How to Clean Crystals

By Lourdes Lebron

The easiest way to clean a crystal is to place it in moonlight on a windowsill. If the temperature is warm you can place it on the ground or on a porch or deck (cold temperatures can crack and break many crystals). If you lay it on the ground, marking the area will insure that you don’t lose it.

Intention is the handiest method to clean a crystal. Just hold it in your hand and imagine all negativity being washed away by your intention. Visualizing white light works well for many people as well. Hold the crystal in your hand and see/feel a white ray coming from your hand into the stone. For some people it will be easier to imagine it coming from the Third Eye Chakra. Do this for a few minutes or until the crystal feels energetically lighter or cleaner.

Burying a crystal in a potted plant is a convenient way to purify a stone. If the crystal is not that dirty just placing it above ground will do. If the crystal needs heavy duty cleaning, bury it in the dirt. If your crystal can be damaged by water do not use this technique, because the crystal will receive water each time you water your plant.

Some crystals love being washed in lightning storms. To do this, place the crystals in a bowl and place the container outside on the ground before an oncoming storm (never go out in a storm to do this). The water and lightning hitting the ground will send out vibrations to the bowls that will clean the crystals. Before doing this make sure that the crystals will not be damaged by water and that they will not be disturbed while being outside. If the storm has very strong winds, do not use this method. The winds can blow the container and rocks all over the place and will cause much damage.

Another method of clearing stones is to pass it through the smoke of a Sage Stick, Palo Alto stick, or incense. Light any of these in a heat proof container and, as smoke is produced, hold the crystals approximately 6 to 12 inches above the source and let the smoke surround the crystal (be sure to keep your hand far enough from the heat so you don’t get burned). Do this for a few minutes or until the crystal feels energetically clean.

Burying crystals in salt is a good option for many crystals. Place the stone in a bowl and cover it with sea salt. If sea salt is not available, you can use table salt or Epsom salt. Make sure that your crystal is dry before doing this. Leave the crystal in the salt for at least 20 minutes. If the crystal has absorbed much negative energy, leave it in the salt for a day or two. After using the salt, throw it out; do not reuse it.

Running a crystal through cool water is a favorite method due to the convenience. You can let cool water run over a crystal to clean it. It may take as little as a few seconds to 10 minutes. Be sure to dry the crystal thoroughly after using this method. There needs to be caution taken with this method, because many crystals can be harmed by water. Selenite, Calcite, and Rock Salt are a few of the crystals that can be damaged by water. Always check your crystal’s sensitivity to water before doing this.

Rice is terrific for cleaning many minerals. Bury your crystal in a bowl of rice for a day or two. After retrieving the stone, discard the rice and do not use it.

Rose Quartz can be cleaned with Rose Petals. Gather newly blossomed Rose Petals in a container and lay your crystal on top of the petals. Some crystals may need to be covered in the petals to become fully cleansed.

Geodes, cathedrals, and clusters may also be used to get rid of unwanted energies in the crystal. First make sure that the cluster you are using is clean itself and then place the crystal in it. I prefer Clear Quartz Clusters for most crystals. The cluster must be bigger than the crystal it is cleaning. Leave the stone being cleaned on top of the cluster for a day or two.

Using sound can clear minerals of negative energy quickly. A tuning fork can clean crystals by gently using vibrations. Hold the crystal in your hand and ding the other crystal in your other hand. Slowly move the tuning fork in a counterclockwise direction around the stone. Move the tuning fork around the crystal until it stops vibrating. This may be done twice more if the crystal needs more cleaning.

Sound can also come from musical instruments like a piano. For more information on this method, Healing Crystals has videos on their YouTube channel that explains how to do this. It also has a video where you place the crystals in front of the computer speakers and the tones from the video will clean the crystals.

Reiki can be used to wipe away unwanted energies from crystals. If you are a Reiki 1 practitioner, you can hold the crystal in your hand and ask the Reiki energy to release any energies not needed from the crystals and transmute it into positive vibrations. If you are level 2 or above, place the Cho Ku Rei symbol into the crystals 3x and see/feel it going into the stone. Imagine the CKR erasing all the negative energy away. If you are not a Reiki practitioner, but would like to see how this feels, this Reiki Video on YouTube, will clean the crystals for you using Reiki.

Pendulums are a convenient way to release psychic energy from stones. Hold a pendulum that has been cleaned above your crystal and the crystal will rotate either counter clockwise, up and down, or left to right based on what your pendulum designates a “no” sign. When it is done cleaning it will then go in the opposite direction and will infuse the crystal with positive energy. [4]

Once I acquired my very first crystals, I read everything I could get my hands on about them. Purchasing was, of course, just the first step in many, according to the books I read. Each book reminded me that cleaning the crystals was a necessary part of being their caretakers. And oh, how they all had different ideas and techniques to do so!! I was overwhelmed at the differences in opinions. Added to that, were the opinions of those I met who told me cleansing crystals had to be done a certain way. Talk about overload!!

I did find out, usually by trial and error, what worked for me and what didn't. One of my first purchased pieces was a lovely rainbow fluorite wand, which I immediately put on my dashboard altar of my recently purchased car. I loved that wand-it even color coordinated with the car with its deep rich blues, greens and purples.

A few days later, I noticed my fluorite friend had faded in color and intensity. I went back to the books. Yes, they did say sunlight was excellent for cleansing stones, so why was my fluorite fading? I was devastated.

