Whether you have picked up a new gemstone from the retail store, purchased a second-hand crystal pendant from an online marketplace, of received one as a gift from a friend, you should thoroughly cleanse them before wearing them as a personal accessory.
You really don’t know what they have gone through, what they have “seen”, or what types of energy they have absorbed before ending up in your hands.
This applies whether they are precious or semi-precious stones.
There are various methods of crystal cleansing generally endorsed by gemologists and metaphysicians.
Cleansing crystals
Crystal experts with great knowledge of the powers of the earth stones usually suggest using one or two of these crystals cleansing methods. However, there is no rule which says that you cannot attempt all of them too.
Running water
The most intuitive way that people cleanse their crystals and gemstones is with running water from the tap.
This is an acceptable concept to properly cleanse your crystals. But leaving them under running water from a tap for a minute is merely not enough. This method of cleansing requires at least and hour and up to 6 hours if possible to truly remove negative energy effectively.
This is essential especially for healing crystals.
Leaving your faucet running for such extended hours would be wasting water and you might receive a hefty utility bill at the end of the month.
In addition to that, tap water contains chlorine. This affects the natural properties of water from nature.
A better way to undertake this crystal cleansing method is to place your crystals in a stream or river. Even the sea or ocean would be a good choice.
Bowl of water
In using water for cleaning, an alternative to running water is to use still water in a bowl.
However, with a lack of yang energy from running water, you would have to add a handful of rock salt or sea salt. Use seawater procured from the beach if you can.
Leave the crystals in the bowl for at most 3 hours.
Something to note is that some crystals can deteriorate quickly when interacting with salt water. So do check out what types of crystals you have and investigate it’s reaction to saltwater before using this method.
A known substitute for water is raw milk.
Buried in earth
Find a spot in your garden, dig a hole and bury your good luck crystals in the earth overnight.
It is better to choose a space with soil that can be observed to have plants growing on it. This shows that the soil is producing life.
Don’t select a spot with earth that is dry and dead with no signs of life.
Alternatively, you can use a flowerpot filled with earth or sand.
When the stones are retrieved in the morning, rinse them thoroughly with running water and remove any stains that you find.
Buried in brown rice or salt
Rather than soil, one can use a bowl filled with brown rice or salt.
Again, do check if your crystal would be damaged due to bad reactions to salt.
Leave the crystal in the rice overnight, and retrieve it the next morning.
Discard the rice or salt and do not consume it.
Incense smoke
Light an incense stick or joss stick and hold the crystal in the smoke created.
This is sometimes known as smudging.
Once the incense burns out, the gemstone would be removed of negative energy.
Flame
Some people advocate holding the crystal in the flame of a lighted candle to remove negative energy.
While this makes sense, you should check whether your crystal would be damaged from fire burns before attempting it.
A crystal with defects is not going to harness as much energy as it potentially could.
Charging crystals
Now that you have removed your crystals from negative energy, it’s time to fill it with positive energy for you to tap on.
You can use any one of the below crystal charging methods or a combination of them.
Sunlight
Leave you crystal outdoors for it to be energized by the celestial solar energy of sun.
Allow it to bath in the sun for at most 3 hours.
Direct sunlight is one of the most powerful ways to cleanse and charge a crystal. This is necessary for manifestation and attracting abundance.
Some crystals might not be able to resist the force of the sun for a prolonged period. So do check how much your crystals can take the heat before determining the time to leave it outside.
Full moon
Crystals also tend to recharge very well under the glory of full moons.
So identify the night of the full moon and let your crystals bask in the moonlight for the night.
Take note that the sun provides yang energy and the moon provides yin energy.
Crystals be filled with either:
- Only yang energy; or
- A balance of yang energy with yin energy
They should not contain only yin energy unless under special instructions from feng shui masters who know what they are doing.
Quartz crystals
Another method to energize your personal crystals is to place it with a cluster of quartz crystals for a few days.
This allows the crystal to slowly absorb the magic of quartz and quartz also acts as a catalyst to revive the energy your crystal inherently possess.
How long can crystals’ power last?
Retailers might claim that the useful life of crystal powers to be short so as to sell more products to returning customers.
But natural crystals and gemstones can actually hold their energy for quite a while as personal jewelry or for feng shui placement purposes.
The exception is when the energies contained in the crystals are drawn by users in their specific rituals.
In this case, as the crystals’ energies have been depleted by the user, they would need to be charged again.
