Betrayal
Alchemy for Life’s Bitterness
SIX TUESDAYS
BEGINNING NOVEMBER 3
11am Los Angeles | 2pm New York | 20:00 Madrid
About the Course
Betrayal is a regular visitor in most human lives. It arrives as the friend who disappears without explanation. The institution that failed you when it mattered most. The old cultural harm that keeps on giving. The teacher who let you down. It appears in the mirror, when you abandon yourself to keep the peace.
Left unattended, these ruptures calcify into cynicism or resentment. Metabolized, they can become a source of clarity and strength. The latter is what this course explores.
About the Course
Betrayal is a regular visitor in most human lives. It arrives as the friend who disappears without explanation. The institution that failed you when it mattered most. The old cultural harm that keeps on giving. The teacher who let you down. It appears in the mirror, when you abandon yourself to keep the peace.
Left unattended, these ruptures calcify into cynicism or resentment. Metabolized, they can become a source of clarity and strength. The latter is what this course explores.
Learn to recognize distinct textures of betrayal (self, interpersonal, systemic, and spiritual) and how each moves through the body differently.
Build practical skills for metabolizing the psychic charge of betrayal rather than suppressing it or enabling resentment.
Rebuild your capacity to remain in healthy relationships with others, including your connections with the Sacred, after rupture.
Explore the alchemical and other spiritual teachings as maps for transforming bitterness into life-giving medicine and wisdom.
More about the Course
Over six live sessions, Amber McZeal, joined twice by Daniel Foor and twice by guest teachers, will guide participants on a journey through the landscape of interpersonal, institutional, spiritual, and self-inflicted betrayal.
This course draws on three currents of wisdom to approach the raw and transformative potential of working with betrayal.
First: all that is beneficial about the field of psychology.
Amber McZeal, Daniel Foor, and guest Samah Jabr are all doctors of psychology or psychiatry, and Dr. McZeal brings distinct wisdom from Jungian and depth psychology, including alchemical traditions of transmuting psychic density and “heavy metals” into the gold of wisdom and soul luminosity.
Second: anti-oppressive approaches to culture that proactively name and seek to transform different forms of cultural supremacy.
Amber and Daniel take a decolonial, anti-racist stance that does not shy away from the depths of systemic betrayal. Guest Clementine Morrigan is a socialist, activist, and writer who boldly challenges cancel-culture and other obstacles to real political change. Samah Jabr is an advocate for Palestinian peoples under ongoing occupation and genocide. Facing and working with betrayal is at the heart of their work.
Third and finally, our work with betrayal will be rooted in tangible, accessible spiritual practices.
We’ll compost pain into fertile material for soul growth and service.
This includes drawing on ancestral support, Earth connection, prayer, and a general orientation to the Sacred that is kind and inclusive. Each live call will include at least one substantive guided practice.
By weaving the psychological, cultural, and spiritual, we aim to provide not just a clear and kind approach to understanding betrayal as a common part of human experience but also useful, accessible practices for the necessary alchemy and change work.
Small breakout groups with trained ritualists invite you to work the material in real time in embodied ways.
By the final session, you’ll have a more conscious relationship with betrayal, not as something to fear, but as a tough teacher that, if related with in conscious ways, can help to open new depths of intimacy with life.
6 live teaching calls with Amber McZeal
2 sessions co-anchored with Daniel Foor
2 sessions with distinguished guests on interpersonal and spiritual betrayal
Small breakout sessions each class with trained ritualists
18+ curated resources to accompany the lessons
Unlimited access to recordings and course material
Access to a dedicated community discussion space
Course Curriculum
Lesson One: Recognizing and Working with Betrayal
with Daniel Foor and Amber McZeal
- Explore betrayal through different cross-cultural frameworks and cosmologies
- Consider alchemical and archetypal teachings to transform betrayal
- Learn concrete strategies for meeting betrayal's impacts as they surface
- Call on Earth and ancestral support to hold the work ahead
Lesson Two: Navigating Interpersonal Rupture and Treachery
with Clementine Morrigan and Amber McZeal
- Explore expressions of relational betrayal (friends, partners, family, community)
- Consider the power of truth-telling along with strategies for healing
- Unpackage dynamics of loyalty, belonging, and exile in relation to betrayal
- Practice inviting kindness from the Greater into places of betrayal pain
Lesson Three: Betrayal by Systems and Supremacy Culture
with Amber McZeal
- Look at how systemic harms are often expressions of betrayal
- Explore resistance and change work as personal and collective self-care
- Consider ways to survive and thrive amidst ongoing structural injustice
- Practice embodying honesty about injustice alongside devotional tenderness
Lesson Four: Betrayal in the Terrain of the Sacred
with Samah Jabr and Amber McZeal
- Consider distinct forms of betrayal from spiritual teachers and traditions
- Sink deep into the ways that we make meaning (or not) from our ordeals
- Explore Islamic wisdom on betrayal in light of the Palestinian struggle
- Practice bringing your pain and heartache about the Sacred to the Sacred
Lesson Five: Self-Betrayal and When We Cause Harm
with Amber McZeal
- Explore the myriad ways that we may betray and abandon ourselves
- Face together some of the ways that others experience betrayal by us
- Consider obstacles to and practices for enacting repair and reconciliation
- Ask our guidance and inner knowing about our personal role in betrayal
Lesson Six: Integration of Skills and Ways to Deepen
with Daniel Foor and Amber McZeal
- Review and integrate learning and skills from previous lessons
- Explore ongoing work with collective and lineage betrayal wounds
- Revisit alchemical teachings on transmuting raw pain into embodied wisdom
- Spend time in shared prayer around collective longing for honesty and repair
Waitlist for Betrayal
Register for Betrayal
3 and 6 month payment plans available at checkout at 0% interest.
