Twin flame vs Soulmate vs Karmic

I’m going to describe the basic meanings behind these elusive terms some people, usually from the New Age community, toss around — twin flame, soulmate, and karmic. While definitions vary slightly behind each word, because they are all simply theories, this is what I’ve mainly gathered…

First, all of these concepts relate back to the idea of reincarnation. These terms apply to people you have known very significantly in many, many past lives.

Twin flame

The legendary twin flame! This is “the one,” literally because there is only one of them. The theory is that one soul splits into two bodies — masculine and feminine. (This does not have to be strictly physical sex, but energy — so same sex can still be twin flames. It’s about energy, not the physical.)

You will confuse many, many other people for your twin flame — which I will explain later on with “false twin flame.” Your twin flame is NOT here to provide that “happily ever after.” They are not necessarily here to comfort you and contain you — rather, they are here to wake you up and cause a deep, destructive spiritual awakening. The twin flame journey is intense and challenging, it pushes you past your comfort zone and requires the highest amount of bravery.

How do you know if you have met your twin flame? You can contact many psychics for confirmation, but only you will know deep down in your heart. The tricky thing is that so many of us are eager to meet our twin flames, that we often deceive ourselves into thinking someone is one, when they aren’t. The reality is that, most of us are not spiritually, emotionally, mentally, capable of surviving this journey.

The greatest factor in determining if someone is your twin flame is seeing how you mirror one another. Twin flames are exactly alike, and exactly opposite, at the same time. The best way to describe it is like looking into a mirror — a spiritual mirror.

The most challenging aspect about a twin flame is that most of us are not ready to observe ourselves from an outsiders perspective because that involves going beyond the ego. Even those of us who are highly insecure, still have this deep-rooted belief that we are always right — and even when we’re wrong, we’re only trying our best… that’s what the ego says.

The ego is always the hero, or the victim, or the innocent. While it’s easy to judge others and paint them as villains, we fail to ever see ourselves that way. Even when we say “I’m not perfect,” or “I’m not the best,” our egos still have this bias perspective towards ourselves. And so, by observing your twin flame, you also observe the shadow parts of your flawed self that you have gone your whole life trying to remain unconscious of. Thus, it wakes you up.

It’s the journey, not the destination…

While every person is bound to meet their twin flame at some point in their lives, most of them do not “end up together.” This is because the goal of twin flame is not to have a happily ever after, it’s not even to be life partners, or to get married, or to raise children together — it is to wake each other up, to help one another progress further into their spiritual evolutions in order to escape the endless cycle of reincarnation and finally reach Nirvana (or Heaven, Paradise, etc.)

Most twin flames do not end up staying together, or even getting together in the first place. Most twin flames do not get married, or conceive babies, or raise children together. Most twin flames do not even date each other, most do not even become physical with one another. (And when I say “most,” I’m talking 90-99%)

Although the reasoning for this is partially because twin flames have the most challenging relationships, it’s mainly due to the fact that many twin flames, before incarnating, make a soul contract agreeing to never fully unite on the Earthly plane. Most of them, on purpose, agree to factors that will keep them separated such as — different social classes, different races, different ages, different politics, different religions, long distance and so on. Many souls, before incarnating, choose to be in another relationship or marriage while meeting their twin. And there is a good reason for this.

Why set up a forbidden love? It’s not so much about challenging oneself (although that is part of it) — it’s more-so done as a way of helping each other escape material addictions that keep us bound to the cycle of reincarnation.

While it is possible to marry and be physical with your twin flame, many of the twin flame journeys are here to teach you how love goes beyond the twin flame. So if you are born into a society that disapproves of your connection, it stops you from pursuing one another or being physical with one another — in turn you learn that the power of love goes beyond these things. If you were never forced to be apart from your twin flame, you would never fully understand this.

It doesn’t always have to be romantic…

So, for example, your twin flame could actually be your best friend. You’re both married to someone else, maybe you both have kids from these marriages too. The marriage to your spouse is happy, intimate, and successful. The emotional support is there. But you and your best friend, even though you’ve never ever been physical with one another or crossed any boundaries that would disrupt your marriage, you two mirror each other and love each other unconditionally.

Another example is when you’ve met your twin flame and after a few months or years of knowing them, you never see each other again. You go on to live a happy life without them. But you knew they were your twin flame because they shifted your perception in reality, and life will never be the same after knowing them.

Now again, it’s totally possible to marry your twin flame. But it’s more than likely that there will be all these earthly “obstacles” — like different backgrounds, races, ages, social rules, etc — that are not here to discourage you, yet to make you both understand that you can love someone without “owning them.” Things like marriage, babies, and so on often serve as a distraction from the true meaning of unconditional love.

And so, it’s also likely that you and your twin flame connection will be full of great pain. It’s likely that you will both hurt and betray one another. This is yet another reason to help you two move beyond your egos and harness the power of unconditional love. Loving someone because they treat you right comes from the ego, but forgiving someone who deeply hurt you is unconditional love that comes from the soul.

It goes beyond the physical…

A lot of people equate the term “twin flame” with physical intimacy, but as stated before, most twin flames never even become physical at all — because how else would you understand that love goes beyond the body? Alongside, having fantastic physical chemistry with your twin flame is another factor that leads to attachment of the physical world. Remember that, the goal of escaping reincarnation and reaching Nirvana, is to completely detach yourself from any type of physical addition — most especially lust. And so, the twin flame connection is really not meant to be physical. It can be, but it’s usually more effective when it’s not!

The greatest misconception is that twin flame connections are these hot, fiery, honeymoon relationships full of nonstop passion. That is further from the truth. While some have great physical chemistry, most twin flames are actually completely physically repulsed by one another. And that’s why you can still have a faithful marriage and a twin flame outside of your marriage at the same time.

