High Priestess and Empress
Susan Wands
Publisher: SparkPress
Genre: Historical Fantasy, Magical Realism
On her return to London, artist and seer Pamela Colman Smith discovers that her nemesis, Aleister Crowley, has returned—and his sights are set on her. Despite Aleister’s efforts to stop Pamela from further developing her tarot deck and accessing its magic, she carries on casting her High Priestess and Empress muses, Golden Dawn society leader Florence Farr and popular theatre star Ellen Terry. But when Ellen is poisoned and nearly killed, Pamela realizes that Aleister won’t stop coming for her, not until her muses are dead.
When Aleister reveals his plot to assassinate Queen Victoria and all female rulers, war breaks out between Aleister’s Carlists and the Golden Dawn. With so many lives on the line, that of the queen, and those of her friends, Pamela must access her inner magic to face the battle of her life.
“Wands creates a London where Pamela Colman Smith and her tarot avatars engage in that eternal battle of good vs. evil. The research is stunning. Late-nineteenth-century London comes alive with theater performers, street urchins, suffragettes, and the Golden Dawn. Fast-paced and magical!”
—Faith Justice, author of Dawn Empress: A Novel of Imperial Rome
My Thoughts
High Priestess and Empress picks up right where Magician and Fool left off, only now, the stakes are even higher and the magic feels more dangerous. We rejoin Pamela Colman Smith as she steps deeper into her calling, illustrating the Tarot deck that would change the world, even as dark forces rise to stop her. Aleister Crowley is back with a vengeance, and this time, he’s not just after her power. He’s targeting the women who inspire it. Seeing Florence Farr and Ellen Terry come to life as the High Priestess and the Empress adds emotional weight to the story, especially when Ellen is nearly killed. The threat isn’t just magical anymore, it’s life or death.
What I love about this book is how it expands both the magical and historical worlds of the first. We move through the social circles of Victorian London, from smoke-filled parlors to occult rituals, with sharp clarity and gorgeous detail. But underneath it all is this urgent undercurrent: that women’s voices, women’s magic, and women’s power are always at risk. The battle between Crowley’s Carlists and the Golden Dawn becomes more than a clash of sorcerers. It’s a war over who gets to shape the future. Pamela’s journey from uncertain artist to spiritual warrior feels earned and fierce, and you can’t help but root for her as she fights to protect not just her work, but the sacred feminine itself.
If you’re a fan of historical fiction that doesn’t shy away from danger, magic, or messy human complexity, High Priestess and Empress delivers. It’s got the esoteric mystery of Deborah Harkness, the feminist fire of Alix E. Harrow, and the emotional resonance of real lives reclaimed. This series isn’t just entertaining, it’s transformative. It’s reminding us that the women behind the myths deserve their own legends.
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