Calendar of the Sun
10 Yulmonath
Sedna's Day
Colors: Blue, green, white
Element: Water
Altar: Upon cloth like the Arctic Ocean place a long net, many tangled skeins of thread, combs,
and the figures of seals and walrus and fish.
Offerings: Comb the skeins and weave them into the net for Sedna.
Daily Meal: Fish.
Invocation to Sedna
Far to the North, in the coldest of waters,
Where the hunters survive by fish and seal,
A poor fisherman had too many children,
And his oldest daughter refused to wed.
So he bore her out into the cold waters,
And threw her overboard to her death.
Yet she clung to the boat, he cut off her fingers,
They fell into the water and became the seals and fish.
She sank to the bottom, where she became Sedna,
Queen of the Northern Oceans, Mistress of the Water,
With hair so long that it wraps through all the waves
Yet she cannot comb it, without fingers. So it is
That when Sedna becomes wroth, the waves pitch
And toss about, and there is no food,
For it is all caught in her hair. Shall we then take up combs,
And do the work of the angakok, on this one day?
Shall we honor Sedna, Lady of the Sea,
Victim turned Ruler, lost child become Queen,
And give her aid in her extremity, that the seals and fishes
May be many in the waters? Come forth, those who would
Comb out her hair, and with it your troubles,
Your conundrums, and all that is tangled in your life.
(Each comes forth and takes a tangled skein of thread and a comb, and sits before the altar to
comb it out. As each finishes, they say, "Be well, Lady," and weave the straight skein into the net.
Those who cannot untangle theirs before the bell of Akte must leave it, and say, "I will take up
this burden next year, Lady," and give extra libation to Sedna in private, on their own.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]