Pointy Hat Press

In episode 11 of the Pointy Hat Press Podcast, host Kristin Lisenby interviews her partner and co-host, Caitlyn Barone. Caitlyn is the illustrator for Little Witch Books and co-founder of Pointy Hat Press. She is also a photographer, graphic designer, poet, educator, and art witch. In this conversation, Caitlyn shares her creative journey and introduces us to her muses. She contemplates art as a language and the overlaps between art and the occult. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Chapter 4: Literary Spellcraft

The Art of the Occult, S. Elizabeth

Women Dreaming into Art, Patricia Ann Ariadne & Emme Edizioni

Library of Esoterica: Witchcraft, Jess Hundley and Pam Grossman

Artemisia Gentileschi, "Susanna and the Elders"

To see different interpretations of "Susanna and the Elders," click here and here.

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven!

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven and receive a key to our digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch! Coven members will also be privy to book-related updates, new releases, and tips on submitting their work for publication. You can also find us casting spells and sharing stories on Substack.

Buy our Books!

Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees is an illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

Little Witch Hosts Samhain Supper is an illustrated bedtime story about autumn, ancestral magick, and the Season of the Witch.

You can also explore our library of *digital* tales, including The Witch & the Raven, The Deer Mother, and The Hanged Weaver. Digital stories that receive the most love might find their way into future books…

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].

In episode 10 of the Pointy Hat Press Podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone ask one another - what does it mean to tell the bees? Inspired by the pollinators in their backyards and the mythical bee from stories, Kristin and Caitlyn hover around the tales of the cosmic bee, which is not wholly lunar or solar but both. In this conversation, they discuss the bee’s relationship with the god Apollo, the goddess Artemis, and the Pythia, the most famous prophetess in the ancient Greco-Roman world. They consider the bee as a messenger, psychopomp, familial guardian, muse, and alchemist. 

Mentioned in this episode:

The Crossroads: The Luminous Months

Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees

Chapter 9: Spiders in Fairy Tales

Porphyry

Step Into the Night Garden: Bees in Mythology

The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Manly P. Hall

Magick & Alchemy, Episode 116: The Veil is Thin

This Jungian Life, The Archetypal Brain: Jung from an Evolutionary Perspective

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven!

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven and receive a key to our digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch! Coven members will also be privy to book-related updates, new releases, and tips on submitting their work for publication.

Buy our Books!

Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees is an illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

Little Witch Hosts Samhain Supper is an illustrated bedtime story about autumn, ancestral magick, and the Season of the Witch.

You can also explore our library of *digital* tales, including The Witch & the Raven, The Deer Mother, and The Hanged Weaver. Digital stories that receive the most love might find their way into future books…

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].

In episode 9 of the Pointy Hat Press Podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone spin threads and weave webs with the mythical spider. Led by the arachnids from their favorite fairy tales, they contemplate spiders as messengers, witches, and symbols of time and truth. Considering the lessons of Arachne, Charlotte’s Web, and The Hanged Weaver, they gather secrets from the spider’s ceremony, both viscous and vital.

Mentioned in this episode:

Little Witch Tales: The Hanged Weaver

Caveman: An Interview with Michel Siffre, Living beyond Time with Joshua Foer and Michel Siffre

Legends and Traditions of the Cailleach Bheara or Old Woman (Hag) of Beare. Hull, E. (1927). Folklore, 38(3), 225–254

Charlotte’s Web, E.B White

Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, John Ayto

Baba Yaga’s Book of Witchcraft: Slavic Magic from the Witch of the Woods, Madam Pamita

The Crossroads writing community

This Jungian Life podcast

Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams, Marchiano, Lee & Stewart

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven!

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven and receive a key to our digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch! Coven members will also be privy to book-related updates, new releases, and tips on submitting their work for publication.

Buy our Books!

Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees is an illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

Little Witch Hosts Samhain Supper is an illustrated bedtime story about autumn, ancestral magick, and the Season of the Witch.

You can also explore our library of *digital* tales, including The Witch & the Raven, The Deer Mother, and The Hanged Weaver. Digital stories that receive the most love might find their way into future books

___________________________________________________________________________

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].

In episode 8 of the Pointy Hat Press podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone narrate The Hanged Weaver,  an original fairy tale from the Little Witch Books library. The Hanged Weaver is a curious story about a witch in the woods, the bones of our youth, and a girl with an important question - how old is the Hanged Weaver?

