mjbjalt, What you were taught while growing up was probably what you needed. There does indeed seem to be a dark side, and from what I can tell we aren't equipped to deal with it. It's best left alone.
I live in what was at one time the Cherokee Nation, and before that the Osage hunting grounds. Many folks from many tribes are located here, and a large percentage of the population including my wife and kids have some native blood flowing through their veins.
There's still medicine men, and there's what they call bad medicine, and strange things do happen. Superstition.........who knows, but things do happen, bad things, death.
Now those"medicine men" and the female counterparts, which I do not remember what they are called, but was once told that they are like what we would call a witch, aren't just your average run of the mill Indian, but they are powerful and seem to have a special gift.
My point, I've seen folks get interested in the dark side....just regular folks, and things went bad. They lost whatever they had from personal belongings to their dignity, sanity, their life.
What I've seen involved indian folk, but the dark side doesn't discrimminate. My advice....never go there. Know it exists, but leave it alone.