Guild Vision: The Guild envisions a world in which the significance of each person’s truth, authority,
and inspired purpose finds fulfillment in life and community.
Welcome!
The Guild for Psychological studies focuses on the making of soul within the individual and the expression of soul in culture at large.
How do we become full honest human beings, true to ourselves and to the world we share?
Is it possible to live in concert with truth, and how do we discover truth?
How can troubling contradictions, disorientation, and longing guide us?
In our seminars, we work to understand our culture and our experience. Truth, no longer provided “from above” by religion or guaranteed by secular institutions, must be created through our authentic commitment to consciousness. Our work helps to deepen the source of our integrity as we live amidst continuous change and increasing complexity.
We explore new interpretations of foundational Judeo-Christian texts in light of the evolution of consciousness, along with material drawn from myth, poetry, expressive arts, emerging images from science and culture in transition. Our work seeks to recognize consciousness as the new ground. Using a process based on Socratic inquiry and dialogue, seminar participants carefully attend to thought, image and feeling. The work facilitates connections between the personal and collective soul and new relatedness to our own deep and unfolding truth. You are invited to join in the search.
You are invited to use the menus at the top of each page to explore the seminars we offer, read about upcoming events, learn more about the people of the Guild, view a growing collection of resources, and find out how you can participate in or contribute to the Guild’s work. You can use the Contacts link or links throughout many other pages to ask questions about the Guild in general or any particular seminar. Don’t forget to browse the boxes on the right side of the home page to see the latest Guild news.
An Introduction to Psychology with Soul
Recently, I organized a presentation and discussion on “psychology with Soul” and the work of Wolfgang Giegerich. I explored its significance and offered some resources for individuals wishing to pursue it further, including the activities of the International Society for Psychology as the Discipline of Interiority (ISPDI). Several Guild leaders have been involved with this work for many years.
You can download and view a video recording of this meeting here:
“God’s Autopsy” Interview and Celebration of Hal Childs’ Book
On Sunday April 23, Harry Henderson interviewed Hal Childs on Zoom about his book God’s Autopsy and the Living Truth of Soul. This event was well attended and included Hal’s account of how he came to write the book, how it fit into his life experience, and a “sample” interpretation of the Biblical account of the “Golden calf.”
The video recording of this event is now available through the following link.
100 Years of Records Study Celebration at Four Springs
On Saturday October 8, 2022, almost 40 people gathered at Four Springs to Celebrate the publication of Eleanor Norris’s book Reflections of a Passerby, to share reminiscences, renew acquaintances, and view an extensive display of photos and memorabilia reflecting the work of H. B. Sharman and the work of Elizabeth Howes, Sheila Moon, and Luella Sibbald, the founders of the Guild.
In the morning, Hal Childs interviewed Eleanor Norris, and in the afternoon a panel discussion presented five different personal stories and “lenses” through which to view the significance and future of the Records study.
Click here to view video of Hal’s interview with Eleanor Norris.
Click here to view video of the afternoon panel presentations.
YouTube Interview with Elli Norris
The organization Wisdom Path recently organized a Zoom interview with Eleanor Norris on her new book Reflections of a Passerby: Jesus, Jung, and the Power of Choice. You can watch it on YouTube by clicking on the link below:
God’s Autopsy and the Living Truth of Soul: A History of Western Consciousness by Hal Childs
Years in the making, this new book by Hal Childs is now available:
The Grand Narrative of Christianity that the Bible created is dead, and the Bible is silent. Does the Bible have anything relevant to say to our modern circumstances? We ask, where did God come from? What happened to God? God’s Autopsy reinterprets soul and God as historical-psychological phenomena related to the cultural structure of consciousness, the invisible shared context of thought, which has changed dramatically over the past three millennia. This book offers a new way to understand the trajectory of Western civilization by making the implicit foundation of Western consciousness—soul—visible and conscious. Our modern Western consciousness is radically different from that of antiquity when the Bible emerged. Jung’s psychological-philosophical insight that whenever we speak about the psyche it is the psyche speaking about itself, leads to the realization that today consciousness has come home to itself. Beginning with preliterate polytheism, the emergence of the transcendent god Yahweh and Christ, which led directly to the Enlightenment, objective soul continues to unfold itself. How did late modernity become a topsy-turvy, quantum, virtual, digital, impersonal, and abstract world that appears to be running away from us? The answer is unexpectedly and shockingly in the Bible itself.
