Should we be afraid of the spirit world, be they the dead, demons, angels, deity and the like? I say no, but that doesn’t mean we are blazai. Good practice for me is to be respectful, come with good intentions and a touch of protection ( after all we put a seatbelt on when we drive a car right.)
Here’s a couple of vlogs from some fabulous witches that work with the darker entities. Enjoy and share any views or experiences, good and bad.
Skoll 
I love these @tracyS ! Thank you for sharing them! I feel there is too much fear from people about contacting the spirits and ouija board. I have been using the boards and contacting spirits since the age of 10 and have never had a frightening or bad experience with one. I love using my boards and find them fun and sometimes educational.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them. I tried to use my Ouija to talk to Odin, lol, he was so offended and demanded I use runes. Guess it’s not his thing. Such fun 
Hmm. What about making a board using the runes instead of regular letters?
Now there’s an idea 
This is the follow on. Though we shouldn’t be in fear, we still need to be aware that we are dealing with unseen forces and it’s not all happy happy - balance is needed.
Ohh I love that she talks about how the occult isn’t “safe” in the way a lot of people think. I think this definitely stems from Neo-Wicca and New Age beliefs being more palatable for the masses, as she said, during the Satanic Panic. There was a lot of pushback during that time from Wiccans and magical people to make it very well-known that THEIR witchcraft wasn’t anything like Satanism or connected to the Devil at all. It’s something that’s been pretty prevalent since then, I think.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a practice centered around healing and more positive aspects of the craft. I believe in the maxim that in order to know how to heal, you must first know how to hurt. I think this is the “darkness” that a lot of people miss out on when jumping into witchcraft spaces. I think of it scientifically – I’m taking microbiology right now and learning about bacteria, viruses, and pathogens. In order to understand how to heal from these things we must first know how they work, right? I apply the same concept to magic, and that can often be seen as darker and less safe than other peoples’ practices 
Umm. I’m not so sure about the logic behind this statement- not your thoughts, @MeganB, but the logic of others who believe in what amounts to not knowing the workings of a buzz saw means the saw can’t hurt you while you’re working with it! If it were up to me, I’d want to at least know that this is the sharp end- stay away from it, and hit that button to stop the machine if you get caught!
I can see how that part wouldn’t make sense, but in the case of using the saw, you still need to know how it works to use it safely. You don’t need to know the inner mechanics of the motor and how it moves the blade, but understanding what it is and how to operate it safely is vital to using it.
I also don’t think Ivy (or myself) meant that just because you understand how something works doesn’t mean it can’t hurt you. If I’m working a curse, for example, and I understand how that curse works against others, I am more likely to have better protection practices against that specific curse because I understand how it works. That doesn’t mean that I’m invincible against it, though.
To go along with your saw analogy, I see it like this – the saw is the spell itself with all the moving components being energy and tools used, if any. The electricity and motor behind the saw would be the magic, the foundational energy that a lot of people find hard to explain how it works. By casting the spell (turning the saw on) we then tap into the raw magic we use for spells (the motor starts to work). Knowing to include one ingredient or intention over another is the equivalent of knowing what sort of cuts you can make with a buzz saw because it’s not a one-saw-fits-all machine. Mistakes can still be made in the spell and things can still go wrong, just as they can with a saw.
I think the deeper you understand something the less likely it is to hurt you, but getting hurt is always a possibility.
I hope this makes sense - it’s not even 8 AM and I haven’t finished my coffee yet 
I love these sorts of discussions because based on who I’ve spoken with in the past, my views (knowing how to hurt makes you a better healer) aren’t always held as popular.
I’m going to ponder these and come back 
My point exactly. Thank you. I wrote that last night after a hard day, and I wasn’t as clear as I’d like to have been.
In order to heal a cold or Covid, one has to kill germs. To cure cancer, one has to kill or cut off the overgrowth.
I’m not sure this works in every case. Broken bones heal by making sure they are aligned properly and allowing living cells to reproduce and bond with each other. Poisons and allergens must be removed before they kill too many cells, but I don’t think all poisons are alive to be killed. Some may be. I may be wrong on this, though.
At any rate, the body is a naturally self defensive organism, keeping as much as possible out and killing what does get in to keep itself healthy. As witches, we are doing what comes naturally, just on a larger field. If we are not careful, we can become like a cancer, in and of ourselves, and nature can forcefully remove us in its own self defensive patterns, no matter what powers we may use to survive.
Not all of us kill animals to eat or dress, but we all kill germs and plants to be healthy and survive. Popular or not, it is a fact of life.
Another point is that harm isn’t always shown on the skin. My mother was so proud that she never left a mark on me. Physical injuries can be internal and not show. However the physical is only one part of us. We also have the mental, emotional, and spiritual to nurture and protect.
We used to have a saying: “Sticks and stones may break my bones…” I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but words can also hurt me.
Where is the boundary between teaching a headstrong child respect and disheartening the child? People were so proud to “break the spirit” of horses and rebels, but consider the harm done to those individuals that they are no longer capable of defending themselves or their breaker.
How does this all relate to magick? Our spells are the tools we use to effect these things. It can come back to bite us as a basic cause and effect, whether we believe in physics or not. No matter how carefully we aim the pool cue at that white ball, not everyone has the perfect control of a pool shark: what the white ball hits could go off on a tangent, strike other balls, and send the 8 ball into a pocket, losing the game.
You’re welcome, Georgia 
it sounds like we have similar views but just expressed them differently. I’ve been meaning to reply but my brain has been muddled and full of school-related business
That’s what’s kinda cool about the forum. I don’t have to remember what we were talking about. It’s all saved right here for us. We can let life or school encroach or sit and think about it a while and come back later. S’all good.