Past Articles

AR 45 Royal Stars of Persia

AR 44 Ancient Formulas for Immortality

AR 43 Twelve Gates of Heaven

AR 42 Jupiter in Virgo

AR 41 Geometry of the Spheres

AR 40 Saturn in Cancer, June, 2003 to July, 2005

AR 39 The Poles of the Zodiac

AR 38
Uranus In
Pisces
2003-2011

AR 37
Twelfth Planet, Plutinos or
Planet X

AR 36
Eclipses – Promise or Peril?

AR35
Solar Fire

AR34
The Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology

AR 33
Children of the Gods

AR 32
Wheels Within Wheels

AR 31
Horoscopes of Destiny

AR 30
Zodicac of Dendera

AR 29
A Star Is Born

AR 28
Age of Aquarius

AR 27
Persia's Royal Stars of Ancients

AR 23
The Lore of a Shaman

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge in the field of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.”    - Albert Einstein

As recently as the Middle Ages Galileo was imprisoned for advancing Copernicus’s view that Earth circled the Sun, not the other way round. Then along came Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, further upsetting the apple cart. Today, most people probably still think of the solar system as the Sun and nine planets which orbit our star. But that picture is changing dramatically as technology reveals other members of the Sun’s extended family.

In March astronomers announced the discovery of a planet-like body in the far reaches of our solar system, three times farther from Earth than Pluto. Officially dubbed 2003 VB12, the object was discovered in November 2003 at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory as part of a three-year project to explore the solar system. The team who discovered this planetoid named her Sedna, after the Inuit goddess who lives at the bottom of the frigid, Arctic ocean.

Sedna is the largest, coldest, and most remote orbiting body revealed in our solar system since Pluto’s discovery in 1930. The red-colored newcomer is three-fourths the size of Pluto, and travels in an enormous, narrow ellipse. The orbit is unlike anything astronomers have seen and lasts a whopping 12,000 plus years. Sedna is currently approaching its closest orbital position to the Sun, getting closer and brighter over the next seventy-two years, before turning back toward the far reaches of the Sun’s domain. The last time Sedna came this close Earth was coming out of an ice age. It’s intriguing to contemplate what our home planet might be like twelve thousand years from now when she makes a return engagement.

Oort Cloud, aura of a star

Beyond Neptune is the Kuiper Belt (pronounced like viper), an icy asteroid belt named for the astronomer who predicted its existence. Evidence strongly suggests that the Kuiper Belt has a fairly sharp edge, terminating at 50 AU (Astronomical Units). Beyond this is an immense, hypothetical, spherical cloud of rocky and icy debris called the Oort cloud (named after astronomer Jan Oort), which surrounds our solar system. The diameter of the icy sphere which defines the physical, gravitational and dynamic orb of influence of the Sun is three light years, or thirteen billion kilometers (eight billion miles). This cloud is the birthplace of proto comets which loosely orbit the Sun at a distance nearly halfway to the closest star. Scientists believe that the Oort cloud may contain more total mass than the Kuiper Belt and Asteroid Belt combined.

Although located ten times closer than expected, astronomers believe Sedna is confirmation of the reality of the Oort cloud, revealing that this giant cloud extends much farther into the solar system than previously believed. According to the team at Caltech who discovered her, Sedna is a new class of object. She does not reside in the Kuiper Belt (where Pluto and Quaoar live), but cycles through what is now called the “inner Oort cloud.” Sedna’s discovery has also shed light on the origin of our solar system. Caltech team leader, Dr. Michael Brown, speculated that this “inner Oort cloud might have been formed billions of years ago when a rogue star passed by the Sun, nudging some of the comet-like bodies inward.”

Planet or planetoid?

Our word for planet comes from the Greek, “planates,” meaning “wanderer” and was meant to distinguish the moving stars (planets), from what seemed to be “fixed stars.” Strangely enough, that seemed self-evident until now, but life in the solar system is becoming more complex. Sedna’s discovery has reignited a heated debate over what constitutes a planet, and suddenly, defining the nature of a planet has become as tricky as describing the nature of the gods they represent. Burgeoning discoveries of planets orbiting other stars, as well as planetoids and comets which keep popping up in our solar system, have created a classification dilemma. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) now has a committee dedicated to defining a planet.

Planet-like bodies are being discovered almost routinely in orbit around other stars. These gas giants (most like Jupiter), are thought to be Brown Dwarfs. These massive bodies are failed stars, enormous orbs of star-making material which did not manage to catch fire. Although the ingredients were present, the alchemy did not occur. They radiate some light of their own, but do not blaze like stars.

Pluto’s hold on planetary status has again become tenuous. Dr. Brown asserts that “if we discovered Pluto today, knowing what we know about other objects in the Kuiper Belt, we wouldn’t even consider it a planet.” Planets are round, but asteroids and comets are rocky and irregular. Planets have stable orbits, while planetoids may move at angles to the ecliptic and travel in odd, elliptical orbits around the Sun. One way to define a planet is a body in the solar system that is more massive than the total mass of all other bodies in a similar orbit. Technically Pluto is not a planet, just the largest body in the Kuiper Belt, but astronomers expect it’s just a matter of time until a KBO (Kuiper Belt Object), larger than Pluto is discovered. What then?

