Why Freedom Has Fangs – The True Price of Freedom & Peace

Why Freedom Has Fangs – The True Price of Freedom & Peace

Welcome to the Journey to Peace Podcast. I’m your host, Afefelara Aje.
In this powerful episode, Afefelara dives into the spiritual truth that freedom is not free—it has fangs. Drawing from the wisdom of the Ifá tradition and the sacred odu Ika Ose, we explore why true sovereignty demands discipline, patience, and preparation.

You’ll hear a personal story about the real reason this journey began—not as a business, but as a divine calling. I share how the impatience of the human spirit continues to sabotage our development and why many of us are not yet equipped for the very things we pray to receive.

We explore:

• Why spiritual development must precede destiny
• How Orunmila became the prophet who guides us to alignment
• What it means to walk the Fool’s Journey with power
• The danger of rushing into your calling without the capacity to hold it
• How Ika Ose teaches us to protect our sovereignty through discipline, awareness, and character

If you've ever asked, “Why is this so hard if it's my destiny?”—this episode is your medicine.

Ready to develop your personal power and become a sovereign being in a world that fears sovereignty?

Explore the Orisha Life Academy – multiple entry points to support your spiritual maturation and embodiment of purpose. http://www.nasabawa.com/orishalife.html

Support the show – everyone who donates receives a weekly Word of Power and a ritual to deepen your spiritual discipline. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1720008/support

Invocation:

We close with a sacred invocation to Ori, Orunmila, and the ancestors—an energetic seal for those ready to walk the path of becoming, no matter how sharp the edges.

Remember: Freedom has fangs… and yet, you were born to bite back.

Transcript

Welcome to the Journey to Peace Podcast. I’m your host, Afefelara Aje. In this podcast, we explore how to become sovereign beings on a planet that deeply fears sovereignty.

Today, this episode embodies the frequency of Ika Ose, which teaches us that an increase in personal power leads us to prosperity, peace, and liberation.

I’m staring at my first business card when I thought this journey was about me being a spiritual entrepreneur, which I am not. I am a priest, not a business person. Took me a while to get that.

The card says A Journey To Peace. What I thought was a business name was a prophetic calling. I thought I was starting a business, but I was beginning a journey. A fool’s journey, really.

A fool’s journey is when you step into something new without fully being prepared or fully knowing what you’re actually stepping into.

Some of us know we are stepping into liberation, some of us are thrown into it. Either way, this podcast is for those who desire freedom from this world’s constructs and oppressive ideas that don’t serve our collective evolution.

I named this episode . . . Freedom has Fangs from a TV show I watched about a group of immigrants who left their country in search of sovereignty. Watching these people’s journey reminded me of the journey of the Israelites as they also stepped into the journey of liberation.

It got me to thinking . . . why does FREEDOM have fangs?  

Because freedom will bite through everything that once bound you.  It doesn't come with gentle kisses—it comes with teeth.  It tears through illusion. It devours dependency. It rips the veil off of everything you thought kept you safe.

Freedom requires grief. Because to be sovereign… You must mourn the parts of yourself that were built to survive captivity. You must let them die. And let’s be honest—some of those parts were doing the best they could. They kept us fed, clothed, agreeable, quiet, likable… safe.
But peace does not live in performance.  And liberation cannot coexist with the lie.

That’s why the path of sovereignty shouldn’t be glamorized. I saw a post by a popular spiritual influencer that claimed that melanated people don’t want liberation. And I was guilt of believing this. 

We all will be called to liberate ourselves in this incarnation or the next, it is a requirement long the journey of life, but It’s messy. It’s sacred. It’s real. Just like the sacred Odu Ika Ose reminds us: True prosperity comes when you remember your power, take it back, and learn how to walk with it.

Ika Ose is the moment you recognize that peace isn’t passive—it’s a byproduct of divine rebellion. It’s a reward for choosing alignment over approval. It’s what you find on the other side of releasing every identity that was assigned to you, but never belonged to you.

So when we say freedom has fangs—we mean it will ask for blood. Not because it wants to harm you, but because it’s ready to rebirth you.

In the tradition of Ifá, we are guided to our destiny by the prophet Orunmila—the one who sees clearly, the keeper of divine wisdom. Within the sacred Odu Ifá, there is a powerful story about how Orunmila came to hold this honor—an honor that once belonged to each human being.