If you do become physical with your twin flame, it’s likely to be awkward and confusing, it’s likely to feel much more “wrong” and “shameful” than any other hookup you’ve had. There will likely be many problems in the bedroom. Again, this is purposeful — to make you see how unconditional love goes beyond the physical. It’s to show you that lust is a physical addiction that keeps your soul attached to the earthly plane which is full of endless suffering.

There will be “obstacles”

Your twin flame could be living across the world, it could be your boss or teacher, it could be someone your entire family despises, it could be a romance that society disapproves of, they could be married to someone else, have kids with someone else… you could only know each other for a brief moment, you could know each other all your lives, you could be in and out of each other’s lives… it could be a friend or family’s ex, it could be your parents’ friend, your kid’s friend, it could be ANYONE! What I’m stressing is the fact that these “obstacles” are actually “helpers” that help us detach from earthly addictions.

And for those who do marry your twin flame, there will be obstacles — perhaps a betrayal, or a sickness, or disapproval from others — it won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. There could be periods of long distance, children from a prior marriage, and so forth. And for those who do not marry your twin flame, it does not make your connection any stronger or weaker. You could even very well marry your twin flame and later divorce and remarry someone else. What I’m stressing is that do not dwell on “marriage” or “happily ever after” because this is a twin flame JOURNEY, not a DESTINATION. The only destination is PARADISE, which is not on this material realm! So there is no destination for as long as you are here on Earth.

Soulmate

Soulmates are far more common because we all have SO MANY of them! This is anyone who you’ve had many significant relationships with in former lives. People you were married to, dated, had children with, lived with, were close friends with, or family members.

Typically, soulmate relationships are peaceful and harmonious. Of course there will always be some problems and annoyances, but overall, it feels natural and effortless.

A lot of people end up marrying or raising kids with a soulmate. With some disagreements here and there, you are generally on the same page with one another.

Your life is full of soulmates — some you’ve known forever, and many others who have been in and out of your life, or only in your life for a season. Your family tree is full of soulmates. Your friendship circle is full of soulmates. Yes, even your classmates or co-workers are full of soulmates. They could be teachers, bosses, clients, clerks. If you’re strongly attracted to a famous celebrity you’ve never met before — definitely a soulmate, and you definitely knew each other very well in at least one prior lifetime (maybe you were even married!)

Soulmates teach you lessons and encourage growth. They’re here to comfort you and support you. Upon first meeting them, it’s like you’ve known them all your life. It’s easy to open up to one another and trust each other.

And there’s not much else to say about soulmates! They’re blessings, simple as that!

Karmic

And now for the somewhat less familiar term — the karmic.

If you’re familiar with reincarnation, then you know the concept of karma — the energy you put out there returns back to you. Good deeds build up good karma, while bad deeds build up bad karma.

Karmic relationships are toxic and tumultuous. They’re lustful, addictive, and draining. But they’re here for a reason — to sort out one another’s karma.

You have had many significant lives together, but unlike soulmates which held many happy times, these connections held a lot of hurt and disagreements.

Karmics can be toxic friends, family, or relationships. The attachment to one another is powerfully strong and addictive — but only on the physical level. These are two people who find each other extremely attractive on the surface, but have absolutely no connection underneath that.

Karmics are constantly disagreeing with one another. They hold grudge matches and refuse to forgive one another. In romantic relationships, karmics cheat, lie, and play mind games.

Using someone for their money, social status, looks, etc. are reasons why karmics come together.

By connecting to unconditional love, you can transform a karmic connection into a soulmate connection. Sometimes karmic relationships can be saved through very deep internal work. But often, karmic ties become so toxic that the only way you can survive them is by cutting each other off completely.

False twin flame

And finally, a “false twin flame” is someone who you thought was a twin flame, which turns out not to be. Instead, they are actually a soulmate or karmic.

As discussed in the twin flame section, it’s very easy to think someone is your twin flame when they are not. Most of this relates to society’s general misconception about a twin flame connection being this fiery, physical, sensual happily-ever-after.

Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly are perfect examples of false twin flames. Let’s go over the red flags…

• Telling the world that you are twin flames — a true twin flame connection is sacred, and not something you want to broadcast to the whole world. It’s better to keep it protected. In this case, it seems that they toss around this word for the sake of status.

• Intense chemistry — they are confusing lust for love. As stated earlier, twin flame connections go beyond the material plane, which means they go beyond physical intimacy. Twin flames may never become physical, or they could struggle with awkwardness and shameful feelings in the bedroom which is totally normal. Undying hot, sensual passion is much more of a “karmic” partnership.

• The “ease” of their relationship — although they were both in relationships when they met each other (possible twin flame sign), the ease of how quickly they began their official partnership is the sign of a karmic connection rather than true twin flame. Most twin flames either do not end up together, or it takes a long time before they get together, or their relationship has its own struggles.

• The adrenaline rush — from what they have said about their dates, it seems their relationship consists of doing daring and adventurous things. It’s great to do fun things together, but it seems that their relationship relies on thrill-seeking, which is bound to ware off overtime, and not the foundation of an eternal twin flame connection.

With their relationship, I feel that they will go strong for a few more years at most, until the thrill of the relationship wares off. I feel that the two have a genuine past life connection, but that this is on a karmic level based on physical addictions. It is bound to turn very ugly very soon, and there will be a lot of drama and pettiness.

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And everyone else? I believe that most of us have lived many, many lives before — and we have all run into each other at least once before, even just for a moment. None of us are strangers. Some people are destined to play greater roles in our lives than others. And then there’s your one and only twin flame — just remember that the goal is not “to end up together” but to wake each other up spiritually by simply loving each other unconditionally.