EUROPEAN BELIEFS:

Celts: The principal point of their doctrine is that the soul does not die and that after death it passes from one body into another. The main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can the highest form of human courage be developed [1]. The map on the right shows the impact to date of Christian crack down on reincarnation:

• In the 1st century BCE Alexander Cornelius Polyhistor wrote: "The Pythagorean doctrine prevails among the Gauls' teaching that the souls of men are immortal, and that after a fixed number of years they will enter into another body"

• Julius Caesar recorded that the druids of Gaul, Britain and Ireland had metempsychosis as one of their core doctrines

Druids: Alexander Cornelius Polyhistor referred to the druids as philosophers and called their doctrine of the immortality of the soul and reincarnation or metempsychosis "Pythagorean" [14].

1.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation

2.   https://www.britannica.com/topic/reincarnation

3.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah

4.   H. Y. Ginsburgh, "Tav: Impression - The Seal of Creation," [Online]. Available: www.inner.org/hebleter/tav.htm.

5.   http://iisis.net

6.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgul

7.   http://www.yeshshem.com/kabbalah-basic-class-11-reincarnation.htm

8.   http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380823/jewish/Reincarnation-and-Resurrection-43.htm

9.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11Q13

10. https://www.near-death.com/reincarnation/history/judaism.html

11. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-adam-jacobs/reincarnation-in-judaism_b_811379.html

12. Sefer HaGilgulim, "The Book of Reincarnations," by Chaim Vital

REINCARNATION

μετεμψύχωσις - metempsychosis

εμπψχωύν - empsykhoun

παλιγγενεσία - palingenesia

גלגול הנשמות - gilgul neshamot

पुनर्जन्मन् - punarjanman

Druids: Alexander Cornelius Polyhistor referred to the druids as philosophers and called their doctrine of the immortality of the soul and reincarnation or metempsychosis "Pythagorean" [14].

​​​Gauls: The Pythagorean doctrine prevails among the Gauls' teaching that the souls of men are immortal, and that after a fixed number of years they will enter into another body. Julius Caesar recorded that the druids of Gaul, Britain and Ireland had metempsychosis as one of their core doctrines: "The principal point of their doctrine is that the soul does not die and that after death it passes from one body into another... the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can the highest form of human courage be developed" [1].

Germanic tribes: In the 2nd century CE, Appian wrote in his Roman History that the Teutons had no fear of death because they hoped to be reborn. Surviving texts indicate that there was a belief in rebirth in Norse religion. Examples include figures from eddic poetry and sagas, potentially by way of a process of naming and/or through the family line. Scholars have discussed the implications of these attestations and proposed theories regarding belief in reincarnation among the Germanic peoples prior to Christianization and potentially to some extent in folk belief thereafter [21].

Norse: Reincarnation appears in Norse mythology, in the Poetic Edda [1]:

• The editor of the Poetic Edda says that Helgi Hjörvarðsson and his mistress, the valkyrie Sváfa, whose love story is told in the poem Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar, were reborn as Helgi Hundingsbane and the valkyrie Sigrún. Helgi and Sigrún's love story is the matter of a part of the Völsunga saga and the lays Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and II. They were reborn a second time as Helgi Haddingjaskati and the valkyrie Kára, but unfortunately their story, Káruljóð, only survives in a probably modified form in the Hrómundar saga Gripssonar.

• The belief in reincarnation may have been commonplace among the Norse since the annotator of the Poetic Edda wrote that people formerly used to believe in it:

• Sigrun was early dead of sorrow and grief. It was believed in olden times that people were born again, but that is now called old wives' folly. Of Helgi and Sigrun it is said that they were born again; he became Helgi Haddingjaskati, and she Kara the daughter of Halfdan, as is told in the Lay of Kara, and she was a Valkyrie.
  

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