Cleansing and Clearing Gemstones and Crystals
It is important to clean any new gemstones that come your way to clear it of any energies that they may have picked up during their previous journeys. Also, if you use any of your stones as healing tools they should be cleaned before and after each healing session. Healers will dedicate or program crystals to increase the vibrational energies of them. The programming also helps protect the stones themselves from absorbing harmful energies while they are in service.
There are many different ways to clean your gemstones. Choosing the best cleaning method depends on the type of stone you are wanting to clean. An hour in direct sunlight is more than enough to clean most stones. Certain stones will fade if left out in the sunlight, amethyst is one example.
Keep your amethysts out of direct sunlight if you want them to retain their vibrant purple hues. Moonlight cleansing can take several hours or days. To expose a stone to all the moon phases (full moon to new moon) place the stone outside each evening at dusk (retrieving it before sunrise) for 28 consecutive days.
Some stones will dissolve in water, whereas others love to be soaked in fresh water. I actually clean most of my stones under a running tap of cold water while brushing them with a soft-bristle toothbrush until they are sparkling clean. My stones are perfectly happy to be shined up from the same water source that I take my showers in. Rub-a-dub-dub!
List of crystal cleaning methods:
- Smudge crystals with incense or herbs (lavender, sweetgrass, sage, etc.)
- Energize crystals in the sunlight.
- Energize crystals under the moonlight.
- Cleanse crystals in the ocean or inside bowl of salt water.
- Cleanse crystals in a natural water reservoir (lake, river, creek, pond).
- Bury crystals in the earth for a ritual purification.
- Scrub crystals under running tap of cold water.
- Infuse crystals with balancing Reiki energies and symbols.
- Visualize beaming white light crystals.