Karmic Debts versus Karmic Lessons: Discover your Karma in Numerology

“If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.” ― Padmasambhava

I’ve written about karma before, as I believe it is, apart from our unfulfilled desires, the reason we came into this birth. In this blog post, I will delve more into the concept of karma. I will also show you how you can decode and understand your own personal karma from a numerological perspective.

If you believe in karma and reincarnation, then you know it is all about your actions and behavior in relation to your past and present life. In other words, whatever deeds you have done in a past life will come back to you in this life, for better or worse. And how you behave in this life will determine whether you have to pay for your karmic deeds or reap the rewards, either in this lifetime or the next. That is karma in a nutshell. It is all about the cause and effect of your actions, and thus behavior. Anything you say or do has consequences, which can be good or bad. At the end of the day, you create your own happiness or misery. And there is no one else to blame but you.

We all have karma. In numerology, there are two numbers that can indicate yours: the Karmic Debt number and Karmic Lesson number. You can have either of them or both. But what is the difference between these two? I will explain this next.

Karmic Debt Number

The Karmic Debt number signifies the number that shows your heavy burdens or the horrible things you have done to other people in a past life (or in multiple past lives), for which you have to face the consequences and pay off the debt you own them, in this present life. This number enables you to see certain struggles, sorrows, and sufferings you have to go through in this life, including the lessons you still have to learn. So, if you want to understand why you have to go through all these pains in your life, and how to undo all of this, then a Karmic Debt number can provide you with an answer. At the end of the day, karma is all about behavior, your actions. But if you are not aware of your own behavioral patterns, then in this lifetime you may have to face certain repeating situations and obstacles in which you have to deal with the bad behavior you expressed in a previous life – unless you decide to change your behavior now so you can stop the cycle of continuous frustration, struggles, and upheavals. Thus, having Karmic Debt doesn’t mean you are doomed, cursed, scarred, and sentenced for life, but it just gives you an opportunity to learn from your experiences, improve yourself, and become a better person.

How do you find out if you have a Karmic Debt number?

In my previous post, the 8 most important numbers in your numerology birth chart, I briefly explained how Western numerology only knows 4 types of Karmic Debt numbers: namely 13, 14, 16, and 19. To find out if you have any of these four Karmic Debt numbers in your numerological DNA, you would need either your birth date or full name to calculate your core numbers. When either of these numbers appears through calculation, or as a result of your other core numbers (e.g., Life Path Number and Expression Number), then you have a Karmic Debt number. So, when you decide to do your own calculations for any of your personal core numbers, and you notice one of these aforementioned four double-digits as a result, or they appear just before you reduce it to a single digit, then you have a Karmic Debt number.

In this next example, I will show you how to calculate a Life Path number, which also comprises a Karmic Debt number:

Example date of birth: 17 August 2001

To calculate the Life Path number of a person with the above date of birth, you need the following formula.

Day of birth + Month of birth + Year of Birth = Life Path Number

1 + 7 + 8 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 1 = 19  ( You can spot the Karmic Debt number already, which is 19. However, continue to add and reduce until you have a Life Path number between 1 and 9, or a Master Number )

1+ 9 = 10

1+ 0 = 1 Life Path number

Based on this calculation, you can see that a person with a date of birth of 17th August 2001 is not only a Life Path number 1 but also carries a Karmic Debt number 19. It means that this person has some karma to burn pertaining to the energies of the planets Sun (1) and Mars (9).

You can also find out the Karmic Debt number through calculating other core numbers, such as your Expression number. Click here for an example.

Nice to know: If a person is born on either the 13^th, 14^th, 16th, or the 19^th you can also say that they have a Karmic Debt number. So, as per the Birthday number, you don’t have to do any calculation at all to find out if someone has a Karmic Debt number.

Now that you’ve learned how to find a Karmic Debt number, I will further explain what each of these double digits means.

