Paganism in general isn’t concerned with the afterlife. We know there is a life after death, and another, and another, in the cycle of reincarnation. But Wiccans have the concept of a place of rest between lives, called the Summerland. But what is the Summerland, and how can you rest there and also reincarnate?
Body, Spirit, Soul
The key to understanding the Summerland is in understanding the tripartite nature of the soul. We have a body, which is our physical self that experiences the world, and a spirit, which is our ego-personality, and a soul, which is the eternal part of us that is a cell in the body of the Goddess. When we are incarnate, these three things are conjoined. When we die, they separate and go their separate ways.
Eternally Reincarnating
The soul remembers all of the past lives it’s had. However, it is eternal, and as such it has a different perspective on these lives as its primary goal is to learn and grow. It is not attached to the experiences of life the way the spirit is. When death occurs, the spirit returns to the Source and reincarnates into another body to continue its mission to learn.
Resting After Death
The spirit, on the other hand, is very much attached to the experiences of life. When death occurs, it gains a different perspective, but it remains invested in the wellbeing of those spirits it travelled with. After death, it is the spirit that goes to the Summerland to rest and play and rejuvenate. It is also from the Summerland that these spirits, now Ancestors, interact with the living and guide and guard fellow witches from beyond the veil.
The Summerland is a place of rest and rejuvenation. As in life, spirits can meet and love and enjoy the things they enjoyed in life. But unlike life, there is no pain or suffering in Summerland. It’s an eternal vacation for the spirits who dwell there — until they decide they are ready for something different. This usually happens when the spirits are forgotten by the living. Once there is no attachment between the spirit of the dead and those of the living, the spirit either becomes part of a chorus of nameless spirits or returns into the cycle of rebirth. This is why some people vividly remember a past life.
Once and Future
In Wicca, we believe that we will meet, recognize, and love those who had come before us and who have reincarnated once more. It is the soul we recognize, but the soul has traits reminiscent of many of its spirits who have incarnated again and again. That is why we can say “oh yes, that is so-and-so from years ago, back again to walk the path.” As Wiccans, we also believe that once you are initiated, you are bound by fate to continue walking the path of spiritual self-development, and that many new witches are the souls of more experienced witches reborn.