Karmic Partner vs Soulmate vs Twin Flame

What’s the Difference?

Most of us have heard the phrase “soulmate” and have our own understanding of what that means, it being relatively common to many forms of story-telling, books, plays, poems, films and even video-games. I do remember, however, being quite surprised myself the first time I learned that the usual interpretation of a soulmate as being “the one”, was not all about living happily ever after.

So what is a soulmate if it’s not about marrying your Prince Charming (or Princess!) and skipping off into the sunset? And where do karmic partners and twin flames come into it? I’m glad you asked!

Karmic Partner

These are often formed with our earliest romantic partners, said to be a way of working out the lessons still outstanding from our past lives. They can be the most challenging because no matter how “hot”, loving and passionate they are, we’re usually not ready to be committed “forever”. A big indicator of these types of relationships is that no matter what we try, it just doesn’t work. Another indicator is that our karmic partner usually cares more about themselves and their own needs rather than ours or the needs of the relationship. Of the three, they are the most common type, with us usually having several karmic partners in a lifetime.

The lesson of these types of relationships is to learn when to let go as well as teaching us more about how we see our outer world and the people in it.

Soulmate

A soulmate relationship is one where a deeper commitment of some sort is evident, maybe cohabiting/buying a property together, engagement, marriage or a civil partnership and/or having a child together. A person whom we believe will be our life partner (even if things do not necessarily turn out that way in the end).

Such relationships are not without their difficulties, but the difference between a soulmate and a karmic partner relationship is that they challenge us to look inwards and trigger improvements in ourselves, rather than desiring a change in the other person or the relationship. Soulmates tend to be those that care about us the most and are not limited to love relationships.

A strong indicator of a soulmate connection is that unshakeable feeling of having known the person before, in another lifetime.

Twin Flame

Twin flames are relatively rare, with many in the spiritual world not believing in them at all. The concept of the twin flame is that the two of you were originally one soul, split into two at some point before this lifetime. Even if the concept exists, there is no guarantee that the two of you will ever find your way back to one another, in this lifetime or any other.

But, should these split souls find their way back to one another, the connection is supposed to be magical – a bit like your “zing” for those of you who’ve seen Hotel Transylvania! The connection is more than just a physical or sexual connection, however, so it’s important not to confuse twin flames with every connection you have that gets a bit heated!

Even twin flame relationships have their challenges, being a mix of karmic partner and soulmate connections, sometimes challenging how we see our partner, relationship and the world, and sometimes forcing us to look inwards and make improvements to ourselves instead. They are, in fact, our mirror, our reflection and sometimes we may not like what we see. With twin flames, however, both partners are willing and able to work on themselves and their relationship.

So, there you have it – a quick guide to my views on what each of these relationship types include. Maybe not as romantic as a fairy-tale but infinitely more rewarding I think. What about you?