Reincarnation is the belief that one's spirit or soul returns to the world after death, reborn in a new body to live a new life.  This new life has it's own personality and the reincarnated person may or may not remember aspects of their past lives.  Some religions believe that the soul alternates from male and female bodies; some, that the soul may be reincarnated into an animal's body or even an insect's, depending on the way one has lived one's past life.  Some believe that there are lessons to be learnt, or past deeds to be accounted or atoned for and that one may achieve perfection from that atonement.  Reincarnation is central to beliefs such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Surat Shabda Yoga, some African religions, as well as various other religions teachings and esoteric philosophies. Most modern Pagans also believe in reincarnation.

The Pagan belief states that the soul returns to the Goddess, to the Summerlands, after death, there to rest a while, to reflect on the life just lived and to consider the lessons learned.  When the soul is ready, then it is reborn as a human again.  Whatever one's faith, one can access the past life memories through hypnotism or meditation.  Some people have undergone past life regression hypnotism in order to discover why they have certain fears or are drawn to certain people or patterns of behaviour.  Small children in particular, have been known to have vivid memories of their past life, even down to recognising a spouse from that life who is still living.  Eventually the memories fade and the child is able to live a new life and create new memories and experiences.