Clearing and Programming Crystals

Crystals are a tool and can be like a storage battery for thought energy. Clearing has to do with the energy of the stone or ...crystal. Crystals can be programmed with our thought energy and then act in our subtle energy fields.

Clearing a crystal or gem stone is simple, and is to ensure that there is no negative energy left by a previous owner. There are several ways to clear crystals. You can soak them in water with sea salt and apple cider vinegar. You can run them under water and visualise the negative energy being washed away.

You should charge your crystal in sunlight or moonlight before working with them.

To programme your new crystal, simply hold it in your hands, close your eyes and create an image of what you want the crystal to do. Keep your crystal close to your skin and when you can’t keep in a special bag or box that has been blessed and purified.

Cleansing Your Crystal

Here are different methods of crystal cleansing. Some methods may not fit certain crystals (like salt water and Selenite) and may actually cause more damage than good. Choose your methods carefully.

Crystal Cleansing – Salt Water Method
Put two to three teaspoons of sea salt or rock salt into four to six pints of warm water. The container should be made of glass, china, pottery etc. but NOT plastic. When the salt has dissolved, soak your crystal in the salt water for 36 to 72 hours. Don’t put your crystal into hot water as this may damage it. If you can get sea water, use this instead.

Remove your crystal and leave it to dry naturally, in sunlight if possible – as the sun’s abundant energy serves to enhance the energies naturally present in your crystal. Remember porous gemstones like opal can be damaged by salt water so be sure that the crystal is suitable for whichever cleaning method you choose.

Crystal Cleansing – Running Water Method
Hold the crystal under running water and let the water flow over it. Tap water is OK – but if you can use fresh flowing water from a stream, so much the better! DO NOT use hot water as the crystal may crack. If you happen to live near any body of water,you can use the running water to cleanse the stones as well.
To do this place the stones in a mesh bag, tying them off so you won’t loose them & let the running water cleanse them overnight. If one night is not enough, leave it for another.

Also be very careful not to drop your crystal – especially if it is small (you could hold something underneath e.g. a sieve, to catch it if you accidentally drop a crystal).

Leave the crystal to dry naturally, in sunlight if possible – as the sun’s abundant energy serves to enhance the energies naturally present in your crystal.

Some crystals (e.g. Lepidolite) are damaged by water. Don’t use this method for these crystals.

Crystal Cleansing – Earth Method
Bury the crystal in the ground for a week or so and then check that it has been cleansed of it’s negative energies. If not, bury it again for a few days until the process is completed. When you feel that it has been effectively cleansed, wipe or wash off any remaining earth and your crystal will be ready for use again.

Make sure when you bury your crystal that you can easily find it again. It may help to mark the spot with a flowerpot or other item. Be sure to choose a place where you can be sure it will not be disturbed. Take extra care with small crystals to ensure that you can find them again. I once lost a beautiful garnet by planting it and forgetting where it had been put!

However I feel that this method is the best when dealing with crystals that have been around negative or ill people.

Crystal Cleansing – Salt Method
Set the crystal in a dish of salt and let it be cleansed by the salt. It may take a few minutes to a few hours depending. You can re-use the salt, I keep a large tub of it that I change every now and again, but this is only used for cleansing crystals.

Crystal Cleansing – Sunlight Method
Set the stone in direct sunlight, preferably outside, & let the Sun’s rays do the work.
The stone should stay outside anywhere from a day to a week, depending on how much other energy the stone’s absorbed. The stone should be brought in every evening. Check the stone by placing it in your left hand. Does the stone’s natural energy vibrations feel normal? If they do, the cleansing is finished.Repeat daily for up to a week.

Sometimes your crystal will be thoroughly cleansed after only one day. Check it daily by holding it in your receptive hand (the left hand if you are right handed) and sense it’s energies. If any negative energies remain, place the crystal in sunlight for another day. If it has absorbed a lot of negative energies you may need to do this for several days in a row.

