The wandering plane in the spirit world is the one the farthest from the full light and presence of the Creator.
Certain spirits are diverted to the wandering plane upon their return to the spirit world due to the behavior of their human self and their ineffectiveness as spirit in preventing that behavior. These behaviors include the taking of a life (including their own); other egregious acts such as the extreme abuse of power or inflicting trauma; and the utter wasting of the lifetime.
While the wandering plane is not meant to be a place of punishment, a sojourn there is not an easy one. A spirit will go from one resource to another seeking guidance on how they might have more effectively influenced their human self. While the human consciousness will have remained intact after death, it will not be at the forefront here.
The length of a stay will be dependent on the circumstances. One of the briefest would be that of a spirit whose human self impulsively committed suicide at a young age, without forethought and too quickly for their spirit to have attempted to intervene. Their stay might be as brief as two months of Earth time.
One of the most lengthy stays would be that of a spirit whose human self had a long-term pattern of destructive behavior that affected a number of others, and that spirit also had previous lifetimes that contributed to their ineffectiveness, and their previous life reviews had not sufficiently unraveled pertinent issues. Their stay could amount to many decades of Earth time.
The remedial, as opposed to punishing, nature of the wandering plane is illustrated by the practice of providing the equivalent of therapy for those spirits whose most recent or previous lifetimes were traumatic. In addressing the issues of the most recent lifetime, the consciousness of their human self would be nearer the surface.
The length of every stay is determined solely by the needs of that spirit. The goal of the wandering plane is for a spirit to return to the usual stages of transition back to the spirit world, complete the life review, and eventually attach to another lifetime better equipped to handle it and rededicated to the design and purpose of the Creator. One of my sources stated that, rather than wandering plane, a more appropriate name would be the plane of rededication.
