How to Petition

There is no application form. Admission to the Guild begins with a letter, in your own words, to the Warden of the Gate. What follows takes from four to six months, and it is set out here in full so that nothing in it need come as a surprise.

1. Read

   Read this website, and in particular the pages on the Aims and Principles, the Daily Practice, the Ethic of the Art and the Questions and Answers. If, having read them, you find that what the Guild offers is not what you are looking for, we have saved you a letter.

2. Write

   Send a letter of petition to the Warden of the Gate at gate@sorcererguild.com. It need not be longer than two pages. Tell us:

   • who you are: your name, your age, the town and country where you live, and in general terms what you do;
   • what, if anything, you have studied or practiced, told plainly;
   • why you are drawn to this work, and why to the Guild in particular;
   • how much time you can give to it each day;
   • and whether you hope to join a Chapterhouse or to work at the hearth.

   Do not send identity documents, photographs or money. Write as you would write to a person, for a person will read it.

3. The reply

   Every sincere letter is answered by a member, usually within three weeks. The reply will invite you to a conversation, or suggest that you wait and say why, or tell you frankly that the Guild does not seem to be what you need.

4. The conversation

   You will meet two members of the grade of Keeper or above, who will act as your sponsors. The meeting is held in person at a Chapterhouse where that is possible, and otherwise by video. It lasts about an hour. The sponsors will ask about your letter, and you should ask them whatever you wish. Neither side is committed by it.

5. The probation

   If you and the sponsors agree to go on, you are sent the text of the Rite of the Four Gates and the instructions for the Lamp and the Record, and you keep the daily practice for one season of thirteen weeks. One of your sponsors writes to you every two weeks. You may attend the open part of Chapterhouse meetings. Nothing is paid. You may withdraw at a word, and about one petitioner in four does, usually having learned in a month what he or she wished to know.

6. The admission

   At the end of the season your sponsors report to the Chapterhouse. If the practice was kept, not perfectly but honestly, you are admitted Apprentice at the next Convocation, by custom at the spring or the autumn equinox.

What the sponsors look for

They do not look for talent, for learning, or for remarkable experiences. They look at three things: whether the practice was kept on ordinary days; whether the Record says what happened; and whether the petitioner can hear a frank comment and make use of it. A Record that reads "missed three days, resumed" is a better sign than a Record with no gaps in it.

Letters we do not answer

• Requests that the Guild perform, sell, reverse or remove any working.
• Requests for readings or predictions.
• Letters that seek power over another person, or revenge upon one.
• Letters that ask for money, or offer it.

We do answer, and gladly, letters from students, researchers, journalists and the simply curious. Please address them to the Warden of the Seal and not to the Gate. The addresses are given on the Contact page.

If you are under eighteen

The Guild cannot admit you, and cannot correspond with you about practice. Everything on this website is open for you to read, and the door will still be here.