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Per usual there is a lot going on in the cosmos as it is an ever-evolving entity; however, my sights have been set on Sedna since August when it went into retrograde. And on February 7, 2019 Sedna stationed direct at 26 degrees Taurus and moved out retrograde while also being:
Trine South Node
Sextile North Node
Square Mercury (exact on 2/8)
Conjunct Juno
Given so many current astrological aspects, it seemed important to bring attention to Sedna and the many things that make Sedna a unique, powerful celestial body in our solar system.
1) Classification: Sedna is a Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO), which just means that it is an object out past Neptune. One classification puts Sedna as a member of the "scattered disc," a group of objects sent into highly elongated orbits by the gravitational influence of Neptune. However, there is some disagreement about this classification. Some astronomers informally refer to it as the first known member of the inner Oort cloud, but that's not an official classification either. (Though I lean towards the "inner Oort Cloud, because it sounds cool.
2) Name: One of the only planets in our solar system named after a non-Greek or Roman God or Goddess...her myth is from Inuit tradition. (More on her myth below.) Hats off to astronomers Chad Trujillo, David Rabinowitz, and Michael E. Brown (the Pluto-killer, but also discovered of a few of my favorite planetary bodies) who saw her in 2003 and opted for a name outside the norm. It was the discovery of Sedna and several similar object that in some ways demoted Pluto from being a planet.
3) Orbit: My favorite mysterious part of Sedna is that it has an orbit that swings wildly outside of the norm and away from the Sun in such a way that indicates something may be pulling it out of gravity. Some astronomers think this irregularity is caused by a Planet Nine, though that is hypothetical. According to a trip I took last year to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, it was said "there are teams searching for it...unless we find Planet Nine, all we can say for sure is that those outer objects have some strange orbits." And apparently no one knows why...
Archetypally and mythologically Sedna has an important story to tell. I often call Sedna the mermaid planet and in particular, see it featured prominently in charts of ocean activists or water lovers. And while Sedna has similar solar system real estate has Neptune and Pluto, it has a different energy than watery Neptune or depth provoking Pluto provides.
Though before exploring the astrological archetype, it makes sense to understand more of the goddess Sedna's story and myth. In the Inuit tradition she rules the Underworld and the sea creatures. Many Arctic hunters still make offerings to her before ocean hunting and rely on her for getting food. It is said she creates storms when angered and can be soothed by brushing her hair. Often depicted as a mermaid with a woman's torso and fish tail, Sedna isn't a mermaid in the same way we might assume in European myth, as she isn't into siren seduction as she is to caring and protection Earth.
While there are several different versions of the story, the main premise is that she disobeys her father and refused to marry the man her family has chosen. Her father decides she has disgraced him and the family and takes her out on a boat to drown her, when she holds on, he chops off her fingers. Legend has it that she falls to the bottom of the ocean and her fingers become the ocean mammals. From under the water she becomes the leader of the sea animals as well as to me an alternative Venusian, feminine archetype. Whereas instead of from the ocean, she remains below.
The deep sea represents us of our unconscious as a place few dare to explore as it is still unknown to us. Animals and creatures of the ocean look strange compared to those on Earth. Just like another underworld archetype, Pluto we often become morphed like the caterpillar before becoming a butterfly. We change shape, or in Sedna's case was deformed, and often become unrecognizable even to ourselves, shedding parts of us we hold onto for comfort. This rebirth process and the deformity serve to remind us that we look and feel differently in the underworld as on Earth (Taurus).
The underworld and unconscious descent process in depth psychology initiates into our shadow and darker parts that may be filled with pain or integrates internal opposites. Jung called the underworld process a nekyia or katabasis as it connects us with our dark world of the unconscious. While Jung used the terms nekyia and katabasis interchangeably, psychologist James Hillman had a clear distinction. For him, Nekyia was “night sea journey” distinct from the general word of katabasis that was the journey to the lower worlds. Welcome to Sedna's world of cold, Arctic Oceans and unconscious, underworld terrain.
A clear archetypal aspect and energy of Sedna to me is that with so many parts of ourselves and our solar system unfamiliar to us, she represents an archetypal empowered feminine we have yet to live into and understand. A feminine that was injured or victimized and is now calling back her power (I'm looking at you #metoo movement). In this way there is a future aspect of ourselves that hasn't yet become fully realized, only an idea as we all grapple with a new archetypal language and vision--or what Jung calls a Transcendent Function.
In psychology, this tension between conscious and unconscious in attempting union is the transcendent function. This psychic and unpredictable process speaks to our evolution as a collective and individuals and therefore a transition between states and attitudes. It is also a self-regulated process and "irrational life process" as Jung describes it as our consciousness integrates in its own time without a formula or prediction of when something becomes aware.
Similar to the watery underworld of Sedna, the descent into ourselves can be confusion, isolation, and a need to integrate our pain. The gem of this myth and archetype reminds us of our personal power and desire to simultaneously be empowered even while underwater.
Other Sedna Stuff
Symbols: water, eyes, seashells, fish, dolphins, seals, whales
Altar items:
salt water,
sea shells,
blue, dark blue, turquoise, or ivory candle,
images of sea creatures such as dolphins or whales,
lapis lazuli or labradorite
Current global projects with strong, underlying Sedna influences: