Instead of starting a new thread on cleansing, I thought I'd bump this old poll of Fudugazi's.
Yes, I cleanse my crystals, when new unless I intuit that they don't need it, and when they are getting "tired", "stressed", whatever you want to call it. Some crystals are self-cleansing, like citrine and selenite, but most accumulate energy and it can cause what resembles confusion. Clear quartz and smoky quartz go cloudy, fluorite and amethyst fade. Some others go dull. I've seen lots of crystals, notably smoky quartz and fluorite, which crack and fracture when used for healing. This, I am told, means that they have "done their job". My teacher says to bury the small piece that breaks off and go on using the rest of the crystal.
To cleanse mine, again I use intuition. Most of mine are hard crystals, mostly quartz derived, and so are fine with water (running, not still) and salt, which you throw out when it's done it's job. I wouldn't bury it as it's not good for plants, but chucking it (reverently, of course!) in the ocean would be brilliant if you have easy access to the water! Moonlight and sunlight are also often used, although I don't use them myself, as amethyst and heat treated citrine are photosensitive and I don't know which of my other ones are as well, and here in Perth we don't get all that much moonlight as it's always cloudy. If I could, I would.
I also cleanse some smaller crystals, usually the tumbled ones for some reason . . has something to do with facets . . by bonding with them. I sit with them and stroke them and kind of go on a journey with them to realign our purposes. I wouldn't try this with my bigger, natural faceted ones.
Btw, selenite hates water, if you do feel the need to cleanse it. It is really soft and disintegrates. You can wipe it with wet hands, but don't immerse it or leave it to soak, and dry it straight away. It also reacts readily with sweat, so find a way of meditating with it that doesn't have it bathing in your sweaty hand!
DarkElectric said:
I have a lot of natural crystal chunk bracelets and necklaces which I wear for their various properties. I do cleanse them, because from my own experience, I find that if I don't the energy gets sort of blocked and stagnant. I don't feel that sparkly flow that I do when they're clean.
I cleanse them in a variety of ways, as there are some that should not be placed directly in salt due to their composition.
I've found the most benign method for cleaning anything crystalline (or other types of jewelery one wears often), is to place it in a dish on the top of the toilet tank, of all places. The magnetic quality of water draws the psychic schmutz down and out when you flush your loo, and cleanses your objects!
For the record, I love DarkElectric's idea of the toilet! That is one of the most brilliant ideas I've heard in a long while . . . now, if only I could get into my toilet . . .
Okay, time to shut up now.
\m/ Kat