Ritual
If these methods are not possible, a small ritual can be performed using a bowl of fresh earth (North), a small basin of water (West), incense (East) & a red candle (South). Pass the stone through each of these elements while asking the element to aid in cleansing the stone of all negativity & unwanted energies.

Smudging
Some incense is used for cleansing in general rituals and spells; you can also use incense to cleanse a crystal. Incense such as sage, frankincense, myrrh, lotus, cedar or sweet grass can be used to help cleanse a crystal. All you have to do is hold the crystal in the smoke. You can also use a feather to gently fan the smoke across the crystal.

Quartz Clusters
You can also stand the crystal on a large cluster of Quartz or other energizing crystals for approximately 12 or more hours. Stones that have a natural affinity with the moon can be left in the moonlight; same with those that has a natural affinity with the sun.

Visualization
Visualization helps with a lot of aspects in our lives, even in cleansing. Just visualize a golden or white light coming down to surrounding the crystal, cleansing and transmuting the energies. Continue doing that until the crystals energy shines out once more.

Brown Rice
Cover your crystals in brown rice for 12 hours, the rice will cleanse your crystals by soaking up any negativity they hold. Throw away the rice after cleansing, as you do not wish to eat rice filled with negativity.

Flower Petals
Cover your crystals in flower petals. Use what colour of flower petals you feel would be suitable such as pink rose petals for rose quartz, Orange marigolds for orange calcite, etc. The petals can be composted after use, as any negativity in the petals the earth will recycle into positive energy.

Sunlight
You can cleanse your crystals by placing in direct sunlight. The crystals can be placed outside (in safe areas) or on a windowsill for 8 hours. This will cleanse and charge your crystals. Note; Sunlight may damage some crystals because of the strong sunlight rays, especially brightly coloured crystals. Also be aware of any possibility of rain during this time that may also damage certain crystals.

Moonlight
As with sunlight, the moon can also cleanse crystals. We would recommend this particularly during a full moon as the moons energy is enhanced.Place in direct moonlight overnight. Again be aware of possibility of rain if placing outside. But again a windowsill is quite suitable.This will cleanse and charge your crystals.

Intent
Hold your crystal in your hands and imagine a golden light from above coming down and filling the crystal. Cleansing any negativity. Allow the crystal to glow with the light. When you feel the vibration change in the crystal it will be fully cleansed.Trusting your own intuition and what you are feeling to begin with is quite difficult for some. But over time, you will become more confident with this.We all make mistakes to begin with, it is only if we don’t learn by then that they are truly mistakes.

Sound
Certain sounds can be used to cleanse crystals. All crystals love sound.Bu using a tuning fork, singing bowl or Tibetan cymbals you can cleanse your crystals. Use your choice of sound by playing the sound over and around your crystal. This is a useful technique for crystals that are too large to handle easily.Some people will place a crystal inside a singing bowl, but this can sometimes damage a crystal due to the vibration inside the bowl. If you prefer to do this, only place one crystal inside the bowl at a time

Reiki
If you are attuned to Reiki you can use it to cleanse and charge your crystals. This can be done by placing the crystals in your hands or holding your hands over the crystal and asking the Reiki to flow to cleanse and charge the crystal.This is also a handy technique for any large, heavy or awkward crystals that need to be cleansed and charged.

Citrine
Citrine is one of very few that do not need cleansing, as citrine will not hold any negativity, but in turn change it to positive energy. You can cleanse and charge your crystals, by placing them in or on a crystal bed/geode for 12 hours. Citrine is also a useful crystal to have as a citrine tumble stone among any crystals that you carry around with you, as it will keep them cleansed.

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Charging Your Crystal

Before a stone is used in a spell, the stone should be charged with the purpose of the spell. This is done by holding the stone in your projection (right) hand & letting the energy that is within youto pour into the stone while visualizing the purpose, or by laying the crystal on your pentacle and projecting the energy you have raised through your hands into the crystal.

