Many Pagans view life as cyclical rather than linear (an example of this is the belief in reincarnation and the emphasis on seasonal festivals). That is, rather than being a progression from non-existence to birth to death to an afterlife (as in Christian theology), Pagans view existence as a progression from life to life (birth, death and rebirth). This view is often based on the cycles of Nature and the seasons.
"Death is a piece of Life, not its opposite, not even its end, but merely one station of a larger cycle. We are born, we die, we are reborn in a different shape. Our bodies decompose and feed the flowers that feed the soil that feeds the crops that feed the livestock that feeds us. These are the facts of Life and Death: when something dies, it becomes a part of something else that lives. Biology, if not all theology, supports this view. Western funeral customs, with their habits of embalming, elaborate crypts, and even to a certain extent cremation, try to fudge over these facts. They try to prevent the dead from fully rejoining Creation. They miss the real point, I think, of what death is about: It's about getting back into that ancient cycle."