not an insignificant witness.

According to John 20, she encounters the risen Jesus and carries the news to the disciples.

She becomes the messenger of the Resurrection.

In the early Christian Gospel of Mary, a noncanonical text, Mary is also portrayed as possessing spiritual understanding that some male disciples challenge.

This does not prove a deliberate conspiracy to suppress feminine wisdom. It does, however, demonstrate that women's spiritual authority was a subject of tension in some early Christian traditions.

Could Mary Magdalene represent something essential that later religious culture struggled to recognize?

Not merely a woman, but the legitimacy of the feminine principle itself: wisdom, receptivity and direct spiritual understanding.

The Missing V in Leonardo's Last Supper

Now consider Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting, The Last Supper.

Jesus sits at the centre, his body forming a distinct upward-pointing triangle.

Immediately beside him, on the viewer's left, is a youthful figure traditionally identified as the apostle John.

The figure leans away from Jesus, creating a striking V-shaped opening.

Some alternative interpretations suggest the figure represents Mary Magdalene. Art historians generally identify the figure as John, and there is no established evidence that Leonardo intended to portray Mary in his place.

Yet the visual composition remains fascinating.

I see two complementary triangular forms.

One is visible in the body of Jesus.

The other emerges through the empty space beside him.

One represents presence. The other, absence.

Within my symbolic framework, the upright triangle represents the masculine, material principle, while the inverted triangle represents the feminine, unseen principle.

Could that empty V or upper triangle become a visual metaphor for the separation between the two?

I am not suggesting Leonardo consciously encoded my numerical model. Rather, I am observing how the geometry of the painting reflects the relationship I have been exploring.

What is most interesting is not whether the figure is John or Mary.

It is the space between the figures.

The space invites us to consider what is missing from our understanding of wholeness.

Mary and Martha: The Lesson Hidden in 42

Perhaps one of the clearest illustrations of this relationship appears in Luke 10:38–42.

Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary of Bethany.

Martha is busy preparing and serving, while Mary sits at Jesus' feet, listening.

Martha becomes frustrated and asks Jesus to tell Mary to help.

But Jesus responds that Mary has chosen the better part.

Notice the contrast.

Martha is doing.

Mary is listening.

Martha is occupied with outward responsibilities.

Mary is receiving inwardly.

Jesus does not condemn service or action. He challenges the distraction and anxiety that have overtaken Martha.

And remarkably, this passage concludes at verse 42.

I do not regard that verse number as proof of an ancient numerical code; modern verse numbering was added long after the Gospel was written. But within my personal exploration of 42 as Remembering, the coincidence is meaningful.

The lesson seems especially relevant today.

We are constantly doing.

But are we listening?

The Heart: Where Masculine and Feminine Meet

This brings me back to the number 6.

In my diagram, 6 represents Earth, the Heart, and the human experience.

The two triangles connect at this point, creating the geometry of an infinity symbol.

The lower loop represents our experience of material reality.

The upper loop represents our capacity for awareness, wisdom and authentic creation.

Both return to the Heart.

This is important because I am not suggesting we must reject the masculine or abandon the material world.

The material world is where we experience life.

We need action, discernment, responsibility and the ability to create.

But we also need receptivity, intuition, patience and trust.

In my third triangle of Authentic Creation, I describe these principles as:

Divine Masculine — Action and the expression of truth.

Divine Feminine — Receiving wisdom and intuitive understanding.

Divine Intervention — Faith, patience and allowing the final piece to reveal itself in time.

The third principle is especially important.

We cannot force every outcome.

Remembering What We Have Forgotten

The final portion of the translation of Tao Te Ching 42 that first captured my attention speaks of the Master embracing solitude and realizing unity with the universe.

This resonates deeply with my own experience of meditation, fasting and stillness.

When we quiet the mind, we temporarily step away from the constant demands of the material world.

When we fast, we consciously examine our relationship with physical desire.

When we listen, we become more receptive to what might otherwise remain unnoticed.

These practices do not prove a hidden spiritual mechanism, but they can create the conditions for greater self-awareness and a different relationship with our thoughts and desires.

Perhaps the feminine has never been absent.

Perhaps we have simply been facing the other direction.

And perhaps the invitation is not to turn our backs on the masculine, but to stand consciously at the Heart, aware of both.

This is where my exploration of 42 continues to lead me.

42 is Remembering.

Remembering that we are more than our possessions, achievements, beliefs and physical identities.

Remembering that creation requires both action and receptivity.

Remembering that wisdom cannot always be acquired through effort; sometimes it must be received.

And remembering that harmony does not emerge when one principle defeats the other.

It emerges when the two become one.

We stand at the 6, facing the material world, with the unseen behind us.

Maybe awakening begins when we finally recognize what has been there all along.

I AM.