Circles of Souls

The following is the best I can do to explain
what I was taught about core or first circle
souls, second and then third circle souls in
relationship to our own soul. I tend to
accept it but I don't know a whole lot about
how it works. I would certainly welcome what
anyone else thinks about it.

A core or first circle soul is what people
would think of as a soul mate. However, I
was taught that you don't have just one. A
first circle soul is a soul whose connection
to you, in the spiritual sense, is intimate
and intense.

I was also taught that a first circle soul
can always be recognized, no matter what
role the soul plays in a current life, by
the sense of that very close relationship.

In the physical life, we think of very close
relationships to be that of a parent, our
children, a spouse or lover, even a sibling.

A second circle soul is a close relationship
but much less intense. It is not spiritually
intimate. In your life, for example, you
may marry a second circle soul you feel close
to and positive about but without that strong
intensity. This gives you the breathing space
you may need to work on some other issue.

In life, a second circle is similar to family
members such as Uncles, Aunts, grandparents,
some siblings, bestfriends/confidants.

A third circle soul is a casual relationship,
someone we share experiences with who touch
us, from whom we learn things both good and
bad.

Souls from any of these circles can play an
role in your physical life. You can even meet
and marry a third circle and if the complete
lack of any emotional demands is good for
both, it could work.

There are two other issues:

1) Our relationships with all these circles
can be good, bad, very good, and very bad. A
first circle relationship can have so much
"bad karma" that the close association feels
intensely negative. We also might feel an
attraction to someone and later have negative
animosity surface seemingly without cause.

We might have a soul in our current lives who
plays a relatively close part such as sibling
or parent but who is not within our circle at
all. It may feel as though this person almost
doesn't exist for us somehow. Its a baffling
sort of sensation. I felt it with a sister. I
did not feel close to her on any level and I
could not develop a relationship.

2) The souls within each circle can change.
They may remain exactly the same through
many incarnations but eventually, you have
learned all you can from each other and even
if the soul is a first circle relationship,
a time comes when you or the other move on.

By the same token, a soul may enter and leave
one of your circles after a single lifetime.
New connections are often made and old ones
broken (I realize how negative that sounds).
New connections are usually through a soul
drawn to you or you drawn to a soul through
a connection one or the other of you have
with someone else.

In practice, it means in a past life, there
was someone connected to someone else in
your life who met you and was drawn to you or
you to that soul. Once drawn, if a connection
is made and a relationship established, you
become a new member of a circle and the other
a new member of yours.

It means that a single soul in your circles
may not have any relationship or connection
to the others except through you although it
is believed more likely they have more than
just you in common.

These inter and intra relationships bring up
all kinds of possiblities as we interact with
each other in our physical lives. Choices
can result in bad feelings and keep us
connected to each other through many lives
until it is worked out.

I have got to get some sleep. Your thoughts,
as always, are welcome. Kat

HI,

May I ask what your source is?

*S*S*S
Deborah

Dear Kateet

I have often read and thought about a similar philosophy for soul circles as you explained yourself, as I have always been very sensitive and attuned to the way different people evoke different feelings and emotions within me all the time, and often after meeting them for the first time, they appear in my dreams, although not necessarily in a past life memory. Like Deborah, I would be interested in knowing the main reason or source of your feelings/understanding on the subject

Hello Kateet,

I, like Deborah and Kelly, am very curious about your source as well. I found your philosophy very intriguing. There seemed to be some similarity to what Michael Newton had to say about soul connections, however, he did not use the same terminology that you used.

It is interesting how we are attracted to some people and absolutely turned off by others and yes, then there are those that we just don't know what to feel about them,like your sister.

I am so glad that you have joined our forum. You have many interesting concepts and beliefs to contribute as well as past life memories. Welcome once again!

Love and light to you,
Shari

All

Actually this doesn't sound that complex. Somehow a month ago or so I got on a metaphysical site in which soooo many soul relationships were explained. There were twin flames, twin souls, twin something or others, soul mates, soul twins, whatever. Pick some combination and it was named there. But it was terribly complex. Each description was similar to the one above and below it. I couldn't even dare to assign anyone I know based on these descriptions, they were so detailed. Maybe that's how life is. Maybe we *shouldn't* assign labels to ourselves and others, for they are constantly changing, perhaps.
I've gotten to the point where I don't really assign anyone anymore. Either they're part of my group, or not. Either they're me, almost me, or not me.
Everyone has different explanations or names for the same things.

Peaceful thoughts,
DJ
P.S. Kat, I wonder if you're indenting so widely because when you hit the end of this box we write in, maybe you're spacing when you don't need to do so. Just a thought.

