Natasha Serlin

But we had to have the exile to remember it.

Amma, a small beaming woman with sparkling brown eyes and short grey curly hair, began to pray and cry.

When I'm really, really in it, when I really am connected, I weep.

You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

I'm Natasha Serlin, and for Heart and Soul, I'm following in the footsteps of Mary Magdalene, who is said to have come to live in the cave of La Sainte-Bombe in southern France, in the middle of an ancient forest for the last 30 years of her life.

From Saint-Marie-de-la-Mer, we began to trace the waterways to the cave of Sainte-Bombe.

Aude, our guide, invited us to truly let ourselves feel the waters.

today as we're doing the waterways feeling the waters moving your body feeling where is your frozen waters and how can i let those waters melt so i can follow through that arc and get to the source and here we are 12 incredible souls called by magdalene sitting around the source of water in the forest in the mountain that holds her cave and holds the essence of her presence

The discovery of ancient manuscripts at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945, along with the recovery of Mary's own gospel, has completely reshaped her understanding of early Christianity.

These teachings have revealed Mary Magdalene as a visionary and Christ's closest companion, some say beloved.

A spiritual teacher who embodied his teachings and made them uniquely her own.

A woman both fully human and fully divine.

And now here I am, witnessing how powerfully this reimagined Magdalene resonates, especially for women navigating transitions of their own.

As I trace the path of the rose, with women from all over the world, irrespective of their different backgrounds, faiths and spiritual denominations,

All united through this symbol of Mary Magdalene, operating outside of this Christian paradigm, responding to a need for something more, something else, something that perhaps through Magdalene they realise already exists inside themselves.

As we make our way along the waterways towards the cave, I felt drawn to find out what being here means to lovely Amma.

I suppose this is like a before and after.

There was Ama before this trip, and there's a birthing of a new Ama with a different consciousness, with a different awareness.

One thing I love about everything that's being shared on this pilgrimage is that Mary Magdalene is all about love, unconditional love.

In these few days, we've all become sisters.