Hiya,
Good question Nova.
Anyone that works with crystals should be aware that they all have their own - very powerful - energy. You should embrace, empower and respect the stones. A simple case of washing them and hoping for the best isn't enough if you want to harness any of their powers, that is why Silver and I always suggest that anyone working with any type of crystal get themselves a really good crystal bible - the first three or four chapters of any good crystal workbook will give you many menthods for harnessing and working with crystals.
I have about 10 different working with crystals/healing crystals books, and not one of them are as good as my Love is in the Earth Kaleidascope Crystal Bible. However, I trust that when you read one interpretation in a book you are drawn to, that you are getting the quality of the stone that you need right in that moment, especially when you are loearning to work with stones at the beginning.
Amethyst has no less than 6 all text pages in my crystal bible, but in my healing with crystals book it is only alluded too as part of a healing practice for the third eye and crown chakra, and in another three books it is only credited with one line in a table of crystals saying itis the spiritualists stone. In all the books interpretations are different, and all are correct and can be found in the mass listing in my crystal bible.
Jan, you are right that you should cleanse the crystal and state you intent with it - BUT - you have to make sure you have the right crystal for the job in hand. It is no good clearing and charging, say for example, a Chrysolite stone and asking it to keep you energised and focussed on a given thing - its a healing stone that works on inner levels helping with grace, self trinity and fidelity in personal and buisness affairs. Amethyst is a forgiving stone and will transmute much negative energy, but it will rapidly enhance ANY spiritual energy around the user, placing the responsibility back on the user to ensure that only good things surround you, being apowerful stone it gets tired and frail very very quickly - you watch an amethyst stone that hasn't been cleared and cleansed regularly, it will change colour rapidly to a pale violet instead of the deep rich many purple colours it should be.
So Nova, as always with far more words than i probably needed to use, both books are correct, but to get the full gist of what your amethyst is all about you would benefit from a big crystal bible, and you can also sit with your stone and ask it to show you its qualities - but that can be hard for the beginner to intepret - so cheating and using a good refence book is a great place to start.
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You might remember in the Psychic Fayre I had a crysatl thread, and most of the entires start off with- there are pages and pages relating to this stone, I am going to give you the gist of it....LOL
Hope this helps clarify.
Love Erika xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx