The Celtic people also believed firmly in reincarnation and the presence of various so-called "Otherworlds." In Celtic Mythology, Otherworlds were the invisible realms of super-natural beings, some pleasant and heaven-like, others terrifying and hell-like. Otherworlds either were "sparkling heavens" or "dark purgatories". The Celtic culture juggled more than one view on the true nature of things and what there was to come after death.
The Druids, for instance, preached that death was not the end to life but a passage from one life to another, superior existence. To the Celts Heaven was like an earthly world, only far better. It was void of old age (hence the term tir an óg -- land of the young), calamity, sickness. It was a land of corporeal beauty, particularly for women, a land where physical pleasures were untainted by guilt or sin, where the sun always shone, the birds never ceased to sing, and where there was no hunger or thirst, for everything was there in never-ending abundance. The Celts also were had a conception of hell, or ifrinn, which was (parallel to Christian belief) the unpleasant and feared counter-world to Heaven.
Old Celtic folklore has it that deities would appear to mortals from time to time and tell them of the Otherworld, which was referred to as Tir inna m Beo -- land of the living. as well as Tir inna m Ban -- land of women. Oftentimes it is also referred to as Magh Már (great plain) or Tir Már (great land).
It was said that the boundaries between the earthly world and the Otherworld were very loose and vague. Bards, Seers, poets were presumed to have the ability to wander between the two at will. The druids were certainly vested with powers to communicate with and understand the "other side". All of them possessed supernatural abilities of prophecy and inspiration when under divine influence. It was also said that great heroic legends of Celtic mythology occasionally enjoyed the privilege of entering into the Otherworlds.
One wonders, how and where the transition between the present world and Otherworld was made by those who had the ability, gift or privilege to enter. Common doorways were said to be by water, beneath mounds, across narrow bridges. During the holiday of Samhain (on or around October 31) the doors to the Otherworld were opened and spirits from the past were said to communicate with the humans during this festival of darkness.
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