Podcast Summary: "Women’s Voices So Dangerous They Buried Them: Meggan Watterson"

Podcast: We Can Do Hard Things
Host(s): Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, Amanda Doyle (Treat Media)
Guest: Meggan Watterson
Date: November 25, 2025
Episode Theme:
A revelatory and passionate conversation with feminist theologian Meggan Watterson on buried women’s voices in early Christianity, the erasure of the feminine divine, and reclaiming spiritual power through figures like Mary Magdalene and Saint Thecla. The episode focuses on how ancient and contemporary forces silence women and the transformative potential of rediscovering lost gospels and personal agency.

Episode Overview

This episode is described by the hosts as a "tent pole" for the season—vital to understanding the collective journey of reclaiming voice, power, and connection. Glennon, Abby, and Amanda are joined by Meggan Watterson, a Harvard-trained feminist theologian and author, to unpack the historical suppression of women’s spiritual voices (especially Mary Magdalene and Thecla) and what their rediscovery means for living—and loving—more fully today.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Divine Feminine and Its Erasure

• [05:10]
  • Meggan explains "the divine feminine" as the presence, images, and stories of the divine personified through female forms across world religions (e.g., Inanna, Kali, Vajra Yogini).
  • Christianity erased the feminine from divinity, leading to a loss of collective spiritual vision—“as if we are seeing God like a cyclops.” The divine feminine is the "other eye."
• Profound collective consequences: Internalized silencing of women and their innate spiritual authority.

Notable Quote:

"By only having the majority of the masculine ... we are seeing God ... like a cyclops. The divine feminine allows for this corrective lens, for the collective other eye to open."
—Meggan Watterson, [05:39]

2. Historical Silencing of Women’s Gospels

• [09:25]
  • Mary Magdalene and other women’s gospels were labeled “apocryphal”—of doubtful authenticity—by the Church, specifically to suppress female leadership and the inward-oriented spirituality they represented.
  • Glennon and Meggan discuss how institutional dismissal (using words like "apocryphal," "crazy," "neurotic," etc.) teaches women to doubt themselves and each other.

Notable Quote:

“When that happens to a woman, it is a message that then radiates to every woman who hears it ... to silence herself.”
—Glennon Doyle, [09:57]

3. How the Gospels Were Buried and Rediscovered

• [11:52]
  • During Constantine’s reign (4th century), an edict required the destruction of any scripture that centered women or direct divine experience. Courageous monks buried these texts—literally underground—rather than destroy them.
• Rediscovery at Nag Hammadi (1945) and other sites proved these stories survived centuries of official erasure.

Notable Quote:

“Gratefully, there were these rebellious monks who refused to destroy the scripture and they literally buried the scripture in urns in the Egyptian desert.”
—Meggan Watterson, [12:14]

4. Mary Magdalene: Radical Teachings and Leadership

• [15:11]
  • Mary Magdalene’s gospel is a "metaphysical map" guiding us to move past ego and experience direct inner contact with the divine—"the spiritual eye of the heart."
• Jesus claims, “where the mind is, there is the treasure,” referring to "nous"—the heart’s spiritual eye.
• The most profound teaching — how to perceive the divine — is ironically missing from all surviving copies, but Mary demonstrates total trust in her inner knowing.

Notable Quotes:

“Blessed are you for not wavering at seeing me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure.”
—Meggan Watterson (quoting Gospel of Mary), [17:19]

5. Sin, Ego, and the Seven Powers

• [26:04]
  • According to the Gospel of Mary, “there is no such thing as sin.” What Christ means is that sin equates to misidentifying with ego over soul—error, not intrinsic evil.
• The “seven deadly sins” are a distortion. Originally, these “seven powers” are natural human experiences, opportunities to bring consciousness and love.

Notable Quotes:

“Sin is not original, it is not intrinsic ... Sin is this missing the mark, misunderstanding the ego for the soul.”
—Meggan Watterson, [26:45]

6. Embodiment, Resurrection, and the Body

• [31:41]
  • The body, especially women’s bodies, became suspect in the patriarchal Church. Gospel of Philip (like Mary’s) centered awakening “in this body,” emphasizing embodied spirituality, not escapism.
• The erasure of Mary’s teachings mirrors the erasure of women’s bodily autonomy.

7. Gospel Themes Most Threatening to Empire

• [36:28]
  • Decentralization of power (all can access divine, no hierarchy)
  • No gender or hierarchy in spiritual authority
  • Salvation is to be made “more alive” now, not after death
  • Direct, inward experience of the divine
• Meggan adds: Direct knowledge of love (gnosis) prevents manipulation by external authorities.