13: If you have this as a Karmic Debt number, it means that a combination of the Sun (1), Jupiter (3), and Rahu (1 + 3 = 4). influenced your karma. Hence, in a past life, you might have had a frivolous, abundant lifestyle in which you misused your powers and abilities, and so you carried it over to this present lifetime. You cared little, if at all, about the day-to-day duties, responsibilities, and commitments you had towards yourself and others. You didn’t take accountability for your actions. As materialistic as you were, you probably also lived in excess, beyond your means, without taking others into consideration. You didn’t like sharing things with others, whether that pertained to your knowledge, ideas, or material possessions. You probably dealt with immoral behavior and activities (e.g., selfishness, cheating, greed, stealing, scamming), just to get ahead.

And so, in this present life, you have to work harder to achieve your goals and treat people well along the way to your success. However, this won’t be an easy path for you. Because you may face many obstacles and struggles along your path, in which you will have to be serious, dedicated, and committed to your everyday life. The Universe will put you into many situations which will teach you that you are responsible for your own actions and that in order to move ahead and live a prosperous, productive, and meaningful life, you should use good ethical practices and morals. More so, the universe will require you to work more with others, share with others, show more empathy, and treat people the way you want to be treated.

14: If you have this as a Karmic Debt number, it means that a combination of the Sun (1), Rahu (4), and Mercury (1 + 4 = 5). influenced your karma. Hence, in a past life, you might have had a chaotic, imbalanced, selfish, and carefree lifestyle in which you misused your freedom, powers, and abilities, and so you carried this burden over to this present life. You cared little, if at all, about living a harmonious, conscious, and steadfast life. You probably were self-indulgent and made a lot of impulsive decisions, which made your life even more chaotic, unstable, and directionless. Living a nomadic lifestyle was probably something you enjoyed more than caring about tomorrow, your daily responsibilities, or even those close to you. Talking your way into getting things done (your way) was a piece of cake for you, just like a typical con artist would do. Besides, you had the talents and skills for that too (even though you misused them), and you didn’t care about the consequences of your actions.

And so, in this present life, you will face many karmic obstacles, struggles, and maybe even temptations on your path to success and living a prosperous life. These hardships will keep appearing until you learn how to manage your thought process, restlessness, and emotional impulsiveness. The Universe will put you into many karmic situations that will teach you how to use your freedom, talents, and skills more constructively and wisely. This way you can live a more holistic, balanced, and steady life that allows you to make more calculative and thoughtful decisions. So, before taking any actions in life, it is best to weigh out the pros and cons, even consult with others before jumping into things. This may prevent you from hurting yourself and others along the way.

16: If you have this as a Karmic Debt number, it means that your karma was influenced by a combination of the Sun (1), Venus (6), and Ketu (1 + 6 = 7). Hence, in a past life, you might have had a very inconsiderate, selfish kind of lifestyle that could have led you into hurting people, even those close to you. If you have hurt your loved ones in a past lifetime, or any other person you dealt with daily, you could have carried over this energy into this present life through this Karmic Debt number. Out of all the other numbers, the number 16 is probably the most karmic by nature. Simply because it mainly deals with the relationship you have with others (both personal and professional). It could mean that in a past life you might have had trouble finding balance in all your dealings with others. This might be because you were too focused on yourself and your own issues, ambitions, and aspirations without giving much attention to those around you. You might have mistreated others, or others might have hurt you in the past. There was, simply put, a lack of balance in all your relationships.

So, now you might not only find it hard to trust and love others unconditionally, but others will have a hard time trusting and loving you as well, whether this is at work or in your personal life. Thus, in this lifetime it is of utmost importance to learn how to let go of your ego (and all your selfish needs) so that you can create a more spiritual, meaningful, and balanced connection between yourself and others. The Universe will put you into many karmic situations that will teach you how to empathize with others, love unconditionally, cultivate relationships, act selflessly, be more of service, and ultimately, create more harmony in all areas of your life. However, the only way to do such is to work on yourself, take a good look at yourself, including the way you may project your emotions and traits onto others.

