It’s a glimmer of hope…until it’s not. You meet someone, sparks fly, and within weeks, you’re convinced the universe finally threw you a freaking bone. Then the whole thing collapses in record time. Psychics call that treadmill “karmic debt.”
The idea is that unfinished business from past lives bleeds into this one, pulling people into bonds that feel magnetic but impossible to sustain. “Karmic love is both painful and transformative,” says Solas of Psychic Source, a longtime relationship advisor. “It can feel like you’ve met ‘the one,’ only to watch things unravel. But these relationships are here to teach us soul lessons, and if we don’t resolve them now, we’ll repeat them in the next lifetime.”
For anyone who’s wondered why they can’t quit the same person—or why their relationship feels like a loop they can’t exit—Solas says there are tells.
10 Signs You’re in a Karmic Debt Love Cycle
- Fast burn: That instant recognition high, followed by volatility that comes out of nowhere.
- Revolving door: You leave, you’re back the next day, you swear this time will be different. It never is.
- Same fight, different day: A small comment sets it off. Before you know it, you’re replaying the same argument for the tenth time.
- Communication breakdown: They stop answering your texts. They stonewall you. Ultimatums are thrown around. Talking feels impossible.
- Third-party replays: An ex or outside flame keeps reappearing. Pulling you back into a triangle.
- Emotional whiplash: One week, you’re planning a future together. The next, you can barely stay in the same room.
- Uncanny familiarity: The whole thing feels like déjà vu. It feels like you’ve lived this exact relationship before.
- Recurring wounds: Jealousy, trust issues, or control issues bubble up again and again.
- Pressure to grow: The relationship corners you into hard lessons about boundaries, self-worth, and the parts of yourself you’d rather avoid.
- Elastic time: The cycle can burn out in weeks or drag on for years, depending on whether you actually learn from it.
“Karmic signs don’t mean you’re doomed,” Solas explains. “They’re invitations to heal. When you focus on your own growth and integrity, the cycle resolves, whether together or apart.”
That’s the sales pitch, at least. Whether you believe in past lives or not, the concept of karmic debt lands because it maps neatly onto modern dating. The people we’re drawn to can be the same ones who expose our deepest insecurities, and sometimes it takes a so-called soulmate implosion to see that.
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