Getting to know dwarf planet Sedna
Disempowerment or transcendence - who will tell our story?
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Sedna moved into the sign of Gemini on 4/27, after having been in Taurus since May 11,1966, immediately making a trine with Pluto in Aquarius and then will have conjunctions with the Sun (5/20) Venus (5/24) and then Jupiter (5/26) over the next week and a half. Because all of recorded human history only goes back to Sedna in Libra just 6 signs ago, we don’t know exactly what the significance will be, but what I have read fascinated me.
Current astro context:
Throughout the time the nodes of the moon have been in Libra and Aries (July 2023), as well as through the last few Eclipse seasons, there have definitely been themes of attachment, detachment, how we face solitude and how we navigate connection, and recently with the energy focused in Taurus, themes related to nature, resources, and reaping what we sow. I think Sedna will provide even deeper lessons on all of these subjects. With Chiron holding steady near the North Node of the Moon, there has also been a focus on acknowledging our core wounding (for many, that is around self-worth and maybe over reliance on self-esteem or external validation) and then working to heal it through service to others.
With Chiron, Sedna, and Ceres making prominent shifts in their positions, we are able to correlate the cosmic energy with mundane and personal events on Earth. Remember, these newer objects could only be seen with the invention of the telescope so we have only data only from the late 18th century as opposed to thousands of years of data on the outer planets which the Mesopotamians began tracking. However, because of computing and our obsession with data in this scientific age, astrologers are able to identify strong themes.
Back to Sedna now being in Gemini. Mercury, which rules Gemini, is about perception. As I started thinking about this, I was struck with the vast selection of what we spend our perception energy on. I think rather than time as bandwidth, I choose this concept of perception energy, because there is only so much we can take in through our senses and process intellectually, but perhaps more importantly, emotionally. We are not super computers, after all. For example, we had recent exciting happenings in the cosmos with the total solar eclipse in North America, and the massive solar flares and Northern Lights being visible farther south than is typical (also people reported seeing colors they don’t normally see in the Aurora Borealis). Yet, there are also significant wars and human rights violations continuing in the Ukraine and Gaza. And, there is no end to people vying for attention and money on Tik Tok, Instagram, etc.
Anecdotally (and personally), I have seen many relationships end in the last year so individuals could be liberated, yet we are also told that there are too many people alone. There is also a lot of focus on boundaries, but there remains confusion as to whether we are keeping ourselves in or others out. And who gets cancelled for certain behaviors and who gets a pass. There are social mores being pushed upon, like Martha Stewart being in the SI Swimsuit edition at 81 yrs old, at the same time celebrities still appear to be taking semiglutides en masse to uphold the standard of thinness. These 2 sides of the same coin issues are very Gemini!
So, keep these Gemini concepts in mind as we explore Sedna.
Most of the material in this episode comes from Sedna Consciousness: The Soul’s Path of Destiny by Alan Clay, along with Space.com.
Sedna is a candidate dwarf planet which has a huge egg-shaped orbit and is found far beyond any planet in our solar system (11,406 Earth years orbit), one of the most distance objects we can see. The discovery of Sedna in 2003, along with other similar objects resulted in Pluto’s demotion in 2006. It is described as the second reddest object in our solar system, behind Mars. Scientists say that the extremely elongated orbit indicates an encounter with an object which is no longer there.
The last close pass of Sedna correlates with the end of the last Ice Age on Earth and the beginning of agriculture, the Neolithic Revolution. During this time, there was a wide scale change in how humans operated. From hunter gatherer to our evolutionary predecessors being able to put down roots. This was the start of the radical modification of the natural environment with things like crop rotation, irrigation, deforestation, etc.
Now there were settlements, abilities to have surplus food, create immovable art, trade, administrations, de-personalized systems of knowledge were created during this time. Really the basis for densely populated areas, specialization, and economic, political, and hierarchic foundations which would support this new way of living.
Our whole known human history has been in the last Sedna year since the Neolithic revolution. In fact all of recorded history has been in the last 6 Sedna months. So, we have only known in human terms, Sedna in Libra (when Sumerian cities and later the Bronze Age began). Then Scorpio around 3000 BCE, when ancient Egypt rose (cult of the dead essentially tracks with Scorpio). Then Sagittarius, themes of law and higher education and philosophy all on brand, were present with the rise of ancient Greece.
Then Sedna in Aries (associated with war) in 1865 saw world wars and the rise of nuclear capabilities. Sedna in Taurus began in 1966, from which we have seen material wealth becoming concentrated with certain sectors, the planet responding to humans disregard for it in the pursuit of more stuff (very Taurean).
Now Sedna will be in Gemini until 2068, with the next closest pass of Sedna to Earth in 2070. Alan Clay raises the the Mercury/Gemini themes of communication, perception and AI, which had precursor links to Sedna’s discovery in 2003 in the development of neural networks.
A surrender and trust in what awaits us beyond the familiar tangible world. A letting go of trauma and the state of victimhood in order to feel peace and purpose through using our gifts.
We also look to the mythology. I found an episode of the podcast After Dark (Ep 36), where they interviewed Tia Tidwell, professor of Alaska Native Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She belongs to the Nunamiut people of Anaktuvuk Pass. Sedna was named after the Inuit goddess of the sea. To the Inuits, gods were not divine, but part of this world. Sedna was extremely beautiful, and was in relationship with a shapeshifter. She refused to marry any of the men in the village.
Sedna’s father or ‘the people’ take her out to sea and throw her overboard. She tries to climb back and her fingers are cut off one by one. As she sinks, she gives rise to all the sea mammals to live a bountiful life in the arctic. She becomes a sea goddess, worshiped by hunters who depend on her goodwill to supply food.
Some interpretations focus on the victimization of Sedna by her father, and her clinging (literally to the boat) to the only reality she knew, forgetting her remarkable transcendence through the lot she was dealt to become a kind and benevolent goddess, nurturing people who, including the men, became reliant on her for life.
We get a hint from Edgar Cayce, the father of wholistic medicine, that Sedna combines into one way of being or one perspective, our ancestry, evolutionary change, and spiritual development in a unified worldview.
Some keywords from Alan Clay’s book (there are many more), in which he used astrologer Dane Rudhyar’s 3 levels a planet can operate depending on the individual’s level of consciousness.
At the unconscious level:
Victimization
Alienation
Nurturing resentment
Personal blindspot
On the spiritual path:
Radical acceptance
Keeping our heart open in hell
Nurturing our sense of humor
Beating our drum and singing to life
Fated transcendence
At the spiritually evolved level:
Spiritual destiny
Transcendent peace
Nurturing abundance
Allowing love and harmony
Transpersonal consciousness
I got chills when I looked up the Sabian symbol for Sedna’s position (note rounding up to 1°): 1o Gemini: A glass-bottomed boat reveals under-sea wonders.
Depth of realization in a consciousness constantly in touch with the sources of life. Sensitiveness to collective images.
Clay notes that we may find that Sedna is the higher octave of Ceres, where the nurturing becomes transpersonal, and spiritual across our current understanding of time and place. I will be discussing Ceres in another post.