Thanks to those who have responded so far.

My Source: My maternal grandmother. The summer after I finished my junior year in high school, my step-father was promoted and my family moved to San Jose, Calif. but I remained behind to finish my senior year. I lived with my maternal grandmother. I told her about the puzzling dreams I'd been having about Francis.

I had no idea what these dreams meant, some of them were very troubling and, at that point, I didn't know anything about reincarnation. She is the one who explained, and re-explained all this about first, second and third circle souls. I didn't get it out of a book. I did go on and study religious and spiritual beliefs in college, comparative religions and religious history and I did come upon very similar beliefs,
ancient legends, and among surviving peoples such as my grandmother's indian relatives.

The circle of souls type idea I described is what she told me as well as I can remember and it is obviously not complete.
I don't understand it fully and I am not surprised if others have come across similar beliefs. I don't believe everything I read no matter how much peace and light someone portrays. One of the most important things I learned in college was how to investigate claims made by reincarnation researchers, how to learn to separate fact from fantasy and how not to let my own attraction to an idea get the better of me. There is nothing wrong with learning how to think.

I don't think anybody should just accept, believe or swallow whole what I wrote about what she told me. I DON'T. Some of it seems to make sense to me. That is why I am interested in what people here think about it. And, I appreciate the comments a great deal.

Kat

PS to DJ, You're right. I go to different message sites who place posts in different ways and its been a habit to stop when the window terminates and go down because, at most, not doing so makes the message look run together without any spacing at all which is really hard to read.

Hi Everyone

Kat, I've heard about soul circles and had my own idea of them, which is pretty similar to yours. It makes sense for certain souls to gravitate toward other souls for various reasons. It's interesting to look at the people in one's life and see where they fit in.

I have dreams about this one person who I've known since I was in first grade. We've never been close at all, we just went to school together. I've seen him a couple of times since we graduated and we talked briefly and went on our ways. I guess I have dreams about him at least once a year, and this has gone on for years. Do you think he used to be in a first circle soul group and has now moved to a third? This has always puzzeled me. Anyone else have this experience?

Peace,

Shariad

Shariad,

My first day of high school was in the middle of the semester, and the asst. principal asked a girl to show me my homeroom. The girl was very nice but she and I really never talked at all during the course of the 4 years. Since graduation I have seen her twice: once a "chance" meeting at the library, and at our reunion. She was a very good friend of mine before, not *that* long ago, and I know from just talking to her in our little bits of conversation that I love her very much. But basically, we've hardly spent any time together.
I learned from this that even people whom you barely spend time with in this lifetime, people who you could maybe even say you barely know---that in truth you could be very spiritually close with. No one should be taken for granted.

Peaceful thoughts,
DJ

Dear Shariad,

I think DJ's explanation is right on the mark.
Whether the circles belief is correct or there is some other organization or none at all, we shouldn't take any for granted.

So, perhaps your friend is very close to you spiritually and your confusion is the result
of sensing that closeness when your actual relationship in this life is much more casual.

Kat

Some Background: American Indian Beliefs:

'Among Native Americans of north, south, and central America, there are many indications of a belief in reincarnation. Professor Daniel Brinton discovered that "...this seemingly extraordinary doctrine which some have asserted was entirely unknown and impossible to the American Indians, was, in fact, one of their most deeply rooted and widespread convictions, especially among the tribes of the eastern United States. It is indissolubly connected with their highest theories of a future life, their burial ceremonies, and their modes of expression."

My grandmother was born and raised in a reservation located in the eastern United States. By "indissolubly", Brinton meant the belief was central to their world view and belief systems.

To find out more about reincarnation, read The Soul of the Indian by Charles Eastman.
"...many of the Indians believed that one may be born more than once and there are some who claimed to full knowledge of a former incarnation."

My grandmother believed the dreams I had which provided me with a woman's entire life and the fact that we could verify not only her existence during the years I remembered and the details (places, names, etc.) were evidence that validated this belief.

Kat

hello everyone!

kat - loved your post about the circle of souls. on the theory of native american beliefs in reincarnation:

i heard that certain tribes believed that twins are the result of two souls who had loved each other so much in a previous life, that they just couldn't bear to be separated. so they would reincarnate as twins in their next lives.

just a thought.

blessings all!

jereldeen

I think when it's time to be born there is an agreement of what the life is all about and not learning or doing ones destiny causes one to be bounced around in a circle of souls who are holding together the circle like the earth's circle is held together. Those souls are the family and friends whom are in your lives with problems to handle concerning your destiny. Sometimes I want to stop traveling the circle and walk straight out of it and I feel like a piece of dust trying to get out of a blown up balloon when what is needed is a pin.

