Cleansing your stones
It is important to cleanse your stones. Both when you acquire them and thereafter. My favorite cleansing method, although I have heard of many, is to soak them in salt water. Usually I grab a shallow glass dish, since most of mine are small, I put in my stones, sprinkle in a generous amount of sea salt and then I fill the dish up with water.
I would personally recommend finding the most unrefined sea salt you can, and I also generally don’t use tap water. Table salt and tap water are fine, but I am somewhat of a purist and I think that the less chemicals that intermix with your stones while they are clearing the better. Additionally, table salt and refined sea salt is just pure sodium chloride (table salt includes a small amount of iodide) whereas unrefined sea salt includes many different kinds of natural minerals and it is closer to cleansing in the actual ocean. Of course, if you happen to live near the ocean, just use some of that water.
As a side note, unrefined sea salt is also much healthier to eat, as long as you get your smattering of table salt for the necessary iodide. But it is definitely hard to avoid that, so it shouldn’t be an issue for most people, unless they make all their food from scratch, at home, all the time.
Be aware that salt water can damage some types of rocks. Most stones are safe, but some aren’t. Also softer stones can have some problems. If you are concerned about this happening, the next best thing you can do is to cover your stone with dry salt to clear it. It should be safe that way, unless maybe it is a very soft or sensitive rock. Don’t cleanse Selenite or Malachite with salt. If you accidentally use salt to cleanse a stone and it does some damage to the surface, don’t worry, it’s just aesthetic, your stone is still fine for use.
While my stones are soaking, I try to keep them outside for at least 24hrs. Although, if you can’t do that, putting them in the sun or moonlight in the water for at least 4hrs will still do them good.
There other cleansing alternatives out there, one might choose to use one of these when working with a stone that can’t be cleansed by salt:
- Smudge the stone with cedar or sage.
- Place the stone on a larger crystal or mineral. (although with this one be careful that the larger stone you are using is clear itself and suitable to be used to cleanse other stones)
- Soak the stone in water with flower petals in the sun.
- Bury the stone in the ground for 24 or more hours. Just don’t forget where you buried it!
Some people also think you can cleanse a stone with your intentions and visualizations. You can try it, but I think that most people will have a hard time getting this to be effective. If it is your energy you are trying to clear the stone of from, using your intentions to do it doesn’t seem like the most effective way. I also think there is some benefit that being outdoors from time to time can do that people can’t.
Use your judgment though. Note how your stone feels before you clear it, and notice how it feels after. If it feels clearer, it probably is. If it doesn’t, you probably should try another method. Or maybe it isn’t the stone for you. Trust your judgment. There are a lot of people out there who claim to know what stones are good for what things. And these people will happily tell you what you should use all day long. Listen, reflect and then make your own decisions based on how you feel. Because nobody knows you as well as you know yourself.
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January 14 2008 | Gems, Stones, Crystals | No Comments »
