Sedna – Inuit otherworld, underwater Mistress of Animals. Part of the job of Inuit shamans, angakkut (See Angakkoq), is to mediate between their communities and Sedna, especially to deal with breaches of taboos that have caused Sedna to withhold sea animals from hunters. Although Sedna is now a well-known name (popularized beyond the Arctic by ethnographer Franz Boas), other names or titles are also used, and these strongly suggest that “Sedna” is not a proper name but an oblique reference to an other-than-human person who can be dangerous to name or encounter. She is also named Takannaaluk arnaaluk, “the terrible woman down there,” and Sanna or Kanna, “the one down there.”
See also Master or Mistress of Animals.
SOURCE:
Historical Dictionary of Shamanism by Graham Harvey and Robert J. Wallis 2007