After buying new crystals it’s always a good idea to give them a cleanse and to charge them with your intentions.
It’s good to do this regularly as they can easily pick up negative energy, especially after you have been working with them.
It should be easy to tell when they need a cleanse as they will feel duller and the energy might feel a bit off. After they have been cleansed you will notice that they seem clearer and more sparkly.
There are many different ways to cleanse your crystals and its up to you whether you just use one way or a combination of different ways.
Water
Water is a powerful energetic cleanser. As it is easy to program, you can set an intention for it to cleanse the crystal so that it will absorb negative energy and remove it. Although its best to do this with running natural water such as a river or stream, you can also just use a tap water. There is no set amount of time to do this for, just whatever feels right for you although roughly 30 seconds – 1 minute should be long enough.
You should only cleanse crystals that are 6 or above on the Moh’s hardness scale in water (although there are a few exceptions to this) as some crystals may lose their shine or even dissolve completely. Also they are some crystals which can release toxins in water such as malachite (copper) or cinnabar (mercury) so its good to do some research on this before cleansing crystals in nature. If you are unsure you can just use a different cleansing method.
Crystals That Can Be Cleansed In Water
Clear Quartz
Rose Quartz
Smoky Quartz
Amethyst
Citrine
Tigers Eye
Aventurine
Shungite
Crystals That Can’t Be Cleansed In Water
Selenite
Fluorite
Lepidolite
Malachite
Pyrite
Magnetite
Apophylite
Incense
Smudge sticks such as white sage or palo santo work well for this. You just light the smudge stick and pass the crystals over the smoke for around 30 seconds while setting an intention to remove negative energy and cleanse the crystal. This can be done with any crystal although I find that its best to use this in combination with another method such as placing them on the grass in the sunlight for a few hours.
Singing Bowls
Sound breaks up any stuck energy and restores energy which may be vibrating out of tune. This method can be used with any crystal and can be an effective way of cleansing a large number of crystals at the same time.
Bury Crystals In The Garden
This reconnects them with the Earth which will draw out any negative energies present in the crystal.
Its best to leave them there for at least a day or longer. Crystals such as hematite or pyrite should not be cleansed this way as they can rust.
Full moon
The full moon marks the end of a lunar cycle and is the time when energies are at a peak. It has a powerful purifying effect and is a time of releasing and letting go of energies that don’t serve you.
This makes it a perfect time for cleansing and purifying your crystals. You can do this with any crystal, just leave them out overnight or if you are worried that it might rain you can put them on your window sill.
Visualisation
You can just imagine a white light going around the crystal and up to the sky with the intention that you are purifying the energy of the crystal and releasing any negative energy. This can be done with any crystal for as long as you feel is needed.
Sun Light
Sun light also has a purifying effect and placing crystals out in the sun for around 4 hours will burn off any negative energy.
Some crystals such as amethyst and fluorite can fade in the sun so it might be better to use one of the other methods for cleansing them.
Selenite Charging Plate/ Bowl
Some crystals such as selenite have such a high vibration that they never need to be cleansed and have a cleansing effect on others. You can put any crystal on the charging plate or in the bowl for around 8 hours to remove negativity and charge it up with positive energy.
How To Charge/ Activate Crystals
After the crystal has been cleansed, you can charge it with an intention to give it a focus and direct the energy.
Once you have decided what your intention is eg to protect you, you can say to yourself “ I program this crystal to be used for the highest good, to protect me from any negativity” and imagine your intention inside the crystal. You could also place the crystal in a grid for your specific intention or place a piece of paper with the intention written on it underneath the crystal.
