The Wheel of Time as Sacred Text

September – December 2024 Sessions

Wednesdays, 7-8:30 p.m.
BuxMont UU Fellowship in the Social Hall
Dates: September 25, October 9, October 23, October 30, November 7 (Thursday Gathering), November 21 (Thursday Gathering), December 11

After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.
– Philip Pullman

Sign up for this program here.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it brith comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in Warrington. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

Religious stories are human stories, and human stories are religious stories. Stories make us who we are and change us. This is the power of stories, they connect people, they change people from individuals into a community. Stories create connections not only among people together in the present but across generations, across cultural boundaries, and across imagination. We are invited to think differently and to think through the words of another what it might be like to live in their world for a moment.

Join us as we explore the world of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time as sacred story. What does it mean to approach fiction, in the form of the written word and on the screen, as lessons that help us become more fully human?

Whether you have read the series multiple times or are just beginning your first read, or whether the television show was your first taste of Jordan’s world, you are welcome in this Circle.

We will hold seven sessions, September-December, from 7-8:30 p.m. We will meet at BuxMont Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (2040 Street Road, Warrington, PA). There will be assigned reading from the second book of the series The Great Hunt. If you were not part of our earlier gatherings, you can see how we tackled the first book in the main series The Eye of the World and paired it with season one of the Amazon series, click here to see that information, and how we explored the prequel New Spring, by clicking here.

The may be spoilers.

We will try to keep the spoilers light but as we discuss larger themes or the myths of the Westlands and beyond, things may come up from beyond our reading.

A bit about your guide: I am Rev. Kevin W. Jagoe, a Unitarian Universalist Minister and Humanist Celebrant. I have been reading The Wheel of Time since high school and I’ve read the entire series many many times (honestly I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read the early books but more than ten feels like a conservative estimate). As a minister, I am a professional storyteller and meaning-maker. I know that stories have power, and that they can be true whether they reflect facts or not. This series is my primary fandom so bringing it together with how we make meaning in community feels like a natural bridge to me.

Sessions are 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, September 25

Readings for this Session:

The Strike at Shayol Ghul – click here to get PDF (a version of this was included in An Illustrated Guide to The Wheel of Time, published by Tor Books in 1997.)
Prologue: Dragonmount – click here to get PDF (from The Eye of the World)

This session will be about a big picture conversation about the world, the mythology, the history, and the lore of The Wheel of Time. Good for those who want more context, this piece will be more spoiler heavy though talking about what has happened before the events of the books and the events that are to come later in the series.

There are 14 main books, a prequel, a text just about the lore, four short stories, an encyclopedia, and an origins book. Currently there are 16 episodes out of the television series (season 3 should come out in 2025). So there is a lot of content to this world and I will be happy to talk through some pieces of it. You can skip this session and focus on the pieces we are exploring together rather than get pulled deeper into the details at this time.

Wednesday, October 9

Theme of the Night: Shadows All Around.

Guiding Questions:

Where do we find hope when it seems the world is shifting toward chaos?
What do we do when people put us into positions we’d rather not be in or label us in ways we’d rather they not?
How do friendships change as our identities change or as we age?

The Great Hunt: Prologue through Chapter Five