Understanding the Concepts of Afterlife from a Pagan Perspective – between Worlds, Ancestors, and Forces of Nature

In modern worldviews, death is often viewed as linear or final. In nature-based, pagan traditions, however, the afterlife is often multi-layered, permeable, and deeply connected with nature, ancestors, and cosmic forces. It is not a distant “end point,” but part of a living web in which everything continues — on different levels and in many forms.

Well-known Afterlife Concepts in Paganism

What we today call “paganism” encompasses a wide variety of traditions, cultures, and spiritual currents – from Norse and Celtic myths to animistic nature religions. Accordingly, ideas of the afterlife vary widely. Yet despite these differences, they share a common principle: death is not an endpoint, but part of a larger continuum of life, relationship, and transformation.

The Afterlife as Relationship, Space, and Cycle

The Afterlife as a Parallel Plane

In many traditions, the afterlife is understood as a parallel plane – not a distant “beyond,” but a space connected to the world of the living. In Celtic myths, this plane appears as the “Otherworld”: a realm of ancestors, nature beings, and knowledge, accessible through dreams, rituals, or at certain threshold times like Samhain. Slavic traditions likewise describe ancestral realms where the deceased continue to offer protection, guidance, or warnings.

The Afterlife as a Space of Integration

Many traditions also describe underworlds or realms of the dead – not as places of punishment, but as spaces for integration and transformation. The Norse Hel, for example, is a neutral afterlife realm, as are the Greek Hades or the Slavic Nav. These realms serve less to judge a life than to embed it in a larger context.

The Afterlife as Ongoing Relationship

In some myths, this continuing relationship is particularly emphasized – for example, in spheres of honor like Valhalla or Folkwang. Here, not only the soul persists, but also the memory of deeds, values, and personality. Other nature-spiritual traditions conceive this connection cyclically: life, death, and rebirth are part of an ongoing process in which energy, knowledge, and presence continue to act in new forms – within the web of nature, ancestors, and time.

The Shared Message of These Concepts

Whether Norse, Celtic, Slavic, or animistic, pagan notions of the afterlife do not view it as a closed-off place, but as part of a living web. Ancestors, nature beings, and cosmic forces remain active, and the boundary between life and death is seen as permeable. Death is not isolation, but transition, transformation, and continued relationship within a larger cosmic fabric.

The World Tree and the Shamanic Perspective — A Model of Permeability

A particularly vivid image of this interconnectedness, permeability, and cyclic nature of the afterlife is the World Tree – in many traditions a symbol of how life, death, and spiritual realms are interwoven. Whether called Yggdrasil, Axis Mundi, World Pillar, Tree of Worlds, or Shaman’s Tree, the underlying idea is the same: everything is connected, and every level of being is accessible, permeable, and in exchange with the others.

The Three Realms

In many shamanic traditions, the universe is divided into three realms:

• Upper World: ancestors, spirits, teachers, cosmic forces

• Middle World: nature, humans, animals, places, spirits

• Lower World: roots, depth, instincts, healing, ancestors

No realm is hierarchical or morally judged; the World Tree connects them all, showing that everything is interrelated.

Yggdrasil – Nine Worlds, a Living Web

The nine worlds of the Norse Yggdrasil are not isolated places, but different layers of reality:

• Realms of ancestors (Helheim)

• Realms of nature spirits (Alfheim, Vanaheim)

• Realms of humans (Midgard)

• Realms of cosmic forces (Asgard, Muspelheim, etc.)

Everything influences everything else; life, death, and the afterlife are permeable and interconnected. The tree is a living web, in which ancestors accompany the living, spirits are accessible through dreams or ritual, souls may linger, transform, or move on, and deeds ripple across time and realms.

For me personally, Yggdrasil symbolizes the afterlife: not an isolated place, but a dynamic web of possibilities, encounters, and energies.

Practical Guidance for Urban Mystics

Perhaps you’re now wondering:This all sounds beautiful — but what does it mean in practice? Do I really need a shamanic journey to feel connected?

The answer is: No.

While trance or soul journeys can be powerful, you don’t need to be a ritual master to weave these concepts into your daily life.Small practices can already sharpen your awareness of the great web.

🌿 1. Connect with the World Tree

Imagine your life as a branch of a great, living tree connecting worlds and realities.This simple visualisation — in daily moments or short meditations — anchors the sense of being part of a vibrant network.

🌿 2. Honour Ancestors and Nature in Small Ways

Gratitude, a moment of silence, a journal entry, or an “inner conversation” with a tree or place are enough.These small gestures strengthen your relationship with nature, lineage, and the forces that accompany you — without the need for elaborate ritual.

🌿 3. Explore Your Own Threads

Ask yourself:Which decisions, encounters, and actions leave traces in the web of my life?This reflection reveals how you co-create the tapestry — consciously or unconsciously.

🌿 4. Take Dreams and Intuition Seriously

Dreams, inner images, and intuitive impulses can act like small windows into other layers of reality — a subtle access to what many traditions reach through soul journeys. You don’t need to “travel” anywhere to gain insight; remember, everything is already connected.

Closing Thought

The pagan understanding of the afterlife invites us to see life and death not as opposites, but as flowing, intertwined parts of a living web. We are connected, accompanied, and never isolated – nature, ancestors, and cosmic forces dance continuously around us, remaining entwined with our lives.

From this perspective arises a natural responsibility: we act “rightly” not to be rewarded later, but because every action, thought, and word touches the fabric of life. Our deeds weave threads in the web that encompasses people, nature, community, and cosmic balance. In this way, we consciously shape the world, in harmony with all living beings.

Death is transformation. The afterlife is permeability. And we ourselves are shining threads in Yggdrasil’s great, breathing tree, connected with all that was, is, and will be.