In the beginning, before birth, we were given our Ori—our conscious awareness, our divine compass. But receiving Ori was only the beginning. The tradition says that once humans received their Ori, they were instructed to develop it for one year before going to the marketplace to choose their destiny. That year was a time for alignment, for spiritual maturity, for character refinement. But humans, as we still are today, were impatient. They wanted to go straight from awareness to arrival—straight from awakening to manifestation—with no development in between.

And this is still the struggle.

We believe that once we know a thing—once we hear the call or feel the resonance—it should immediately be ours. No delays. No discomfort. No discipline. We are skipping over our becoming. Jumping timelines. Lighting spell candles. Chanting and scripting and vision-boarding our way into a destiny that, truthfully, we are not yet developed enough to hold.

We say:

"I know this is my destiny—so why is it so hard?"
 "I know this is my partner—why aren’t we together yet?"

Because knowing is not enough. You must be formed to carry what you’ve been shown.

There is no blessing in being handed your purpose if your character, your energy, and your spiritual discipline cannot sustain it.

✨ Ika Ose comes as a sacred correction.
It calls us into inner order. It asks us to examine our attitude toward spiritual development, to dismantle our addiction to speed, and to release the fear that is weaponized by those who seek to dominate and distract.

Ignore the dominators and upholders of constructs, Ika Ose says. Let spiritual discipline, conscious awareness, and Iwa Pele—good character—be the guardians of your sovereignty. Let them be the armor you wear as you walk boldly toward your divine assignment.

To be a sovereign being means to live from your divine authority, fully responsible for your own energy, choices, and alignment—with no need for external validation, approval, or control. It's spiritual, psychological, emotional, and even energetic self-governance. 

• Autonomous – You think, feel, and decide from your inner truth.
  
  
  
• Whole – You do not look to others to “complete” you.
  
  
  
• Aligned with Source – You move through life in partnership with the Divine, not in reaction to the world.
  
  
  

So how do we increase our personal power?

What are the tenets that spiritually develop us to handle the magnitude of our destiny?

Here are some keys:

1. Cultivate Ori Alignment

Spend time daily aligning with your inner knowing. Not the voice of ego or fear, but your Higher Self. Ori is your first guide. Bow to it before you bow to anyone else.

2. Honor Time as Sacred

Trust divine timing. There are initiations you must pass through that cannot be rushed. Development is divine protection.

3. Build Character (Iwa Pele)

Power without character leads to collapse. Sovereignty is maintained through humility, kindness, and integrity—not just will.

4. Practice Spiritual Discipline

Meditate. Pray. Offer. Study. Listen. Return. Power grows in routine. In consistency. In the quiet repetition of sacred acts.

5. Confront the Ego

Impatience, entitlement, comparison—these are the ego’s whispers. Maturity is saying, “I will wait and become who this destiny requires.”

6. Be in Community with Spirit

You are not developing alone. Your ancestors, guides, and Orisha walk with you. Call on them. Let them help you shape yourself into the vessel your destiny deserves.

✨ Affirmation (repeat after me):

I honor divine timing.
I trust my Ori.
I choose discipline.
I release fear.
 I am not rushing—I am rising.
 My destiny is sacred, and I am becoming the vessel that can hold it.

Before we close with today’s invocation, I want to invite you to take the next step in your journey.
 If you feel called to deepen your spiritual discipline and become a truly sovereign being, check out the show notes and explore Orisha Life Academy. There are multiple paths to enter, each designed to support you in developing your personal power from the inside out.

And if this episode spoke to your spirit, consider supporting the podcast.
Everyone who donates will receive a weekly Word of Power and a ritual practice to help you stay rooted in your spiritual growth and discipline.

Your support not only sustains this work—it strengthens the collective vibration of liberation.
Thank you for walking this path with me.

Let’s close. First place your right hand on the top of your head and your left hand on your heart. 

Divine Ori,
 I bow to you, my first guardian,
 My compass, my crown.
 Shape me into who I must become
 To walk boldly into my destiny.

Orunmila, wise one,
 Let your guidance be my anchor
 As I release impatience and embrace initiation.

I call on my ancestors,
 Those who endured, those who dreamed,
 Stand with me now as I choose discipline over distraction,
 Integrity over urgency,
 Becoming over performing.

I am not afraid of the wait.
 I am not afraid of the work.
 I am becoming sovereign.

Ashe

Thank you I’ll talk to you next week on the next episode of Journey to Peace!