Sedna’s myth

Scholars and researchers have suggested that myth serves a profound purpose not limited to simple story telling. Myth transmits knowledge beyond dogma as well as conveying difficult concepts through archetypal characters and principles. Those who live in closer harmony with the cycles of planting and harvest have myths to honor the forces of nature and often perform ceremonies to keep the scales in balance.

As is typical with myths, versions of Sedna’s story differ. Sedna was a beautiful young Inuit (Eskimo), girl who scorned all human suitors. Instead, she flew off with a sea bird (sometimes raven). Her marriage was not happy and ultimately her father came to rescue her. She tried to escape in her father’s boat, but her husband caused a huge storm on the ocean. Selfishly frightened for his own safety, her father pushed Sedna overboard, and when she tried to climb back into the boat, he gouged out one of her eyes and chopped off her fingers, which clung to the sides of the boat. When she ultimately succumbed to her fate, she drifted to the bottom of the sea. Her broken fingers became seals, walruses and whales; the sea animals the Inuit hunted. Sedna then became goddess of the deep Arctic ocean, and like a petulant child, meted out life or death based on her mood.

Sedna’s myth tells us that she must feel satisfied that humanity is keeping their part of the bargain before she will release her creatures to human hunters. Shamans are required to journey to the icy depths of her realm as intermediaries. Sedna’s ultimate message is one of respect for the means of survival. She can be seen to reward respect and punish greed. Her own sacrifice resulted in her transformation. We are cautioned to respect this life-giving being and to honor her. Her nature will demand respect for the oceans, the biological origin of life on Earth. At a time when Earth’s oceans are increasingly polluted, she brings a harsh message about survival and quality of life.

Power of a name

A kind of magic seems to be at work in myth. Some exquisite mechanism appears to act within collective consciousness to result in the naming of archetypal influences. It is my observation that astronomers are just as fascinated by this process as the story tellers. Naming something imbues it with power, and now that this celestial body has a name her existence will come alive in our consciousness.

Sedna is a new order of being in our solar system and the first queen of a new archetypal domain. She occupies the inner Oort cloud, living in the frigid and distant “waters” of the solar system. She is a stark contrast to her “planetary” predecessors. Her mythic origins make her a New World goddess rather than Old World. She is a child rather than adult, and is female not male. Her mythic themes are sacrifice, betrayal, abandonment and redemption. Like Persephone and Demeter, her presence and grace affects cycles of growth or greenness on earth, and she controls the ability of hunters to feed their families. The goddess of the Arctic deep deals with the cyclical relationship between humanity and the benevolence of Earth’s bounty or the withholding of her gifts.

As a new class of being in our solar system Sedna represents a new facet of our collective awareness. That she is a goddess bodes well for the return of the divine feminine. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (and Quaoar) are all decidedly male. Just as technology enabled us to perceive Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, once again science will escort us into a domain beyond our imagining just a short time ago. I wrote earlier that the Kuiper Belt might become like the River Styx, acting like a metaphorical barrier to a deeper understanding (AR # 37). Sedna, and her counterparts which may yet be discovered, will take us to another level of cosmic understanding. What kind of evolutionary leap in the unfolding of our consciousness will the new symbolic barrier of the inner Oort cloud represent? Perhaps we will see the Sun and its family more holistically.

Astrological Significance

Because it is our nature, astrologers will incorporate Sedna into the interpretative mix. It’s early in the game to speculate, but I believe she will strongly resonate with the sign of Virgo, as well as the great goddesses of agriculture, and the cyclical give-and-take of hunting, growing and replenishment. Like the Black Virgins, whose milk is both miraculous and transforming, she also carries deep secrets of alchemical transmutation. The icy depths of Sedna’s realm contain the paradox of the divine feminine in all cultures which is seen as both giver of life and destroyer. Like the Hindu Shakti, She is the power itself, and the Path is learning to wield that power.

With another nod toward the magic of myth and symbolism, astrologer Philip Sedgwick informed me that Sedna is transiting 18 degrees (plus something) of Taurus. In a lovely synchronicity, the Sabian symbol (visual representation), for this degree of the zodiac is “a new continent rising out of the ocean.” Here too is recognition of a very different, and as yet unrecognized, reality.

Astrologically, the outer planets are said to act like “higher octaves,” taking an archetypal energy to a potentially expanded expression of energy. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are the higher octaves of Mercury, Venus and Mars, respectively. In this vein, it’s tempting to see Sedna as a higher octave of the Moon, with the potential to transmute the earthly concerns of food, shelter and caring for our young into a pursuit for spiritual sustenance; searching for soul food. Seen this way, Sedna could open a previously-veiled gateway to eternity.