Karmic Connections: Types of Relationship Karma (Part 1)

Do any of these sound familiar to you?

Welcome to the Karmic Connections series, where we’ll be breaking down the overlap between karma and our closest relationships through a lens of mysticism and astrology.

This series is inspired by the late Judy Hall’s book of the same name, which I have been reading and finding incredibly fascinating, and the first line of the first chapter explains why: “Karma shows itself in relationships.”

Those of you who have been following my journey for a while now know that I used to focus on love and dating (I’ve written two books on the matter, ran a blog called The Problem With Dating for 10 years and even had a dating column for Playboy), and this is why I’ve always been so intrigued by intimate relationships—not only do they show us who we are, but they often come with undescribable experiences that seem to be nothing short of—dare I say—magick?

I’ve already discussed a bit about what karma means and its significance with relationships, but I want to also note this bit that Hall mentions in the beginning of her book:

“Certain aspects of karma are purely personal. A soul meets its own expectations of love through association with other people, although the expectations need not necessarily have arisen with those people. It could all have been created through different contacts somewhere in the past. Other aspects of relationship karma are specific to the two, or more, people concerned. They have unfinished business from previous lives together. However, some people get together to work on karmic issues that have nothing to do with each other in a personal sense, they simply share the same themes and take the opportunity to work on them. In this way, progress can be made before confronting the person with whom the karma arose.”

As you can see, there are different types of relationship karma that can be at play, and I want to be clear that this is not only referring to romantic relationships, so let’s dive into what Judy Hall outlines are the different types of relationship karma and the astrological indicators that can show whether or not this karma is affecting you personally.

Types of Relationship Karma (Part 1):

• Personal Karma: This is the individual karma created that is currently being dealt with. It’s been carried into the present life and brought into a relationship with its issues between the people concerned.

  • Astrological indicators: This depends on your birth chart or synastry chart with another person.

• Group or Racial Karma: This can be karma carried by a specific group (family, friends or soul group, as well as a country, tribe or race of people). Sometimes this can indicate that you’ve incarnated into this group before.

  • Astrological indicators: The eleventh or twelfth house, or the fourth/tenth house axis for families.

• Collective Karma: This is the accumulation of all that has occurred before the current incarnation and affects the human race. This can include positive karma, but it’s usually negative karma that creates problems for the future generation. There’s no single individual who is liable or responsible, but there may be individuals who were involved in its manifestation in a past life. Some people may have reincarnated to help take on the work of clearing the collective karma for the whole.

  • Astrological indicators: Twelfth house, moon in Capricorn, planets in Pisces, Neptune-Chiron interaspects.