As much as we should all be wary of fearmongering in spirit work spaces, it's also good to remember that not every spirit is kind.
It's fearmongering to act like there's ten million evil spirits all trying to hurt you specifically at all times.
But it's true to state that there are malefic entities out there that do want to do harm. It's just that most cases, it's not some super personal plot against you by all of the spirit worlds.
Yes, sometimes we piss off spirits and they want to hurt us in return. Yes, sometimes spirits have motives and plans for us that are unkind. Yes, sometimes we do just plainly get unlucky and interact with a less than kind spirit through no fault of our own. Yes, entities that will pretend to be other spirits do exist. Yes, entities that mean very, very serious harm do exist.
But by doing spirit work, you're not signing yourself up for a constant uphill battle against ten million tricksters, you're not putting a giant target on your back that makes every spirit in a ten mile radius want to kill you.
And the worst case scenarios are typically few and far between. Yes, I believe people when they say "A trickster pretended to be Apollo and tried to kill me in a car crash", but this isn't happening to every single person who puts a toe into spirit work.
To do spirit work is not the open invitation to suffering at the hands of spirits. As well, if the world was truly full of that many malefic spirits, they would not wait for you to start doing spirit work to hurt you. They'd just start as soon as they found you.
It's also good to remember that these spirits don't, in my experience, tend to be well liked by other, kinder spirits. My spirit guides loathed, still loathe, the spirits haunting me and did everything in their powers to help me deal with it, especially as these spirits often did pretend to be Them. So if you are dealing with these spirits, you're likely to have kinder spirits very willing to help handle the situation with/for you.
The world is not as scary, cruel, and evil as some spirit workers like to imply it is. And frankly, I think this stance is bad for many reasons, including that it scares away people from beginning spirit work themselves.
But, spirits are truly broad and vast in how they behave. There are still less than savory spirits out there. Just because there's less than some people claim doesn't mean there's zero total. The horror stories about hauntings and negative run-ins and everything like that exist because these less than savory spirits do exist. Just... not to the same degree as the fearmongering says.
Do what you need to feel and be safe. If you feel you need to/should always vet your spirit guides before talking to them, do so. And you should, honestly, have some kind of protection in place regardless of if you've had a personal run-in or not.
Just remember, not every spirit is kind, but not every spirit is cruel.
