Cleansing and Clearing Crystal & Gemstone
Why It’s Important to Clear Your Crystals!
When you first receive your crystal, it holds the energy of wherever it came from. You won’t know where it was sourced from and if the previous owner of the crystal has any negative or dense vibrations, you best believe that they will be stored in there, and passed onto you. For those of us who are “energy sponges”, this is particularly important.
Frequency of cleansing
If you’ve already cleansed them when you acquired them, and have actively used them for a long time, it’s a good idea to regularly give them a good cleaning. This is important if you do a lot of healing or energy work, or if you are you’re using them all of the time, such as when you’re receiving support around a difficult time in your life. If it’s jewelry you wear regularly, make sure to clean them once a week. If it’s a specimen piece that works within your living or work space, a few times out of the year works well.
If you use them for healing work, clear them after each session or treatment. If you’re using them for deep soul work, cleanse them often. Trust your intuition as to when it’s needed. Sometimes you can tell by the way the crystal’s appearance has changed, how it feels in your hand, or how it energetically feels.
Are you cleansing your crystals the right way? Here’s a guide to Crystal Clearing
1 Smudging. Smudging entails taking a sacred herb, such as sacred white sage (my fave), sweetgrass, cedar, incense, etc., taking a flame to the tip of it, letting it smoke, and then holding the crystal in the smoke for a few seconds. This is by far my number one favorite way to clear crystals – it’s quick, easy, you never have to worry if the crystal is too soft to be soaked in salt water (if the crystal is low on the Mohs scale, it will damage and mar the surface, although it will not affect the performance of the crystal), and you can get a quickie self-cleansing while you’re at it! I also have lots of sage around me at home or at the office, so it’s very convenient. Smudging in this way clears all energy that has come in contact with the crystals previously, and has been practiced for centuries by many indigenous cultures, for good reason!
2 Intention. There are a couple of ways you can use your intention to clear your crystal. You can hold it in the palm of your hand, and set an intention that the crystal be cleared of all energy, and blow that intention into the crystal. Another way is to beam white light from your Third Eye Chakra and surround the crystal with it. When you do so, you can imagine sweeping any negativity to a black hole that is filled with white light (the white light transforms the negativity to a positive light force, and the negativity is released from existence). And, lastly, you can visualize the crystal being surrounding with white or golden light, and intend any negativity be transformed from negative to positive light energy. For all of these methods, it’s important to be focused and maintain your concentration.
3 Reiki. If you’re a Reiki practitioner, you can clear your crystals by infusing them with pure and channeled Universal light energy. If you’re Level I or II, you can hold the crystals in your hand and clear and program them. If you’re Level III or above, you can simply beam it to them. This is what I do in my treatment room with my stones between patients, especially my chakra stones, since they are popular during treatments. Multitasking at its finest!
4 Selenite slab. Another favorite way I cleanse my crystals is by placing them on a slab of Selenite (others may call it Satin Selenite). Or, in my case, a cluster of Selenite wands. Selenite is so wonderful because it aligns your chakras, helps with physical pain, especially the spine, NEVER needs cleaning (although they don’t mind smudging or moonbeams once and a while), and clears other stones! Sometimes I take my smaller stones and place them on my Selenite wands cluster and leave them overnight (although you can already clear them in 10 minutes using this method!), so they’ll be charged by the morning.
5 Clear crystal or amethyst cluster. Clear Crystal Quartz clusters and Amethyst clusters are also effective for clearing the energies of healing stones. Simply place your stones on them overnight to clear them.
6 Moonlight. Many stones love the celestial moonbeams! To get the most La Luna action, lay them out during the Full Moon. You may even wish to place them the day before the Full Moon, and after. Because the moon represents the Yin energy, you’ll be nourishing your crystals with Yin energy flow during a moon bath. A strong Full Moon will last for 3 days. Your crystals will still get the love even if it’s cloudy or rainy, although make sure that those crystals low on the Mohs scale are brought back in if you get some rain!
7 Brown rice. Not only is a 24-hour rice soak good for saving your mobile device after it gets accidentally dropped in the commode; but apparently, your crystals love it, too! This gluten-free method of crystal cleansing balances and centers the energy, removes the negativity from it, while transforming the negative to positive. The double benefit from this is that after the soak, your rice is purified and energized and makes a great addition to your meal!
8 Flower petal bath. Soak your crystals for 24 hours in a bath or rose petals, orange blossoms, or honeysuckle (use your intuition for the blossoms best for your bath), if you want to help your stones strip away negativity, cleanse them, and transmit the purity and energy of the flowers to the stone. Keep in mind that whatever flowers you use will transmit those properties to the stones. One example is using the love vibration of rose petals (which resonate with the Heart Chakra) to transfer love energy to your crystals.
9 Sound cleansing. Sound is healing, not only for our bodies (hence my tuning forks that I use in the office!), but also for our crystal allies. You can use: Crystal or Tibetan bowls, Tibetan/tingsha bells, drums, other percussion, sacred singing and incantations, healing music (including harmonious/ceremonial/classical music or the solfeggio frequencies), or you can run activated tuning forks over them. Make sure your crystals are in the sound pathway, and you’re good to go!