19: Finally, if you have this as a Karmic Debt number, it means that a combination of the Sun (1) and Mars (9) influenced your karma. Hence, in a past life, you used to have a selfish, egocentric, independent lifestyle that you carried over to this present life. You cared little, if at all, about other people, whether in your personal or professional life. The focus was mostly on yourself, your goals, ambitions, and well-being. Everything you did was to fulfill your own agenda full of selfish needs. Climbing the ladder in society and getting yourself into a leadership position were probably things that were very easy for you to accomplish, especially if you had to walk all over others. So maybe, in a past lifetime, you may have done unethical things to attain success. Taking other people’s feelings and emotions into consideration was not really your forte. You probably didn’t want to share your knowledge, talents, and skills, either. The way you lived was simply all about ‘me, myself, and I’.

And so, in this present life, it is important to know that the world doesn’t revolve around you and your ambitions. You are here to empathize and sympathize more with others. One of your key lessons in life is to learn how to be more supportive, cooperative, trustworthy, humble, and compassionate. More so, practice how to share and give more, expecting nothing in return. Although being of service may not be something that comes naturally to you, however, it is paramount that you attempt to do so, wherever and whenever you can. Do more things that will benefit others, and not just yourself. At the same time, you should also learn how to accept help from other people as well, especially when you face various problems and obstacles in life. Because the Universe will, ultimately, put you into many karmic situations until you stop your selfish behavior from the past. Once you learn how to identify your repetitive patterns and take actions towards improving your behavior, you will encounter fewer struggles, and you can then move forward towards pursuing your goals and dreams. However, you must accept the fact that nothing in life comes easy, and that you always need someone in order to get to where you want to go. But you need to be ethical and wise about all that you do because karma will come back around.

Let’s now move on to the Karmic Lesson Number…

Karmic Lesson Number

This number signifies your hidden potential, talents, skills, and overall traits that you are not aware of. It also represents some of your weaknesses or your areas of development (as I prefer to call it); those traits and lessons you carried over from a previous lifetime, which you still have to learn and develop in this present life. This number describes those traits and talents you don’t have a clue about unless you decide to do some serious soul searching (after you’ve been through many repetitive karmic situations) or someone else makes you realize it. However, once you have figured out your Karmic Lesson number (s) and learn how to work with its energies, it can help you develop yourself and improve your interactions with others. More so, knowing your Karmic Lesson number can diminish a lot of the struggles, obstacles, and worries in your life. It can also serve as a motivation for you to take that next step in the right direction so that you can create a more prosperous, meaningful, peaceful, and fulfilling life for yourself.

But how do you find out your Karmic Lesson numbers, as per numerology? Well, as I’ve explained in my post “The 8 most important numbers in your numerology birth chart“, some numbers are calculated from your date of birth, and others are calculated using the letters of your name. Your Karmic Lesson number is derived from your full birth name, and it represents the missing letters from your full name. For this, you would need to the Pythagorean numerology alphabet system, as per the table below.

As you can see, each letter has a numerical value assigned to it. So, to figure out your Karmic Lesson number (s), all you have to do is to see which letter in your full name doesn’t have any number (between 1 and 9) assigned to it. You basically want to know which number is missing from the letters in your name. If there’s any number missing from 1 to 9, then that is your karmic lesson. That number (or those numbers–if you have multiple lessons) will show the qualities, traits, and talents that you are lacking, or not aware of, and which you should develop in this lifetime.

I will further explain this using the following example calculation.

Example full name: Jane Janet Doe

First, you assign a number to each letter of the first, middle, and last name. Then you have to see which numbers (from 1 to 9) are not assigned to one of the letters.

J= 1, A= 1, N= 5, E= 5

J= 1, A= 1, N= 5, E= 5, T= 2

D= 4, O= 6, E= 5

Based on the Pythagorean table above, the numbers that are not present in the name ‘Jane Janet Doe’ are 3, 7, 8, and 9. This means that this person has karmic lessons to learn associated with the energies and behavioral qualities of the following four planets; Jupiter (3), Ketu (7), Saturn (8), and Mars (9). Now, these are a lot of heavy karmic lessons!

