clipped from: newsweek.washingtonpost.com   

One of my earliest memories is watching a Sunday morning religious show when I was about four years old. When they talked about people dying and going to heaven, I remember clearly thinking, “That’s stupid, everyone know when you die you come back as another person.” Learning that neither my parents, relatives or Hebrew school teachers shared this belief didn’t shake it in the least, so I was delighted, when I grew older, to discover other religions that did, including Paganism.

“The heart of the Pagan understanding of death is the insight that birth, growth, death and rebirth are a cycle that forms the underlying order of the universe. We can see that cycle manifest around us in every aspect of the natural world, from the decay of falling leaves that feed the roots of growing plants, to the moon’s waning and waxing. Hard as it is for us to die, or to accept the death of someone we love, we know that death is a part of the natural process of life.