Cleansing and Charging Your Crystals
Your crystals may have been on quite a journey to get to you, often crossing continents and passing through many hands. So the first thing you’ll want to do with your new crystals is to cleanse them.
As we’ve learned, crystals hold vibrational energy. If you imagine your crystals as an air filter, they are working to cleanse, purify, transform and raise the quality of the vibrations all around them, while filtering out all the lower or unnecessary ones. Just as an air filter needs changing every once in a while, to do its best work, the same goes for your crystals.
It is important to mention that there is a difference between cleansing and charging your crystals. While cleansing helps to remove unwanted energies from your crystals, at times, they might also need a bit of charging; just like your mobile phone or laptop battery, your crystals’ energy may drain if they’ve been hard at work, so remember to charge them up once in a while.
Here are some ways to treat your crystals to some cleansing/charging care:
- Moonlight: The light of the full moon will not only cleanse, but also charge your crystals, bringing them back to their full power. On the night of a full moon, simply lay your crystals outside if you can – they especially love to be on the earth. If that’s not possible, a window ledge or balcony where they can soak up the moonbeams will do just fine. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cloudy evening, or even if you can’t see the moon, they will still absorb the lunar vibes. And it also doesn’t matter if you miss the night of the full moon; the night before or after will also work.
- Sunlight: Most people tend to charge their crystals by the moon, but there is nothing nicer than caring for and programming your crystals putting them out on a warm, sunny day. Just like the moon, the beams of the sun will cleanse and charge your crystals, filling them with more light and life. Place your crystals on the earth outside for a little sunbathing time or, again, on a window ledge or balcony. Just be mindful that some crystals can fade and/or crack if placed under intense direct sunlight for too long (pink and purple ones especially), so don’t leave them out all day – an hour or so of sunshine should be more than enough.
- Water: You can soak or run your crystals under running water, while visualising washing them clean of any energy they no longer need. I often used to take my crystals to a local stream and treat them to fresh running water. Please be mindful, however, that many crystals are water-soluble and so should not be placed in water. As a general rule, those that end in -ite should not get wet (for example, selenite, hematite, celestite, malachite, angelite, etc.).
- A crystal bed: Place your crystals on a bed of amethyst or clear quartz. Every night, I put the crystal jewellery I’ve worn on a large bed of amethyst, so that it can be cleansed overnight.
- Selenite is also amazing for charging other crystals, so you can keep your other crystals by a piece of selenite. Our selenite charging plates and selenite bowls are perfect for this.
- Smudging/smoke: Use sage, Palo Santo or incense and waft the smoke over and around your crystals, visualising the smoke cleansing away any unwanted energies. We have a smudging and cleansing kit available for this.
- Energy healing: You can use energy healing such as reiki to cleanse and charge your crystals. You would first hold the crystal with the intention of using reiki to cleanse it. Once you feel this has happened, you can charge the crystal back up using your healing vibes.
- Earth: Every now and then, you may find a crystal that wants to go back to the earth for a while, especially if you have been doing deep healing work together. If this happens (and it’s usually just a feeling you get), bury your crystal in the earth for a few weeks to cleanse and charge it. Again, be mindful of water-soluble crystals, as they will likely get wet in the earth.
In the same way that we need to take care of ourselves, so that we have the energy to be able to help take care of others, our crystals sometimes need a little self-care and time out.
After the initial cleansing when you get your crystals home you may want to cleanse/charge your crystals once a month or every so often. As you get to know them better, you’ll know when it’s time – when mine start to feel or look a little ‘dull’, I know it’s time to treat them to some care.