The basic definition of a “twin flame” or “soul mate” is an inevitable, spiritually significant relationship that changes the course of one’s life.
Before looking at whether a Thelemite can have a soul mate, let’s acknowledge that the usual concept is too simplistic.
- Not everyone has one.
- Some have more than one.
- Not all such compelling, predestined, spiritually necessary relationships are romantic.
But the question to be explored here is whether the idea of “having a twin flame” makes any sense at all for Thelemites. Can the accomplishment of one’s Will ever depend on another Star?
The answer is, yes but no. Yes, Thelemites can have soul mates, but, no, accomplishing one’s Will never depends upon another Star.
This answer may seem paradoxical, but it is not. It rests on the distinction between the Will itself and one’s incarnation as the vehicle of Will.
Twin Flames
Even though the phrase “twin flame” is relatively new, the basic concept of what is also called “soul mates” has been around for millennia. The basic idea is that each of us has a true “other half” in another person.
Famously, in his Symposium, Plato has Aristophanes articulate the phenomenon:
[T]he primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond. …
[Zeus] said: “Methinks I have a plan which will humble their pride and improve their manners; men shall continue to exist, but I will cut them in two and then they will be diminished in strength and increased in numbers; this will have the advantage of making them more profitable to us. …” Each of us when separated, having one side only, like a flat fish, is but the indenture of a man, and he is always looking for his other half.
It sometimes (not always) happens that two souls are drawn inexorably together to do particular work – even at times by prior agreement. Yet one’s Will never depends upon another Star.
A decision – or karma – that draws two souls inexorably together concerns events on the horizontal plane of external action (the macrocosm).
By contrast, doing one’s Will is always essentially vertical, microcosmic, even though it necessarily expresses itself through external forms.
Pre-Incarnational Contracts with Other Stars
When we contract pre-incarnationally with another (or others) to pursue some activity together, we are mapping plot points for our upcoming lifetime.
For example, two beings who have decided to pursue the higher mysteries together sometimes contract with one another to fall in love as well. This is something my husband and I have done.
The corresponding Form is the blueprint for one’s lifetime, in Binah—the Nuit factor. We can think of it as one’s Law, mapped by the natal birth chart. The point here is that certain features of one’s lifetime are determined before one is ever born.
The Will is Universal
One’s Will is essentially above the Abyss, in Chokmah. Being above the Abyss means, in pure potential.
One’s Will is Universal. It is Going (the fifth power of the Sphinx) as Hadit–a pure, undifferentiated creative Force.
“My Will” is the Universal Will (Chokmah) as it would be expressed through my lifetime (Binah) if I could eliminate all Restrictions. It is thus the highest potential of this lifetime, something to aspire toward by finding and adhering to one’s unique Law and by purifying the mind as much as possible.
Doing One’s Will is Essentially Solitary
Despite that the basic Form of one’s lifetime may include a special partner, the Will as Will never essentially requires any one thing or any particular person.
Doing the Will is not about what one does, but how—in what spirit, with what intent. That has to do with a following one’s original intent for the lifetime.
For example, it’s a fair to say that my Will is to serve humanity through the higher mysteries. I contracted to do so with my husband specifically. But my Will is something for which I am solely responsible, and which I must do in all circumstances, even before I met him.
Summary
If a Thelemite has a twin flame, the most we can say is that the special relationship with that other is part of that being’s Will.
The twin flame relationship is a vessel of the Will, not the Will itself. It, like the incarnation as a whole, is Holy Grail to the Spear of Universal Will.
Cherish the Grail, but worship the Spear!