Pagan Beliefs about the Afterlife

Every spiritual path has it's own belief in what happens once you pass on from this world. One thing all of these beliefs have in common is that the soul leaves the body and moves on into some type of divine spiritual realm or through a divine realm into a new incarnation.

The concepts of life after death are clearly laid out in many cultures and religions through books. Such as the Egyptian or Tibetan Books of the Dead, the Torah, The Holy Bible and so on. The Celtics however, did not have books in the same fashion, but rather a rich and colorful oral tradition. These stories were kept alive by poets, story-tellers and druids who recited traditional lore within a collection of verses or legends.

What happens to us after we die? Although no-one really knows, all of us, Pagan or non-Pagan have wondered what happens to our spirit, our soul or essential being, when our body gives up the ghost.

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Pagans, almost without exception, believe in reincarnation, but the form that it might take varies widely. Our earliest ancestors seem to have understood this concept, since many ancient bones have been found that are smeared in ochre, a red earth, symbolising re-birth, and the simple existence of grave goods indicates a belief in either the actual or spiritual continuation of life after death, requiring earthly marks of rank and/or tools to help the dead in the afterlife. Perhaps the most sophisticated of these graves belong to the Pharos.

The oldest long barrow, or tomb, in Britain, built at the same time as the earliest Egyptian pyramids, is a long, narrow shape, a shape associated with death but inside, the tomb itself is divided into 5 rounded chambers, uncannily resembling the shape of a woman: birth within death.

A unifying factor in Pagan philosophy is a disbelief in a tortuous hell-like environment. Whilst many of us understand the need for judgement, it is seen as a time to learn from our mistakes and successes rather than something to anticipate with dread.

Historically, Odinists believed that the souls of women who die in labour and warriors who die in battle are cared for by the Valkery, a band of warrior women, who accompany them to Valhalla, or a land of contentment. Recognising that the life of a modern Odinist may not have as much to do with war and childbirth ending in death that the tribes of Northmen had to deal with, Odinists now share much in their beliefs about the afterlife with other Pagans; that death is not an end, but simply another beginning.

Dianics, women who worship the Goddess alone, as well as many Pagans of all faiths, hope for a return to the source, to the Ultimate Mother. "Mother" may be a representation of a Goddess, Diana, Kali, Brigde, but it is more likely to be The Goddess Herself, an all-embracing feminine creative and destructive power to which we all return to become a part, part of the power. This is very close to the Native American traditions, which explain that everything is simply an expression of a Holy energy; buffalo and grass and human are blobs of divineness from the same source to which we return at death to replenish, which will, in turn, create us again.

Some Pagans trust in the Summerlands, a peaceful and enjoyable place of rest where they can recover from their past life, be helped to assess it and prepare to be reborn.

Amenti, the ancient Egyptian land of the Gods, would be the preferred destination of Pagans following the Egyptian Mysteries. To get there, they are accompanied by Anubis, the jackal-headed God of the death, to a place of judgement. Their heart is weighed against a feather and they are asked 42 challenging questions about the way they behaved in life, another way of assessing it. If they really were very bad and just about to give up hope of Amenti, the final question by the 42nd Assessor is "Is there one upon the earth who is glad that you lived?" Of course, there is almost always one, a stranger perhaps, who benefited from this person's existence, and this will allow the dead person, having learned something about how to live, to move on to the next life, to be with the Gods.

Most Pagans believe in a reincarnation of their physical body too, through decomposition or a returning of ashes to the land. Our decay feeds the land and we become part of it. The land feeds plants, the plants are eaten by animals and so, we are reborn by helping to sustain new life.

Samhain, the Celtic New Year on the 31st October, is the time of year when Pagans celebrate our ancestors and our dead. The mortal and other worlds are very close, and we can ask for advice, talk with our dead to tell them how their descendents are getting on, and appreciate our long personal heritage and wider community. Samhain is also the season when the first stirrings of Winter approach. Winter still means death for many elderly and infirm people, and the land appears to die too along with the weakening of the sun itself, appearing feeble and bleak for a good part of winter. But again, we trust the seasons to move round, for the Sun to begin its ascent in the sky again around the winter solstice, or Yule on December 21st.

Pagans do not particularly relish the thought that they must die. It is still a painful and difficult reality to come to terms with, but the knowledge that we are not going to suffer hellish torment and that death is simply another life helps us bow gracefully to the inevitable