Sure I can contemplate the meanings of the Queen color scale and how Crowley and Lady Frieda applied it to their deck, but what does that have to do with anything when it comes to helping Aunt Jo in a spirit of love and compassion to understand the answer to her "why me?" question. As my sitter said, "what does that have to do with anything?".
After 30 years of "mental masturbation" I come back to TAROT as an instrument of transpersonal compassion, pictures of the heart, and proclaim "I don't know Tarot at all".
I have SO MUCH to learn.
I must disagree, but it really depends on what and how you use Tarot for, and what you believe it is. Esoterics may be abstract, but they certainly aren't divorced from reality. 1+1 is meaningless unless you have two apples with which to give it meaning. The esoteric part is for me, the backstage preparation in which I learn and comment about "theoretical" life in general. When reading for others, I don't bring all that in, but I do know that if someone gets the Seven of Swords, they most likely got to that situation through Death and Fortune and that they should perhaps be warned of an impending Tower, whatever other cards may be in the reading. They are feeling very vulnerable, perhaps, because of Venus. These are just small, hypothetical, rough and inexact examples of how the abstract translates into practice, and it certainly doesn't have to be a sterile process. On the contrary, for me it is highly emotional and exciting.
In addition, the process seems to have the undesired stereotype of being devoid of images, focusing exclusively on attributions. I can't speak for anyone else, but I certainly do not see it that way, and don't know of anyone who does. What it does mean, however, is that the details mean so much more than "her dress is green, grass is green, new growth." It
includes my own personal feelings and exoteric impressions, but not
only those things. This is also part of why I love the Thoth so much because, whatever else it is, it's
friggin' beautiful!!! I certainly don't ignore that. I can't.
Now, it is important not to separate between "Tarot" symbols, and those we are surrounded with, as they are the same. Saying one doesn't study symbols at all is impossible, as anyone who has ever crossed the street knows that green means go and red means stop (incidentally, these mean the same thing on the Tree, to an extent). An arrow means "that way" while "three's a crowd." The symbolic language of Tarot is all around us, never removed from reality, but it is always up to the reader to make it all fit together for the querent. The symptom of parrotting off disjointed meanings is always possible, but that is a failure of the reader, not the method.
Divinatory meanings don't allow you to take in the full scope of the card with its shades, contradictions, connections to other cards (hence connections to other aspects of life) and semantic weddings to other ideas through attributions. They give you a single aspect of the card, one side of the story, simplifications like "renewal" (for the age-old mystery of Death or others) and are devoid of any personal investment on the part of the reader. It is instant, it is McDonald's. Why
not ponder the meaning of life and death for years on end? At the end you might be a better reader, but more importantly you'll be a better
person.
Ultimately both esoteric, meditative Tarot and basic fortune telling have their places, but both benefit from the other. Although each should progress as they will, progress they still should. What's the use of a mindset like "I don't want to consider the great questions of life, I just want to know if he'll call me?" I just think it's a little lazy, as well as asking for answers but not prepared to give anything in return.