Creative Altars: Magick for Winter's Grief

From the Desk of Caitlyn Holowaty-Barone

Pointy Hat Press and Caitlyn Ann Holowaty-Barone

Jan 18, 2026

Creative Altars: From the Desk of Pointy Hat Press is a collection of musings, memories, and creative seeds from the desks of Pointy Hat Press co-founders, Caitlyn Barone & Kristin Lisenby. In this series, two witches share their current inspirations, works in progress, and other glimmers of everyday magick. Questions for Pointy Hat Press? Send a DM or leave a comment for Kristin and Caitlyn below.

From the desk of Caitlyn Holowaty-Barone…

My mind speaks loudly against the silence, my eyes squint in “the blackening.”I feel a deep spiritual and psychological wintering. “I could throw myself in the dirt and sleep until spring,” I scribbled in my journal.

I’ve been leaning into it, but also countering the dark, the cold, and the utterly barren feeling with beauty, Eros, and nostalgia. Jung wrote that, “The best way to deal with the unconscious is the creative way.” As is my way - always the creative way.

Here are some things that are appearing in my mind and atop my desk. The works in progress, the textures, the colors, and the fragments that are fulfilling me - keeping me warm amidst the January storms.

Collaging themes of Eros, rebirth, & grief.

I do most of my writing on the computer, but as of late I decided to do automatic writing and poetry with pen on paper. The results of my writing are streams of consciousness that feel raw and honest.

I’ve been shopping on Ebay for 90’s editions of romance novels. I was born in 1989, so the 90’s holds so much nostalgia for me - not only in the arts and media, but objects and artifacts from the decade as well. Ebay is a treasure trove.

Home is an altar. Witches know that there are many kinds of altars. I find altars all over my mother’s house - altars to my childhood with my dolls and old photos. I find altars on my vanity in the form of elixirs and glamour magick. And of course, my desk.

I find a lot of solace in the nostalgia magick that comes from my favorite childhood movies. Ever After from 1998 staring Drew Barrymore is not just a comfort movie, it is the comfort movie - for me. It reminds me of running through the aisle’s of Blockbuster and group sleepovers, and how this love story took my breath away at 9 years old.