Lack of independence and dependency
Sedna was enticed by an allegedly appealing suitor’s offer of luxury living on a plate.
She didn’t seek to establish her own life but instead waited for one to come along in the family fold. She paid the price for this decision when she realized it was all a hoax and the life she obtained was worse than the one she left.
Her rescue came as a pleasant surprise, only to reveal that when the chips were down, even her father was willing to betray her. All hope was lost when she clutched to the side of his boat and he severed her fingers and hands and she sank to the ocean below, excruciatingly alone.
As a result, astrological Sedna highlights where we’ve failed to take action and shape our own lives, instead putting our well-being and happiness in the hands of others.
When considering the function of Sedna in our lives, it is useful to analyze when and how we allow social mores to disable us rather than proudly standing fast and declaring ourselves sovereign and free.
And where do we pick the route of fear, reducing our lives to a mere shadow of their actual potential and then blaming others for our fate?
Where have we become stuck in bitterness or a desire for vengeance, unable to let go of the suffering done by another? Sedna could be found in any of these scenarios, where autonomy has been traded for the false security of a drastically reduced life.
For the sake of humanity, the shaman sets out to satisfy Sedna. Similarly, the only way to overcome bitterness and betrayal is to let our frigid and damaged hearts heal.
The chill of the meltwaters will undoubtedly steal our breath away, but in their aftermath, we can see the sunlight dancing on the waters above and we’re no longer as lost in the depths as we previously were.
We find ourselves striving for the light rather than the enticing darkness. Don’t need the shaman to comb our matted hair to feel connected. We can comb our hair before venturing out into the world for the first time.
Sedna and her shadow
Despite her suffering, Sedna grows into an enormously powerful presence, manipulating the very food that humans rely on for sustenance. If her father had simply brought her home, she would not be in this situation! Despite its terrible implications, betrayal strengthens us to some degree.
It brings forth the darkness we can no longer ignore. We recognize a nasty harridan or a murderous stalker in ourselves. We wallow in vengeance fantasies as we’ve never known before. They frighten us and make us question if we’ve gone insane.
However, confronting our inner darkness serves as an entrance into a more honest and true life.
Because witnessing the enormity of our shadow reveals our intrinsic ability to take action and rebuild our lives. Conversely, our proclivity to conceal all that shames or bothers us creates a continuous feedback loop that puts everyone in disempowered denial, because no one wants to be the first to admit it!
Those who rely on legendary Sedna for nourishment, on the other hand, must be willing to swallow her real flesh to survive. The fish in their dish is the result of her severed digits, providing food from unbearable anguish.
We, too, must be prepared to share our share of the shadowlands. We cannot exist solely on love and light, but must also accept the darkness and pain that frame the dazzling essence of our being.
Failure to accept responsibility for one’s shadow creates an untamed monster that manifests itself in group and worldwide acts of violence, tyranny and oppression.
There is no ultimate ‘right’ and ‘wrong,’ ‘good’ and ‘evil’ in Sedna’s reality. Her brave father set out to save her from the scary Raven Man, only to end up surrendering her to the sea.
Sedna took her treachery out on everyone, not just her father, sentencing humanity to an eternal struggle for life because she had been wronged. The shaman calms Sedna not out of concern for her plight, but to trick her into releasing the desperately needed food.
Nobody walks away from this narrative smelling like roses! But, in our most honest moments, we may be able to relate to all of these perspectives and recognize that we, too, can be all of those things.
The reality of who we are is not neatly wrapped
Few things are straightforward in a world of contradiction and paradox! The truth about ourselves is complicated and unsettling. Our contradictory nature causes us to speak one thing and do another, both equally heartfelt.
It’s us, at once loving and rejecting, tranquil and angry, wise and yet impulsive and ignorant. It is you and I as spiritual and material beings, filled with the divine but confined to the physical domain of form and desire.
This route is fraught with danger. We might have to fall them to figure out what’s genuine and what isn’t, who we are and who we aren’t. Our revelations may rock us to our core and call into question who we think we are.
But behind that challenge comes the greatest truth: that when we touch the very core of our being, all contradictions dissolve into the simple declaration ‘this is me.’ No apologies. There is no justification. No further explanation is required.
It all comes down to this: Sedna doesn’t give a damn!
She’s enraged and spiteful, daydreaming about treachery and scheming her retaliation. She wants to be appeased, for wrongs to be made right. You are free to think whatever you choose. You can pass judgment on her all you want. Whether you understand or not.
She is who she is and she will not be denied or disregarded. Not any longer! Sedna gives us the courage to sit in the eye of the tempest that is the Self and view everything without fear. Only then will she provide the nutrients we so urgently require – nourishment born of betrayal.
Don’t be too quick to forgive!
Whereas Venus, the goddess of love, advises us to “forgive and forget,” Sedna warns us, “don’t forgive too quickly!”
There is a time and a place for remembering who did what to whom, for revisiting old wounds to mine them for gems. While actual resentments linger beneath the surface, hurting peace of mind and our ability to discern well in the future, rapid forgiveness may be little more than avoidance or spiritual bypassing.
Life’s major betrayals require time to heal and forgiveness, like grieving, is a process rather than a decision.
To sleep at night, we must feel the pain, rant against injustice and even vow vengeance! Only by acknowledging and then accepting the devastation inflicted on us can we genuinely achieve inner peace – a peace achieved on the battlefield of emotional trauma.
The key is knowing when to let go, even more, to quiet the ranting mind, the repetitive narrative telling of how we’ve been wronged, the identification with the wounded self who will never trust again.
We can’t just abandon any of these selves because they have a right to be there and have a lot to say. Likewise, we must not enable them to grow so at ease that they never want to go!
Sedna never withholds for an eternity.
She welcomes the shaman in and lets him comb her hair and calm her troubled heart, which gradually softens enough to release the dead and feed the fishes. Despite that horrifying betrayal, she knows when it’s time. She realizes she can’t hold on indefinitely.
We can’t either. Trauma shatters us. It shatters lives and devastates those who strive to live them. We may feel completely crushed by the betrayal of someone we trusted and loved, annihilated by the sorrow that seems to last forever at the moment.
But we can’t let that happen. Sedna doesn’t either. We eventually begin the journey out of anguish and into a new life that nurtures both ourselves and others…