Early Registration | 32% Off
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Discount rate available for a limited time or until capacity is reached.
Supporter
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This rate helps us make our work accessible to those with modest means and applies if you have investments, a retirement plan, and/or access to economic abundance.
Standard
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Our standard rate allows us to sustain our work. This typically applies if you’re employed in the Global North, and you’re able to provide for your needs in a consistent way.
Reduced
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This rate applies if you’re relatively less economically advantaged in the ways listed under “standard rate” or that cost is simply out of reach for you financially.
Course Schedule
Six Teaching Calls with Amber McZeal & Guests
- Tuesdays| November 3, 10, 17, 24, December 1, 8
- 11pm Los Angeles | 2pm New York | 20:00 Madrid
- Guest Lineup…
- Lesson 1: Daniel Foor
- Lesson 2: Clementine Morrigan
- Lesson 4: Samah Jabr
- Lesson 6: Daniel Foor
CLASS STRUCTURE
Each live session (1:45 total) will include 75 min of co-teaching, guided practice, and live Q&A with the instructors. This will be followed by 30 minutes in small breakout sessions anchored by trained ritualists in the Ancestral Medicine Practitioner Network.
All calls will be recorded and available in your course dashboard indefinitely. Look for recordings 24-48 hours after the live call.
About the Instructors
Amber McZeal
Lead Teacher
Writer, vocalist, & sacred scholar Amber McZeal utilizes sound therapy and guided somatic imagery to engage the knowledge of the body within an interactive and liberatory arts practice. Amber weaves somatic praxis with social justice and spirituality, in an approach that centers the psyche as foundational in movements to end oppression and create more humane social & cultural relationships. She holds an M.A. in Somatic Depth Psychology and a Ph.D. in Depth Psychology with a specialization in Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Ecological psychologies. Her ancestors are from Louisiana, with roots in Haiti, Cameroon, Congo, Nigeria, Benin, France, Spain, and Indigenous North America. Amber lives on the Indigenous lands of the Ohlone people in Oakland, CA.
Samah Jabr
Guest Speaker
Dr. Samah Jabr is a psychiatrist practicing in Palestine, serving communities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank; formally, she was the Head of the Mental Health Unit within the Palestinian Ministry of Health. She is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the George Washington University in Washington DC and participates in the Scientific Committee of the Global Initiative Against Impunity for International Crimes and Serious Human Rights Violations—a program co-funded by the European Union—as a member of its Scientific Committee.
Clementine Morrigan
Guest Speaker
Clementine is a controversial figure, a powerhouse, a writer, and a socialist. She’s been making zines since the year 2000 and is the author of several books that weave magic, sex positivity, leftism and solidarity, trauma healing, and kinder approaches to human culture. She’s one half of the Fucking Cancelled podcast and a vocal advocate for leftist, non-dogmatic, and Earth-honoring alternatives to cancel culture. Her work shines a light into the heart of shame, asking us to lean into our courage and our deep capacity for empathy and compassion. She believes that compassion is both more ethical and more pragmatic than shame.
Daniel Foor
Co-teacher
Daniel is a doctor of psychology, experienced ritualist, and the author of Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing. He is an initiate in the Òrìṣà tradition of Yoruba-speaking West Africa and has learned from teachers of Mahayana Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, and the older ways of his English and German ancestors. Daniel is passionate about training aspiring leaders and change makers in the intersections of cultural healing, animist ethics, and applied ritual arts. He lives with his wife and two daughters near Granada, Spain in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Frequently Asked Questions
Main Teaching Calls | 105 min | Tuesdays
11am Los Angeles | 2pm New York | 20:00 Madrid
Call 1: November 3 with co-teacher Daniel Foor
Call 2: November 10 with guest Clementine Morrigan
Call 3: November 17
Call 4: November 24 with guest Samah Jabr
Call 5: December 1
Call 6: December 8 with co-teacher Daniel Foor
The timing of the main calls favor participants in Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Thanks to our international community of learners for your understanding around the challenges of time-zone inclusivity. All who register get lifetime access to recordings, and you’re welcome to send in questions for our teaching team to answer during live calls or in written form.
To the very best of our ability, yes. All Ancestral Medicine offerings seek to embody an anti-racist, feminist, LGBTQ-celebrating, decolonizing, and Earth-honoring ethic. They are also class-aware and internationally conscious. We offer a heartfelt, non-dogmatic approach that seeks to honor each participant’s unique life experiences and ancestral storylines. Resources included with each lesson favor ancestrally and geographically diverse voices.
All our live calls are held via Zoom. Shortly after you register, you’ll receive a welcome email with instructions for locating this event – and its call information – in your Ancestral Medicine account. There’s no need to wait for that email, however. Registration automatically enrolls your Ancestral Medicine account in the event and places it in your Student Dashboard.
All live teaching calls will be recorded and made available 24-48 hours later in the course portal to watch and listen to at your leisure, with indefinite access.
All of our lesson videos have auto-generated English subtitles, as well as downloadable audio-only versions of the lessons. If you have needs not met here, please feel free to reach out to us with suggestions at info@ancestralmedicine.org.
Should you wish to withdraw from a live online course or shift your registration to a future iteration, please contact us at info@ancestralmedicine.org to request a full refund within the refund window of that specific course. For six session courses like this one, you can request a refund before the second session begins.
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