Congratulations! You purchased a piece of jewelry made of crystal or semi-precious stone beads, a crystal candle or a healing crystal. But now what? How do you really get the whole potential using the crystal and a stone? You probably already heard that crystals should be regularly cleansed and taken care of. When I say 'cleanse' I mean an energetic cleansing, not a physical one. When you work with your crystals, they absorb all kinds of energy and change its vibrational frequency. To keep them as effective as possible you want to help them get their energy and vibrational frequency back to its original perfect state.

In this blog post we explain why and present the best methods to cleanse your crystals.

Why is cleaning your crystals important?

When you get a crystal to your hands, it may be new to you, but it's been on a long journey to reach its final destination. It's been plucked from a mine, passed off to different handlers, who then gave it to a vendor, to sell to a retailer before it was selected by you! Some of them might even get touched by several customers before you bought it. Crystals mostly absorb the energy and that's a lot of collected energy you don't want to work with. To begin a fresh journey with your crystals it's important you take care of the cleansing before you start wearing or using them as well as later on – after your crystal gets overloaded with the energy or dull. Periodic crystal cleansing will get the most out of your continued work with your stone.

Best methods to cleanse your crystals:

1. Full moon cleanse

My ultra favorite way of energetically cleansing crystals is with the lunar energy of the Full Moon and it is safe for ALL crystals. When you see your crystals starting to look a little dull and not as vibrant, return the overloaded energy to nature. Make sure that you place outside your crystals you regularly wear or work with at least once a month. Take them out when it's already dark and bring them back in the morning. If you don't like to leave your jewelry outside, or if it rains, you can also place it in front of your window. The moonlight cleanse will work fine even when the sky is cloudy and you can't see the moon.

2. Crystal cleanse with Selenite or Quartz

Another option is using the powers of Selenite and Quartz to cleanse, recharge and purify the energy of other crystals, without diminishing their own energy. Lay your crystals and tumbled stones on a piece of Clear quartz or a selenite charging plate for at least six hours. You can place them atop these cleansing crystals before going to bed each night. Then when you wake up in the morning, they will be ready for you to wear/use them again.

3. Smudging

As you may use smudging to clear your home (think sage, copal and sweetgrass) so too may you use smoke to clear crystals. This is especially helpful for jewelry which would corrode under water. You can use Sage, Frankincense or Palo Santo. To cleanse your crystals of stored energies immerse them in smoke until they seem to come back to life. This is probably the best option for larger, harder to pick up crystals. Simply use your hand to waft the smoke over and around the crystal. Use your intuition to know how long your crystals need to be smudged, but in general 20 to 30 seconds is long enough.

4. Water cleanse

Be careful! Not all crystals can withstand water, some will dissolve. Please do your homework before immersing your beloved under water. Water is a master energy and can be used in any form of ritual.

1. You may submerge the crystal in the running water for a few moments (pure spring or a river/ocean is most ideal)
2. Make sure to do so with the intention to purify in mind. Visualize the water washing over the crystal taking away any disturbances to its natural state
3. Use sea salt and lightly brush it over the stone using the water to cleanse the salt away

5.Earth

Easy way to return the over-loaded energy to the Earth. Burying your stones will clear any and all lingering energies from your crystal. Follow your intuition on how long to leave the crystal in the earth, 3, 7, or 11 days is best to give your stone a total reset.