The first and most important part of charging a crystal is choosing the crystal itself. For most general uses, Quartz is the best one. For specific use, there are many others. Consult a table of correspondences if a specific intent is required.The next step, and also important, especially the first few times, is to prepare yourself for the actual channeling of energy.

Find a place where you will not be disturbed and leave the phone off the hook. Sit in a comfortable chair and gently hold your crystal in your hands. Take a few moments to study your crystal. Get to know the shape and feel of it. Look carefully at it, noting every detail.

Hold the crystal between your hands and concentrate on the feelings that you wish the crystal to retain. Do this for about 20-30 min or until you feel that you have drawn enough energy into the project. Project these feelings into the crystals. You should feel a faint hum from the crystal while you are doing this. When you are finished ground yourself to remove any excess energy that may remain afterwards. The crystal should now be charged with the energy that you wish.

Hold your crystal at the level of the third eye. Concentrate on the energy link between the crystal and your third eye. When the energy link is established, will that the crystal is to be used for the purpose that you have chosen e.g. meditation, healing, stimulating intuition, enhancing psychic powers.

A crystal should be charged for one specific purpose only. If you wish to use crystals for several different purposes, you will need to obtain a crystal for each and to use each crystal for its own specific purpose only. You may also wish to empower it with the moons rays, by leaving it in moonlight for the three days of the full moon.

Once you have cleansed your crystals and charged them with their intent keep them either individually wrapped in pieces of material or in pouches, to prevent them becoming contaminated.

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Blessing Your Stones

There are a few things you can do to ensure that your stone familiars will be blessed.

First, ascertain that the stones in your possession are your personal familiars. Sit quietly for a time with each stone in question. Roll the stone around in the palm of your dominant hand. Ask it to tell you its purpose, and listen for a response. The answer may come to you through sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, feeling, or instinct. Expect the unexpected. If you get “good vibes,” thank the stone, then work with it accordingly.

Clear the stone by placing it in sea-salted water, or by burying it in the earth overnight. You may also smudge clear the stone. This is done by lighting herbs such as sage, cedar, sweetgrass, or copal (a tree resin), and holding the stone in the smoke.

Be sure to feed your stone familiars on each and every sabbath. Cornmeal, wheat grains, tobacco, or rum are choice offerings. Just sprinkle some over the stones, or place the stones along with your offering overnight in a crystal or earthenware bowl.

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Crystal Conseration Ritual

Perform the following ritual on a night of the full moon to cleanse a crystal of negative influences and to charge it with healing powers. Begin by lighting two white alter candles (one on each side of the altar.) Place a small bowl or cup of fresh rainwater (or melted snow) and a dish of sand, soil, or salt on the altar. In the center of the altar, place a censer containing any of the following incenses: frankincense, myrrth, patchouli, rose, saffron, or sandalwood. Take the crystal in your projective hand and pass it through the smoke of the incense as you say:

“By the power of the Goddess and by the ancient and mystical element of air, I consecrate and dedicate this crystal as a magickal tool of healing.”

Gently place the crystal in the dish of sand, soil, or salt, and say:

“By the power of the Horned God and by the ancient and mystical element of earth, I consecrate and dedicate this crystal as a magickal tool of healing.”

Sprinkle a few drops of water on the crystal, and say:

“By the power of the universe and the ancient and mystical element of water, I consecrate and dedicate this crystal as a magickal tool of healing.”

Once again, take the crystal in your projective hand. Move it in a sunwise circle around the flame of each candle as you say:

“By the power of love and by the ancient and mystical element of fire, I consecrate and dedicate this crystal as a magickal tool of healing. May this crystal stone of power work for my good and for the good of all. So mote it be.”

After the consecration ritual has been performed, cup the crystal between your hands and allow it to harmonize with your aura and spiritual consciousness. Breathe gently upon the crystal as you direct your thoughts and intentions into it. The charged crystal will respond to the energy of your will.