The Guild

The Guild of Pastoral Psychology offers a rich forum for those interested, professionally or otherwise, in understanding the relationship between spirituality, religion and depth psychology, with particular reference to the work and writings of C.G.Jung.

The Guild was founded in 1937, with Jung as its Patron. Two years later, Jung gave his talk "The Symbolic Life" to the Guild suggesting that "Only the symbolic life can express the needs of the soul" (Pamphlet 80). Since those days many eminent psychologists and spiritual thinkers have spoken at the Guild, and the Guild's Pamphlets, based on those Lectures have achieved international recognition. (Many lectures are now also available as CDs). The Guild today also organises conferences and workshops and co-ordinates a number of Guild Groups around the UK and Australia.

Although the Guild was initially established to encourage the study of psychology among clergy and other spiritual leaders, today Members come from all works of life.

Spirituality and Jung's Thinking

"The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not?"(CG Jung : Memories, Reflections and Dreams p.300). This reflection of Jung's forms the common ground between his psychology and all religions. The ultimate purpose of The Guild of Pastoral Psychology is to be a forum for the exploration of these two approaches and the correspondences between them, thereby throwing light on the meaning of human life, the nature of God and the mystery of death.

To continue reading Ean Begg's paper on this subject click on his title Jung and Spirituality.

The Guild Logo

The image of the "Window on Eternity" is used by kind permission of the Jung Estate. To read more about the symbolism of this image and about the Chalice and Snake logo originally used by the Guild click on Guild Logo.