Cleaning & Charging Your Minerals

The first thing you should do with a new mineral is to clean it. When I say clean, I mean energetically clean. Continue to clean them as you use them — the more you use them the more they will need cleaning. It’s also a good idea to give ones that have been sitting unused a good cleaning every once in a while too. Your minerals are there to serve you, to be helpers in your life. Honor them by caring for them, and giving them loving attention. Cleaning them is a great way to exchange with them.

Why is cleaning important? When you first get your mineral it has been in many many hands before it has reached yours, and some have traveled a very long way to get to you. The mineral has picked up and gathered energy that isn’t yours (good vibes, bad vibes, who knows - but just all around unknown vibes. Energy is just energy, when I say bad it doesn’t come from judgment or something to be afraid of, it just means energy that isn’t yours or isn’t helpful to you). By cleaning your new mineral, you are resetting it and making it yours. Minerals work on an energetic level, so you want the ones you are working with to have their pure healing energy. Also, as you engage with minerals over time, they work hard to clear lot of energy for you and your space, and some of that energy gets absorbed. Cleaning helps to clear stones of the energy it has gathered. Think of it like tuning a piano. You want the piano to sound it's best and operate at its fullest potential when you play it. Over time, and with use, you need to be tuning and retuning your instrument. If your minerals are not clean then they are operating at a lower vibration which means they won’t work as well.

Here are some tips on cleaning and charging your minerals. Yes, there are many more ways out there than this list. But, these are my tried and true methods. And sometimes it’s not just one of these, but a combination.

Moon & Sun

This is my favorite way to both clean and charge my minerals. What’s the difference between cleaning and charging? Cleaning is a way to clear your mineral of not so good vibes it has picked up along the way. And charging is a way to realign it to its fullest healing potential. Think of it like the difference between getting your car washed and then filling it up with gas. What I love about this method is that it actually does both! Lay your minerals out in the light of the full moon, on a table, on your window sill or outside. Do this at night so you can see where the moon light falls to be sure it falls on your minerals. Then leave them out into the light of the full sun the next day. Not only is this a great way to both clean and charge them, but the moon and sun also balance the female and male energies, which are the two energies that make up the universe and everything in it, including our bodies. 

Note: There are some minerals that cannot be left in the sun for too long because it will cause their color to fade. Here is a list of what not to leave out in direct sunlight for longer than an hour or two: amethyst, ametrine, apophyllite green, aquamarine, celestite, citrine, fluorite, kunzite, opal (will dry out), rose quartz, smoky quartz, topaz, turquoise. If you don’t mind a little fading then not to worry. And one day of sun won’t hurt.

Sage

Sage is a powerful way to do a deep cleaning after you have worked with your minerals, and especially when you first get them. Sage is the best way to get rid of energy that isn’t yours and particularly any negative energy (from you or from others). I use sage on all the minerals I have used during a healing or meditation session with clients. I also swipe the minerals I have at home about once a week. The smoke works to clean and clear because it energetically picks up bad vibes and carries them away as it floats out the door. If you are cleaning multiple stones (or your space), have your windows and doors open so the smoke can exit. When I am individually cleaning my stones after a session I hold the mineral in one hand and the sage in the other, and then move the sage in a circular motion around the mineral (from above to below) in a looping motion, encompassing it one or two times, allowing the smoke to touch all sides. While I am doing this, I repeat in my head or out loud “clear, clear, clear”. This helps direct the energy of the smoke with the intention to clear the mineral of negative energies. It’s also important to source high quality sage. Just like minerals, there are different levels of quality in plants. I like sage that has been dried loose. Sometimes the bundled sage can start to mold as it dries, and you don’t want to be burning that and then breathing it in. Find people who are really exchanging with the plants and have integrity in the ways they harvest them. As for other plant medicines like palo santo and sweetgrass, these two smokes don’t necessarily clear away negative or unwanted energies. They are more about calling in specific and ancient energies. I sometimes use them if I’m in a pinch. These two plants are better used to set your space for healing, meditation, or during a ceremony or ritual.

Water

Use natural running water like a river, waterfall, or the ocean. I haven’t found water to be as powerful in terms of clearing negative energy, but sometimes it feels right in terms of a cleansing. The salty water of the ocean is a bit more powerful than other kinds of water if you are going to go this route. I sometimes like taking particular stones to the beach, washing them in the salty ocean, and then letting them dry in the sun. This is a good combo of cleaning and charging. In my experience, water cleansing is really good for stones that have been used during very emotional times (particularly for sadness and grief). 

Note: There are some minerals that can’t be put in the water because they are too soft and will break apart to start to disintegrate: desert rose, halite, himalayan salt, malachite, and selenite. Minerals that have iron in them should also avoid water: hematite, magnetite, all forms of pyrite and lodestone.

Earth

This is a method I don’t use often, and for whatever reason I use it mostly to clear stones that have particularly bad associations. Minerals are never negative or bad, but because we are emotional beings we can sometimes project our own emotional states onto things, or associate a negative time, experience, or person with a stone. I usually feel a heavy sinking feeling in my body or like I want to push the stone away from me. This is part of the language I have developed that signals to me what I need to do for a particular mineral. These are the ones I bury. Find a place in your garden where you can dig a hole and place the mineral(s) in this space and then cover. Mark the spot so you can easily find it later. I find a few days will do the trick. But, I once had a mineral that I just never dug up. So that can happen. This is all part of developing your own relationship and intuition around using minerals. The earth is the master recycler of energy. It knows what to do.

Pyramid Charging

After I have given my minerals a good cleaning I love to put them under a pyramid to charge. This is my favorite one to use. I use this pyramid for all the minerals I give to people during workshops. It’s really important to me that if I am giving a mineral to someone that it be clean and at its highest healing capability. Pyramid energy has been used for centuries, dating back as far as the Egyptians. There have been many studies on how it positively affects the energy of people and objects that are in its field. The structure of a pyramid amplifies life force, power, magnesium, and positive energies. You can place just one mineral under a pyramid tool or do a grid layout to enhance the properties of your minerals and intention. 

Again, the most important thing is to use your intuition. After years of working with minerals and listening deeply, I can sense what a mineral wants. Anyone can develop the ability to do this. For example, sometimes I put it under water and I can tell it doesn’t like it. Or I can feel when something wants to stay in the sun longer. And what might work one cleansing period might not be appropriate the next. There is no one hard rule or way. And as I mentioned before, at times it might be a combination of these things. Experiment and play around with these methods to find the one that works for you.

If you notice, all the methods of cleaning your minerals involve nature. Because minerals have come from the earth and have been created from very specific environmental conditions they have a natural relationship to nature. We can use the elements to help support them. And as a result we become more intune with nature and ourselves.   

* don’t forget to think about the minerals or semi precious stones that are in your jewelry