Meggan Watterson

--WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER-- The Gospel of Mary Magdalene reveals a very different love story from the one we've come to refer to as Christianity. Harvard-trained theologian Meggan Watterson leads us verse by verse through Mary's gospel to illuminate the powerful teachings it contains. A gospel, as ancient and authentic as any of the gospels that the Christian bible contains, was buried deep in the Egyptian desert after an edict was sent out in the 4th century to have all copies of it destroyed. Fortunately, some rebel monks were wise enough to refuse-and thanks to their disobedience and spiritual bravery, we have several manuscripts of the only gospel that was written in the name of a woman: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene. Mary's gospel reveals a radical love that sits at the heart of the Christian story. Her gospel says that we are not sinful; we are not to feel ashamed or unworthy for being human. In fact, our purpose is to be fully human, to be a "true human being"- that is, a person who has remembered that, yes, we are a messy, limited ego, and we are also a limitless soul. And all we need to do is to turn inward (again and again); to meditate, like Mary Magdalene, in the way her gospel directs us, so that we can see past the ego of our own little lives to what's more real, and lasting, and infinite, and already here, within. With searing clarity, Watterson explains how and why Mary Magdalene came to be portrayed as the penitent prostitute and relates a more historically and theologically accurate depiction of who Mary was within the early Christ movement. And she shares how this discovery of Mary's gospel has allowed her to practice, and to experience, a love that never ends, a love that transforms everything.

This riveting exploration of a nearly lost first-century scripture tells the story of a courageous saint named Thecla and offers us a roadmap to knowing our worth. A teenage girl named Thecla is sitting at her bedroom window listening to a man share stories nearby. Her mother and fianc order her to stop. But Thecla, trapped in a world that expects her to marry and have children, refuses. This man, Paul, is talking about a world she wants to believe in: an inner world of freedom to define her own life. And he's talking about a kind of love she hasn't known before--a love that asks her to be true to who she is within. For Watterson, a Harvard-trained feminist theologian, Thecla's story in The Acts of Paul and Thecla has everything to do with power. Thecla's refusal to be controlled, as well as the authority she reclaims by baptizing herself, reads like a lost gospel for finding our own source of power within. A power that allows us to know who we are and to make choices based on that knowing. This hidden scripture suggests that Christianity before the fourth century was about defying the patriarchy, not deifying it. But early church fathers excluded The Acts of Paul and Thecla, along with others like The Gospel of Mary, from the New Testament. Watterson synthesizes scripture, memoir, and politics to illuminate a story that has been left out of the canon for far too long, one that follows a girl freeing herself from a life predicated on the expectations of others--a path that made her feel unworthy. Thecla's story offers us a path to take back the power we often give to others and live based on the truth of who we are.

From the creator of the best-selling Divine Feminine Oracle, and the author of the Wall Street Journal best-selling Mary Magdalene Revealed, this stunning oracle delves deep into Mary Magdalene's long-lost spiritual teachings and her message of inclusionary love meant for all humanity.The Mary Magdalene Oracle is about a vision of radical love that formed long before Christianity became a formal religion in the 4th century, long before Mary's gospel was excluded, destroyed, and buried. It's a vision of humanity as a beloved community that risked their lives to recognize each other as equals—innately worthy of love, no matter their status within the Roman Empire. And it's about a vision that Christ gave Mary to then give to us, then and now—to see less with the ego and more with the eye of the heart.The Mary Magdalene Oracle leads us card by card through the spiritual teachings of the Gospel of Mary as well as pivotal moments in the legend of Mary's life. Each of the 44 cards reveals a key aspect of the transformation that her gospel seeks to inspire within us. Each card is meant to remind us of the truth that we are comprised of a massively human ego as well as a divinely merciful soul. So that we can do the life-altering inner-work of bringing love to where it has never been before.In this extraordinary oracle with original artwork that honors human diversity as well as Mary's historical origins in the Middle East, Harvard-trained feminist theologian Meggan Watterson leads us through Mary's long-lost secret teachings to integrate the profound love that her gospel reveals into a daily spiritual practice.

'This book is a masterpiece. I haven't been this excited or awakened by a book for a decade. This is what it looks like when an artist follows her heart and her passion instead of the crowd.' - Glennon DoyleFrom the author of REVEAL and How to Love Yourself (and Sometimes Other People) comes a shocking new exploration of the long-lost Gospel of Mary Magdalene. A gospel, as old and authentic as any that now make up the Bible, was buried deep in the Egyptian desert after an edict was sent out in the 4th century to have all copies of it destroyed. Fortunately, some rebel monks refused, and thanks to their disobedience we have several ancient manuscripts of the only gospel that was written in the name of a woman: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.It speaks of a message quite different from the one that has been spread by Christian leaders for the past two millennia. Mary Magdalene's gospel says that we are not sinful, but that humans too, are made of the divine - and that divinity is not something you can receive through confession or absolution, but by turning inward and tuning in to the radical presence of love within.