For more details and to purchase direct from the publisher, click here.
The book is also available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback and on Kindle.
Choice is Always Ours
Contact Us
Phone: 415- 561-2385
Email: office@guildsf.org
What’s New
Upcoming Seminars and Events
The Birth of Love
December 4 – 6, 2026
at Four Springs.
Love is born in a stable
Love is born in a cave
Love is born in darkness
Love is born on a cross
What is this love
that begs to differ with my
human all too human expectations?
The ancient story of the nativity of Love is marked by strange visitations, remarkable synchronicities, lowly habitation, deadly danger, and just-in-time life-saving dreams. An old story that still reverberates, and has all but vanished in the noises, lights, and profits of modern Christmas. This story still has some things to tell us about Love giving birth to itself, Love endangering itself, and Love protecting itself for the sake of becoming real. All journeys, especially our personal life-journeys, begin with birth, biological birth, and on-going challenging psychological births.
We will explore what Love is telling us about itself through this old, familiar story, hoping to capture some of the magic in the traditional Guild crèche building ceremony, and feeling into the soul-full meaning of all the Birth of Love characters, spirits, and mystery.
Questions, artwork, discussion, and journaling will guide our exploration.
Dates: Friday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 PM through Sunday, Dec. 6, 2025, at 1 PM
Leaders: Hal Childs, PhD, MFT; Jennifer Morgan Mansfield, MA; Faith Mason, MA, MFT
Fees: A sliding scale of $250–$400, plus a nonrefundable deposit of $50.
For more information, contact: Harry Henderson at harryhenderson51@gmail.com.
Register at https://guildsf.org/online-seminar-registration/
The Birth of Love
December 4 – 6, 2026
at Four Springs.
Love is born in a stable
Love is born in a cave
Love is born in darkness
Love is born on a cross
What is this love
that begs to differ with my
human all too human expectations?
The ancient story of the nativity of Love is marked by strange visitations, remarkable synchronicities, lowly habitation, deadly danger, and just-in-time life-saving dreams. An old story that still reverberates, and has all but vanished in the noises, lights, and profits of modern Christmas. This story still has some things to tell us about Love giving birth to itself, Love endangering itself, and Love protecting itself for the sake of becoming real. All journeys, especially our personal life-journeys, begin with birth, biological birth, and on-going challenging psychological births.
We will explore what Love is telling us about itself through this old, familiar story, hoping to capture some of the magic in the traditional Guild crèche building ceremony, and feeling into the soul-full meaning of all the Birth of Love characters, spirits, and mystery.
Questions, artwork, discussion, and journaling will guide our exploration.
Dates: Friday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 PM through Sunday, Dec. 6, 2025, at 1 PM
Leaders: Hal Childs, PhD, MFT; Jennifer Morgan Mansfield, MA; Faith Mason, MA, MFT
Fees: A sliding scale of $250–$400, plus a nonrefundable deposit of $50.
For more information, contact: Harry Henderson at harryhenderson51@gmail.com.
Register at https://guildsf.org/online-seminar-registration/
Newsletter–
The Threshing Floor
The Threshing Floor
September 2026 Issue of The Threshing Floor
Reflections on the life of Sheila Moon and the experience of a 17-day Records Seminar.
Click here to download the current issue.
Guild Mission: Guild seminars offer a way of psychological and spiritual transformation that inspires
individuals to live their purpose, expand consciousness, and discover and create meaning in their lives and community.