Mentioned in this episode:

Little Witch Tales: The Hanged Weaver

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven!

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven and receive a key to our digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch! Coven members will also be privy to book-related updates, new releases, and tips on submitting their work for publication.

Buy our Books!

Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees is an illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

Little Witch Hosts Samhain Supper is an illustrated bedtime story about autumn, ancestral magick, and the Season of the Witch.

You can also explore our library of *digital* tales, including The Witch & the Raven, The Deer Mother, and today's story, The Hanged Weaver. Digital stories that receive the most love might find their way into future books…

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].

In episode 7 of the Pointy Hat Press Podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone summon their inner Little Witches, gather their tools (Polly Pockets, old books, and a Wicked-themed Build-A-Bear) and craft a collage of memories. Together, they explore nostalgia as an aesthetic and a portal, and contemplate how our moods influence creativity. They talk about the purpose of play, finding inspiration through remembering, and bringing Nostalgia Magick into the modern world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Magick & Alchemy Episode 71: Nostalgia magick

Witchology Magazine

Starhawk

Mirrors in the Earth: Reflections on Self-Healing from the Living World, Asia Suler

The Unforgivable & Other Writings, Cristina Campo

“How do Mood States Influence Creativity?”  National Library of Medicine

The Link Between Creativity, Cognition, and Creative Drives and Underlying Neural Mechanisms 

“When looking back helps us move forward, or how nostalgia can be good,” The Washington Post

The Lost Bookshop,  Evie Woods 

The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven!
Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven and receive a key to our digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch! Coven members will also be privy to book-related updates, new releases, and tips on submitting their work for publication.

Buy our Books!

Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees is an illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

Little Witch Hosts Samhain Supper is an illustrated bedtime story about autumn, ancestral magick, and the Season of the Witch.

You can also explore our library of *digital* tales, including The Witch & the Raven, The Deer Mother, and The Hanged Weaver. Digital stories that receive the most love might find their way into future books…

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].

Between the pages of winter, Mother Deer raised her horns, and the doorway to the stars hinged open.

In episode 6 of the Pointy Hat Press Podcast, Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone discuss deer folklore, antlered crowns, and the wonderings that inspired their Little Witch Tale, The Deer Mother. They contemplate reindeer, horns, and hoofed women like the Cailleach, Frau Holle, and Artemis.

Mentioned in this episode:
Little Witch Tales: The Deer Mother
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, Leslye Walton
Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg
The Familiar, Leigh Bardugo
Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
The Raven & the Reindeer, T. Kingfisher
Traditional Witchcraft: a Cornish Book of Ways, Gemma Gary
Barbara G. Walker
Old Mother Frost, Brothers Grimm, Children's and Household Tales, 1812
"Midwinter Magick: The Cailleach and the Cold Moon"
"Artemis, Fairy Cattle, & the Magick of July"
“The Enchanted Caribou,” Inuit folktale
“The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird, ” Sicilian fairy tale

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven!
Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven on Substack and receive a key to our digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch! Coven members will also be privy to book-related updates, new releases, and tips on submitting their work for publication.

Buy our Books!
Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees is an illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

Little Witch Hosts Samhain Supper is an illustrated bedtime story about autumn, ancestral magick, and the Season of the Witch.

You can also explore our library of *digital* tales, including the story that inspired our previous conversation, The Deer Mother. Digital stories that receive the most love might find their way into future books…

******************************************************************

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].

“The thing is - the greats never go by one single name.” She booped the deer's nose. “Names shapeshift, and what we call someone today is nothing more than a prelude within an endless trilogy. The best characters, the greats, are always changing.”

In episode 5 of the Pointy Hat Press podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone narrate The Deer Mother,  an original fairy tale from the Little Witch Books library. The Deer Mother is a hopeful tale about the return of the sun, the way of the Fae, and a horned heroine roaming the pages of winter.

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven!

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven to explore our digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch! Coven members will also be privy to book-related updates, new releases, and tips on submitting their work for publication.

Read the latest from Little Witch Books

Telling the Bees: An illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

On the next new moon, join Little Witch and her coven beneath the Elder.

It’s time to tell the bees.

