I thought I could share this especially with all those who astral travel.
For the esoteric science the astral world has many levels. They are often refereed to as "sub-regions" of the astral world. Basically what it means is that there's not just one astral environment, but many. Some esoteric schools counts them as 7 sub-regions. That's what has been communicated to us.
The traveler should keep this notions in mind when giving appointment to meet with someone in the astral world. If you and the person you want to meet in the astral world find yourselves in different environment or sub-region, you won't meet at all.
Take this case for example: you and your friend astral project from the same house. But one of you goes in the 2rd sub-region and the other goes in the 1st sub-region. Then what would generally happen is that the person in the 1st region doesn't see the one in the second region. However the person in second region sees the one who is in the first region, although he may not touch that person or interact with him directly.
Some people are told that in the astral world they will receive guidance and knowledge. For the beginner this is not always true. Beginners will mostly face fear for some time, because it's a lot to process, it's all new to them. They would even wander around without even meeting anyone to communicate with. This is because at the beginner when we've just started to consciously astral project, we usually only access the first sub-region, which is the closest to the physical world. In this region, we don't find much guidance. It is not really different from wandering the physical world. You are in the physical world, just with an invisible body. That's the simplest way to put it. So be aware that a astral world has many sub-planes of existence.
Sub-region 1.
The first astral level which is the closest to the physical world can be called the "Etheric-Astral" plane; in this plane you can still see the physical world. The moment you get out of your physical body, you will usually start with the 1st sub-region. So you will see your bedroom, you will get out of your bedroom and will still see everything of your house at their right position. Nothing is usually different, except the quality of the matter of everything. Because if you look closely at things, you can see that each thing has a precise color, there is no pale color. Everything is lightened and clean. You may even go visit the shops in mall, maybe to check out the prices of shoes in the supermarket :
, Because you are looking at the real physical world. You can if you have the permission, visit a friend at his home, watch him washing the dishes or watching TV. Of course nobody of the physical world will see you even if you sit next to them on their couch. Time in this region is very close to the physical world, so appointment made to meet in this region of the astral world works just fine.
In this region, you have an astral body which is half etheric and half astral. Which means with a great concentration, you may regroup more etheric matter from the atmosphere and become visible to the physical world eyes. This is not easy but it is doable. Yes it is possible to be at 2 places at the same time. A body in bed sleeping and another walking the street and visible to everybody's eyes. That second body is not really a body and will faint out when all etheric energies dissolve. It's not a heavy body which with the right mind concentration can levitate in the air. If you touch the hand of this second body form, you can feel the cold in that hand. It is hardly warm, probably because of the lack etheric energy in it. But this sort of experience is really dangerous as it could backfire on your physical body sleeping in bed at home.
Sub-region 2
The second plane is more elevated than the first. This is the actual astral world, because there are more astral matter here. Not much of etheric matter. So you see very little of the physical world, and sometimes nothing of the physical world. Here's a scenario where you would know you are in this sub-region: You've just astral projected, and as you go through the bedroom door, everything changes. You see different things, you are maybe in the middle of a road, maybe in a library or among many people... The colors are heavily bright, things have a much more beautiful look. It's a different environment, although it will still feel like being somewhere on earth. In this plane you can meet entities of the moon, and because it has opposite vibrations, you may meet real good entities or bad entities, but don't worry, the chances to meet the bad ones is very little if you are pure.
It's possible that you still see the 1st sub-region, which remember is like the physical world. But from the second sub-region, the objects of the first sub-region won't appear so clear. Here is a case. You astral project out of your body, you walk through the door of your bedroom to get to the living room, then surprise! You have more furniture in your house . No panic if you see that. This case is more likely to happen if you are renting the place. And if the previous tenants lived in that place for a long time with their furniture positioned at the same place for years. When objects are put in one place for a long time, their astral counterpart may still be there at that position many more years even after the physical object is been moved. So you understand that you are likely going to see a late image of the physical world (the past), not things at their present state.
But then here is another case. You see your friend entering your house, sits at the couch, switches on the TV. You will sure be like "Is this a dream or a real astral projection?, This is not what I was told on the internet. It is impossible that my friend comes at this time of the day to my place." Then you think, if maybe you wake up now, you will see you will find your friend in the living room watching your TV. You wake up, but you don't find him anywhere in your house. This friend of yours is probably dancing in a night club, he/she has no idea of what you are experiencing , Funny hein! What you experienced is a possible thing in the second sub-region of the astral world. This case is to show you the great changes for you to see the future events which are likely to happen in the physical world. But I repeat this is likely to happen, not that it must happen. Because the future is never predefined.
