People romanticize the idea of soulmates, believing they are their one true love who they're destined to be with for life. And soulmates can be like that. But you might be surprised to learn you may have more than one karmic soulmate, and many have a different purpose than being a lifetime love. You could have one or more karmic soulmates who you encounter throughout your life.
What's a Karmic Soulmate?
Karmic soulmates are souls who've come into your life for the purpose of mutual spiritual growth. They can be romantic relationships, but not always. They could be souls from a past life, souls with whom you've made agreements to achieve something together in this lifetime, or members of a group of souls (called a soul group) that you've been together with through many lifetimes.
13 Ways to Recognize a Karmic Soulmate
We all have karmic soulmates, sometimes more than one. These may be signs that someone is your karmic soulmate.
They Seem Super Familiar
When you meet them, you can't shake the feeling of familiarity. You wrack your brain to figure out where you know them from, but during conversation, you discover there's no way you could've met before.
You Feel an Instant Sense of Connection
From the start, you'll feel deeply connected to them. Even when you're not with them, you're drawn to them. When you're together, you often think the same thing at the same time. The connection is palpable but unexplainable.
You Go Deep Fast
You instantly trust each other, so you'll share your deepest thoughts long before you would in a normal relationship. Intimacy (not necessarily physical, but it can be) comes quickly.
It Feels Like "Destiny"
You both feel a sense of destiny. You may notice you have a sense of shared purpose, and together, you may feel a pull to do things that you wouldn't do alone.
It May Be an Intense or Even Rocky Relationship
These types of relationships feel a lot more intense than regular relationships. Because emotions run high and you have important work to do together, it could be a bumpy ride.
It Is Not Necessarily a Romantic Relationship
This is a hard one for people to understand. Because the relationship feels so intense, connected, and predestined, many people think it should be romantic. And often, it is, at least for a while. But when whatever reason you've come together has played out, it's often challenging to sustain that relationship as the shared sense of purpose fizzles.
It Seems Like It's Never Over, Even When It's Over
If the relationship breaks up for any reason (you go your separate ways, you break up, somebody moves away, etc.), you never have a sense of finality. It always feels like there's something more or something you left unturned when you're apart.
Related: 18 Signs Your Soulmate Is Thinking About You Right Now
You Continue to Think About Them
Even long after they're gone, they'll pop into your thoughts, sometimes many times a day. This goes on long after you would normally stop thinking of a friend or lover who was no longer in your life.
They Pop Up in Your Dreams a Lot
They may also appear in your dreams. These dreams are often more intense and realistic than your regular dreams, and when you wake up, the dream will follow you throughout the day.
If It Was a Romantic Relationship, They're Forever "The One Who Got Away"
Even if you've broken up for good reasons, you'll always view that person as "the one who got away." You can move on and have super meaningful relationships, but there is always a sense of wistfulness and unfinished business about that relationship.
They Pop Up in the Strangest Places
You may continue to encounter each other in the strangest places, like living in two different cities and bumping into each other in a third. The meetings seem entirely coincidental and sometimes highly unlikely.
Because of Them, You Learn Something or Have a Significant Spiritual Shift
Because there's a karmic purpose for the relationship, you experience some type of spiritual or personal growth, understanding, or gain from it, whether it ends or not. It could be something like gaining new understandings about love, finding a passion, or stepping on a new path in life.
They Are Not Always Positive Relationships
When we think of a soulmate, we think of romantic love with pleasing experiences and outcomes. This is sometimes the case with karmic soulmates, but not always. It could be a negative experience, too. For example, it could be an intense relationship that crashes and burns, but you discover what you don't want (or what you deserve) in a life partner.
Just because you suspect they're your soulmate doesn't mean you were meant to be together for life. Sometimes, these relationships don't feel good because growth can be uncomfortable. The relationship may be short but intense, and when it ends, you'll both have gained something of great spiritual value that's important to your growth.
An Example of a Karmic Soulmate Relationship
There's a person in my life who pops up every decade or so despite the fact that we live very different lives in very different places. And they show up in the strangest places. When we met, we recognized each other instantly, and there's always been a powerful connection between us. I'm never surprised to encounter them in the oddest of locations.
In the early days of knowing one another, we were romantically involved. It was an intense, passionate, and deeply connected relationship, and it felt like everything was against us being together for the long term. It didn't last, and the relationship's end led to some of the most important changes of my life. We moved out of each other's orbit.
And then, like clockwork, whenever I've arrived at what feels like a crossroads in my life, that same person is there again. Sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes for months. And always, there is the same intensity and connection, even though we never rekindled our romance. Their presence in my life always leads to some change or changes that spin me off on a new and better path. That person is one of my karmic soulmates.
Karmic Soulmates Help You Grow
Karmic soulmates arrive in your life to help you grow (and you help them grow, too). Sometimes, they are romantic relationships that last for years or even a lifetime, but not always. But no matter how far you stray from one another, you remain connected across time and distance, and the growth and experience they bring into your life (and you into theirs) is priceless.