Alongside Persephone and the Fairies, join Little Witch for high tea with the hive! As you and the bees sip honeyed potions, Madam Spider spins riddles and Little Witch describes a curious dream – one about a moonstruck hare, moving at your own pace, and the origin of fairy tales.

What does it mean to ‘tell the bees?’

Many moons ago, magick was part of everyday life. Bees brewed honey and pollinated flowers, but they also worked as household psychopomps, fuzzy messengers that carried our stories between worlds. 

Back then, bees were not mere insects but divine couriers, and upon reaching important milestones, families toasted their good fortune with the hive. The buzzing might go on for days (the bees loved any excuse for a party), but once the hoopla died down, a team of pollinators would set out for lands unseen and deliver meaningful news to spirits long gone.

Today, the ritual of telling the bees appears in animistic and magickal communities, and according to Little Witch, a happy hive is a fruitful spell, sweetening the boundaries of heart and home. 

Peruse our library of free *digital* tales, including this one, The Deer Mother.

Digital stories that receive the most love might find their way into future books…

******************************************************************************************

Music & Fx: Like a Bird, Letra. Melodic Logos, Soft Twinkle, Sweet String Pluck, Bell
Cristian Lucchetta - Practical Magic, Magical Portal, Open, Atmospheric Choir, Stardust Chimes, Wind Gust

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].

In episode 4 of the Pointy Hat Press Podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone discuss literary spellcraft, the power of words, and the altars built from our creativity. They suggest writing can be a doorway to the unconscious, and dismiss the idea of proper spelling, grammar, and literary ‘rules’ according to our education systems. They contemplate channeled writing, singing as a spell, and collaborating with muses via our dreamscapes. They reimagine creative acts as heart-centered quests and suggest that literary magick can be as simple as carrying the intention that books, poetry, and chosen words are spells and portals for creation.

Mentioned in this episode:
Lilith, Niki Marmory
One Dark Window, Rachel Gillig
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World, David Abram
Astrology is Real: Revelations From My Life as an Oracle, Robb Brezsny
Women Dreaming into Art, Patricia Ariadne, PhD
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstacy, Mircea Eliade
Seasons of Moon & Flame: The Wild Dreamer's Epic Journey of Becoming, Danielle Dulsky
@vedaustin_water - Water Consciousness
"An Ode to the Ghosts: The Myth of Persephone & Demeter"
“Songs for Holding Eachother,” Danica Boyce

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven!
Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven on Substack and receive a key to our digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch! Coven members will also be privy to book-related updates, new releases, and tips on submitting their work for publication.

Buy our Books!
Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees is an illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

Alongside Persephone and the Fairies, join Little Witch for high tea with the hive! As you and the bees sip honeyed potions, Madam Spider spins riddles and Little Witch describes a curious dream – one about a moonstruck hare, moving at your own pace, and the origin of fairy tales.

You can also explore our library of *digital* tales, including the story that inspired our previous conversation, The Witch & the Raven. Digital stories that receive the most love might find their way into future books…

******************************************************************

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].

No longer tethered to the earth, what will you find in the land of the birds? In episode 3 of the Pointy Hat Press Podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone discuss raven folklore, bird wisdom, and the riddles that inspired their latest Little Witch Tale, The Witch & the Raven. They contemplate the power of our dreams and what-ifs, share some of their recent reads, and try their hand at bird-shaped riddle from Lewis Carroll, ‘why is the raven like a writing desk?’

Mentioned in this episode:

Little Witch Tales: The Witch & the Raven
The Women’s Encyclopedia of Symbols & Sacred Objects, Barbara Walker
Women Dreaming-into-art, Patricia Ariadne, PHD
Crow Moon, Lucy H. Pearce
The Raven & the Reindeer, T. Kingfisher
The Vital Spark, Lisa Marchiano
Ornithomancy & April’s Full Moon
Step into the Night Garden: Bees in Mythology
Alice in Wonderland & The Adventures of Alice, Lewis Carroll
Alexandra de Angelis

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven!

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven and receive a key to our digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch! Coven members will also be privy to book-related updates, new releases, and tips on submitting their work for publication.

Buy our Books!

Telling the Bees: An illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

On the next new moon, join Little Witch and her coven beneath the Elder.

It’s time to tell the bees.

