About Cleansing

Cleansing is different than cleaning. Cleaning means to scrub, dust, polish or shine. Cleansing is about energy. When you cleanse your aura, you don’t scrub it, you heal it using energy. Some people call this type of energy subtle energy. What is lovely about subtle energy is that for many of us it is anything but subtle! We’ve all had some experience of this. You walk into a room or a house and your strong inclination is to turn right around and walk out again. Often, there is nothing overtly wrong, it just FEELS bad. In my line of work, I’d say, get a black tourmaline quick and cleanse that place!

There are many ways to cleanse healing rocks.

One way is to physically clean them, often using running water. Some people like to take their healing rocks into the ocean and wash them there. Some have their rocks join them in the bath. Bach Flower remedies can be used to cleanse stones, especially Rescue Remedy. Sunlight and moonlight are also cleansing. If a stone is full of negative energy the combination of sunlight and moonlight can rid it of those energies. If a stone is particularly bad, bury it in the earth, and the earth will do the work. It helps to state your intention, i.e. “I’m putting my favorite rocks outside to be cleansed by the sun, the moon, and the earth. Please and thank you.” Healing rocks are big on permission; politeness never hurts. My personal favorite for cleansing, and the technique I use for all the rocks I sell, is to offer them in meditation to the Earth Mother in the heart of the earth, and ask her to, “please remove all negatives, and enhance all positives, and to prepare this stone for its healing journey. Thank you.” I have had many lovely, enriching, heart-healing experiences using this method, and I highly recommend it. Once cleansed, there are a number of things that can be done to keep the energy in your healing rocks clean and bright. Storing stones or jewelry in a cedar box keeps them clear and ready. Cedar boxes can be found in thrift and antique stores. I always keep a few extra around for buyers who are interested. To tell for sure if you have a real cedar box give it the sniff test—if it smells like cedar, it is! Another useful tool in keeping healing rocks and jewelry energetically cleansed is to use a nest. A nest is usually a quartz of some type or another (clear, amethyst, or citrine) that is in a cluster and big enough to set jewelry or stones upon. You can program the nest by politely asking it to, “Please energetically clear and cleanse whatever is put upon you, thank you.” It is important to check your nest every once in a while to make sure it does not need cleansing itself! Again, be polite; give permission, and state intention. (This is what magic and manifesting is made of!) How do you tell if a particular stone or piece of jewelry needs cleansing? Some stones in need will feel unusually heavy or cold. If you feel like putting on your jewelry makes you gain 10 pounds it’s time for cleansing! Common sense is useful. If your stone was a gift from someone who is now angry with you, cleanse it! When in doubt, no stone was ever harmed by visiting with the Earth Mother in the heart of the earth.

Hematite and black tourmaline are two stones that do not need to be cleansed because they cleanse themselves. However, if I ask a black tourmaline or hematite to clear something particularly slimy, I’ll still cleanse them afterwards. Remember that healing rocks cannot help us with anything unless we give them permission to do so. I have been shocked at the increase in energy every time I remind my rocks and myself that they have my permission to help me with anything and everything.  I also encourage them to all work together, and they do, in ways I’m thrilled to watch.

I have been amazed at the willingness of the mineral kingdom to help humans with anything we ask for help with. The Native American tradition calls stones the “rock people.”  As my sensitivity, and ability to listen has increased, I am stunned by the generosity, strength, wisdom, and humor of these rock people. Use them with care, gentleness, and love, and anything you give to them will come back a thousand fold.  Co-create with them, and watch your world blossom.