Eighteen years ago, I shot a promotional video for a book I desperately wanted to write. "Unprepared & Ready to Go" was meant to be my story of transformation—from ultra-orthodox boy to American dreamer. But what I didn't know then was that I wasn't just unprepared to write—I was unprepared to tell the truth.
Like the heroes in my beloved screenwriting books, I carried a fundamental lie: that external success would finally make me worthy of love.
So, I chased that lie through Wall Street, through California's spiritual scene, even through the sacred smoke of underground ceremonies.
"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." - Joseph Campbell
This January, something finally cracked open. The truth caught up with me.
In twelve intense days of raw truth-telling, I followed the framework that emerged through decades of studying story structure and facilitating sacred ceremonies. What poured out wasn't just another memoir, but living proof that our most guarded truths become medicine when we dare to share them.
"Very High Priest" is not just a manuscript; it's a prototype and a ‘proof-of-concept’ for my 12 Beats Framework. It's the story I was too afraid to tell, the truth I kept hidden behind sophisticated strategies.
Through three timelines, "Very High Priest" reveals:
The Child Seeker: Ultra-orthodox childhood in Jerusalem, witnessing the complexities of faith and addiction.
The High Priest: Leading underground ceremonies in America, seeking to heal others while desperately avoiding my own wounds.
The Guide: A 12-day journey of remembering, where the truth I tried to outrun became my path home.
For now, I'm sharing this intimate manuscript with all subscribers.
When Hollywood Met Shamanism
"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." — Joseph Campbell
My obsession with story structure began in those early writing attempts. While others read self-help, I devoured screenwriting manuals. Blake Snyder's Save the Cat revealed something profound—every transformational story follows precise beats. Not because they're formulaic, but because these rhythms mirror the soul's own journey of awakening.
"Sometimes the longest journey out becomes the shortest path home." — Ram Dass
Not long after abandoning my book project, I found myself in my first underground ceremony. As sacred medicine cracked my heart open, something clicked—these consciousness-expanding experiences followed the exact same beats as Hollywood's greatest transformational stories.
Every journey, whether through external plot or internal landscape, moves through four elemental gateways:
Body: Where separation begins.
Mind: Where seeking shapes us.
Spirit: Where grace intervenes.
Heart: Where we remember wholeness.
For fifteen years, I walked between two worlds—studying story structure while facilitating sacred ceremonies.
Things got so dark during my years as an urban shaman that I completely forgot my original intention—to discover the medicine in my own story. Yet, through it all, I kept refining the framework, weaving together Hollywood story structure with shamanic wisdom.
Now, at 44, grace has finally broken through. This manuscript isn't perfect or polished. It's a prototype, a proof of concept of what becomes possible when we stop waiting to be "healed enough" to share our truth.
A Sacred Invitation
What emerged through these twelve days is more than just a manuscript—it's living proof that our most guarded truths become bridges for others when we dare to share them.
These stories have burned in my chest for decades, asking to be medicine for others walking similar paths of remembering. Through breaking my own silence, I hope to create bridges for those carrying stories too heavy to hold alone.
Whether you're:
Navigating relationship patterns that keep repeating.
Healing generational wounds that feel too heavy.
Feeling called to share your medicine but afraid.
Ready to break patterns of hiding.
Your truth isn't just your own. Every story you dare to tell becomes medicine someone else needs to receive.
Together, we remember who we are beneath our stories of separation.
Love, Oriya
P.S. In the coming season, I'll be sharing the expanded version of these stories - diving deeper into each timeline, revealing more of the framework that helped me break silence. For now, let's begin here, with this first step into radical honesty together.
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