Cleansing and Charging Crystals
To cleanse + charge or not to cleanse + charge…that is the question.
If crystals are your jam I’m sure you’ve heard people say “I have to cleanse and or charge my crystals” or “it’s a full moon, gotta charge my crystals” Maybe this is a practice you perform on a regular basis or maybe sometimes you forget and then feel guilty. Well my friends, I’m here to ease that guilt.
Before we go any further…what I’m about to say may go against what you have learned or it may not resonate with you. You do you boo. Always go with your intuition and do what feels good for your personal practice. This is just my opinion, what makes sense to me and what is practical for my personal practice. Take what works for you and just leave the rest.
Now that that’s out of the way; what do these terms even mean & how do people do it? To “cleanse” your crystals means to remove any negative energy from them. People do this in many ways: smoke from sage, palo santo or other herbs, running under water, placing in salt and some even believe other crystals such as selenite or black kyanite can be used to “cleanse/clear” other stones. Now that you’ve cleansed your crystals, it’s time to “charge” them (I’m tired already-lol).
”Charging” crystals means you are infusing them with positive energy. Some methods includes: placing them in sunlight or moonlight, using sound (ex. singing bowl), anointing with moon-water, Reiki or even burying them in the earth for a period of time.
I’m not trying to rock the boat here, but I personally don’t subscribe to the idea that ALL our crystals need to be cleansed/charged on a REGULAR basis. I said what I said - lol.
Crystals like all things vibrate at a frequency & due to their repetitive, regular internal structure they naturally have a very stable vibration - they don’t require all this human assistance to do their job. Now humans are the other hand, our vibrational frequency is not stable at all; it changes often. Our vibe goes up and down all day depending on what’s going on in our lives at any particular moment. You’re driving in your car, windows down, radio blasting your favorite song (vibe is high) then someone cuts you off, you holler & flip them off (vibe is low). This up and down can happen all day if we’re not closely aware. Crystals…they are steady (due to their internal structure). It takes a lot to knock them out of vibration. This is why it doesn’t make sense to me to HAVE to cleanse/charge ALL my crystals on a REGULAR basis. I just don’t feel they need it & lets get real..it’s not practical (it would take me hours to do my whole collection).
I do believe crystals absorb energies & can get knocked out of frequency, but they bounce back quickly if left alone for a period of time. When I receive new crystals I do smoke cleanse them, especially if I want to work with them right away. By smoke cleanse I mean, I light some sage and just run the crystals through the smoke as I set my intention for the work I want to with them. I don’t know the environment they came from so personally this practice feels good to me. Now there are times I get crystals & I’m busy and not going to be working with them right away (or they are more of a display piece) - if I don’t smoke clear them, I never feel guilty, there’s no need. Notice I said I do this when I first get my crystals - this is not something I continue to do on a regular basis; unless I’ve worked with one particular crystal a ton and my intuition tells me it needs it. I’m talking about my personal crystals here, crystals I use on clients during a crystal therapy (healing) session are a whole different ball game-those get cleansed after every client - but that’s for another time.
Now as for “charging” crystals; just like cleansing I don’t feel this is necessary on a regular basis. I mean, do I really need to infuse my crystals with positive energy? When I do this it’s more of a ritual, like putting them out in the moon or sunlight to soak up that energy. I never do this with all my crystals either (it’s just not practical-I have a large collection).
The term “re-tune” was used by one of my crystal mentors and it’s the one that resonates the most. Re-tune for me replaces the terms cleansing & charging. So when I’m running my crystals through the sage smoke or putting a few out under the full moon - you’ll hear me say “I’m re-tuning my crystals”. Like I said before, the crystals I use in therapy sessions get “re-tuned” after each and every client as an “energy” safe guard. Re-tuning can be done with any of the methods: smoke, sound, moonlight, sunlight etc. Whatever feels good (and practical) to you.
So if cleansing and charging all your crystals on a regular basis isn’t practical or doesn’t resonate with you (you do it just because someone told you you have to) …I’m letting you off the hook. Relax, do what makes sense for YOU and your personal crystal practice. If you love doing it..continue on.
Working with crystals, like any Spiritual practice, is very personal and shouldn’t be tied to a particular dogma. We need to find a practice that is practical (so we can be consistent) and that feels good to us. Here’s to finding the path that feels good to YOU.