Let’s take the mystery out of what it means to cleanse and clear your crystals. What are the practices of cleansing and clearing crystals, and how do they differ from one another?
What Does it Mean to Cleanse or Clear Your Crystals?
Cleansing and clearing are words that are often used when it comes to the practice of working with crystals and their energy.
Because the words cleansing and clearing are sometimes used interchangeably, it can understandingly be a little bit confusing at first to understand exactly what they mean.
What it means to cleanse or clear crystals can sometimes have different meanings depending on who you are talking to and how the term is being used, but for the most part they are both referring to the process of removing old, stagnant energy from your crystals.
Why Do You Need to Cleanse or Clear Your Crystals?
If you were starting a letter, you would want to start writing with a nice, clean, blank page of paper, right?
When you are using a crystal during any type of energy work, you will also want to start with a crystal that is clear of any lingering residual energy.
Crystals can hold an amazing amount of energy, and energetic information. When we use crystals as a tool during energy work, the crystal will pick up on and hold on to certain types of energy. This residual energy can impact any future energy work, or it can just leave things feeling a little bit cluttered energetically.
How Can You Cleanse or Clear Your Crystals?
There are a few different methods you can use to cleanse your crystals of any lingering energy that you are trying to release them of. The most important thing is to be intentional with your energy when you are clearing the energy of your crystals.
Take the time to learn about your crystals and understand which methods of cleansing will be right for them. Not all methods of cleansing crystals will be safe for every crystal out there. When using salt or water to cleanse your crystals you may run the risk of damaging or destroying crystals that are not water or salt safe.
Use your intuition and pick whichever method of cleansing or clearing your crystals feels right for you and your energy work practice.
Salt
In order to clear any stagnant energy from your crystals, you can lay them in a bed of salt to help them release that energy quickly. Salt works to cleanse crystals very quickly, and because it doesn’t require them to stay in the salt for very long you can cleanse a large amount of crystals fairly fast.
Salt has been considered a cleansing or purifying spiritual tool since ancient times. Symbolic of purity and protection, salt is an easy and inexpensive way to cleanse your crystals.
Sage + Sacred Smoke
Using sage, palo santo, or other herbs to create a smudge stick is a practice that dates back to ancient aboriginal practices. The smudging or "smoking" of sage and other herbs helps to clear bad energies and cleanses not only your crystals, but also your body, mind and soul.
The ritual of smudging can be done any time your crystals need cleansing, or any other time you feel drawn to the practice.
Slowly walk around your space and allow the smoke from this smudge stick to waft through your home. Guide the smoke—and any negativity—out of your space, making room for positive energy to enter your life.
Water
Water is cleansing both figuratively and quite literally (a huge crystal collection eventually gets a little bit dusty!). The act of running water over your crystal is symbolic of washing away any energy that is no longer needed and that you are wanting to cleanse away.
Any water will do the trick, though you may feel more grounded to use water obtained naturally from a stream, river, lake or ocean. Bonus points + if the water is obtained during a full moon!
Crystal Druze
Did you know that you can also use crystals such as Amethyst or Quartz to help clear or cleanse your other crystals?
Quartz and Amethyst both hold strong clarifying energy which can be used to energetically clear your other stones. Use druzy crystals Quartz or Amethyst crystal formations for this purpose as the crystal points hold a stronger vibrational energy.
