The Mask and Mirror

The Mask and Mirror is the fifth studio album by Loreena McKennitt. Released in 1994, the album has been certified Gold in the United States.

Overview

Like most of Loreena McKennitt's albums, The Mask and Mirror is heavily influenced by her travels. Her experiences in Spain and Morocco, specifically, serve as the inspiration for this album.
In the liner notes to the album, McKennitt wrote:

I looked back and forth through the window of 15th century Spain, through the hues of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, and was drawn into a fascinating world: history, religion, cross-cultural fertilization....For some medieval minds the mirror was the door through which the soul frees itself by passing.... for others the pursuit of personal refinement was likened to polishing the mirror of the soul. From the more familiar turf of the west coast of Ireland, through the troubadours of France, crossing over the Pyrenees, and then to the west through Galicia, down through Andalusia and past Gibraltar to Morocco....the Crusades, the pilgrimage to Santiago, Cathars, the Knights Templar, the Sufis from Egypt, One Thousand and One Nights in Arabia, the Celtic imagery of trees, the Gnostic Gospels...who was God? and what is religion, what spirituality? What was revealed and what was concealed...and what was the mask and what the mirror?

Accompanying all the selections, as the liner remarks, are some of the entries in a traveler's log that McKennitt kept all throughout her journey.
The album's cover uses a collage made from the medieval The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries.

Tracks

Loreena McKennitt wrote the lyrics and composed the music for all the songs except as noted.

"The Mystic's Dream" – 7:40
"The Bonny Swans" – 7:18
"The Dark Night of the Soul" – 6:44
"Marrakesh Night Market" – 6:30
"Full Circle" – 5:57
"Santiago" – 5:58
"Cé Hé Mise le Ulaingt?/The Two Trees" – 9:06
"Prospero's Speech" – 3:23

Song details

"The Mystic's Dream" was featured in the 2001 miniseries The [Mists of Avalon (TV miniseries)|The Mists of Avalon] and in the 1995 film Jade.
"The Bonny Swans" was made into a video.
"The Dark Night of the Soul" is based on the poem "Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross.
"Santiago" is named after the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, and the melody is based on a spirited arrangement of the early 13th-century song "Non é gran cousa se sabe," number 26 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria.
"Full Circle" was utilized in the Canadian TV series Due South in the season 2 episode "Juliet Is Bleeding".
The opening of the song "Cé Hé Mise Le Ulaingt?/The Two Trees" is "Cé Hé Mise Le Ulaingt", It was written and performed by Patrick Hutchinson on Uilleann pipes. The second part of the song is Loreena's version of "The Two Trees". Hence the two titles.
"The Two Trees" derives its lyrics from a poem of William Butler Yeats.
"Prospero's Speech" is the final soliloquy and epilogue by Prospero in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. It was featured in Due South season 1 episode "Chinatown".
"Cé Hé Mise le Ulaingt?" and "The Two Trees" were both featured in the soundtrack of Highlander III: The Sorcerer as well as "Bonny Portmore" from the album The Visit)