My Hiding Spot

Death: Caleb Wittebane (and the Grimwalkers)

Upright: Endings, letting go, release, change, transition, transformation, new beginnings

Reversed: resisting change, fear of change, repeating negative patterns, stagnancy, decay, dependency

The Death card has more positive connotations than you might assume; while it may reference a literal death (such as Caleb’s), it can also signify a significant phase or aspect of your life that is ending, or that needs to end, making way for new beginnings. Caleb’s life in the human realm “ended” when he chose a life with Evelyn in the demon realm, letting go of the biases instilled in him by human society and embracing his new life. On a darker note, Death’s meaning is reflected in the Grimwalker cycle—to Philip, the “real” Caleb died when he chose the Demon realm, and each subsequent “corrupted” version of Caleb must die to allow for a new one to be created.

Therein lies the reversed meanings of the Death card; Philip is unhealthily attached to this false image of Caleb he holds in his mind, which he imposes onto each Grimwalker. Belos is the Owl House’s poster child for resistance to and fear of change, having stubbornly held onto his Puritan ideals for literal centuries. In repeating and perpetuating this violent cycle, in refusing to move on, he has stagnated entirely and is ultimately reduced to the state of decay we see in his cursed form. In For the Future we see Caleb’s ghost appear before him when he’s literally falling apart, a harbinger of death and a sign that his era of influence over the Boiling Isles will soon come to an end.

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this took me an hour (well spent)

Nagasaki Lantern Festival

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