10 Bury them in the earth. Mother Earth recharges the stones with her vibrational energy. Make sure you have a marker in the ground so you know where to find them after cleansing for 24 hours! You can also place them in earth in a container to more easily find them. Caution for this method: make sure your crystals have a Mohs hardness rating of at least 6 or higher, so that any absorbed rain or moisture in the earth doesn’t damage your crystals. Keep in mind that the soil may also get trapped in any nooks and crannies.
11 Running water. Holding them under cool, flowing water, such as a spring, river, lake, or your kitchen faucet is an effective way of cleansing them. Water is a universal cleanser of denser energies from physical forms, from crystals to your own body! You can enhance this method by visualizing that the water is clearing out any negative energy, and going down the drain or being flushed away down the river. You can also follow by energizing them in the sun. Caution for this method: some crystals should not be submerged under water, otherwise they will be damaged, or will dissolve. If they are 5 or less on the Mohs scale, do not submerge them under water. Follow your intuition. Some crystals that should not be submerged in water are: Selenite, Malachite, Lapis Lazuli, Fluorite, Calcite, Desert Rose, or Halite.
12 Salt water soak. Just like you, crystals resonate highly to salt water soaks! You can use regular table salt for crystal soaks, about 3 tablespoons of salt to a cup of water. I like to cover my crystals in salt water until the highest crystal is covered. Place on your windowsill overnight (you can soak from one to seven days), or an area that will get sunlight. I also prefer to use a glass container for this, to allow for the sunbeams (or moonbeams!) to penetrate. Caution for this method: make sure the crystals that are receiving this salt bath are no less than a 7 on the Mohs scale, otherwise you will damage your crystal! Also note that stones that contain iron, such as Hematite, Magnetite, and Lodestone may oxidize when submerged in water.
13 Sunlight. Sunlight is a great way to bathe your crystals, especially those that are red, yellow, or orange. Carnelian and Sunstone love to sunbathe! Let them catch some rays for a few hours, to help them recharge. Caution for this method: sunlight makes some crystals fade or change in color. The following crystals should not be placed under sunlight: Amethyst, Celestite, Citrine, Fluorite, Kunzite, Rose Quartz, Smoky Quartz, Topaz, and Turquoise, to name a few. Opal will dry out in sunlight.
Remember: you never have to clean Citrine, Kyanite, Selenite, and Azeztulite. Of course, if you decide to smudge them or give them Reiki occasionally, they certainly wouldn’t mind! Also, Clear Quartz, Carnelian, and Amethyst cleanse other crystals (but may need some cleaning themselves afterwards!)
When you first receive your crystal, it holds the energy of wherever it came from. You won’t know where it was sourced from and if the previous owner of the crystal has any negative or dense vibrations, you best believe that they will be stored in there, and passed onto you. For those of us who are “energy sponges”, this is particularly important.
Frequency of cleansing
If you’ve already cleansed them when you acquired them, and have actively used them for a long time, it’s a good idea to regularly give them a good cleaning. This is important if you do a lot of healing or energy work, or if you are you’re using them all of the time, such as when you’re receiving support around a difficult time in your life. If it’s jewelry you wear regularly, make sure to clean them once a week. If it’s a specimen piece that works within your living or work space, a few times out of the year works well.
If you use them for healing work, clear them after each session or treatment. If you’re using them for deep soul work, cleanse them often. Trust your intuition as to when it’s needed. Sometimes you can tell by the way the crystal’s appearance has changed, how it feels in your hand, or how it energetically feels.
Are you cleansing your crystals the right way? Here’s a guide to Crystal Clearing
1 Smudging. Smudging entails taking a sacred herb, such as sacred white sage (my fave), sweetgrass, cedar, incense, etc., taking a flame to the tip of it, letting it smoke, and then holding the crystal in the smoke for a few seconds. This is by far my number one favorite way to clear crystals – it’s quick, easy, you never have to worry if the crystal is too soft to be soaked in salt water (if the crystal is low on the Mohs scale, it will damage and mar the surface, although it will not affect the performance of the crystal), and you can get a quickie self-cleansing while you’re at it! I also have lots of sage around me at home or at the office, so it’s very convenient. Smudging in this way clears all energy that has come in contact with the crystals previously, and has been practiced for centuries by many indigenous cultures, for good reason!
2 Intention. There are a couple of ways you can use your intention to clear your crystal. You can hold it in the palm of your hand, and set an intention that the crystal be cleared of all energy, and blow that intention into the crystal. Another way is to beam white light from your Third Eye Chakra and surround the crystal with it. When you do so, you can imagine sweeping any negativity to a black hole that is filled with white light (the white light transforms the negativity to a positive light force, and the negativity is released from existence). And, lastly, you can visualize the crystal being surrounding with white or golden light, and intend any negativity be transformed from negative to positive light energy. For all of these methods, it’s important to be focused and maintain your concentration.
3 Reiki. If you’re a Reiki practitioner, you can clear your crystals by infusing them with pure and channeled Universal light energy. If you’re Level I or II, you can hold the crystals in your hand and clear and program them. If you’re Level III or above, you can simply beam it to them. This is what I do in my treatment room with my stones between patients, especially my chakra stones, since they are popular during treatments. Multitasking at its finest!
