174 | Healing Purity Culture through Pleasure, Power & the Truth of Mary Magdalene with Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton

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What if your desire isn’t dangerous, but divine?

In this deeply transformative episode, Emily sits down with Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton, an intimacy coach, scholar, and founder of UNCOVER, to explore what it means to heal from purity culture and reclaim your body, your voice, and your power. Together, they unravel centuries of conditioning that taught women to equate goodness with obedience and holiness with self-denial, and invite listeners into a radical reframe: that pleasure is sacred, not selfish.

Kimberly shares her personal story of deconstructing evangelical beliefs, walking away from a marriage that no longer fit, and rediscovering her aliveness through the practice of pleasure. Rooted in her academic background at Yale and her years of coaching women around the world, she blends intellect and embodiment in a way that feels both revolutionary and deeply human. From the theology of Mary Magdalene to the lived reality of womanhood today, she illuminates how pleasure becomes a path back to the divine, and how reclaiming it is one of the most powerful ways women can heal from religious trauma, shame, and repression.

Emily and Kimberly dive into the hidden history of Mary Magdalene, a wealthy, powerful spiritual leader erased and rewritten as a sinner by the early Church, and what her true story reveals about the fear of feminine wisdom. They explore how purity culture and patriarchy sought to silence women’s voices, sexual expression, and intuition, and why remembering the Magdalene lineage is an act of both spiritual and societal revolution.

Whether you grew up in the church or simply absorbed the cultural messaging that your worth depends on being “good,” this conversation is an invitation to return to yourself. To soften the shame, to listen to your body, and to remember that your joy, your sensuality, and your truth are not something to hide, they’re the very portals to your power, purpose, and divine connection.

Meet Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendelton:

Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton is a speaker, writer, and teacher, and the founder of UNCOVER, a global movement dedicated to pleasure-based healing and women's liberation. With a PhD in Women's Studies and Intimacy, her work is a powerful blend of academic insight and personal experience, helping women to heal from religious and sexual trauma.

The philosophy behind her methodology, UNCOVER, is rooted in the belief that pleasure is a sacred and powerful catalyst for healing, growth, and liberation. She guides women to uncover, reclaim, and return to the wildness inside you that may have been suppressed by purity culture and patriarchy.

Through her book, online courses, and in-person retreats, she invites women on a journey that is not a rebellion, but a revolution and a return to the body, to the soul, and to a life of unapologetic freedom.

In this episode, Healing Purity Culture through Pleasure, Power & the Truth of Mary Magdalene with Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton, we cover:

• How purity culture continues to shape women’s bodies, relationships, and sense of worth, even outside organized religion

• The process of healing religious trauma and unlearning shame around desire, sexuality, and self-expression

• Why pleasure is sacred, not selfish, and how reconnecting with it helps women return to their power

• The connection between pleasure, spirituality, and embodiment, and why they were never meant to be separate

• Dr. Kimberly’s personal journey of deconstructing evangelical beliefs, leaving behind “good girl” conditioning, and rediscovering freedom through pleasure

• The hidden truth about Mary Magdalene, her role as a wealthy priestess, spiritual leader, and symbol of feminine wisdom erased by patriarchy

• What the Gospel of Mary reveals about women’s direct access to the divine, and why her story was rewritten by the early Church

• How patriarchy and purity culture weaponized holiness, shame, and obedience to control women’s bodies and voices

• Practical ways to begin reclaiming pleasure and power in everyday life, through beauty, embodiment, and self-trust

• The ripple effect of women in their pleasure, how wholeness, joy, and desire create collective healing and transformation

• What it looks like to bring these conversations into partnership, motherhood, and modern relationships

• The reminder that your body, voice, and desires are divine, and the act of reclaiming them is both healing and holy

If this episode stirred something in you, share it with a woman who’s ready to remember her power, her pleasure, and her truth—and let it remind you that your desire isn’t dangerous, it’s divine.

Connect & Work with Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton:

If this conversation stirred something in you, there are so many ways to continue exploring Dr. Kimberly’s work and the Pleasure Revolution she’s leading.

• Harlots & Heretics — a three-part journey through the hidden, holy history of women labeled “dangerous,” guiding you to reclaim your own sacred power.

• Pleasure After Purity Culture — a transformative experience to release shame, rewrite your relationship with your body, and rediscover pleasure as your birthright.

• Website: www.kimberlyrosependleton.com

• Instagram: @drkimberlyrosependleton

• TikTok: @drkimberlyrose

• Facebook: @drkimberlyrose

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• Website www.EmilyReuschel.com

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• Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!

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Related Episodes:

• Episode 161 | Remembering HER: How the Divine Feminine Was Erased—and the Wounds We’re Still Healing with Katy Stuart

• Episode 139 | Unraveling & Rebuilding: My Journey Through Faith, Politics, and Personal Growth

About Wild & Waking: 

Wild & Waking is more than a podcast—it’s a sacred return to who you’ve always been.

This space is for the woman standing at the edge of everything she’s outgrown. The one who’s checked all the boxes, followed all the rules, and still feels the quiet ache for something more honest. More alive. More hers.

She’s begun the unraveling—of roles, expectations, identities that no longer fit. She’s remembering the voice beneath the noise, the rhythm beneath the hustle, the truth beneath the performance. She’s reclaiming her joy, her intuition, her fire. And she’s rising—not as a version of who she was told to be, but as the truest expression of who she already is.

Hosted by soul expansion coach Emily Reuschel, Wild & Waking is for the spiritual entrepreneurs, coaches, rural changemakers, and conscious leaders dismantling old paradigms and creating new ways of living, leading, and becoming. Through raw conversations, deep reflections, and embodied wisdom, we explore what it means to awaken a life of abundance, authenticity, and purpose.

This is for the woman who holds both sacred rage and radical joy. Who moves with reverence for the seasons of her life. Who isn’t afraid to break cycles, speak truth, and dismantle what no longer serves—not to destroy, but to create. To rebuild a world rooted in the celebration of difference, the beauty of nuance, and the power of sovereign, embodied leadership.

If you’re ready to come home to yourself—fully, fiercely, and without apology—welcome.

We’ve been waiting for you.

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