Signe Pike > Quotes

“In prehistoric times, early man was bowled over by natural events: rain, thunder, lightning, the violent shaking and moving of the ground, mountains spewing deathly hot lava, the glow of the moon, the burning heat of the sun, the twinkling of the stars. Our human brain searched for an answer, and the conclusion was that it all must be caused by something greater than ourselves - this, of course, sprouted the earliest seeds of religion. This theory is certainly reflected in faery lore. In the beautiful sloping hills of Connemara in Ireland, for example, faeries were believed to have been just as beautiful, peaceful, and pleasant as the world around them. But in the Scottish Highlands, with their dark, brooding mountains and eerie highland lakes, villagers warned of deadly water-kelpies and spirit characters that packed a bit more punch.”
― Signe Pike, Faery Tale: One Woman's Search for Enchantment in a Modern World

“I'd heard people say that as a traveler, you have to be careful not to get attached. Now that I'd felt it, I'd say that's garbage. If you are lucky enough to find people worth getting attached to, attach yourself with nothing less than all of your heart. Because if you find a companion to walk a stretch of the road with you, a person whose warmth and kindness makes your journey feel much brighter, you have no other choice - you are among the very, very fortunate.”
― Signe Pike, Faery Tale: One Woman's Search for Enchantment in a Modern World

“We may not always have the choice we would like. But we always have a choice.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“Long ago, when faeries and men still wandered the earth as brothers, the MacLeod chief fell in love with a beautiful faery woman. They had no sooner married and borne a child when she was summoned to return to her people. Husband and wife said a tearful goodbye and parted ways at Fairy Bridge, which you can still visit today. Despite the grieving chief, a celebration was held to honor the birth of the newborn boy, the next great chief of the MacLeods. In all the excitement of the celebration, the baby boy was left in his cradle and the blanket slipped off. In the cold Highland night he began to cry. The baby’s cry tore at his mother, even in another dimension, and so she went to him, wrapping him in her shawl. When the nursemaid arrived, she found the young chief in the arms of his mother, and the faery woman gave her a song she insisted must be sung to the little boy each night. The song became known as “The Dunvegan Cradle Song,” and it has been sung to little chieflings ever since. The shawl, too, she left as a gift: if the clan were ever in dire need, all they would have to do was wave the flag she’d wrapped around her son, and the faery people would come to their aid. Use the gift wisely, she instructed. The magic of the flag will work three times and no more.
As I stood there in Dunvegan Castle, gazing at the Fairy Flag beneath its layers of protective glass, it was hard to imagine the history behind it. The fabric was dated somewhere between the fourth and seventh centuries. The fibers had been analyzed and were believed to be from Syria or Rhodes. Some thought it was part of the robe of an early Christian saint. Others thought it was a part of the war banner for Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, who gave it to the clan as a gift. But there were still others who believed it had come from the shoulders of a beautiful faery maiden. And that faery blood had flowed through the MacLeod family veins ever since. Those people were the MacLeods themselves.”
― Signe Pike, Faery Tale: One Woman's Search for Enchantment in a Modern World

“Languoreth, the earth is very old. Tragedies will occur on nearly every patch of land, given enough time. But given enough time, miracles will unfold on every hillock and valley, too.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“When you have lived a life as long as mine, you come to understand that all gods, and all stories, are different names for the same thing. Beneath it all, there is one god with many faces, but always one god. There is one story with many variations, but always the same ending.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“I wanted to find something of the beauty of myth that we’ve left behind, carry its shreds before us all, so we could acknowledge it, somehow bring it back to life. I wanted to delve back into that world that cradled us when we were young enough to still touch it, when trolls lived under creek bridges, faeries fluttered under mushroom caps, and the Tooth Fairy only came once you were truly sleeping. I wanted to see if enchantment was somehow still there, simply waiting to be reached. When I felt my loss, I realized that if I could do anything in this life, I wanted to travel he world, searching for those who were still awake in that old dreamtime, and listen to their stories – because I had to know that there were grownups out there who still believed that life could be magical.
And in that moment I decided: I am going to find the goddamn faeries.”
― Signe Pike, Faery Tale: One Woman's Search for Enchantment in a Modern World

“I don't really believe in faeries. But I really want to. Not just for me, but for all of us. Because we are battered by adulthood- by taxes, by loss, by laundry. by nine to five, by deceit and distrust, by the crushing desire to be thin, successful, popular, happy, in love. All the while we are walking on a planet that is disintigrating around us.”
― Signe Pike, Faery Tale: One Woman's Search for Enchantment in a Modern World

