Membership of the Guild is open to any adult who will keep its daily practice and its five Charges. It is not offered, advertised or urged. It is asked for.
Who may petition
Any person of eighteen years or over may petition, of any gender, nation and faith, or of no faith. No previous knowledge of the Art is required, and none is assumed. The Guild asks three things of a petitioner.
- Time. Half an hour a day, and the intention of giving it for at least a year.
- Honesty. A willingness to write down truthfully what was done and what followed, including on the days when nothing did.
- Steadiness. A life in reasonable order. The work of the Guild is demanding, and it is a poor refuge.
The Guild sometimes advises a petitioner to wait. This is not a judgment of anyone's worth. It is most often advised in the first months after a bereavement, during a serious illness, or when a letter shows that what is being sought is rescue. The door remains open, and many who were asked to wait are now members.
What membership involves
- The daily practice of the Lamp, the Gates and the Record.
- The monthly Paper, and a monthly letter to a mentor.
- Work twice a month in a Chapterhouse or Workroom, or the Hearth Course for those at a distance.
- The four Convocations of the Guild year.
- The keeping of the Five Charges.
- The annual dues.
What members receive
- The Papers of their grade from the Common Book, month by month.
- A mentor, who reads and answers the monthly letter.
- Admission to the meetings of their own Chapterhouse and a welcome at every other.
- The Guild Record, four times a year, and the Tables of the Hours each autumn.
- The use of the library at Lantern House, in person or by post.
- One vote in the General Convocation.
Kinds of membership
There are two, and they differ only in where the work is done. A member belongs either to a Chapterhouse or, as a member at large, to the Hearth Course. There is no associate, honorary or supporting membership, and the Guild keeps no public mailing list. One is a working member or one is not a member.
Dues
The dues for the year beginning at the autumn equinox of 2026 are 96 United States dollars, or the equivalent in the member's own currency, payable in one sum or by the quarter. Half is kept by the member's Chapterhouse and half goes to the Mother Hall. Dues are reduced or waived, without inquiry, on a word to the Purser.
Petitioners on probation pay nothing. No fee is charged for Papers, for examination or for admission to any grade, and the Guild sells nothing to its members.
Other allegiances
A member may belong to any church, lodge, order or circle, and many do. The Guild asks only that the rites of other bodies not be mixed with its own inside its Halls, and that the privacy of its members be kept wherever they go.
Privacy
The roll of the Guild is confidential. The names of living members are never published, apart from those of officers who have agreed to it. A member decides for himself or herself whom to tell. See the privacy statement.
Resting and leaving
A member whose circumstances change may ask to rest for up to two years, and resumes at the same grade. A member may resign at any time by a letter to the Warden of the Seal. No reason is asked, and the grade is kept on record, so that a former member who returns within seven years resumes where he or she left off.
The procedure for joining is set out under How to Petition.