At this time the workings of karma, or the law of cause and effect are becoming more apparent to us. We are being given an opportunity to finally clear our karma and to live our lives consciously.

Karma is not a punishment, it is a perfect balancing over time. Left to its own devices the Universe is proficient at balancing karma all by itself and that process is happening all the time whether we are aware of it or not. No deed ever goes unnoticed and no crime however big or small is ever ‘gotten away with’. At some point our actions will catch up with us. Unfortunately by the time they do we may be living in another physical body, with a very different personality and be genuinely bemused and upset by the twists and turns of fate. It isn’t unfair, but sometimes it feels like it!

It is an oversimplification, but you can think of your karma as your cosmic bank balance. The balance doesn’t reset itself at zero at the start of each life, instead we carry our soul’s credits or debits forward. Some will enter their incarnation with a positive balance, a karmic bank account brim full as a result of many lifetimes of service and good deeds. Many more of us enter with a big debt as humanity has a tendency to learn lessons the hard way!

So if you have had a lifetime of struggle, lack and ‘bad luck’ despite being an essentially good and caring person you may suspect that you are having a life of debt repayment and rebalancing. Should you shrug your shoulders and think, “Well if I’m this far in debt I might as well be bad?” No! That is the equivalent of having huge credit card bills, then taking out yet another loan, it just mounts up and at some point you’ll have to face it.

You could sit and shrug and say, “Well I’m not going to do anything as my karma will work itself out.” Eventually it will do, but such passivity leaves you journeying through life like a rudderless boat floating down a river. You’ll get somewhere eventually, but you may bump into all of the rocks on the way. You’ll probably avoid some of these if you gently guide your boat and you'll get to your destination less bruised!

You can work now on releasing karmic debt, even that which built up in other lifetimes. You need to be aware and proactive to do this, but it seems at this time we are being encouraged and assisted to do this. You need to identify and dissolve negative patterns. Look at the events of your life. Perhaps you have suffered from being stolen from and cheated? Meditate on the pattern you find and ask to be shown why this is happening. You may get the answer just sitting there, or it may filter in through dreams or hunches.

In the scenario of material loss you might realise you have taken from others in the past, or perhaps that you hoarded wealth in a miserly way. Now you are experiencing what it is like to be taken from so that your soul learns not to steal, cheat or hoard.

Ask whether you can release the pattern once it is identified so that it doesn’t just continue. Again it is good to meditate or pray for guidance. In this instance you might need to give. If money has been stolen then consciously give money, not all of your cash so that you cannot sustain yourself, but give an amount you notice and do it regularly. If you have lost goods repeatedly, give away some material possessions. In doing this you are giving a signal to the Universe that your lesson has been learned and accepted.

A little warning, declaring that you want to be cleared of all karma can be over ambitious. I did hear of a local psychic who declared this intention and quickly became so ill he was almost carried off the planet. I’m sure his karmic debt next lifetime would have been lighter, but I don’t think he had anything so extreme in mind. Ask to be shown what is most important and what you can cope with. You’ve lived many lives and goodness only knows what you have been up to, so don’t try to sort it all out in one fell swoop.

It is a mistake to always think of karma as punitive, we can be rewarded through karma too. Some people seem to have everything go their way and it is hard to see why they deserve it, now you know they started with a credit balance. They have earned their good fortune. Of course if they aren’t topping up their karmic balance this time round they’ll empty their account and get into debt at some stage, but it might not be this lifetime!

Karma is a constant balancing needed for the soul’s growth and sometimes what looks negative can be the most important lesson we have incarnated to learn. Someone may have had a stream of lifetimes looking after others, but not receiving back for themselves. Perhaps this lifetime they develop an illness that means they have to let others help them. It is a balancing of experience, not a punishment.

Past life work can be the key to understanding what happened then and how it links to your life now. Sometimes regression will uncover a horrific act that your soul inflicted on another. The tendency when this happens is to beat yourself up and feel awful about it. Don’t get trapped in the horror. Ask to be shown if there is something you can do now. A heartfelt apology helps, a prayer for forgiveness will be of value, but often an action in the real world is needed.

One of my closest friends had me cursed in a past life. In this life, once the curse came to light, she gave me a beautiful healing that cleared away the negative energy she’d created back then. It was the perfect rebalancing and I am sure that as well as helping me move forward she helped clear the path for herself. I tell the whole story in my book Light behind the Angels.

A good practitioner who knows how to work with past lives can help you. I find past life work is one of the most transformative ways of working with clients. When you see what you’ve created over many lives you can appreciate that your soul has been on a long and complex journey.

If you want to investigate your own past lives read my review of David Well's book Past, Present and Future which has many easy to follow exercises. I also enjoy the Many Lives, Many Masters series of books by Brian Weiss.