In the liner notes to 'The Book Of Secrets', I mention various books which were of particular help or inspiration to me during the course of my research for this album. In the event that your curiosity might be piqued to examine some of these texts yourself, I have provided some bibliographical information for those books and, additionally, noted some other titles which might also prove of interest to you as they did to me.
-Loreena McKennitt

Cahill, Thomas. How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland 's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe . London : Hodder & Stoughton, 1995 Toronto : Nan Talese, Doubleday, 1995

Dalrymple, William. F rom The Holy Mountain : A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium . London : HarperCollins, 1997

Eamon, William. Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Princeton , NJ : Princeton University Press, 1994

Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough.
Abridged edition ed. New York : Macmillan, 1985

Levi, Peter. The Frontiers of Paradise : A Study of Monks and Monasteries. London : Collins Harvill 1987

Morris, Jan (formerly Morris, James). Venice .
Edited by Peter Lauritzen. 3rd rev. ed.
London : Faber and Faber, 1993. (UK and Canadian title; American edition published under the title The World Of Venice Revised ed. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1995)

Moschos, John. The Spiritual Meadow.
Translated by John Wortley Cistercian Studies Series: No 139, Kalamazoo , MI : Cistercian Publications, 1992

Ruskin, John. The Stones Of Venice. Edited by J.G. Link New York : Da Capo Press, 1985

Shah, Idries. T he Sufis. 2nd rev ed. London Octagon Press, 1982. Los Altos , CA : ISHK Book Service, 1982

Unsworth, Barry. Morality Play. London : Penguin Books, 1995

Yagan, Murat. I Come From Behind Kaf Mountain: The Spiritual Autobiography of Murat Yagan . Edited by Patricia Johnston and Joan McIntyre. Threshold: Putney , VT 1984. Vernon , BC : Kebzeh Publications, 1997.