W. B. Yeats described the gancanagh in 1888, as follows:


Nicholas O'Kearney, a Louthman, deeply versed in Irish lore, writes of the gean-cánach (love-talker) that he is "another diminutive being of the same tribe as the leprechaun, but, unlike him, he personated love and idleness, and always appeared with a dudeen in his jaw in lonesome valleys, and it was his custom to make love to shepherdesses and milkmaids. It was considered very unlucky to meet him, and whoever was known to have ruined his fortune by devotion to the fair sex was said to have met a gean-cánach. The dudeen, or ancient Irish tobacco pipe, found in our raths, etc., is still popularly called a gean-cánach's pipe." The word is not to be found in dictionaries, nor does this spirit appear to be well known, if known at all, in Connacht. The word is pronounced gánconâgh.[1]

Unfortunately there are no paintings or drawings of this elusive male faerie. So I had to just pick random images

After I did my mushroom post, I started making dinner. This is difficult to describe for those who haven’t been following the details, but I’ve been interested in folk symbols in indigenous European embroidery. Something has been pulling me toward it and telling me it’s important. It’s preserved in Slavic regions but it was once pan-European, and I’m being pulled to recover it. I sliced into these Brussels Sprouts and immediately noticed the shape inside looked like Slavic Mother Earth goddess Makosh. So I looked for an image to show my fiancé and was shocked when I couldn’t find the one I was looking for but the one I found was MORE similar! It just seems to me that I’m being pulled ever closer to the divine in the Earth and nature and therein lies the real TRUTH of our indigenous religion. It’s not dogma. It’s eternal renewal of life 🌱

This lovely townhall in Holland is now a happy place. People marry there and when the weather is nice people eat and drink on the terraces of the restaurants there. Long forgotten seem the days of witchhunting in the 16th century. Although witchhunting was never as big in Holland as in other North(Western)-European countries there was witchhunting here too. The attic of this townhall was used to imprison women who were suspects of witchcraft. They were tortured and burned alive in front of the townhall. Fortunately these days are long gone! I always think about these women when i see this townhall and value my own freedom. There is nothing better than freedom!