Triad #40
Searles

Mon Jan 18 22:43:42 1999
Triad #40*p*Trí srotha Hérenn: Sinann, Bóand, Banda. *p*Meyers translation:*p*The three rivers of Ireland: the Shannon, the Boyne, the Bann. *p**br*The word srotha is translated as rivers above, but can actually mean streams, rivers or currents.  In a poetical sense, srotha means streams of poesy, as in the Cauldron of Poesy materials regarding imbas.  This use of srotha would seem to be what is being indicated by the triad and not an actual river, as the first two river names are also the goddess names: Sinann and Bóand.  The third river name in Meyers's translation is called the Bann, but the original name given in Old Irish is actually "Banda," which translates literally as "good woman" and is translated in the DIL as "feminine, womanly, pertaining to a woman."  If we consider that in the first two instances of Sinann and Bóand in the triad, that wisdom and knowledge are invoked from the Well of Segais by each goddess, then what we can say in the updated triad would be:*p*The three streams of inspiration in Irelands: the goddess Sinann, the goddess Bóand, and a Good Woman.*p*To me, this triad is all about bridging the gap in the knowledge of the mind to allow the Grand Feminine nature that is in each of us to stream freely into being.  When we invoke this deep well of inner knowledge and intuitive knowing we create a world around us that becomes a fertile land.  There are dindshenchas about the encounters of Sinann and Bóand with the Well of Segais and in each instance a challenge occurs between the goddess and the well, with a resulting stream bursting forth and an act of creation occurring from the death of the goddess or a loss of her physical form.  The idea of dying that is expressed in each instance is not an actual death, since both goddesses are of the Ever-Living Sidhe.  I view these deaths as being a rebirth that occurs through an opening up of the ways of knowledge within the self.*p*Searles