The good news is, once you understand your own, you can take steps to balance it. Here’s what you need to know about karmic debt, according to experts. Clairvoyant and acupuncturist Deganit Nuur adds that “when you haven’t mastered a karmic lesson, it’ll repeat itself over and over again until you master it.” That said, both she and Kaehart add that karmic debt doesn’t need to mean the end of the world. Most of us have karma—but holding fear and shame around it isn’t conducive to growth. Instead, there are many fulfilling ways we can go about “repaying” or balancing these debts. For example, research shows that helping others can actually help improve your own life down the line—perhaps an explanation for balancing your karma in this lifetime. Whether it’s a fear of open water, an aversion to joy, a distrust of authority figures, etc., if there’s nothing from this lifetime that can explain a feeling or behavior, it may stem from a past life. “Just like any pattern, these incomplete karma cycles can turn into habits if you don’t cultivate self-awareness,” Nuur explains, “so you’ll just accumulate more and more incomplete karma with time.” You may be repeatedly drawn into a relationship with one particular person, for example, who seems to be teaching you the same lesson over and over again. These relationships can be toxic, but they can also be necessary for us to work through our karmic debt. Nuur notes incomplete karma can feel like a trap, and it’s hard to ignore feeling trapped. Karmic debts can feel monumental and overwhelming to overcome at times, but they cannot be avoided. “If one of those numbers is related to 13, 14, 16, or 19,” she says, “that means you have a karmic debt.” Here’s how to calculate your five core numbers and figure out whether they correspond with any karmic debt. How it relates to debt: Reduced to a single digit, 1 + 3 is 4. That’s the personality number. However, those root numbers of 1 and 3 indicate that a person has a karmic debt number of 13. How it relates to debt: So let’s say the full birthday mentioned before was August 14, 2001. 8 + 1 + 4 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 1 = 16. 1+6 adds up to 7, (the life path number), with 16 as the underlying karmic number. How it relates to debt: If someone was born on the 13th of the month, their birthdate number is 4 but, you guessed it, their associated karmic number is 13. How it relates to debt: The name Jane Doe (J, N, D), for example, would be 1+5+4 = 10. This reduces to a 1 soul urge number, and a 10 karmic number. This is a number of karmic completion, meaning there is no debt to be paid. From a numerology perspective, karmic lessons are also calculated differently than karmic debts. And unlike debts, which speak to current challenges that you’re facing, lessons describe what’s missing from your life that could help you. That said, she does advise cultivating awareness around the impact of your actions and making choices with that awareness. “If you’re approaching karma like a bank account, hierarchy, or checklist, you’ve missed the mark entirely,” she adds. Rather than thinking of it as repaying, Kaerhart likes to view it more as a necessary experience. You have to go through experiences that “show you what others around you went through because of you,” in a past life, she explains. “And in understanding that, you’re meant to find a better approach.” When we can approach our karmic debts with more understanding and compassion, we can address them head-on rather than avoiding them, though there’s no guarantee we’ll break the cycle in this lifetime. If you’re really keen on clearing as much karma as you can, it could be worthwhile to seek the guidance of someone who specializes in past-life readings, as Nuur does, so you can learn what really happened in your past lives and how it’s affecting you now.
