Sensible using Word, though I'm quite liking Ami Pro these days.

I was never frightened of these entities. Perhaps I should have been as I took them too lightly. I don't know if those times led to my 5 year battle with what seems to be a demon more advanced than anything else I've read about outside of holy books. I certainly have been afraid of that although it hasn't had much power over me in the last month.

I can tell you for a fact some negative entities will lie when you ask them if they're from the light. Some actually dress themselves in light too.

The only viable vetting technique and this will probably work unless you meet Satan himself, is to verify the consistency of their light throughout their whole auric presence.

Now, I've never met a guide or Higher Self. In order to understand this assertion, I have to explain how sensitive I am to astral energies.

Not only can I perceive dark patches in people's auras, I can perceive the 'root' of them, something Max Freedom Long called a fixation and a term I've stuck with.
I can clear that root using only energy from across a room in under 30s. This is often enough to fix a client.
What's actually harder is to tell the nature of the issue which causes that fixation/dark patch -- I can do this most of the time.

Now I always wondered where the dark energy comes from and only recently found out. It's what I've been referring to you as dark forces causing negative emotions.

The demon which attacks me doesn't do so directly. It creates new astral lifeforms (which any of us can do) to do its dirty work. Either of these create astral machines which create simple entities which invade our chakras.

One class of these simple entities are more generally mass-manufactured for the enslavement of both humanity and the animal kingdom. They are what creates the dark energy. Without the dark energy, issues are merely subtle signals that our attitudes are wrong. Thus dark forces are responsible for bad emotions. Seeing as our bad emotions attract bad experiences, it's likely dark forces are responsible for those too.

I certainly have been scared of this demon. It or its more intelligent minions are capable of nudging us in our decisions. Consequently, I have realised that I cannot fully trust myself.

This demon does not have an astral body. It exists in the causal plane. So vetting spirits isn't sufficient to protect yourself from evil. You'd also have to be able to perceive spirits which are very good at hiding from us.

Anyway, I don't believe guides or Higher Selves exist. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to perceive them even in the causal plane.
My mentor who was truly impressive believed in guides and attributed much of her ability to them. So there's definitely something there, I just don't believe it's guides. It may well be the Om I can tune into on a good day.