The Mage's Guild

The Users of Mana, Order of Mages and Society of Magi is a guild/union of spellcasters who cast use the magic provided through mana and magery.

They do not include in their order those who've been granted a divine gift, such as an innate power or the acolytes and priests (and priestesses) of the Gods.

First.  If you have Magery 1 or highter or learned any spells at all you are required to join the guild.  This is mandated by the princes, the councils and ratified by the various High Priests and Priestesses in the names of the various Gods.  Persons with Magery 0 who know no spells are not required to join.  The punishment for casting spells outside of the guild is death, to be administered summarily by any guild member in good standing upon becoming aware of the transgression, as circumstances permit.

Because of this first rule, it's exceedingly rare for anyone to have learned a single spell without being inducted into The Guild.

The formal induction into the guild begins when a child not older than 13 and no younger than 9 is accepted as an apprentice.  Aura is cast upon the applicant and if they have Magery, they can be accepted for training.

The first step in the training process is to procure a silver dagger or small knife.  Because this will be a badge of membership for the rest of the mage's life and because their lives can be very long it is almost always decorated and will nearly always have sockets for powerstones to be set into it (even if the stones are glass or merely precious gems at the time of enchanting).  $400 buys a plain silver dagger with no provisions for setting gemstones.  $480 is actually the minimum price for an elaborately impressive decorated dagger made from silver.  This is why undecorated daggers are so rare, the price difference is small.  The first $480 is included with the price of Magery mentioned in this post; if the player wants a fancier dagger, they can spend more but it comes out of their personal wealth.  Small knives are 50% more expensive than daggers, so even a plain one will need some out of pocket expenditure.

Now the apprentice is sworn into the secrets of The Guild and Magical Imbuement is cast upon them and their dagger; forever binding them together.

Next the master begins teaching their new pupil the spells that are part and parcel of the mage's trade.

The Guild is an extremely powerful organization with minimal intervention and appear quite rarely (9 or less).  [7] points.

They impose a Duty, but rarely ask anything of their members past the policing of non-mages from casting spells (6 or less), [-2] points.

Apprentice mages (Magery 1 to 2) will have a patron in the form of their master (cost determined by the actual NPC's point value) who is responsible for them and an almost all the time duty (15 or less), [-15] points.

Journeyman mages (Magery 2 to 3) have completed their apprenticeship and are employed by a master mage.  This employment might rise to the level of patron and duty, but it doesn't have to.

Master mages and Magi (Magery 3+) are generally self employed or working for an entity outside of the guild, such as a court magician.

The casting of Magical Imbuement on an apprentice to make them a journeyman is at the discretion of the apprentice's master.  Going from a Journeyman to Master mage requires the consent of the local council of mages.  In the case of Magi the spell can only be performed on candidates who show particular talent to the Guild-Masters of the High Council.  The Journeyman and his employer are usually surprised when the offer to elevate someone to Magi is made.