Island of the West: Death from a Pagan point of view

Dedicated to Bluething. She knows why.

I was happy. Wherever I... was... I was happy. At peace. I knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it. Time... didn't mean anything... nothing had form... but I was still me, you know? And I was warm... and I was loved... and I was finished. Complete. I don't understand about theology or dimensions, or... any of it, really... but I think I was in heaven.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Episode "After Life"

I am often asked about the Pagan views on death. Well, we hold different ones-some of us believe in a sort of heaven named Summerland, others believe in reincarnation...and others, like me, believe that death is an eternal rest from this strife called life. But what we all do share is the idea that death is not a fearful place, but a place where we lay down our head on the breast of the Goddess, no matter what we've done, no matter how good or bad we've been,and rest in perfect peace.
This song by my admired Starhawk and her band Reclaiming sums up perfectly what I feel:

The ship is on the shoreline,
the crossing it is near
The time has come to say goodbye
To all who’ve loved you here
Give back your body to the earth
Like a child to its mother’s breast
And may you then grow young again
on the Island of the West
Lay down, lay down, your burdens
Lay down your treasures too
The love you gave and gathered
is all you take with you
But know to me your memory
will ever more be blessed
And may you then grow young again
On the Island of the West
They say there is an orchard
across the farthest sea
Where fruit and bud and blossom
grow together on the tree
The hurt will there find healing
The weary there find rest
And may you then grow young again on the Island of the West

(Starhawk and Reclaiming, Island of the West)

If you, like me, have seen a loved one struggle through illness and seen the peace in his/her face after death, I need to say no more. Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again.