Cleansing Your Crystals

Due to their energetic nature, crystals hold on to energy patterns with which they come in contact. By the time your crystals have made their way to you, they have been in many hands and places. This is why it is important to cleanse your crystals. I recommend cleansing them as soon as you bring them home, and then cleansing them at least weekly, or more frequently for those you use daily. There are several methods for cleansing crystals.

Salt Water

Nonporous crystals, such as quartz and amethyst, can be soaked in a saltwater solution. Submerge your crystals in the salt water for about an hour (longer if the crystals have had heavy use), and then rinse them and pat them dry. Use sea salt or Himalayan pink salt for this task, not table salt. Do not use this method for porous crystals, such as selenite, desert rose, and gypsum. You’ll also want to keep magnetic stones, such as lodestone, out of salt water because it could rust the stone.

Smoke

Light a bundle of sage, cedar, lavender, or sweetgrass, and blow out the flame. Then hold the crystals in the stream of smoke to cleanse them. (I use a combination of these four herbs.) You can also cleanse them in the smoke from incense, such as Nag Champa sticks.

Quartz Clusters or Geodes

If you have a large cluster or geode made of a quartz stone, such as amethyst or clear quartz, you can place your smaller crystals in the cavity for 24 hours to cleanse them.

ENERGY If you have some type of energy healing ability (such as Reiki), you can cleanse the crystals using that energy. As a Reiki master, I do this by holding the crystals in my giving (dominant) hand and sending Reiki energy to them.

Explore Other Ways to Cleanse Your Crystals at Home:

Charging & Programming Your Crystals

After cleansing, you need to charge your crystals. Charging puts energy back into the crystals so they can continue to function at their highest level. You should charge your crystals every time you cleanse them. Programming your crystals involves placing intention into them for the specific task you’d like them to complete. This can help the crystal work more effectively, so do this every time you cleanse and charge them. You can use several methods for these purposes. Consider the following ideas.

To charge your crystals in nature, you can place them outside in the sunlight or moonlight for 6 to 12 hours. You can also charge your crystals with visualization. Hold the crystal or crystals in your giving (dominant) hand. Close your eyes and visualize white light coming down from the universe, entering through your crown chakra, traveling down through each of your chakras, then into your arm and hand, and then from your hand into the crystal. Do this for about 10 minutes. To program the crystal once it has been charged, repeat the visualization process described, but this time, focus on the type of energy you’d like the crystal to have.