 Sedna Inuit
Goddess of the Sea
Beside
the arctic ocean, there once lived an old widower
and his daughter, Sedna, a woman so beautiful that
all the Eskimo men sought to live with her.
But she found none to her liking
and refused all offers. One day, a seabird came
to her and promised her a soft life in a warm hut
full of bearskins and fish. Sedna flew away with
him.
The bird had lied. Sedna found her
home a stinking nest. She sat, sadly regretting her
rejection of the handsome human men. And that was
what she told her father, when she listed her complaints
when he visited her a year later.
Anguta put his daughter in his kayak
to bring her back to the human world. Perhaps he
killed the bird husband first, perhaps he just stole
the bird's wife, but in either case the vengeance
of the bird people followed him. The rising sea threatened
the escaping humans with death. On they struggled,
until Anguta realized that flight was hopeless.
He shoved Sedna overboard to drown.
Desperate for life, she grabbed the kayak with a
fierce grip. Her father cut off her fingers. She
flung her mutilated arms over the skin boat's sides.
Anguta cut them off, shoving his oar into Sedna's
eye before she sank into the icy water.
At the bottom of the sea, she lived
thereafter as queen of the deep, mistress of death
and life, "old food dish," who provided
for the people. Her amputated fingers and arms became
the fish and marine mammals, and she alone decided
how many could be slaughtered for food.
She was willing to provide for the
people if they accepted her rules: for three days
after their death, the souls of her animals would
remain with their bodies, watching for violation
of Sedna's demands. Then they returned to the goddess,
bearing information about the conduct of her people.
Should her laws be broken, Sedna's
hand would begin to ache, and she would punish humans
with sickness, starvation, and storms. Only if a
shaman traveled to her country and assuaged her pains
would the sea mammals return to the hunters, which,
if the people acted righteously, they did willingly.
The dead lived in a region near
Sedna's home through which shamans had to pass to
reach the goddess. There was also an abyss, in which
an ice wheel turned slowly and perpetually; then
a caldron full of boiling seals blocked the way;
finally, the horrible dog stood before Sedna's door,
guarding the knife-thin passageway to her home.
Should the shaman pass all these
dangers and ease Sedna's aching hands, the goddess
permitted him to return, bearing the news that ld
Woman had forgiven her people, that the seals would
again seek the hunter, that the people would no longer
starve.
From 'Goddesses and Heroines'
by Patricia Monaghan (Used by permission. This text
is NOT included in the Goddess Oracle) www.patricia-monaghan.com
Sedna is the story of the
woman as a victim and her betrayal by her father.
But it also tells of the shamans who travel through
great hardships to reach her and so save their people.
Like the other goddess Erishigal, she needs comfort
and empathy.
From The Goddess Oracle
Copyright Hrana Janto, used by permission of the artist.
www.goddessoracle.com www.hranajanto.com
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