Crystal Cleansing 101

Crystals are nature’s sponges and recorders. They suck up energy everywhere and send it back into the universe. This is why so many people prize crystals for healing, spell work and expanding spiritual practices. But it’s also the reason that cleansing your crystals is so important. Your crystals have passed through many different hands and have absorbed unknown energies. You don’t necessarily want to bring that energy home with you. As a side note, this is one of the reasons buying crystals from ethical sources is so important (besides, you know, morals). If your crystal was mined in oppressive conditions or the mine is poisoning a community or ecosystem nearby, imagine the energy that crystal will carry!

There are many ways to cleanse your crystals, choose the one that feels right to you (and make sure it’s a method that’s safe for your crystal too!). Below are just a few ways to cleanse your crystals. Once they are clean, you can charge them and begin working with them! Check out our blog post on charging your crystals as well.

Salt: Salt has been used for cleansing and protection for centuries and it is the go-to method of cleansing for most people. Salt can be used to cleanse crystals in several ways: immersing the crystals in salt water, burying them in dry salt or even putting the crystal in a jar and placing the jar in salt. However, if you are going to immerse your crystal in water, make sure that this is safe for your crystal. Many crystals can be damaged by exposure to water especially crystals with high metal content or delicate and porous structures. For example, never immerse selenite, opal or hematite! Check out our “safety first” blog post for a list of crystals you should not immerse in water. Most methods of salt cleansing require between 24 and 48 hours.

Smoke: Another traditional cleansing method is using smoke to smudge your crystals and cleanse them of negative energy, especially within indigenous traditions in the Americas. Sage or sweetgrass are dried and bundled. Then, you light the bundle, blow out the flame and allow the smoke to envelope your crystal for 30 seconds to one minute. You can buy smudge sticks at our store, or even make your own.

Crystals: This is definitely the prettiest method! Any crystal can be cleansed by leaving it inside an amethyst or quartz crystal “cave.” Leaving a crystal inside a large geode or druse or on a bed of crystals will cleanse a crystals energy. You can also place crystals on selenite in the same manner for cleansing and recharging. Simply leave your crystals undisturbed inside the embrace of the quartz or amethyst for 24 to 48 hours and they should be ready to use. Besides being pretty, this method is also safe for all crystals, even the most delicate.