Twin flame
New Age concept
A twin flame is a concept in New Age spirituality describing the belief that a single soul can be split into two bodies, resulting in two individuals who share an unusually intense spiritual and emotional bond. Proponents describe twin flames as "mirror souls", whose reunion is understood as a catalyst for personal growth, healing, and spiritual awakening. The concept is discussed primarily within spiritual and self-help contexts and has no documented scientific basis.
Though the idea draws on ancient philosophical traditions, the specific term was introduced in Victorian literature and popularized in the late 20th century through New Age religious movements. The twin flame concept is distinct from the related notion of a soulmate.
History
In his 4th-century BC text Symposium, the Greek philosopher Plato introduces an origin myth for the sexes, in which the first human beings were double in form, with two faces, four arms, and four legs. After angering the gods, they were split in two, leaving each person searching for their missing half. Some writers have made a connection between this myth and the concept of twin flames.
The English novelist Marie Corelli is credited with coining the term "twin flame" (used interchangeably with "twin soul") in her 1886 novel A Romance of Two Worlds. The Twin Soul, an 1887 novel attributed to Corelli's adoptive father, Charles Mackay, but likely co-written by Corelli, centers around the concept.
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This entry incorporates text from “Twin flame” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.