When you work with crystals, you should always want to keep them cleaned, charged, and looking their absolute best. While some people think that this is a simple thing to do, I would beg to differ. There are quite a few crystals that you shouldn’t clean with water. There are even some that you should keep out of direct sunlight because they can fade in color. In this article I will be going over the different ways to care for your crystals, especially the ones that need special care.
When your crystals get dirty, your first thought is to get some soap and water and get them nice and shiney again. I would suggest against using soaps or any other types of cleaning products when cleaning your crystals, although it is safe for harder crystals. You can clean most stones and crystals with water and a soft rag. You should also look out for some soft crystals, like copal and stibnite, because they can scratch easily. You should clean all crystals under a level 4 hardness with a soft, wet rag. You need to be careful as some crystals should not be used in water at all. For example, selenite is a super soft crystal and water can chip and flake off pieces of it.
Now that you’ve physically cleaned your crystals, it’s time to ‘clean’ the vibrations. There are hundreds of different ways to cleanse your crystals, and I will try to go over some of the most common ways to do so. We cleanse crystals to get rid of any of the unwanted and nasty vibration and energies they can pick up from whoever had handled them before they go to you. You can soak crystals in saltwater (make sure that your crystal can handle it). You can do this for a few hours, or if you have a very nasty crystal, a few days. You can pass the crystals through smoke to cleanse them. If you will be passing them through incense smoke, frankincense and sandalwood are highly recommended, but patchouli and myrrh are also good. You can also use the smoke from a smudge stick. If you aren’t too keen on using water or smoke, you can lay crystals in rice to absorb the negative energies. You can put your stone on top of the rice, or you can bury it. You can keep your crystals on rice for overnight, although you can do it for longer if your crystals have some nasty energies. You may also use a crystal singing bowl. The vibrations from the bowl are pure and will fill any crystal nearby and drive out the negative energies. When using a crystal singing bowl, if your crystals are small enough, you may put them inside the bowl. But simply laying them close by is sufficient. Burying your crystal in soil for a week (or longer if it’s nasty) is also a super common way to cleanse it’s energies. Even though this will work if it’s in a pot, this works best when the crystals are buried in the Earth. Last, but not least, you can always use visualization to cleanse your crystals. You can envision a white light pouring into your crystals and filling your crystals with only pure energies.
Now that your crystals are cleansed and free of any negative energies, it is time to charge them. There are quite a few ways to do this. The most common way of charging your crystals is by moonlight. While most do this during the full moon, you can do this any night. You should put your crystals out before the sun sets, and take them back in after the sun rises. You can put them in a tub or bowl and make sure the moon’s light can touch them, so don’t put them under an awning, or tree, etc. If you have sticky fingered critters (crows especially), you can put a single layer of saran wrap over your bowl to keep them out. If you are too worried of someone snatching them, you can set them in your window sill. But only do this if the moon can see them. You can use the same method, but with the sun. You can leave them out for 24 hours, sunrise to sunrise. But you should be careful as many crystals fade in the sunlight, like amethyst and colored quartz. You can also charge your crystals by making a crystal grid. This works best if you have a limited amount of crystals that need charging because grids can take up a bit of space. When charging with a grid, it’s recommended that you use a sacred geometric shape as a templet for the grid. You can also use amplifying crystals to charge your crystals. Amplifying crystals include selenite, auralite 23, and super 7. You can set the crystals that need charged on top of, or next to these crystals. You can put your crystals needing charged on an amethyst druzy, in a circle of quartz points, or with a piece of carnelian. You can charge your crystals by having them placed on, touching, or next to living plants. Just as plants filter out air, they can also filter out the negative energies that crystals can absorb. When using plants, it’s recommended you leave the crystals for no less than 24 hours. One of the fastest ways to charge crystals is to use visualization and your own energies. You can hold the crystals between your hands and visualize your energies filling the crystals. If you have quite a few, you can have them placed in front of you and run your hands over them, touching each one as you pass them, and visualize your energies pouring from your hands into the crystals.
Many witches believe that you don’t need to cleanse and charge your crystals, but you should ‘clear’ the energies and reset the energies to their original self. You can do this with sound. It doesn’t matter what the sound is, as long as it is LOUD. Loud sound causes vibrations, and these vibrations “shake” the crystals and will return to it’s natural vibration frequency. The louder and stronger the sound, the more immediate the effects of the clearing will be. You can use your own voice, since it will be easier to tell when your crystals have cleared. Some other ways to clear your crystals are singing bowls, drums, and gongs, but you can use any method of your choosing. When using songs and music, ones that have a lot of bass and percussion are best, but it not recommended to do so. Playing an instrument however, is much more efficient. Clearing is fast, easy, and you can do all your crystals at once without much effort what so ever.
Some may think that storage isn’t important, but where you keep your crystals is quite important. Your crystals should always keep your crystals in the open, so you can easily feel their energies. This is important for passive energy therapy. This is also useful so they’re easily obtainable. Since crystals are prone to absorbing negative energies, you should keep them on or around a black surface, as this keeps the negativity away from the crystals themselves. Some crystals fade in the sunlight, so you should make sure your crystals are stored out of direct sunlight. You should also be careful in where you put your soft crystals, since they can scratch easily. You should keeps soft stones on a soft surface, like velvet, and away from harder stones to avoid scratching.
Here are a few lists of some crystals that need some extra care. These are by no means the only crystals, so you should always look into each crystal you have so you don’t damage them.
AVOID SUNLIGHT: Amegreen, Amethyst, Ametrine, Apophyllite (Green), Aquamarine, Auralite 23, Beryl, Celestite, Citrine, Fluorite, Hiddenite, Kunzite, Opal, Prasiolite, Rose Quartz, Smoky Quartz, Spirit Quartz, Super Seven, Topaz, Turquoise
AVOID SALT/SALT WATER: (Hardness level less than 7, porous, contain metal, water content) Hematite, Lapis Lazuli, Opal, Pyrite
AVOID WATER:(Super soft stones, high water content, high metal content) Celestite, Desert Rose, Gypsum, Halite, Himalayan Salt, Lapis Lazuli, Malachite, Pyrite, Optical Calcite, Selenite, Soapstone, Turquoise, Ulexite
EASILY SCRATCHED: (Harness level of 5 or less) Celestite, Chrysocolla, Fluorite, Malachite, Selenite
Keep in mind, all of my posts are based on my opinions that I have gathered from my research. You may disagree or have something to add. Please do so kindly in the comments.
Blessed be, brothers and sisters.
Resources:
http://crystalfaqs.com/2015/05/11/stop-charging-your-crystals-clear-them-instead/
http://www.crystalguidance.com/articles/cleansing.html
The Common Grackle 