Memorable Definition:

“Salvation in its original context meant to be made more alive.”
—Meggan Watterson, [38:27]

8. "The Good" as the Name for God

• [43:50]
  • In Mary's gospel, God is simply “the Good”—innate, not performative, goodness.
• Profound impact on Glennon, connecting her tattoo of "good" to the Gospel’s message.

9. Saint Thecla: The Girl Who Baptized Herself

• [58:54]
  • Thecla was a first-century woman saint whose story was excised because she self-baptized and became a minister—directly challenging male religious authority.
• Her journey: resists forced marriage, endures death sentences, and is repeatedly saved through her faith and inner voice. Thecla’s narrative is a manual for trusting inner truth and collective female power.
• Her story models radical self-agency, resilience, and collective liberation.

Notable Quotes:

"When everyone around us abandons us ... when we’re literally crucified ... she’s standing in a power of love within her."
—Meggan Watterson, [63:25]

10. Practices for Reclaiming Voice + Soul

• [80:45]
  • Meggan’s “Soul Voice Meditation,” inspired by the Christian contemplative practice hesychasm:
    • Step 1: Acknowledge the body as the soul’s chosen vehicle.
    • Step 2: Take a conscious breath, inward to the heart.
    • Step 3: Merge with the “spiritual eye of the heart” (or soul/voice of love/true self).
    • Step 4: Ask questions, listen, write if needed.
    • Step 5: Surface, carrying that clarity into life.

Notable Quote:

“The body for me never lies. … Ascension is not going up and beyond the body. Ascension is going deeper and more fully—more fully embodied.”
—Meggan Watterson, [81:40]

11. On Loss, Mercy, and Afterlife

• [55:50]
  • Meggan shares her personal sense of “mercy”—a collapse between self and love—as the experience that awaits after death.

12. Mother-Daughter, Collective & Sisterhood Healing

• [90:06]
  • Thecla’s story, particularly the presence of supporting women, models a healing of sisterhood: moving from indoctrination and rivalry to unconditional support and love.
• Glennon and Abby reflect on how internalized doubt leads women to distrust not only themselves but each other, fracturing collective power.

Notable Quotes:

“When we discount women, it doesn’t just make us doubt ourselves, it makes us doubt each other.”
—Glennon Doyle, [92:24]

Powerful, Memorable Moments

• Mary Magdalene’s lost pages as metaphor ([93:25]): Their absence is a metaphorical call—“those are my pages to fill in my life,” says Meggan.
• Embodiment as proximity to power ([89:36]):
  “We are only ever as far from power as we are from our own embodiment.”
• Collective response ([75:13]):
  “If we unify in a voice ... we will change the world.”

Timestamps of Key Segments

• [05:10] — Defining "the divine feminine" and its erasure
• [11:52] — How and why the women’s gospels were buried
• [15:11] — Mary Magdalene “for dummies” and the heart of her gospel
• [26:04] — “There is no such thing as sin”—Mary’s gospel redefines “sin” and ego
• [36:28] — The threatening themes in lost gospels (no hierarchy/gender, inward divinity)
• [43:50] — “The Good” as God and its impact on modern seekers
• [58:54] — Thecla’s story: resistance, self-baptism, and communal awakening
• [80:45] — Practical meditation to access the inner voice (Soul Voice Meditation)
• [89:36] — Embodiment, personal agency, and the Dorothy/ruby slippers metaphor

Tone and Language

The tone is deeply personal, passionate, and sometimes raw—combining scholarly detail with emotional resonance. Glennon, Abby, and Meggan share vulnerably, use humor, and remain adamant about the timeless relevance of these erased stories.

Summary for New Listeners

This is a radical, paradigm-shifting exploration of what was erased from Christian tradition and why it matters now. Meggan Watterson, with the Pod Squad, helps listeners see how patriarchal institutions weaponized spirituality against women, how reclaiming buried gospels heals self-doubt and distrust among women, and offers a new template—grounded in ancient wisdom—for living with more power, wholeness, and love, today.

Further Reading

• Books by Meggan Watterson:
  • Mary Magdalene Revealed
  • The Girl Who Baptized Herself

“Those are my pages to fill in my life.”
—Meggan Watterson, [94:21]

Listen for: Ancient feminist theology, practical spiritual tools, and stories that will rewire your relationship to tradition, your body, intuition, and sisterhood.