The term twin flame is often used as a synonym for the soulmate connection; however, when studying manifestation the two terms are very different.
A soulmate connection is usually used to describe intense love. This connection is shared between two individuals who have similar energies. With twin flames, the connection is much deeper: it’s possible to have multiple soulmates in your life but, you’ll only ever have one twin flame.
The history of twin flames isn’t fully known but there’s a popular origin story in the Symposium by Plato. The story goes that when God created humans, they originally had one soul but double of all other body parts. The Greek gods didn’t like the humans since their extra limbs and strength were seen as a threat to their position of power. As a solution Zeus decided to cut each person into 2. Thus, there were two people walking the earth bearing the same soul. These separated souls would spend their lives being drawn to each other, constantly looking for their mirroring soul.
Your twin flame is the other half of your soul. It’s one of the strongest connections you can feel with another person. It’s so strong that when you find your twin flame it invokes a sense of homecoming, and is often described as an immediate sense of recognition, as if you have known them forever.
Although twin flames sound so fulfilling, they are not always compatible. They’re a mirror of yourself, that includes all the parts that you don’t like about yourself and try to conceal. When you are faced with your twin flame you become faced with a physical manifestation of these traits, which can often lead to an ugly start with your twin flame. You have to be in a good position with yourself to ever be in a good position with your twin flame. The connection is meant to help you work through your traumas and issues, as your twin flame often mirrors similar experiences.
Oftentimes people will meet their twin flames but at the wrong point in time, one of them has come to a level of realization that the other has not yet reached. The universe will pull them back apart if this is the case but, it will also reunite them. It is so rare for twin flames to meet each other at the right time on the first attempt. To compensate the universe will keep drawing them back together like magnets until the timing is right. When the timing is right, your twin flame will lead you to see the world differently. You will become a more soulful being, one that feels whole in all aspects.
Your twin flame in no way has to be a romantic interest, people often find twin flames in best friends. More rarely, twin flames can be found in family members. This connection is not about physical, or even mental attraction, but about fulfilling the soulful parts of you that you didn’t know were missing.