Nurture and grow the divine feminine within and find healing, inner strength and transformation with saints, goddesses and holy women from around the world.The feminine is as essential to the world as oxygen or gravity. It is women who give life and women who nurture it. Each of us has a part of the divine feminine within us, but for many of us this has become suppressed, silenced or forgotten.This Divine Feminine Oracle Deck is an invitation to reconnect with the sacred feminine that exists within us. This beautiful deck contains 53 cards with representations of divine women from myths, religions and history. They are world-renowned saints, mystics, poets and priestesses from a diversity of races and cultures, including Mary Magdalene, Khadijah, Kali, Quan Yin, Green Tara, White Buffalo Calf Woman, Mai Bhago, Queen Esther, Brigid, Isis, Yemoja, Ariadne and Freyja. Each card is accompanied by a message that reveals the aspect of the feminine you need to integrate and embody more fully in your life. This deck is for all women seeking healing, empowerment and transformation.

Suitable for spiritual seekers who want to experience more love and stability in all forms of relationships. This book explores staying anchored in the foundation of self-love as you navigate the natural (and often stormy) cycle of a relationship.

How to Love Yourself (and Sometimes Other People) is a smart, hip guide for spiritual seekers who want to experience more love and stability in all forms of relationships. Told from the unique vantage points of authors Meggan Watterson and Lodro Rinzler, this book explores staying anchored in the foundation of self-love as you navigate the natural (and often stormy) cycle of a relationship. Their dual perspectives as teachers and scholars of Christian mysticism and Buddhism make for a rich and fascinating dialogue that covers everything from sex, self-worth, falling in (and out of) love, deep friendships, to breakups--and how to maintain an open heart through it all. At its core, this book is about learning to love yourself no matter what. Meggan and Lodro suggest that you are worthy of love, both self-love and the love of others. They aren't experts on how to get that man or lady to fall in love with you, nor are they experts on how to have "the perfect relationship." They are spiritual teachers who know that relationships have a life of their own, and can speak to the human element of what it means to experience them fully. In the process, they share deeply personal, revealing, honest anecdotes and spiritual practices to assist you with the inevitable ebbs and flow of love in all its manifestations.

After a revelation at a sacred site of the Black Madonna in Europe, Meggan Watterson realized that being spiritual for her was intricately tied to her view of her body. Rather than transcending the body, denying or ignoring it, she found that she must accept her body as sacred. Only then could she truly hear the voice of unfaltering love inside her - the voice of her soul. Meggan, a Harvard-trained theologian, was on a mission to uncover the hidden voices from traditional religion: the voices of women. But her pilgrimage around the world revealed not only the many stories, images and voices of the Divine Feminine across traditions - The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Kali Ma, Buddhism's Green Tara - but also her own spiritual voice, the one veiled beneath years of fear and self-doubt. Her realizations led her to connect with many other audacious, fiercely loving and fearless women from all sides of the spiritual spectrum. Join Meggan as, with passion, humour, poetry, and raw honesty, Meggan provides what religion has left out - a way to lift the veils of your own fear and self-doubt to find the Divine within.

Harvard-trained theologian Meggan Watterson marched out of her church at age ten. With little-girl clarity, she knew something tremendously crucial was missing...the voices of women. Watterson became a theologian and a pilgrim to the divine feminine to find the missing stories and images of women's spiritual voices. She knew women's voices had never been silenced, just buried. But what she truly sought was her own spiritual voice inside her--the one veiled beneath years of self-doubt. At a sacred site of the Black Madonna in Europe, Watterson had a revelation that changed her. Rather than transcending the body, denying or ignoring it, being spiritual for her meant accepting her body as sacred. Only then, Watterson realized could she hear the voice of unfaltering love inside her- the voice of her soul. With passion, humor, and brutal honesty, Watterson draws on ancient stories and lesser-known texts of the divine feminine, like The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, making them modern and accessible to reveal the spiritual process she went through. She suggests that being spiritual is simply about stripping down to the truth of who we really are. Through her extensive work with women, Watterson found that she was not alone. There are countless women who long for a spirituality that encourages embodiment rather than denies it, that inspires them to abandon their fears but never themselves, and to be led by the audacious and fiercely loving voice of truth inside them. No matter where you rest on the spectrum of spirituality; religious or secular, devout believer or chronic doubter, freelance mystic or borderline agnostic, this story is about the desire in all of us to want to shed everything that holds us back. Reveal provides what religions have left out--the spiritual voice of a woman who has claimed her body as sacred--a woman who has found the divine insider her. In essence, this is a manual for revealing your soul. "I have spent the majority of my life gathering stories of the divine feminine. Each time before getting my masters degrees in theology and divinity, I went on a pilgrimage to sacred sites of the divine feminine throughout Europe. The first one was with a group and the second was on my own... The stories of the divine feminine, of Christianity's Mary Magdalene, Catholicism's Black Madonna, Hinduism's Kali ma, and Buddhism's Green Tara for example, allowed me to begin to see that I wasn't as much of a spiritual misfit as I had thought. There was a red thread that became visible to me that ran through so many of the world religions, especially through their mystics, relating that the way to find the divine is to go within. And, that our potential to be transformed by going inward is exactly the same whether we are a man or a woman. The real barometer of our spiritual potential is not our sex, but the commitment of our desire to want to encounter the divine." Excerpt from Reveal