Today, we are interviewing Susan Wands the author of the Arcana Oracle Series
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The Arcana Oracle Series brings historical women to life through the lens of the Tarot. What inspired you to blend biography with mysticism, and how do you see Tarot helping to reclaim women’s stories?
When I was researching the first book in my series, Magician and Fool, I read all I could about Pamela Colman Smith, co-creator of the Waite Smith Tarot deck. I came upon a book by Mary K. Greer: Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses: Maud Gonne, Moina Bergson Mathers, Annie Horniman, Florence Farr. I knew that I wanted to write a book series about Pamela and her world-famous tarot cards, but when I read Mary’s writing on these four amazing women, I knew I had to include them. Their study of magic and influence over Pamela’s journey both in real life and in the series, helps amplify women’s stories as muse, mentor, leader and teacher.
Florence taught Pamela the ways of being “the New Woman,” as George Bernard Shaw called her, Moina showed that a woman could live as an artist and magician, Annie Horniman, who was one of the wealthiest women in England, set the example of investing in art and artists, and Maud Gonne became the role model as a political firebrand. Florence Farr figures heavily in the second book in the series, High Priestess and Empress.
Each book in the series focuses on specific Tarot cards—the Magician, the High Priestess, and the Empress. Which card do you feel represents you personally, and do you use Tarot or readings in your writing process in any way?
I have one particular card, The Queen of Wands, who shows up regularly to advise me, whether I want her to or not. When I see her presence in one of my readings, it is a reminder that I am in charge of my own destiny and responsible for what I want to manifest. I do use tarot as a writing prompt, but also as a mental check-in. I do feel that there is a limited pool of guidance that tarot can offer and I don’t overuse it.
If you could sit down with Pamela Colman Smith for tea, what would you ask her? What do you think she might say about how her work has lived on?
I would love to have tea with Pamela and ask her when did all her artistic creations start? I know she began creating at a very young age as a child prodigy, and she put together her one-woman show on the Jamaican Annancy Tales before she was fifteen. She created toy theatre performances with live musicians accompanying her. After attending art school in Brooklyn, Pamela became a prolific artist in all sorts of mediums, all before she was twenty years old.
I’d love to talk with her and find out how she did it. Was her family supportive? How did she live on her own from such a young age in New York? What was her family in New York like? Did the influence of her grandfather as mayor of Brooklyn play into her independence? You can see I have a lot of questions for her.
I would hope that she would see that she has champions who want not only her tarot art recognized and celebrated but also her fine art, some of which is now in many museums. I would hope that she would find comfort that her art has lived on even though she lived in dire poverty towards the end of her life.
How do you approach structuring a series like the Arcana Oracle? Did you outline all three books in advance, or did the story evolve as you wrote?
I did plot the outline for the first three books. I also spent a lot of time researching who the muses that might be who could match the aspects of the tarot cards in the Major Arcana. These are the twenty-two central characters guiding Pamela in each edition. The first book, Magician and Fool, had one muse based on a real-life character in Pamela’s life and the other muse was an “alternate character,” a person who didn’t necessarily interact with Pamela in real-life. And since that first book, I’ve held to the idea that in each book one muse will be a direct real-life person and the other will be an idealized version of the muse that she needs.
Do you have plans to continue the Arcana Oracle Series with more books based on the Major Arcana? Will we eventually see stories inspired by all 22 cards?
I do have a “bible” or an overview of how I would like all eleven of the books in the Arcana Oracle Series to roll out. If all goes well, I’ll be using a pairing of the first twenty-two cards in Pamela’s deck. I’m working on the fourth book, Lovers and Chariot, now!
Arcana Oracle Series
In the Arcana Oracle Series, Susan Wands channels the spirit and magic of the Major Arcana through the life of Pamela Colman Smith. Each book explores two iconic cards, brought to life through Pamela’s spiritual and artistic journey. As she navigates Victorian society, theatrical circles, and occult orders like the Golden Dawn, Pamela’s Tarot deck becomes more than art—it becomes a tool of power, transformation, and resistance. With real historical figures like Bram Stoker, Ellen Terry, Florence Farr, and Aleister Crowley woven into the narrative, the series blurs the veil between history and magic.
Book One: Magician and Fool
Book Two: High Priestess and Empress
Book Three: Emperor and Hierophant
Book Four (in progress): Lovers and Chariot
- 2023 International Book Awards Winner in Fiction (Visionary)
- 2023 IPPY Awards Gold Medalist in Visionary/New Age Fiction
- 2023 IAN Book of the Year Awards Finalist in Fiction: Paranormal/Supernatural
Susan is a writer, tarot reader, filmmaker, and actor. A graduate of the University of Washington, she has acted professionally across the United States and on Broadway. Her adaptation of Pride and Prejudice was produced at the Cornish Institute in Seattle, and she has written plays, screenplays, skits, and produced several indie films. She was a company member of Rumble in the Red Room, an off-Broadway troupe, for four years.
As a co-chair with the NYC Chapter of the Historical Novel Society, she helps produce monthly online book launches and author panels. Susan’s writings have appeared in Art in Fiction, Kindred Spirits magazine, and The Irving Society journal First Knight. She lives in NYC with her husband, actor Robert Petkoff, and their cat, Flynn.
Learn more at susanwands.com or follow her on Instagram.
Want more?
Over the next three weeks, we’ll be sharing individual reviews of each of the first 3 books in the Arcana Oracle Series right here on The Writer’s Blog and on Instagram. Keep reading and stay enchanted.