“Do not deny yourself what little happiness you might find. For there are bound to be days in every lifetime dark enough to drown what little light we might gather.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“Do not think the weight of the world is not felt by me, Languoreth. It is only that I have learnt there is little we can do but trust,” she said. “We may fashion such things as might give us opportunities. For healing. For wheat to grow tall. For visions of what is yet to come. For love.” She lifted her blue eyes to mine. “But there is always a measure beyond our control. The wind and the weather. The stray pierce of an arrow. Sickness. Death. A wise woman realizes this. She keeps her heart as full in times of pain as she does in times of good fortune. This is because her heart is full with trust.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“But that has nothing to do with gods! It is only about power! And why must it come to a war between this way or that? "Because me are fools." "But you chose a life among men, at a monastery," Angharad pointed out. Brother Thomas did not smile. "And now I am a hermit, living in the woods." "A culdee," she corrected him. "Why did you leave?" "I fell out with the priest there, and I wished to be closer to God. That is all you need know." "You're god or mine?" Angharad asked. Brother Thomas looked amused. "Are they not one and the same?”
― Signe Pike, The Forgotten Kingdom

“I suppose it could have been worse.”
Her eyes flicked to Morcant. “That’s what we say, isn’t it? That it could have been worse. But truly it is always bad enough, just as it is.”
“You’re right.” I followed her gaze. “It is bad enough, just as it is.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“I have been a drop in the air. I have been a shining star. I have been a word in a book. —“Cad Goddeu” (“The Battle of the Trees”), translated by Robert Graves, The White Goddess”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“Yes, women and warriors were more alike than one might expect. After all, the entirety of a woman's life was made of blood. Our wombs seized and shed each month. Our babies were born of such agony and gore men could not comprehend. Both women and warriors were students of pain.”
― Signe Pike, The Forgotten Kingdom

“It was true. No good ever came from impetuous acts of vengeance or spite. Wise women were patient.”
― Signe Pike, The Forgotten Kingdom

“When he returned, he sat beside me but did not touch me, spoke to me kindly but revealed nothing. He was a man of secrets who did not see me. I needed no talisman here to achieve invisibility.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“Where did a mother end and her child begin?”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“She was a Pictish queen, my mother,” Elufed continued. “This is why I was married to Tutgual, of course. The Pictish people honor the mother’s line, not the father’s. Rhydderch and Morcant, my daughter Gwenfron—they may be Britons, but they will always be Picts because they are mine.” She sought to catch my eyes. “My mother and father sought peace with Strathclyde and so I became their holy token. Just as you are ours.” I”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“VisitScotland now offers tours of many of the locations featured in this novel and in Adam Ardrey’s books.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“Never had my husband’s eyes been left so unguarded, so naked to me. A tear slipped down my cheek. I did love him. Perhaps it was not the smoldering, desperate sort of love I felt for Maelgwn, but wasn’t this love, this feeling of warmth overcoming me? Perhaps love was made up of more than just passion. Rhydderch offered me kindness and constancy. Loyalty. His heart. And passion was a cruel master—I had learned as much so far. I reached for his hand.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“They were the watchers in the wood, carriers of hopes and dreams. Their hollows were the keepers of secrets. Every knot and whorl marked the memory of a story so ancient, the echoes faded eons ago. And yet those stories lived on, kept safe in the circles of their rings. This is why we come to their groves, why we sing to them. Because the oaks help us to remember: who we are, who we were, where we once came from.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“Given that I write about a time that's so archaeologically elusive, with so slight a body of written texts, I can't argue that some refer to my novels as fantasy. But I would ask readers to consider this: If a Christian character in a historical novel believes in the power of prayer and imagines they see a result, the work is still deemed historical fiction. If a pre-Christian character does the same, the work is deemed historical fantasy.”
― Signe Pike, The Forgotten Kingdom

“If this was the last battle I should ever fight, let it be with the last of the Dragon Warriors. Let it be with my Army of Stags. If this was the last time I would punish with my sword, let me say yes.
Yes to freedom.
Yes to honor.
Yes to death.
Theirs or my own.”
― Signe Pike, The Forgotten Kingdom

“Yes, Angharad. The yoke of destiny is heavy- but it does not ask more than we are able to give. Follow it or shrink from it. The choice is yours. But if you refuse it out of fear, you will never become the woman you are truly meant to be.”
― Signe Pike, The Forgotten Kingdom

“Stories make no promises of truth- yet through the study of folklore, history, archaeology, and anthropology, I've come to believe that beneath every legend lies a kernel of truth.”
― Signe Pike, The Forgotten Kingdom

“Life is not only filled with pain and longing of the things that cannot be.”
― Signe Pike, The Lost Queen

“Who would we become, he might ask, if we banished the choosing of one's own devotion? Freedom in thought and devotion had always been our way. And we chose our gods, surely the gods chose us, too.”
― Signe Pike, The Forgotten Kingdom

“We do not need Christians shadowing our hut doors, telling us our wrongs and what to believe, as if theirs is the only true way.”
― Signe Pike, The Forgotten Kingdom

“Time is not a masterful healer, but at least it's persistent.”
― Signe Pike, The Forgotten Kingdom