In addition, I'm going to respectfully disagree with Vinayaka in the case of Lord Shiva.
Lord Shiva appeals to the tamasic (gross) qualities within people. If he hung around 'pure things', he wouldn't spend so much of His time in the śmaśānam, he wouldn't be followed around by legions of bhutas and he wouldn't appear as a yaksha to his enemies and sincerest devotees alike.
Suffice to say, I worship Lord Shiva in
this aspect mostly. There are no mantras, no 'right ways' when one worships Mahakaal himself! Lord Shiva isn't really a 'being of Light', let's just put it that way, but through Lord Shiva, the Light can be found within by embracing and then transcending all of the apparent and inherent dualities of existence.
When one is fully engaged in the worship of Lord Shiva, dark spirits become very respectful towards you I have found and they have even called me 'sister' or 'mother'. Lord Shiva has also appeared to me in Mahakaal form and I wasn't even phased in the slightest. He said he was going to kill me, but I was like 'bring it' because we both know full well that being slain by a God = Moksha. Suffice to say, I passed the test and he appeared to me as Bholenath after that - I was disappointed by that. lol
Truth be told, all these 'dark spirits' and 'negative attachments' are self-created fear based thought forms and tulpas anyway. They come from our subconscious mind and even if they do not, they are still bound by laws dealing with their interaction with humans and I have read the akashic records in regards to this. I also used to communicate with them through EVP and ITC techniques and they tried
everything to ruffle my feathers and instill fear and all I could say was "oh hai Shiva...I love you".
Where there is love, devotion or even the realisation that you are not the mind, not the body, not even the soul, these dark beings cannot even take a foothold OR you can use them to your own advantage, as long as the detachment and the distance is kept so you don't allow yourself to become personally and emotionally invested in it.
I allow myself to get possessed from time to time by 'dark spirits' but I have my boundaries and I have protection, so they know they will do
my bidding and not have me do theirs.
However, I wouldn't
be Tantric if I didn't offer you some practical advice in regards to all of this, so here we go:
Get yourself a Bhairav Yantra:
Mantra:
Shiva Namah Am Tham Nasi Masi
Aum Namah Shivaya