Hi Lighten,

I would like to put out another view if I may...You said.....

"when it's time to be born there is an agreement of what the life is all about and not learning or doing ones destiny causes one to be bounced around in a circle of souls who are holding together the circle like the earth's circle is held together. "

Click to expand...

I hold a different 'theory' -- it is the following and it is based on my own experiences and my research in the Tibetan Book of the Dead and The Egyptian Book of the Dead.

WHAT WE HOLD IN CONSCIOUSNESS AT THE TIME OF OUR DEATH, WE OURSELVES CREATE IN THE NEXT LIFE.

I have been able to weave together, this premise in my "lives" and have found it to be a personal truth. Could it be that in Buddhism, Jewish, Christianity and in so many ancient religions, we have lost the original intention behind the "belief?" Could it be that what was intended was to stop the process of CREATING "suffering and Imperfection"?

Consciousness creates. And of course we have created suffering and imperfection in order to learn compassion, empathy and the deepest essence of Love.

If this theory is true, then the whole point of coming back, is to be aware..your entire life concerning the condition of your mind/body/spirit and not to hold fear, anger or negativity. It isn't necessarily a last minute evaluation, but a life time one. If we hold onto these "energies/vibrations" consciousness will recreate it in the next life. Heaven is here on earth..the ending of suffering and imperfection is a Conscious choice.

We are attracted to circles of souls because of their ENERGY..like a magnet we are drawn to them..like attracts like. But then also remember.....we ARE ALL CONNECTED..that's a pretty big circle.

Love,
Deborah

Deborah,
While reading your post, I kept nodding my head and I think that is because it pretty much described my own thoughts.
I've never accepted the notion that any other souls are either guiding or deciding for us. Humans are such egotistical, independent, and opinionated souls (if you'll excuse the pun). We tend to learn primarily my making our own mistakes, very rarely by paying attention and learning from other mistakes. Even when we are searching for a belief system and think we've found it, seemingly accepting someone else's system, we are still acting out of free will and self-fulfillment.

Humans are also unwilling to aknowledge much less admit they've made a mistake, not in any serious sense. We tend, instead, to blame others. We won't take responsibility unless that fulfills us in some other way, gets us something else we want more. I don't say ALL people are like this about ALL things but that I've never known anyone including myself who wasn't like that at the very least about some things.

I was watching a program, oh, years ago, about a man who had murdered two people in a robbery. He was bawling and tearful and apologizing about how if he had done anything wrong, he hadn't intended to, and if he had hurt anyone, he was sorry. I kept
thinking, "IF?". He wasn't taking responsibility for his actions and because he was not, his 'remorse' was a sham. You can't possibly feel remorseful for something you don't accept having done.

If there were a committee prepared to point out the error of my ways, or wise beings hanging around to channel wisdom, or if I could even have been able to learn just by looking back on the past life after death
and thinking, "OH, there's where I went wrong." But, it doesn't work that way at all.
If it did, we wouldn't have to keep coming back over and over again.

Jere, There is also a belief that identical
twins are a single soul split then developing separate living spirits. I think these kinds of ideas are individuals experimenting with reincarnation ideas that some others decide to accept. In general most do not. There was (perhaps still in some parts of the world) the notion that fraternal twins are two souls at karmic odds with each other, enemies before birth. There is an example of this idea in the Bible.

In the real world, some identicals have distinctly different personalities, likes and dislikes and some fraternals have excellant relationships, feeling closer even if they are brother/sister than other identicals feel. The fact that these myths about twins aren't consistently born out in the physical world says much about the believablity of the myths.

Take Care, Kat

HI Kat,

Sorry it took me so long to post this. Someone needs to throw me a life preserver!

You are quite correct..I left out one of the most important things...taking responsibility for ones actions. Thank you for bringing that up! So many people look to others to make them "happy," or as the cause for why they feel "sad" and so on. Not to mention the realization that ones actions are the cause of the effects in ones life!

Namaste,
Deborah.

Can you explain why there are murders among spouses, parents, children. Abuse within a family? If these are souls within circles of souls, why would they do horrible things to each other. What to be learned?


cpliu

Hi Cpliu

One quick theory from my brain at this time...

