Cleansing crystals is non-negotiable—whether it’s a shard of rose quartz on your desk or one of the best crystals for beginners, cleaning your precious gems and minerals is a must. The whole point of crystals is that they’re meant to be healing tools that reflect your emotions, something that’s a bit difficult to do if the waters are muddied! Here's everything you need to know about cleansing crystals.
Any time you add a new crystal to your collection, it's going to need to be cleansed. “When a crystal first arrives home from the store, remember that it has passed through many hands before reaching yours and every fingerprint leaves an energetic mark,” says Emma Lucy Knowles, Victoria Beckham’s crystal healer and author of The Power of Crystal Healing.
You basically have no idea what kind of energy it has picked up. Nobody wants unknown negative vibes in their home, so the crystals need to be cleansed before you use them or place them in a room.
Even crystals you already use in meditation or your daily “how to relax” routines need to be cleansed. This keeps them energetically pure and ready to be charged up with your intentions.
“Crystals need cleansing because they are vessels for pulling in energy, but also for drawing it out and so this will leave a residue, a bit like soot in a chimney,” says Knowles. “The more you use your crystals, the more of your energy will cling to them and the more often they will need to be cleansed. Plus, there’s always the danger of them unintentionally picking up some kind of negative energy from our environment.”
What this doesn’t mean is getting out the soap and water. You'll need to cleanse your crystals energetically. Here's how, according to Knowles:
Cleansing your crystals: how to do it properly
1. Give it a rinse
“Cold water is as refreshing to a crystal as it is to our skin. Imagine standing under a waterfall—it's invigorating. You might like to turn on the tap and rinse the crystals through your hands, or run them a bath in your sink. Add Himalayan salts for that extra cleanse, and allow the crystals to dry in daylight or by the light of the moon.”
2. Smudge it out
“Smudge sticks are fantastic, especially white sage. Light the smudge stick as instructed on the packaging and allow the smoke to pass gently over your crystal collection. The smoke from the smudge stick will track the negativity and cancel it out.”
3. Take a sun shower
“Sunlight fuels the world and moves through and warms even the hardest of materials. Bathe the crystals first and then move them outside to be both cleansed and fueled by the sun‘s rays. If you don't have access to an outdoor space, the rays of the sun penetrating through your windowsill are equally as powerful.”
4. Bask in a moon bath
“Cleansing crystals under a full moon is always my go-to for removing toxins. Soak or smudge your crystals first then lay them outside or on the windowsill to allow the moon to bathe them and draw out anything that must be removed.”
Next, charge your crystals with intentions
After cleansing crystals, it’s important to charge them with your intentions. Charging crystals with your energy helps them stay focused. The easiest way to set an intention is to hold the crystal in your hand. Close your eyes and think about what you would like that crystal to do, and repeat it in a mantra.
Once your crystals are charged, it’s best to not let others handle them as they will absorb the energy of other people. Remember, crystals are the epitome of ‘self’ in self-care!
Fiona Embleton is a multi-award-winning beauty editor who has tested over 10,000 products in her 10 years + of writing and shooting beauty stories. For the past four years, she was the Senior Beauty Editor at Marie Claire, having previously worked in the role of Beauty Editor at both Stylist and Cosmopolitan. She has recently gone freelance and alongside My Imperfect Life, she has written for titles including ELLE UK, ELLE Canada, Buro 247, Harper's Bazaar Arabia, Vogue Scandinavia, and ES Magazine. Beauty journalism allowed her to marry up her first-class degree in English Literature and Language (she’s a stickler for grammar and a self-confessed ingredients geek) with a passion for make-up and skincare, photography, and catwalk trends. She loves jumping on the latest internet-breaking beauty news, dissecting the best red carpet looks, and having the crème de la crème of dermatologists, make-up artists, and hairstylists on speed dial so she can tap them for the best advice. She’s a discerning beauty shopper and knows it can be confusing trying to navigate what’s hype and what really works. So if she really likes something, you can trust that she has reached that opinion by vetting it against everything else she’s ever tried. Her career highs? Interviewing Cate Blanchett and winning a Jasmine Award for the deeply personal feature Cancer Stole My Mother’s Scent.
