Juleigh Howard-Hobson
Crystals absorb all sorts of energies over a year’s time—particularly in the winter months when we tend to keep everything closed in—so a spring cleaning to make sure that they are cleansed of negative or overpowering vibrations is one way to keep your crystals clear and potent.
The basic elements of earth, air, fire, and water are perfect for simply and completely ‘spring-cleaning’ any and all of your crystals, making them clear, pure and ready for another year’s workings.
Burying crystals, carefully, in the dirt for at least an hour allows the earth to draw away and absorb old energies contained in the crystals. You can use a pot of dirt, making sure that you don’t re-use that dirt for growing or clearing purposes later, or you can bury the crystals directly into the earth (mark it well). Burying under a waxing moon will help positively recharge your crystals while they are being cleared.
Using the earth energy of crystals themselves is another good method. Placing crystals inside a geode or a circle of amethyst or smoky quartz for 24 hours is very effective, clearing wise, as the amethyst and quartz will not only absorb negative energies but will give positive ones back.
Incense smoke, made from white sage, lavender, sweet grass or cedar wood, contains fire and element qualities that combine to create an atmosphere which drives away negative energies. Simply place your crystals where this smoke can touch them, either by holding them in it or by gently wafting it over them. In less than a minute the crystals will be cleared.
Using the element of air is probably the easiest: blow on your un-cleared crystals, visualizing white light replacing darkness inside of them your breath moves across them. When you feel they have released all their darkness to the moving air, they are clear. Alternatively, you can leave them outside in a brisk wind, using the same visualization.
This element is just as easily used by placing your crystals in the open air under the light of the moon (note—there are those who say you can do this by the light of the sun, but some crystals will be damaged by exposure to such strong light, beware). A full moon is best for this springtime overall clearing up, while a waning moon is particularly useful for removing big negative energies a crystal might have absorbed. Exposure to a waxing moon will restore positive powers to any crystal that feels a little ‘blank’, so don’t worry about over clearing.
While water can be used to literally wash away negative energies, if using it with crystals you have to be very careful not to literally wash away what you are working with– not all crystals are impervious to water and will be damaged, or even dissolved by it. It’s much wiser, and easier, to keep the crystals dry and wet your finger instead. Using charged water, holy water, running water from a natural source or rain water (from a downpour, not a puddle), moisten your finger, and ‘draw’ a sigil or bindrune (I find the runes Laguz and Gebo very fitting for this) with that watered finger above them to magically wash away the crystals’ negative energies and exchange positive ones in their places.
Crystals are organic and vital; their ability to affect the world is a permeable one—as they work, so the world works on them. Ritually spring cleaning them, even if you regularly clear them or recharge them, is a good opportunity to make sure your crystals are fully able to operate as they were meant to—effectively, purely and numinously—for the long year ahead.
