The Empress does, of course, have the ability to promote anyone and everyone. I was certain at some point that sect leaders can promote and demote freely in their sect - but can only Anathema those of other sects as a punishment. I'm uncertain how true this is, but that's what I was informed of when I climbed the ranks. All the same, I'd be very careful crossing another sect :p

All donations are coin-only now, and you can expect to be spending a while gathering gold for this purpose. But once you've got the gold, the rank and the notoriety required for the next promotion it should come pretty quickly once a higher up notices. The first steps in your sect tend to be the easiest but there are limited places for the Elite and Leader spots. It's something like only 2 elites for Divine and Black, maybe 2 or 3 for shadow?, and definetly 4 for blade. This means you really have to compete not only in terms of donations but favour as well. All part of what makes Empire fun!!

Good luck

Yhorian