I just got up from a nap, and hope to be more coherent now.
Another question I did have was protection in the astral. Since it should be understood that no matter what, you are always safe from harm, is the whole point of creating a shield of light a psychological one, or do negative entities actually keep their distance from you once it is around you? (As you continue to answer my questions, I may continue to ask more, so I hope I don't become a bother!)
This is a loaded question and you will probably get many different answers, so here is mine:
I agree I believe I am always safe from negs, in a physical way, and I have tangled with some gnarly ones and always came back alive. However, the effect that negs have in us is mostly psychological, (IMO) and this effect can be pretty devastating, especially if you're not prepared (not many are prepared if they haven't been warned in advance, and being face to face with your deepest fear objectified can be very damaging for a young person with not a lot of information or backup system, so to speak). And unfortunately, the astral environment being immediately thought-responsive, any fear can be magnified and thrown back at you if you're not prepared. So a white-light shield can be protective in psychological ways, but also in an 'objective' way- the negs I've treated with light didn't like it and went away. And traveling neg-free is 'priceless', even if you think they're only annoying.