Sedna, Mother of the Sea ~Spoken Story
About our Spoken Story Series
In this time of ebb and flow—when so much around and within us is shifting—ONE offers a series of spoken stories to honor the depths of the Ocean and the ancestral wisdom carried on her tides. These tales invite you to soften, to listen, to be carried by story as by a gentle current—nourishing spirit, soothing the nervous system, and rekindling memory through myth and legend.
Our storyteller, April Thanhauser, a cherished member of the ONE Visioning Council and lifelong lover of folk and fairy tales, shares:
“Stories, like hearth fires and campfires have always brought people together —for sharing wisdom, laughter, tears, and comfort. No matter where our people came from, stories are part of our heritage. The traditional tales I will be telling originate from many different parts of the world, but please accept them as a gift from the old ones of our shared human culture.”
About this Episode
The Story of Sedna, Mother of the Sea is an Inuit legend, told in many versions across the Arctic. Each telling carries its own blend of pain and sacrifice, trickery and transformation. In every version, fingers are lost—and from these severed fingers, sea creatures are born. The woman who once was human becomes the Goddess of the Sea.
She is the ocean: fierce and generous, moody and magnificent. Our relationship with the ocean—and with all her beings—depends on how we honor her, with reverence, respect, and loving care.
This particular telling draws some imagery and detail from The Song of Sedna, a beautifully illustrated (though dated) picture book by Robert and Daniel San Souci.
Sedna is also the name of a distant dwarf planet, discovered in 2003, which circles our sun slowly from the far reaches beyond Neptune and Pluto.
