What do people mean when they say you must cleanse a crystal before use? This cleansing of the crystal isn’t because it is dirty but is a cleansing of the energies of the crystal, turning negative energy into positive so allowing the crystal to work to its full potential.

Running water is a good way to cleanse crystals to draw off any negative energy it may have stored. To do this, hold the crystal in your hand under cold running water for a few minutes. You hear a lot of people recommending leaving crystals in a bowl of water with a handful of sea salt or rock salt added, but if you use this method I would wash the crystals in fresh water to remove any salt left on the crystal. When the crystals have been left to cleanse overnight and washed leave to dry in direct sunlight to recharge and this will leave you with a fully charged crystal to use.

You can leave a crystal in a bowl of rice or salt to cleanse overnight, again making sure that you brush any excess salt left on the crystal. It is best using a soft brush so that you don’t scratch soft crystals, camera lens brushes with a blower are ideal for this. The reason for removing salt from crystals is that the salt can damage them if left in the cracks of crystals. The salt attracts water which could expand making the crack worse and damaging the crystal. Some crystals don’t like water such as Selenite and Malachite. Other soft crystals can dissolve in water so the above methods shouldn’t be used, although rice can be used instead.

Smudging is a lovely method in which to cleanse a crystal and also the space around it. You can use sage smudge sticks, some sage in a bowl or even incense is good for this. Light your chosen method and pass the smoke over the crystal by fanning the smoke with a feather or your hand. To cleanse a room, go to each corner of the room and fan the smoke in the same way to give the room a positive feel.

Crystals respond well to the energies of the sun and the moon. Yellow crystals, like Citrine or orange crystals such as Carnelian, respond well to the sun due to the resemblance in colour, while the paler crystals like Selenite and Howlite enjoy the energies from the moon. Leaving the crystals in their respective sunlight or moonlight is a really powerful method to energise your crystals. One thing to be careful of: when using sunlight certain crystals, such as Quartz, can reflect the sun’s rays and cause fires. The sun can also cause your crystal to fade so please be careful.

You could use the method of visualising light passing over and on the crystal thus burning up the negativity stored in the crystal. Or place at the bottom of a candle so the crystal gets bathed in its light.

Crystals love to be loved and looked after and in return the crystals will do the same for you.