Thanks again for reassurance (and black humour - always appreciated
I have read several threads on the topic now and have to agree with all of you. It kind of tickles my OCD that there is no consensus about how it works but that's another story
It's so easy to plant fear in someone, especially for someone you trust. And that fear can affect quite a lot of areas in your life, often unexpected ones.
Well, there are many things we can't really explain. Love, time, art... there are all kinds of theories and explanations around but it's difficult to nail them to a waterproof definition plus explanation. there are too many factors - aesthetic, cultural, social, emotional, spiritual, historical... so the question "how does it work" is just as complex as the question "how does art work" or "how does play work".
Consensus stuff is IMO less interesting.
And in my experience tarot is not dangerous. All you have to fear is fear itself, i.e., if you're full with superstitious fears of what the tarot might do to you, then you probably won't have a good or easy time working with the cards.
I see them as just another tool to access inner truths and wisdom that are usually inaccessible. Doing so in a non-verbal language, the visual language of colours, shapes, figures, motifs and symbols, is a good way to circumvent our handy phrases that hide our problems, our little narratives that explain why things go wrong in our lives ;-)
By approaching these questions in an oblique fashion, via reflection (just like Perseus could slay the gorgo medusa by watching her mirror image) or peripheral vision (which we use when looking at stars), we can get a better grasp of them.
Yes, the stuff we carry within us is dangerous: fears, anger, all kinds of hidden desires and wishes. But we're also equipped to deal with them: to explain ourselves the past and project into the future. Tarot is just one means to do so.
In my opinion, NOT dealing with these materials and open question is more dangerous than approaching them with a gentle tool like the tarot.
Why gentle? Because with the tarot, you can really choose how deep you go. You can interpret a reading in the "he won't call before Tuesday" style or go so much deeper.
Where we have choices, where are free to decide, we are strongest.
That's my humanistic creed