Wiccan Beliefs: Reincarnation

Reincarnation is one of the main tenets of belief of Wicca and one of its most important lessons. It is also a very controversial subject in our present times. Practitioners of Wicca acknowledge that we live many lives upon the earth; that when our physical bodies die we do not just cease to be.

The Wicca believe that the earth is our classroom. Here, we learn the lessons necessary for the spiritual progression of our souls. In each life, there are things we must learn and at the end of said life, we return to spirit to review these lessons. We then decide what was learned and what still needs to be studied in our next reincarnation. This live/learn cycle continues until our souls are perfected. Of course, we can never know how many lives this progression might take or how many cycle of reincarnation each person goes through. It makes sense that it should be different for each person.

Also a part of reincarnation and the Wiccan beliefs regarding the process is the belief that every individuality of the soul such as the sex, race, place of birth, etc. is determined by the lessons that need to be learned in the present and those which have already been learned in past lives. We choose when we are born and to whom in order to create the prime situation or environment to learn our lessons.

In Wiccan thought, we know that we choose our own destiny and we determine the path our lives take. We cannot put responsibility for the things that happen to us on a God or fate. We decide what we need to learn in order for our souls to progress and through the process of reincarnation we slowly work toward this goal during each life on earth.

The Wiccan belief in reincarnation has no room for "judgment". We believe that when the body dies, the soul continues to a non-physical reality where we may review our past lives. When we are spirit, we are simply energy. The Wicca do not believe in heaven or hell. The Wicca believe that there is only one place to go and all souls must travel there when the body dies, although this place may be interpreted differently by different people. Some would call it heaven, some the Underworld, some the Summerland. No matter how we see this place, all of us return here previous to reincarnation.

When we are in this place of pure energy, then we can review our previous reincarnations. This isn't judgment of what was evil or good but a look at which lessons were learned and which were not. The soul is incapable of evil and as such can't be damned or rewarded for crimes committed in any one reincarnation. It is only the physical body that can commit crimes, hurt others and succumb to jealousy, greed and hate. When the physical body dies, so does the ability to harm others.

So before reincarnation begins again, we become aware of what we did or did not accomplish in our previous lives. We wait for suitable conditions on earth and then we return to try again. Over and again the cycle of reincarnation continues until our souls are perfect. What happens after this is a matter of speculation but it is often thought amongst the Wicca that we return to the God and Goddess to become divine energy again.