Years later, my fluorite friend is still with me, faded and worn, but truly loved. He taught me a very important lesson-Just because you read something, doesn't mean it necessarily holds true in all cases.

So this is what this article is all about. Just a few things I have picked up on my crystal journey to aid and share with you. Take and use what information you will, leave the rest. And remember, common sense is key. There is no "right" way or "wrong" way- just do what you feel in your heart is best for your crystals. My only rule of thumb is this, as I was reminded by a smoky Citrine Elestial one day, if you would not do it yourself (i.e. lay in the sun for three days straight or be buried in sea salt), why would you do it to your crystal friends?

Sunshine is wonderful for many crystals, clear Rock Crystal Quartz especially love it. Putting your crystals out in the sun to cleanse is perfectly OK, just a few suggestions when you do so. Do not put in hot, direct sunlight. Some crystals may fracture with sudden temperature changes or while under intense heat. Others will fade.

Crystals such as Fluorite (Heat Sensitive), Rose Quartz, Turquoise, Malachite, Tourmaline, Lapis Lazuli (Dyed), Smoky Quartz and Amethyst will react to direct sunlight.

Enhydros should never be left in the sun as they may explode or craze. Liquid, heat, boil, boom :)

Sulfur will fall apart under even a mild exposure to sunlight, and could melt under intense sunlight. Gaseous fumes (sulfur dioxide and trioxide) may also be released with exposure to intense sunlight which could make you very sick.

Realgar, orpiment, and many silver minerals will completely change under any light exposure of more than a few minutes.

Some crystals are very sensitive and soluble in water. It is best not to soak such crystals as Halite, Selenite, Malachite, and Turquoise. A friend shared a story with me recently. She lived by a lovely stream and read that putting her crystals in a mesh bag and allowing them to soak in the stream was a wonderful way of cleansing them. Plus the added element of water would assist in reviving them. So, she put her calcite pieces in a mesh bag, placed them in the stream and when she went back the next day, the mesh bag was there, but her crystals weren’t. It wasn’t until a friend told her Calcite was water soluble that it dawned on her what had happened.

So our next rule of thumb is that some crystals are very sensitive and soluble in water. It is best not to soak such crystals as Halite, Selenite, Lapis Lazuli, Malachite, Rhodizite, Turquoise, Calcite and Celestite.

This was my favorite when I first began cleaning my crystals. Who wouldn't like a nice bath, right? Dry or mixed in water, this seemed the perfect way to cleanse many at a time. One day, I was cleaning some smoky Citrine Elestials and as I picked up a rather big crystal and began to move it towards the bath, I heard this, "I really do not like this! Would YOU want to be put in sea salt and left there?" I thought about it for a minute, first questioning my sanity at hearing voices, and then thinking twice about what I was doing. Think about it, would YOU want to be left in a salt bath for an extended period of time? My answer was, No, I really do not think I would like that. Since that day, none of my crystals have touched sea salt again.

A lot of crystals can be damaged by a chemical reaction with the salt, which may change the appearance (looking scratched or as if the finish has been removed, etc.). Many times pieces are coated with a high temperature wax (such as shoe polish). Salt is corrosive, so putting these pieces in salt or salt water actually removes this coating, which gives the appearance of scratching, pitting or a flat finish.

Burying your crystals in the earth is again, personal taste. Since they come from the earth, it makes sense to bury them back there to cleanse and restore. Just a word of caution here, make sure you read up on this method using geological books, not metaphysical ones. A dear friend reminded me just the other day that if your going to bury them in the ground check the reaction of the local soil to the chemical makeup of your stones. Once below ground those lovely pyrites etc. can soon turn a spot poisonous. Remember Arsenopyrite=arsenic

This is my chosen and most recommended modality for cleansing any stone. The light of the moon will cleanse, without fading. It does not scratch or dissolve any stone or crystal. It is gentle and loving energy, much like a mother rocking a sleeping baby. Leave them out to soak up the energy and release any that is no longer needed.

Using sage, sweet grass or other smudging herb, simply light the sage (for example) and allow it to smoke in your bowl or abalone shell. You can either pass each stone over the smoke or use your sacred feather to "brush" the smoke over the stone. Visualizing the negative energies rising and disappearing with the smoke is helpful.

In my experience, I have found one or two other methods that work quite well and are painless to all involved. The first is a simple visualization technique. Just sit the crystal down on a table, altar, desk, etc. and visualize all of the stored up energy you don't want to be there, filling a balloon and flying away, or visualizing a mist moving out of the crystal into the universe to be transmuted into positive, love energy. What ever you are most comfortable with. It is all in the intent.

The second cleansing method I recommend is simply running under tepid (NOT hot and NOT cold) water for a few minutes and visualizing the unneeded energy flowing down the drain. Use pure water or spring water if you feel the chemicals in your water system would be harmful to the crystal.

Last but not least, do nothing. Crystals are energy and as energy, they cycle out those unneeded energies on their own, transmuting them to the positive love energy of the universe. If you have many, as I do, just know that the crystals help each other to purge that energy that is no longer useful to them.

There are as many cleaning rituals and techniques out there as there are stones and crystals. I personally feel intuition should be used in this area, as each person has a unique and individualized relationship with his/her stones and crystals. Do what resonates with you.[4]