“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”—Carl Jung
The Guild for Spiritual Guidance is a home for spiritual seekers that seek to further their own spiritual journey in the company of others. Founded in 1978 by some of the most famous in the fields of religion and spirituality, including Morton Kelsey, Henri Nouwen, Nan Merrill, just to name a few, the Guild is rooted in what Rev. Dianne H. Disston, LP, NCPsyA, calls the Four Strands.
The First Strand: The Mystics—mostly from the Judeo-Christian traditions as well as mentors from Buddhist and Hindu faith perspective.
The Second Strand: The works of Carl Jung and other leaders of depth psychology.
The Third Strand: The thoughts of Teilhard de Chardin, theologian, scientist, Jesuit priest, and those that walk in his path.
The Forth Strand: The experience is done within a small, contemplative community. It is also done with the understanding that our own experience will lead to social transformation as well as personal.
The Guild has a 36-year history of working actively to engage and cultivate the expansion of human consciousness to serve the creation of a sustainable future. The experts in the Strands are not referred to as “teachers.” Instead, they are known as “cultivators.” They “cull” or midwife a person to discover how the information received is salient in that person’s life. For example, the mystic cultivator not only uses an informational format, but will help, through experiential exercises, you discover who the mystic in you is.
The Guild is embarking on a two-year apprenticeship program and invites you to join. This program meets monthly from Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon, after an initial three-day orientation. Apprentices will gather to participate in sessions in meditation, the arts, body awareness, contemplative listening, feminism and global perspectives in spirituality. The program is ideal for those that are seeking something “deeper with the Divine,” says Disston, coordinator of the program.
For Guild member Denise Tangney, one high point of going through the apprentice program was having theologian and Franciscan scholar Ewert Cousins as her Teilhard cultivator. “I found Guild for Spiritual Guidance was truly visionary to include Teilhard de Chardin with the depth psychology of Carl Jung; my apprenticeship was truly an amazing experience.”
The apprentice program will begin September 19 to 21 at Wisdom House in Litchfield, Connecticut. Ideal for those that are looking for a contemporary interfaith, interspiritual organization. It leads to a certificate in Spiritual Direction. Credits can be applied at some universities and colleges.
For more information, call the Guild for Spiritual Guidance at 845-494-6789, email [email protected] or visit SpiritualGuidance.org. See ad on page 17.