Not all of our families, siblings and parents are from our immediate circles through our many incarnations, sometimes we choose to enter other's clusters and soul circles to enrich and widen our learning amongst other people and perhaps more indepentantly and with less supportive circumstances (there could be many, MANY reasons for such a choice)....our soul circles may then exist in our close friends, teachers, helpful work colleagues or strangers, or anyone else who helps us and gives us a postive lift in our new environment.

Lots of Love

Kelly,
Thanks for the reply. So, you think souls of the close circles would not hurt each other at all? Can all the feelings, actions, good or bad, part of the learning among souls?

Regards,


cpliu

Hi Cpliu and Kelly

One source I have read leads me to believe that we come to this earth plane to experience certain things (good and bad)
and that they are predetermined - all arranged between us before we come.

Certainly, when we return home these events are viewed from a completely unemotional point of view and we try only to see the lesson that was learned.

If someone were to be involved with me in that sort of an arrangement, I would want only those from my very closest soul group to be the ones. They would be the ones that I would entrust to help me with the really hard lessons of this life. Just a thought.

Kate

hi Kate,

The mention of trusting only the souls closest to us for our hardest lessons makes me wonder? One of the hardest lessons is betrayal. Someone has to be real close to cut our heart out and throw it in the dirt
don't they? What kind of closeness or trust is that? To me that lesson says put your trust in God first, and the rest will fall in line. Perhaps we don't control the show as much as we'd like to think?

Regards, why

Dear Why - Has someone that you loved hurt you very, very badly (sad face, in fact, a really sad face, if I could remember how to make one)? A heart that has been deeply hurt can seem impossible to heal. It's such a personal injury. But, I assume.
Whether the case or not, I am sending you a BIG cyber hug. Kate

Hi Kate,

Thanks for the hug and concern! I'm sending a hug back to you also. (smiles)

Concerning pain, lets just say I've learned a lesson or two the hard way, besides my actions have not always been perfect either. (by a long shot) Anyway, the laws of the universe can always be counted on to treat us all fairly sooner or later, or instantly.

Live and learn and Love, why

Hi All

Well Cpliu...I guess that you can see that personal opinion differs from just Kate's and Why's examples above, some people would maybe prefer to learn "harder" lessons, with people they "trust" or are closely connected to, whereas other people might personally prefer the "acts" to come from anyone apart from those they hold close - and that's without counting the overwhelming effect of free will in our decisions in everyday life. I guess the main thing we have to remember is not everything that happens in life can be perfectly pre-empted or planned beforehand down to the finest detail, mistakes with be made, paths will be veered from and re-connected to, etc, etc, too many other aspects come into play along the way, and so I guess the answer to your question still lies pretty open, as opinion will change and differ from person to person; soul to soul
Lots of Love
Kelly

PS: Nice thoughts Kate and Why

FYI

This is an old old thread - but Kateet had some awesome thoughts four years ago that I thought new members might enjoy reading.

Thanks for bringing that back, Deborah. If memory serves me correctly - and please correct me if I'm wrong - Kateet became very ill and later on some of you wondered if she had died.

Did anyone ever find out if she had? From reading some of her other older posts it seemed like she had much wisdom and compassion, and shared both freely.

Aimee

Hi Aimee

As far as I'm aware, Kateet did pass over

I myself mailed Kateet various times up until 2003, after she disappeared from the board - as did many other of her online friends at that time (and regular members), but none of us ever heard back. I do know her heart condition was in it's final stages when she first found us here, but what she shared with us during that time was her inner wisdom and wonderful capacity to give unconditionally (that all come straight from her heart)...she was a much loved soul.

Kateet was one of the reasons that I stayed on the forum. She always had a new and thoughtful way of looking at a situation that I had never imagined. She was full of hope, acceptance, and wisdom....I will never forget her.

catseye

So true Catseye, so true...

cpliu said:

Can you explain why there are murders among spouses, parents, children. Abuse within a family? If these are souls within circles of souls, why would they do horrible things to each other. What to be learned?


cpliu

Click to expand...

I'd put this down to 'new souls', not in tune with the feelings of others, impatient, eager to get their way at the expense of others.

I'd go for soul distribution as being more random. We need to look at the way a consciousness 'moves' or 'enters' a new body from a dead body, and precisely why we get born as the people we are, with the personalities, preferences and physical attributes of our bodies - and of those 'soul mates' that may have meant something to us in the previous life and re-emerge in this life.

I think its more complicated than the 'circle of souls' notion. Everyone is living their own karma.

Michal

I've brought this post back up for everyone to read because I think that Kateet had such a beautiful way of expressing herself, and her explanation of the circle of souls really touched my heart.

I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did



Ailish