Now think. If in the first sub-region you are likely to see present (real time), and in the second you have the chance to see the past physical things. Then what could someone in a much higher plane see of the physical world? That would be what is referred to in mystical school as the "akasha chronika".
Sub-region 3
The 3rd plane is even more elevated. Here you find mostly good entities. It is said that it is possible here to meet the entities of Mercury, I've never verified the statement, so I can't really confirm. However you will definitely meet many experienced astral travelers here. You will come across initiation rituals, and esoteric schools. It's a place we can learn new things, and knowledge sharing because you get to meet very intelligent people.
Sub-region 4
Then comes the 4th plane where you can meet spiritual beings and many spiritual masters. Negativity is very rare here, possibly no negativity. That's why impure soul don't reach this plane. This is a safe area one can be in. The environment is nothing like anything on earth. The sky shows huge planets, and many beautiful beings of light are met everywhere.
Sub-region 5
Then the 5th plane is higher. Here is found another sort of higher spiritual beings, full of love. This is the region of the astral world where you can truly experience happiness. Music is almost permanent there. Music not only in the form of words, and instrument, but it also seems like everything is harmoniously musical. Things are synchronized to move a certain rhythm, which makes the whole experience very beautiful. In some places, it would feel being loved by creatures which you may not even know, but who follow you and sing for you in a way which could even make you cry of joy. Here you can meet few great beings of knowledge and love, who may not talk too much, maybe because "I think" they are just tired of answering the same human questions , but you can learn from them nonetheless.
Sub-region 6,7
The 6th and the 7th plane are regions of the astral world where you get the chance to meet what we commonly call the angels in some religion, higher spiritual beings and some which humans may refer to as extra terrestrials from their appearance. Like the mental world, this region is difficult to stay long in compared to the other regions. So it takes years to get to understand it in a practical way.
Beyond the 7th level is now the mental world. Which is a completely different story . The mental world also has its sub-regions, each of it's sub-region is linked to the ones of the astral world. But that I guess should be a different post of its own.
I also would like to be clear with the fact that it may become difficult to distinguish the sub-regions, in a way to know where exactly you are. 1? 2?, 3?... Because there is no board in those region indicating in which region you are. So you can understand that that division I've given is based on experience. You will probably see them a little bit differently and re-order them from your own experience. For example, sometimes some new regions you enter will be so bright and great that you would be convinced that you've visited the 5th sub-region, while in it could mean you have only visited the 3rd region. But each time you will experience a completely different region, you will start to classify them better in your head. As a tip, always remember something of the region you have visited so you may get back to it easily.
Then the question is how to enter those higher planes?
Well, at the beginning it happens randomly. You get out of your body, then soon you are in a different environment. All randomly. This is somehow good. Because it shows you where your soul belongs currently. Depending on your purity, your spiritual level, you belong to a certain astral world. So in general when you project you will automatically find yourself in the plane which corresponds to your level of purity. Although even if you are pure, you may willingly decide to enter any particular sub-region.
There are ways to willingly enter a specific astral plane. But it's generally only if you've randomly been in that specific plane before. What I mean is, if one day you randomly find yourself in the 3rd plane of the astral world, then it is now a open door for you. You can always get back there willingly. Because you now have a memory of how it looks like, you can just before you sleep or as soon as you are in the astral world, imagine/picture in your mind the 3rd plane, and very soon, you should see everything changing in front of your eyes. The environment will change. What is there currently will faint away and new things will be showing up. This experience is called rising one's subtle body vibration to enter a new plane.
As you can see it is easy thing to do. If you see nothing changing despite your strong imagination, it is probably because you are not accepted to enter that area yet. Also you may also want to know that when your are in the first sub-region of the astral world and see a bright vertical circle light somewhere, or a bright tunnel, or a beautiful bright bridge , then know that it is a door to a different plane. It is an invitation to enter a different plane. And if you enter it, you will find yourself in a new plane. So yes, you've got 2 ways to change planes. You either use your thought to picture the plane you want to go ( that is assuming you've already been there), or you enter an astral bright light door when it is available to you.
Some other times, if when you've created a strong connection with your own higher self or higher entity. The higher self voice would guide you, giving you options. For example you may hear it say "Hey... if you go through this war, you will be somewhere else, if you go there you will meet someone interesting..." which is usually a better experience, because here you are not venturing randomly in the invisible world, but you are properly guided by your higher self (your own true guide).
Love and light