Understand Karma & Relationships

Karma is a Sanskrit word that means “action.” Karma has commonly been considered a punishment for past bad actions, but karma is neither judge nor jury. Rather, it is simply the universal law of cause and effect that says every thought, word and act carries energy into the world and affects our present reality. Karma can also refer to the “work” we have ahead of us, which includes lessons from both our past and present.

Only when we realize and accept that we are responsible for creating our own karma, can we choose to change it by making better choices this time around. This is the essential meaning of the old adage: “What goes around, comes around.” We can get off the “wheel of karma” by making better choices when similar situations come up. 

The Full Moon in Aries on October 22, 2010, offers for the second month in a row, the opportunity to work on your current relationships. Specifically addressing “What do I need?” This is a wonderful opportunity to break old karmic patterns and clear the past by addressing what you feel you are getting or not getting. This would be the time to speak up for yourself and begin the process of transformation.

What is Relationship Karma

Relationship karma operates in all our relationships and starts in each life with childhood family interactions. Relationships are where we learn fundamental lessons in life through contact with karmic connections and soulmates. Karmic connections or soul groups are people we feel instantly familiar with. We have a sense of connection stemming from a previous life or lives either in a positive or negative setting.

 Soulmates are two people who are extremely compatible on most levels. The connection is usually extensive, spanning several lives and for the most part positive. We can have several soulmates, and they can be in incarnation with us or acting as guides for our present life, helping us and encouraging us from the other side. Our soulmates have generally shared many experiences with us and know us well. All these contacts and relationships are usually intensely emotional, and some of them can conjure up strong feelings either positive or negative, all for a purpose.

These experiences and connections happen to provide opportunities to develop the qualities and characteristics we are most in need of. Power issues are particularly common in relationship karma. People get drawn into dependent relationships where one person holds all the power, and tension often arises when it is time for the other person to take back his or her power.

The spiritual purpose of partnership is to develop wholeness within us, to create freedom and take back or release our power over someone. We are a combination of male and female energies and our challenge is to harmonize the male and female within in each lifetime. This is the key to true balance and spirituality. We each learn our lessons differently because we are each at our own level of growth. So much of relationships is sorting out chaos and emotions and learning to love ourselves. On a higher level, every problem is self-caused and therefore must be self-redeemed. We must awaken from our complacency. In doing this, we begin to see the spiritual behind the physical and our lives open to new awareness.