Book Title: HIGH PRIESTESS AND EMPRESS, Book Two, Arcana Oracle Series
Character Name: Ellen Terry
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
My renowned actor parents had 11 eleven children, nine of who grew to adulthood. Five of us, myself, Florence, Marion, Kate, and Fred, all became stage actors, so it was a chaotic household when we were children touring the provinces. I will admit there was some rancor when I became the most celebrated actress of the age, but being generous with my purse has helped melt some of the jealousy.
What was your greatest talent?
Oh, some would say that it’s my Shakespearean interpretation of Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing or Portia in The Merchant of Venice, but truly I believe my tact and diplomacy are my greatest talents. Otherwise, having two illegitimate children would have immediately disqualified me to be presented to Queen Victorian, much less be considered for the title of Dame Ellen Terry.
Significant other?
Which one? There have been so many, but I suppose when you get married at sixteen to the famous painter George Watts, it’s an indicator that there will be many significant lovers in your life. Goodwin, the architect, even though he didn’t marry me, was significant in that he did give me two lovely and exhausting children. Then there is Sir Henry Irving, my stage partner for twenty-five years at the Lyceum Theatre. And another actor husband as well, one much too young for me. Well, what good for the goose, is good for the gander.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
Oh, everyone wants something from you, don’t they? The young women want mentoring and housing, the men want you to tell them they are irresistible, your children want endless access to your funds. The problem with personal relationships, is once someone falls in love with you on the stage, they can’t recast you as a real person.
Where do you live?
I have a nice house in Barkston Gardens, the carriage can take you to the Lyceum Theatre in forty minutes. I also bought a lovely pile, Smallhythe, in Kent. The main house is built from an old ship which has been turned into a sort of Tudor half-timbered estate. You must come and stay! We have guest houses and a theatre in the barn. My daughter is staging a pirate show there in a fortnight, it will be great fun! When you get recruited to play one of the swashbucklers, I’ll loan you my eye patch.
Do you have any enemies?
Oh, too many to mention. I pay them no mind.
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
I have a feeling, I’ll be leaving the townhouse in London rather soon. Henry is taking me on the next Lyceum Theatre tour to America, and I’ll take Edy, my daughter, with me. My son, Gordon, is too young and too much trouble. He can stay with my parents.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
Yes, there are my children, Edy and Gordon, and then I have many dogs. At present, only three: Fussie, Mussie, and Bruin.
What do you do for a living?
I live. Sometimes I am paid to act, but living, loving, being…those all come first.
Greatest disappointment?
Oh, I try not to think on it. All the people who have disappointed me - there’s too many.
Greatest source of joy?
The people in my life, my children, my lovers, my friends. Being cast in a play to great acclaim, to be able to drive to the docks, undetected and give money people who truly value it, those things give me joy. Little things.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
Oh, I love to have fun. Nights out when the cast is all together, we’re singing, playing word games, toasting and roasting one another. When we’re just being ourselves, whatever that is, that’s the most entertaining thing to do.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
I’m too spontaneous. When you run off and get married at sixteen, and then give birth to two children out of wedlock, and have an affair with your married employer at the theatre, well, some people see some of those decisions as failures. But honestly, I never failed at those relationships, they just ran their course.
What keeps you awake at night?
Money, money, money. Am I going to earn enough money to support my household? The number in my household currently stands at eight people, all who depend on me.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
For the first time, I’ve had problems memorizing my lines. I don’t know why. My young protegee, Pamela, thinks it might be because of an evil spell. I hope she finds the remedy soon if that’s the case, because I’m in rehearsals for Macbeth!
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have? For yourself or for someone important to you?
Oh, I just want my children to decide what they want in life. Edy can’t decide if she’s in love with the boy who composes music or my assistant, Christopher, a woman who dresses like a boy. Then, Gordon, he sketches, he draws, he writes, but he never finishes anything. I had a purpose in life the minute I could walk, but they are still searching.
Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
Well, you can’t live someone else’s life, can you? I’ll just have to be patient and see what they make of themselves. At least, that’s what I tell myself. Now, tell me that you’ll be coming to Smallhythe in two weeks. I have someone I’d like to introduce you to, I think you would get along famously. They’re very attractive and they adore writers! And readers!
Arcana Oracle #2
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 the 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.
Fantasy [Spark Press, On Sale: May 14, 2024, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781684632343 / ]
Susan Wands is a writer, tarot reader, and actor. A co-chair with the NYC Chapter of the Historical Novel Society, she helps produce monthly online book launches and author panels. In London, she has lectured at Watkins Books for their Recorded Authors series, and at Atlantis Books, also traveling to present at the Occulture Berlin Festival. Ms. Wands' writings have appeared in Art in Fiction, Kindred Spirits magazine, and The Irving Society journal, FIRST KNIGHT. Some of her podcast interviews include: Biddy Tarot, Imaginary Worlds, Bad Ass Bitches Tarot, and the Spirited Tarot YouTube channel. Her first book in a series, Magician and Fool, Book One, Arcana Oracle Series will be out in 2021, is based on Pamela Colman Smith, creator of the best-selling tarot, the Waite Smith deck. High Priestess and Empress, and Emperor and Hierophant, the next two books in the series, are in final edits.
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