world guild of metaphysical and spiritual counsellors (w.g.m.s.c.)  www.holliance.org
incorporating the holistic alliance

«aims of the guild»

Aims of the Guild

1.            To be a privately run professional body for persons practising forms of counselling, coaching, advice-giving and helping that involve a strong element of intuition, metaphysics, spirituality, and/or interfaith counselling.  

2.            To issue certificates of membership and other non-academic forms of certification and achievement.

3.            To foster dialogue and friendship between those practising different forms of metaphysical and spiritually-based counselling.

4.            To make contact with schools and training bodies that are interested in making WGMSC membership available to their students or trainees.

5.            To make links with other organisations and bodies with similar aims.

6.            To promote education and training in the fields of counselling, coaching, metaphysics and spirituality in accordance with the principles of the Guild.

7.            To raise the awareness of spiritual and metaphysical forms of counselling, coaching or helping as part of complementary care.

8.            To provide an alternative form of registration and recognition for therapists who are qualified in a certain area but who are not allowed to practice it openly due to unfair and unnecessary prohibitions: for example, a fully-qualified hypnotherapist who cannot use that title due to restrictions in his/her home country, and who wishes to be known as a “Guided Visualisation Counsellor” instead through W.G.M.S.C. membership and a Guild-Certified qualification in Guided Visualisation.

9.            To provide approval and accreditation services for courses and trainings.

10.          To engage in any other legitimate trading or non-trading activity conducive to the above aims.

Principles of the Guild

1.            The Guild as a whole does not have any beliefs beyond the recognition that our being extends beyond the physical brain and body to a greater reality linked to a Higher Power.

2.            The Guild is not a religious organisation and is not in any way a ministry. It does not ordain people or represent any particular religion. Although members of clergy of any faith are welcome to apply for membership, the Guild is a “lay” organisation for spiritually-minded people engaged in using their skills and abilities to help others.

3.            Models of spirituality. The Guild encourages its members to think in terms of models (sets of ideas) as well as beliefs.  Ever since realising that a greater reality exists, humanity has been building models (some of them aided by revelations) of spirituality. These models have coalesced into religious beliefs, which themselves have produced further models of how people should behave, what people should think, and what awaits us after physical death.  Beyond all of these models lies an ultimately ineffable reality.  [An article about “models” will appear on the Guild website in due course.]

4.            The Guild does not define “spirituality” beyond its being a link with levels of consciousness, beings, powers, realities or a Supreme Being beyond the boundaries of our everyday selves.  There are secular and non-monotheistic views of spirituality seeing it in culture, society and our relationship with Nature.  There are religious views placing spirituality within the confines of one religion and its teachings. There are open views looking to transcendence, enlightenment and altered or higher states of consciousness or perception.  All these views are not mutually exclusive. The Guild is open to all forms of spirituality including traditional, pagan, goddess-based, shamanic and neo-shamanic traditions as well as monotheistic spiritualities.

5.            The definition of “metaphysical” is likewise multiple and open-ended.  Originally metaphysics was a branch of philosophy, and the word referred to certain writings of Aristotle and then came to mean the study of “speculative philosophy”.  However, metaphysics has had another meaning for at least a hundred years, associated with the Western esoteric traditions and with the precursors of New Thought and other alternative forms of spirituality in the United States.  This “metaphysics” can encompass the study of mystical, paranormal, esoteric, New Age, New Thought and other non-mainstream subject areas and traditions offering interpretations of non-physical realities.  It is the application of techniques based in such fields to help others at any level that we call “metaphysical counselling.”  The exact philosophies and techniques used by each practitioner will differ, and may overlap with other forms of work.

6.            The word “Counselling” will be interpreted loosely by the Guild to include not only professional psychological counselling as understood by major counselling organisations, but also using any legally permitted means or techniques to aid, help, coach or advise clients concerning personal, social or spiritual issues.

7.            Fundamentalism, dogmatism, evangelism, preaching and attempts to convert others do not have a place in this Guild.  However, this clause is not meant to prevent educational activities of an interfaith or personal growth nature that will lead to greater understanding and tolerance between people of different beliefs and traditions.

8.            Every human being has the ability to progress spiritually, and the lack of belief in any one path or religion is not a barrier to such spiritual evolution.  There is no attempt made here to define spiritual evolution since different models of it exist.

9.            Membership of the Guild is open to anyone who meets the Criteria of Membership (as shown by the Categories of Membership, Code of Ethics and Application Form) and who accepts in broad terms the Principles of the Guild.

10.          This set of Principles is a work in progress and may change over time.

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