Alongside Persephone and the Fairies, join Little Witch for high tea with the hive! As you and the bees sip honeyed potions, Madam Spider spins riddles and Little Witch describes a curious dream – one about a moonstruck hare, moving at your own pace, and the origin of fairy tales.

You can also explore our library of *digital* tales, including the one from today’s conversation, The Witch & the Raven. Digital stories that receive the most love might find their way into future books…

*******************************************************************************************

Music is Utopia, Aleksey Chistillin.

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].

In episode 2 of the Pointy Hat Press podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone share an original fairy tale from the Little Witch Books library, The Witch & the Raven. The Witch & the Raven is a story about a girl born beneath the dark moon, a ‘what if’ captured by the night gods, and the riddles that nest in the land of the birds.

Mentioned in this episode:

Little Witch Tales: The Witch & the Raven
Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees
Little Witch Tales: The Scavenger Hunt

******

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven!

Join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven and receive a key to our digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch! Coven members will also be privy to book-related updates, new releases, and tips on submitting their work for publication.

Buy our Books!

Telling the Bees: An illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

On the next new moon, join Little Witch and her coven beneath the Elder.

It’s time to tell the bees.

Alongside Persephone and the Fairies, join Little Witch for high tea with the hive! As you and the bees sip honeyed potions, Madam Spider spins riddles and Little Witch describes a curious dream – one about a moonstruck hare, moving at your own pace, and the origin of fairy tales.

******

Explore the library of *digital* tales, including this one, The Witch & the Raven.

Digital stories that receive the most love might find their way into future books…

*******************************************************************************************

Music & Fx: 
Like a Bird, Letra. Melodic Logos, Soft Twinkle, Sweet String Pluck, Bell
Howl_Echo.wav by taure -- https://freesound.org/s/380156/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Bird Flap B 03.wav by deleted_user_2104797 -- https://freesound.org/s/330964/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Crystal Twinkle by LaurenPonder -- https://freesound.org/s/639429/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Pencil 3.aif by le_abbaye_Noirlac -- https://freesound.org/s/130461/ -- License: Attribution 3.0

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].

In the first episode of the Pointy Hat Press podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone welcome you to the halls of Pointy Hat Press! Pointy Hat Press is a witch-owned, independent publishing house and a hub for fairy tales and folklore reimagined. Their books, Little Witch Hosts Samhain Supper and Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees, explore nostalgia, animism, and the magick that exists betwixt and between each season of life. As partners and fellow storytellers, Caitlyn and Kristin are dedicated to observing Paganism and Witchcraft through a modern lens while creating timeless tales for witches of all ages.

Mentioned in this episode:
Magick & Alchemy podcast
Tamed Wild
The Crossroads writing community with Kristin Lisenby + Kate Belew

Books & Stories:
Slewfoot, Brom
Little Witch Tales: The Witch & the Raven
Demetra George

Pointy Hat Press - Join the Literary Coven!

Receive a key to a digital garden of folklore, enchanted artwork, and spells for the literary witch when you join the Pointy Hat Press Literary Coven! Coven members will also receive sneak peeks of upcoming books, digital offerings, and other nostalgic creations from the makers of Little Witch Books.

Read the latest from Little Witch Books:

Little Witch Tales: Telling the Bees: An illustrated fairy tale about a little witch, a curious invitation, and a sticky, springtime tradition.

On the next new moon, join Little Witch and her coven beneath the Elder.

It’s time to tell the bees.

Alongside Persephone and the Fairies, join Little Witch for high tea with the hive! As you and the bees sip honeyed potions, Madam Spider spins riddles and Little Witch describes a curious dream – one about a moonstruck hare, moving at your own pace, and the origin of fairy tales. Order here!

Peruse our library of *digital* tales:

Little Witch Tales: The Witch & the Raven: An illustrated story about a girl born beneath the dark moon, a ‘what if’ captured by the night gods, and the riddles that nest in the land of the birds. For a limited time, download The Witch & the Raven (for free!) here. 

*******************************************************************************************

Music is Utopia by Aleksey Chistilin.

The Pointy Hat Press podcast was created by Kristin Lisenby & Caitlyn Barone, and is produced by Julio Montero. Manuscript submissions are currently closed, but you can follow the PHP Literary Coven on Substack, or at @pointyhatpress and @littlewitchbooks. For wholesale inquiries, please contact [email protected].