When you translate the concept of Karmic Lesson numbers to real-life situations, it shows that we all have different paths to walk. For example, there are people in this world who seem to have it all together. Things just flow in their life without them having to do much. They meet the right people, get awards and recognition, get one promotion after another, have good and balanced relationships, and the right doors just seem to open for them at the right time. It is like they don’t have a lot of karma to release. While others just can’t seem to have a break from the sour lemons that life keeps throwing at them. Growth, lucky breaks, material success, and prosperity do not come easy. For such people, life often feels like one step forward and four steps back. Why is that? From a numerological perspective, this is due to the fact that some people simply have to deal with more karmic situations and lessons than others. It is what they have carried over from a previous time. And it is through the Karmic Lesson number you can, at some level, see why certain people simply have to deal with more hardships than others. Through this number, you can see why some have more or less luck on their side, whether it is in their personal or professional life.

However, once you become aware of your own karma and know which letter/numerical energy is lacking in your name, you can use it to your advantage. You can use it towards your own personal development, self-improvement, and spiritual growth. Because once you get some insight into the numbers and letters that are missing in your name, it can awaken something inside of you, perhaps a strength you didn’t even think you had. It can empower you to take inspired actions towards pursuing your goals and dreams and overcome your daily struggles. However, you must be ready and willing to go within and work on yourself. Only then can you release your karma, learn your lessons, and improve your life.

For example, let’s say that the number 1 (ruled by the Sun) is absent in the letters of your name. The number 1 may show that you lack confidence in your abilities, you’re not aware of your leadership skills, and you don’t like to initiate things or do things on your own. You are afraid to take risks and lack the courage to take your own path, which makes you always in need of and dependent on others. And when you depend too much on others or act more like a follower than a leader of the pack, you can never become your authentic self. But when you understand the energetic vibration of the number 1, it could act as a catalyst for you to step into your own personal power. It can help you become more confident, independent, driven, ambitious, and courageous. It can also enable you to express more of your authentic, creative self. However, if for whatever kind of reason you cannot tap into the energy of the number 1, then you may always get yourself into karmic situations in which others may run all over you. You could easily become disappointed and agitated in everything you do in life. Thus, this Karmic Lesson number 1 may indicate that you often have to work a lot harder than others in order to become the authority in your own life or to gain some sort of leadership position. But once you learn and understand the importance of the karmic lesson pertaining to the energetic vibrations of this number, you may be well on your way towards unlocking your full potential and becoming your best self!

Another example is that of the number 5 (ruled by Mercury). When you miss the number 5 in your name, it could show that you dislike changes in your life and might be afraid to take any sort of risk. You are not open to learning new things, trying new foods, meeting new people, exploring new avenues, or taking any spontaneous trips. Starting your own business, becoming self-employed, public speaking, or simply putting yourself out there, and talking to people are things that could frighten you or make you feel anxious. However, the karmic lesson of the number 5 is that if you always play life on the safe side, you could miss out on new adventures, and exciting opportunities that could change your life for the better – whether that is in your personal or professional life. At the end of the day, life is about constant change, which requires adaptability, curiosity, stepping outside of your comfort zone, and taking calculated risks.

In conclusion, the numbers and letters that are missing in your name can show you what qualities, skills, and traits you lack. They can also show you what you need to develop and improve in order to live a better quality of life and, ultimately, create more joy, happiness, and contentment in your life. This can prevent you from becoming discontent with your life and blaming the entire world for your circumstances.

With that being said, we have now come to the end of this post. I hope you have now gained more insight into the concept of karma from a numerological perspective. Although we all carry karma with us, keep in mind that not everyone has a Karmic Debt number, however, everyone has a Karmic Lesson number, as per numerology. Obviously, we cannot change what we did in a past lifetime. We can only control our behavior and focus on what we have in this present life. Ultimately, the best thing to do is to live your life as best as you can, treat others the way you want to be treated, and face your karma. In other words, face your (daily) struggles, recognize your behavioral patterns, figure out what needs to change, and start the process. Otherwise, you will keep facing situations that will make you feel disappointed, frustrated, and limited in life when you can actually soar and thrive in life. So, if you don’t want to go through the same experiences again and get stuck in the cycle of death and rebirth, then find a way to break your karmic cycle. There are different ways to do such. Numerology is just one of many, and yet a simple one, but it is a start.

As always, I thank you for reading.