Loreena McKennitt

“Accepting the Order of Canada”

“Quinlan Road (official site)”

“One of the most wonderful and engaging things I've learned is that we are the culmination and extension of each other's histories and there is more that binds us together than separates us, and in discovering this, perhaps our needs are timeless and universal. I have a very deep interest in religion and spirituality. I like the Sufi perspective, which suggests that it is better to participate in the world than to become detached from the world.”

“Until the early nineties, I was under the impression that the Celts were this mad collection of anarchists from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. When I saw an exhibition in Venice, I discovered they were a vast collection of tribes originating from Middle and Eastern Europe as far back as 500 BC, and that over the centuries they migrated and integrated with people all over the world. So I've used this cultural history as a creative muse. With The Book Of Secrets in particular, I was interested in beginning with their earlier and more Eastern history”

“There is a wonderful old Chinese proverb that I love, "A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving". I think about my personal approach to musical projects much like a travel writer might approach the preparation for a book. You latch on to a certain theme or historical event and follow that into the unknown, while, at the same time, expanding on those themes.”

“I lost myself to him and laid my face upon my lover's breast And care and grief grew dim as in the morning's mist became the lightThere they dimmed amongst the lilies fair.”

“Within my pounding heart which kept itself entirely for himHe fell into his sleep beneath the cedars all my love I gave From o'er the fortress walls the wind would his hair against his brow And with its smoothest hand caressed my every sense it would allow.”

“Upon that misty night in secrecy, beyond such mortal sightWithout a guide or light than that which burned so deeply in my heartThat fire t'was led me on and shone more bright than of the midday sun To where he waited still it was a place where no one else could come.”

“Oh night thou was my guide Oh night more loving than the rising sun Oh night that joined the lover to the beloved one transforming each of them into the other.”

“Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breastAnd by a lantern bright I fled my house while all in quiet rest.Shrouded by the night and by the secret stair I quickly fled. The veil concealed my eyes while all within lay quiet as the dead.”

“And so it's there my homage's due Clutched by the still of the night And now I feel you move Every breath is full So it's there my homage's due Clutched by the still of the night Even the distance feels so near All for the love of you.”

“A painting hangs on an ivy wall Nestled in the emerald moss The eyes declare a truce of trust And then it draws me far away Where deep in the desert twilight Sand melts in pools of the sky When darkness lays her crimson cloak Your lamps will call me home”

“A clouded dream on an earthly night Hangs upon the crescent moon A voiceless song in an ageless light Sings at the coming dawn Birds in flight are calling there Where the heart moves the stones It's there that my heart is calling All for the love of you”

“As you turned to go I heard you call my name,You were like a bird in a cage spreading its wings to fly"The old ways are lost," you sang as you flewAnd I wondered why.”

“As we cast our gaze on the tumbling seaA vision came o'er meOf thundering hooves and beating wingsIn clouds above.”

“Suddenly I knew that you'd have to goYour world was not mine, your eyes told me soYet it was there I felt the crossroads of timeAnd I wondered why.”

“The thundering waves are calling me home to youThe pounding sea is calling me home to you”

“Standing on the bridge that crosses The river that goes out to the sea The wind is full of a thousand voices They pass by the bridge and me.”

“Bonfires dot the rolling hillsidesFigures dance around and aroundTo drums that pulse out echoes of darknessAnd moving to the pagan sound.”

“I can see lights in the distance Trembling in the dark cloak of nightCandles and lanterns are dancing, dancingA waltz on All Souls Night.”