Crystals- Cleansing and Charging

Crystals have been one of my passions since I was a young child. What started as an attraction to their beauty developed into an appreciated for their great energies and properties. When I say beauty I don't necessarily mean the perfect polished crystal that has the least imperfections- what I mean is the ones that stand out for their natural beauty. I personally prefer rough natural crystals to polished ones as I can really feel their natural properties coming through.  Crystals can come in all shapes, sizes.... and prices!! But again its not always the most expensive that are the most effective. 

 Cleansing Crystals

The first thing to do when you get a crystal is to cleanse it. The crystal will have absorbed energies from anyone that has picked it up, it will then be stored inside the crystal- and these energies arn't always good ones! There are a number of ways to cleanse a crystal, but these are my preferred methods:

• Place it under running water- ideally a natural source of running water such as a stream, but under a tap can work just fine. 
• Pass it through incense- I usually place a row of crystals on top of my incense burner and as the incense stick burns down the crystals in turn get cleansed.
• Place them under the moonlight- ideally on the full moon, they will become energized as well as cleansed.
• Place them outside in the rain- during a thunder storm is ever better- I love this method!!

(Be careful with crystals like selenite when using any water method- as they don't like the water one bit, it breaks them down)

 Charging Crystals 

Next you can charge your crystals- different crystals have many associated properties, but a crystal can actually be programmed to your exact needs. For example, if you have a headache you can hold the crystal and empower it to help relieve headaches, visualise the crystal taking away the headache, tell the crystal it needs to relieve headaches, spend a little time focusing on this whilst holding the crystal...then sit back and watch it do its magik- place it on your forehead and away you go. Crystals that already have properties known to help relieve headaches (such as amethyst) will work even better. (that combined with your empowerment of the crystal= no need to drive to the shop for paracetamol...great stuff!) Crystals can be charged and empowered to do almost anything you wish- give it a try!

Crystals  come in all sorts of presentations- you can get rough pieces of Crystal, geode formations, crystal wands and crystal Jewellery (amongst many others). Crystal Jewellery is a great way to keep your crystal close throughout the day, point pendants are my favourite way to wear them. Below is my collection of crystal point pendants. (Top left-right) we have amethyst, aqua aura, a small fluorite and rose quartz. (bottom left-right)  moonstone, smokey quartz and an unknown black crystal- possibly jet or obsidian.

My crystal point pendants

Amethyst- this is a good all rounder. It is known to help addictions and sobriety as well as relieve headaches, stress and depression.

Aqua Aura- this is created by fusing together quartz and gold at very high heat and the combination of the two is very powerful. It works well with the throat chakra and aids speech and communication as well as being a very protective crystal.

Fluorite- is a really beautiful crystal with stunning colours of purple and green. It is a very balancing crystal and helps stabilise the aura. It helps us with decision making and helps boost the immune system. 

Rose quartz- is a very well known crystal and promotes love- in particular self love. Wear this to attract love, maintain love and appreciate love. Its one to always have close by.

Moonstone- is great for pregnancy and child birth- this pendant was actually worn by my sister when she gave birth to my nephew- who I proudly delivered! the labour went very smoothly indeed (thanks to the moonstone and the great midwife im sure ...and a little due to the hard work and bravery of my sister too :p) Being a midwife this is a great one for me to wear to work- if even a little of its energy reaches my patients then that's a bonus! 

Smokey quartz- was my very first crystal pendant and its extremely grounding. It also helps transform negative energies into positive ones. It is a stone of serenity and can leave a very calming and relaxed effect on the wearer. 

The last crystal I have is the little black unknown one. Black crystals are fantastic at absorbing negative feelings and emotions, they are usually very powerful crystals that have to be handled with care and cleansed very often due to the amount of negativity they absorb. 

 When I first started with crystals one of the methods I used (and still use) when I purchased new crystals it to close my eyes and select one, hold it and see how it makes me feel. This way you are not influenced by the look or colour of the crystal or what you perhaps have already read about what the properties of that particular crystal should be. Write them down and keep your own record- how a crystal works for one person may not necessarily be the same for another, so go with your own instincts. 

Often you are drawn to particular crystals that you need in your life at that present time- so take note, they might just be telling you something about yourself you didn't even realize.

Storing crystals

• Its always worth having an amethyst cluster stored with your crystals as this naturally cleanses crystals around it.
• Don't store them in direct sunlight- some crystals don't like this and can become very discolored.
• don't hide them away in a dark drawer where you cant benefit from their energies- have them close by!

I could write for hours upon end about crystals but I would like to go into more detail on my individual crystals and their uses in future posts, so for now ill leave it at the crystal basics and hopefully it may have helped one or two of you who are new to crystals and crystal healing.