4 Selenite slab. Another favorite way I cleanse my crystals is by placing them on a slab of Selenite (others may call it Satin Selenite). Or, in my case, a cluster of Selenite wands. Selenite is so wonderful because it aligns your chakras, helps with physical pain, especially the spine, NEVER needs cleaning (although they don’t mind smudging or moonbeams once and a while), and clears other stones! Sometimes I take my smaller stones and place them on my Selenite wands cluster and leave them overnight (although you can already clear them in 10 minutes using this method!), so they’ll be charged by the morning.
5 Clear crystal or amethyst cluster. Clear Crystal Quartz clusters and Amethyst clusters are also effective for clearing the energies of healing stones. Simply place your stones on them overnight to clear them.
6 Moonlight. Many stones love the celestial moonbeams! To get the most La Luna action, lay them out during the Full Moon. You may even wish to place them the day before the Full Moon, and after. Because the moon represents the Yin energy, you’ll be nourishing your crystals with Yin energy flow during a moon bath. A strong Full Moon will last for 3 days. Your crystals will still get the love even if it’s cloudy or rainy, although make sure that those crystals low on the Mohs scale are brought back in if you get some rain!
7 Brown rice. Not only is a 24-hour rice soak good for saving your mobile device after it gets accidentally dropped in the commode; but apparently, your crystals love it, too! This gluten-free method of crystal cleansing balances and centers the energy, removes the negativity from it, while transforming the negative to positive. The double benefit from this is that after the soak, your rice is purified and energized and makes a great addition to your meal!
8 Flower petal bath. Soak your crystals for 24 hours in a bath or rose petals, orange blossoms, or honeysuckle (use your intuition for the blossoms best for your bath), if you want to help your stones strip away negativity, cleanse them, and transmit the purity and energy of the flowers to the stone. Keep in mind that whatever flowers you use will transmit those properties to the stones. One example is using the love vibration of rose petals (which resonate with the Heart Chakra) to transfer love energy to your crystals.
9 Sound cleansing. Sound is healing, not only for our bodies (hence my tuning forks that I use in the office!), but also for our crystal allies. You can use: Crystal or Tibetan bowls, Tibetan/tingsha bells, drums, other percussion, sacred singing and incantations, healing music (including harmonious/ceremonial/classical music or the solfeggio frequencies), or you can run activated tuning forks over them. Make sure your crystals are in the sound pathway, and you’re good to go!
10 Bury them in the earth. Mother Earth recharges the stones with her vibrational energy. Make sure you have a marker in the ground so you know where to find them after cleansing for 24 hours! You can also place them in earth in a container to more easily find them. Caution for this method: make sure your crystals have a Mohs hardness rating of at least 6 or higher, so that any absorbed rain or moisture in the earth doesn’t damage your crystals. Keep in mind that the soil may also get trapped in any nooks and crannies.
11 Running water. Holding them under cool, flowing water, such as a spring, river, lake, or your kitchen faucet is an effective way of cleansing them. Water is a universal cleanser of denser energies from physical forms, from crystals to your own body! You can enhance this method by visualizing that the water is clearing out any negative energy, and going down the drain or being flushed away down the river. You can also follow by energizing them in the sun. Caution for this method: some crystals should not be submerged under water, otherwise they will be damaged, or will dissolve. If they are 5 or less on the Mohs scale, do not submerge them under water. Follow your intuition. Some crystals that should not be submerged in water are: Selenite, Malachite, Lapis Lazuli, Fluorite, Calcite, Desert Rose, or Halite.
12 Salt water soak. Just like you, crystals resonate highly to salt water soaks! You can use regular table salt for crystal soaks, about 3 tablespoons of salt to a cup of water. I like to cover my crystals in salt water until the highest crystal is covered. Place on your windowsill overnight (you can soak from one to seven days), or an area that will get sunlight. I also prefer to use a glass container for this, to allow for the sunbeams (or moonbeams!) to penetrate. Caution for this method: make sure the crystals that are receiving this salt bath are no less than a 7 on the Mohs scale, otherwise you will damage your crystal! Also note that stones that contain iron, such as Hematite, Magnetite, and Lodestone may oxidize when submerged in water.
13 Sunlight. Sunlight is a great way to bathe your crystals, especially those that are red, yellow, or orange. Carnelian and Sunstone love to sunbathe! Let them catch some rays for a few hours, to help them recharge. Caution for this method: sunlight makes some crystals fade or change in color. The following crystals should not be placed under sunlight: Amethyst, Celestite, Citrine, Fluorite, Kunzite, Rose Quartz, Smoky Quartz, Topaz, and Turquoise, to name a few. Opal will dry out in sunlight.
Remember: you never have to clean Citrine, Kyanite, Selenite, and Azeztulite. Of course, if you decide to smudge them or give them Reiki occasionally, they certainly wouldn’t mind! Also, Clear Quartz, Carnelian, and Amethyst cleanse other crystals (but may need some cleaning themselves afterwards!)