A Simple Guide to Cleansing your Crystals & Stones
Crystals travel from far away places and are handled by many different people before a purchase is made. The energies that crystals are exposed to before they become your own may not necessarily align with your energy and while its true that crystals don't really need to be cleansed and charged as frequently as you may think they need to be, they can absorb negative energies and like us these negative or blocked energies can lower their vibrations.
There are various ways in which you can cleanse your crystals. I personally like to smoke cleanse with White Sage or a Palo Santo stick and I like to repeat a cleansing mantra such as “I cleanse and clear this stone from any and all low-lying vibrations”. However, whichever method you choose to cleanse your crystals, please rest assured that your crystals will always return to their natural alignment and vibrate at the natural frequency they were meant to do so, even if you don't have time to cleanse and charge them. (you can read more about this in my blog)
Below are a few common methods on how to cleanse and charge your crystals.
- Smoke Cleansing - White Sage, Palo Santo, Sweetgrass, and burning incense has traditionally been used to purify spaces, people and objects such as crystals. Simply place the White Sage, Palo Santo, Sweetgrass or incense in a abalone shell or fire safe bowl and light them. Blow out the flame and allow the smoke to move over your crystals. Do this until you feel your crystals are cleansed or until you are guided to stop.
- Sound – Sound waves send all kinds of vibrating energy into our space. Singing bowls and tuning forks can be used to cleanse your crystals with their vibration. You can simply play your sound bowl around your crystals or if you feel compelled to you can also place your crystals directly into your sound bowl. You can also use tuning forks to cleanse and charge your crystals. If you don't have a singing bowl or tuning forks, simply play some meditation music. This may be the easiest way to cleanse and charge your crystals as the sound waves will travel and vibrate all around your crystals. Do this for 5-10 minutes or until you are guided to stop.
- Running Water – Water is said to neutralize negative energy stored inside a stone. While using water may sound like a fast and simple form of cleansing and charging your crystals, keep in mind that some crystals do not like water. As a rule of thumb any crystals that end with the word 'nite' shouldn't be placed under water. Selenite and Kyanite are great examples of crystals that don’t like water. To cleanse your crystals with water, simply hold your crystals under running water for at least 1 minute, make sure your crystal is completely submerged. Do this until you feel your crystals are cleansed or until you are guided to stop. You can then pat dry or air dry your crystals.
- Earth – The elements of the earth are known for grounding and clearing energies and crystals love to be grounded. You can bury your crystals underground for a full day, this will allow the earth to soak up all the unwanted energies contained in your stones. But be sure to select a safe spot, because wet soil will damage water soluble crystals and some critters love to dig up stones.
- Rock Salt or Rice Bath – A rock salt or rice bath is one of the most common and easiest ways to cleanse your crystals. Soft crystals may scratch in salt, in which case you will want to use a rice bath. Simply pour some sea salt, Himalayan salt or rice into a glass bowl and lay or bury your crystals in the salt or rice. You can leave them there for a few hours or overnight. Afterwards discard the salt or rice, and brush off any salt or rice that may remain in the crevices of your crystals.