Why and How to Cleanse your Crystals and Gemstones

This week is all about cleansing your crystals. Why bother? Crystals take on energy from their surroundings and if you don’t cleanse them regularly the energy you feel may be the equivalent of wearing somebody else’s clothing. Which is a kind of yucky energy. You want your crystals attuned to you and working with you, not the postal carrier who delivered them, and not me who packed them in giant wads of bubble wrap and tape before shipping them out.

The info below is meant as a quick guide only. I cannot encompass every method out there or put disclaimers for every stone in existence, so do your homework first. If in doubt, moonlight is my personal favorite method of cleansing stones because it will never harm them and it’s easy. If something special is happening up in the sky, like a full moon, new moon, or eclipse, all the better.

7 Easy Ways to Cleanse your Crystals
Water – Water is a universal cleanser…ocean water, spring water, lake water, or any water filtered by nature. Place your stones in a clear glass container, immerse them, and put the bowl in the sunlight for a few hours or just hold them under running water. (Note: certain gemstones are sensitive to water including selenite, pyrite, lapis, malachite, and turquoise.)

Smudging – The smoke from sage, cedar, frankincense, myrrh, and sweetgrass all work. Just hold your stones in the smoke for a few moments. Placing your incense or herbs in an abalone shell while burning will improve the cleansing process. Alternatively, you can place your crystals in the abalone shell and pass the entire shell through the smoke.

White Sage Smudge Bundles from earthegy

Moonlight – One of the easier, safest ways to cleanse your crystals, just place your stones in the direct light of the moon. Some people also bury their crystals in the earth under the light of a full moon to take advantage of the magnetic force of the moon and earth. Doing this during a full moon or lunar event will be more effective.

Visualization – Find a quiet place to sit your your crystals and visualize a white light surrounding the crystal and removing any negative energy.

Sunlight – Place your crystals outside on a sunny day and allow them to soak up the sun’s energy.

Rice – Bury your crystals on a bed of brown rice overnight and the rice will absorb and transmute any negative energy.

Other Crystals – placing a stone on a quartz cluster or selenite or next to carnelian, citrine, or kyanite will cleanse it.