Today I wanted to write about Sedna (also latinised as Sanna, or Sidne), an Inuit goddess (or androgynous deity) of the sea, marine life, and Adlivun; the underworld.
Sedna is often described as being a giant. She’s the daughter of Anguta and Isarrataitsoq. Depending on the region there are different events that lead to her ‘death’ often involving her refusal to marry someone her dad has chosen for her; sometimes she’s in love with another man, sometimes a woman, and sometimes a dog, either way her dad takes her kayaking and throws her overboard. As she grips the side of the boat and tries to get back on he cuts off her fingers which then became the whales, walruses, and seals. She eventually sinks to the bottom of the ocean into Adlivun and becomes the ruler of the underworld.
Sedna is know by various other names and epithets including Arnakuagsak, Sassuma Arnaa, Nuliajuk, Arnapkapfaaluk, and Takánakapsâluk.
She has a major trans-Neptunian object named after her.
Sedna is often considered a vengeful goddess who starves people when she does not receive her offering, often being given bones, meat scarps, and broken weapons by them being thrown into the ocean. Because she doesn’t have fingers she has to have her hair brushed by Inuit shamans, who are often two-spirit.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedna_%28mythology%29?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_themes_in_mythology?wprov=sfla1
This is not a guide to work with Sedna as she comes from a closed tradition but is rather a place to gain information, awareness, and respect for her.
Ganymedes' guide. 