The Astral Architecture and the Afterlife

There's a number of details that no one seems to agree on. Do we reincarnate as potentially animals or not? Plutinus says animals. Pretty much everyone else says no, it's just humans. Can you leave the cycle of reincarnation or not? Are you stuck forever? Or is there an escape route? And what role do the astral, does the astral architecture play in this afterlife and between lives stuff?