How and When to Cleanse Your Crystals of Stale Energy

In order to reap the benefits of healing crystals, it’s important to regularly to charge them. Charging, also known as cleansing, means riding the crystals of any stale energy that has been absorbed — and often, there’s a lot that needs to be cleared away.

While the term “cleansing” or “charging” might invoke images of dusting your stones or popping them on some sort of charger, it actually refers to cleaning them energetically.

It’s important to cleanse your crystals after you purchase them — think of all the people who have handled them before they got to you — as well as every few weeks to disperse the energy within the stone — be it positive or negative. While there are a number of ways you can charge crystals — including the use of water, sage and visualisation — the most straightforward option is via the energy of the full moon.

How to harness the power of the full moon

While it might sound a little woo-woo, it’s actually really easy to use the energy of the full moon to cleanse your crystals. All you have to do is collect your crystals and lay them outside in the moonlight. Depending on your backyard situation, if you can pop the crystals onto a natural surface like grass or dirt, this is the best option.

For those without an outdoor area, you can simply put your crystals on a windowsill or balcony and they will still reap the benefits of the moonlight. Don’t worry if the moon is hiding behind clouds either, because the energy will be strong enough to find your crystals.

Leave your crystals in this position overnight and collect them in the morning. Be sure to check the weather forecast as not all crystals like water — including moonstone, calcite and selenite — and could be damaged should it rain. Same goes for sunlight, with crystals like amethyst, aventurine, citrine and clear quartz fading or cracking if exposed to too much sun, so make sure to bring them in first thing.

On average, there is a full moon once every month but the date changes each time so best to keep an eye on when it is happening. A simple Google search will keep you up to date on the moon happenings, otherwise, timeanddate.com has a comprehensive list of when each full moon is occurring in 2021 depending on where you live.

Pop a reminder in your phone as to when the full moon is happening so you can pop your crystals outside and charge them with the energy. This way, your healing crystals will be functioning at their best so you can use them as needed and, the full moon serves as a handy reminder to do this.