whoa -3 card spread 5pent, devil and death!!!

[ChairmanMeow]

A friend of mine is having some communication issues with a friend that she likes in a romantic way and was wondering what would happen if she cut off communication with him. her brother recently passed and she was in need of some support and this guy ghosted, that is why she was so upset. that was discussed in this thread: https://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=276272

Anyway, in the end she decided to spell out her feelings in a letter rather than shut down communication. the letter both outlined her hurt and disappointment, as well as her romantic inclinations.

She asked me to do a 3 card spread about what he will do now that he has received her letter. The cards drawn were 5 of pents, the devil, and death - on first glance, this does not look at all promising.

I interpreted the 5 of pents to mean he is rejecting her. And I know that death is about change (not sure what change in this instance). The devil has me totally stumped. Is he breaking free of this relationship?

If anyone could give me some insight, it would be really appreciated. I am new to this and am learning a lot from all of you.
thanks!!

 

[Grizabella]

This is in answer to "what will he do?" so we need to apply that question to each card. In this case I'd say that he's going to leave the grief support to others. In the Rider Waite image we see two people in the snow in front of what seems to be a church. It's as if he's assuming that others are going to be helping her with her grief, so he just went with her to the place where someone else could help her so he can move on and not be involved with that..

The Devil wouldn't be going into that church, I don't think, so he backs away from things of that sort. He feels unqualified to know just what the procedure should be in giving her grief support. He's uncomfortable with that.

And Death is a definite ending, so I think he's going to end their friendship. He doesn't feel equal to be handling her becoming romantically involved and then there's the death of her brother adding on more emotional baggage (as he sees it) so it's just more than he can deal with. I think he just finds it too much to deal with and he's going to call the whole thing off.

 

[Sentient]

I agree with Grizabella, these cards do not signal positive developments.

Your friend's letter was written because she felt totally unsupported, abandoned. This is what the 5P depicts. The love interest understood the situation, and instead of making an effort to help he decided to withdraw completely. Regardless of what your friend said in her letter, there's little hope for a relationship that starts on this basis.

The Devil means this guy knew what he did was unsupportive but did it anyway. Even if your friend is willing to forgive him, he does not expect this. Your friend's romantic interest is not returned.

This guy knows that since his true colors have been revealed, there's little hope for any sort of relationship. Because he expects nothing he'll have very little to do with her from now on (Death).

 

[ChairmanMeow]

thanks Grizabella and Sentient. I didn't picture him as the devil, but now that you have said that, it does make some sense. And sentient, I really like how you thought of the letter as the 5 of pents. I have a hard time seeing the cards as objects rather than people, actions, and feelings.