It may come of a surprise to some people, but crystals need to be cleansed! You should always cleanse crystals when you first purchase or receive them. The crystal may have absorbed a lot of different people's energies during their journey to you. Cleansing them clears any vibrations that they may have picked up along the way and allows their energies to become receptive to their new owner and home.

If someone else has used your crystal, you should always cleanse it before using it again yourself. If using a crystal for a healing treatment, it should always be cleansed before being used again. Cleanse your own crystals whenever you feel they are in need of it. There are many ways that you can cleanse crystals. These are listed below:

1) Hold the crystal in the flowing water of a stream, lake or even a tap and visualise the negative energies flowing away from the crystal.

2) Place in a bowl of clean (cold) water and leave for 3 days. Use a glass, ceramic, enamel or crystal bowl preferably.

3) Place in a bowl of clean (cold) water that has a few drops of crab apple Bach flower remedy in it. Leave for 24 hours. Bach flower remedies are available from MARS Healing or health food shops etc.

4) Pass the crystal through the smoke of an incense stick (several times, so that all sides pass through the smoke). It will seem as though the smoke 'sticks' to the crystal and then passes freely around it - this is when you know it is clean.

5) Bury in a pot in the garden and leave for a few days.

6) Leave on a lawn and allow rain water to fall on it. Beware of the last two methods as crystals often have a habit of disappearing into the earth!!!

7) Crystals can be cleansed by sound. Place crystals inside a tibetan singing bowl.

8) Crystals can be cleansed by the moon. Place crystals on a tray and place outside in the garden when the moon is waning.

9) Hold the crystal in front of your mouth and visualise that as you breathe out, your breath is cleansing the crystal of any negative energy. Repeat for each face or side of the crystal.

If using water to cleanse crystals always try and let them dry naturally in your home, rather than drying them with a cloth.

Orange Calcite Sphere

Energising Crystals

To ensure that your crystal is at 'full power' and is not depleted of energy, you should energise it. Crystals may lose their natural radiance and appear dull or clouded if they need energising. Again there are several methods detailed below:

1) Place the crystal on top of a large quartz cluster.

2) Place clear quartz crystals in sunlight.

3) Place quartz family members (amethyst, rose quartz, aventurine, carnelian, citrine and smoky quartz) in the sunlight covered by a cotton cloth.

4) Place dense crystals outside at night under a waxing moon.

As you become used to using crystals you will 'tune-in' to their vibrations and instinctively know when they need cleansing and energising.

Crystal Water

Water can be cleansed and energised with crystals. You can simply place a crystal in a glass or jug of water and leave overnight and then drink. Suitable crystals to use are:

Quartz family (amethyst, rose quartz, aventurine, carnelian, citrine and smoky quartz), garnet & sodalite

You can create lovely crystal water in your water filter. Place all of the crystals listed below in a glass of water and leave overnight. Then place the crystals in the bottom of your water filter, that way you can drink crystal treated water every day! Crystals for using in a water filter are (use one of each):

Clear quartz, amethyst, citrine, aventurine, rose quartz, garnet & sodalite

Use them in the filter for up to 3 months and then let them rest. Therefore it is good to have two sets of the above crystals so that one can be resting whilst the other set is in use!

Warning: Some stones are toxic and should not be used for creating crystal water. The quartz family are safe to use as they are non-toxic, hard and not porous. Softer stones are more likely to be porous and more liable to forming a chemical solution with possible toxic effects.