Charging, Clearing, Activating and Deactivating Crystals

Whether you are using crystals for manifesting, healing work, meditation or magical ceremony, there are four basic processes which are integral to getting the most from your mineral allies. Let’s explore these primary techniques for maintaining, harvesting, respecting and vitalizing your crystals and gemstones.

Clearing crystals

When crystals are used for healing purposes, they become very receptive to the vibrations of the people that they are working with and upon. Crystals can retain less-than-harmonious energies and therefore should be cleansed after each treatment, or, if using an unfamiliar crystal, prior to charging and activating. When you first acquire any crystal it needs to be cleared of any influences that might be harmful or limiting to you.

When crystals are in need of purifying they often lose their radiance and become dull and clouded. As you work with your crystals and get to know the unique energy of your stones, you will be able to tell which stones need more intense cleansing. Especially in the cases of those patients who are not fully participating in their own healing, or who are too sick to do so, a crystal may contribute so much energy it becomes drained of its own vital forces. It should be then cleaned and re-energized before being used again.

There are a number of methods of stone purification. The simplest is to place the stones in full sunlight for a day, four days, or even a week. The Sun’s rays do the work here, burning away the unnecessary energies. Place the stones in direct sunlight, either in an inside window ledge, or, preferably, at an outdoor location. Remove the stones each day at dusk. Some stones will be clear after a day’s soaking up the rays. Others will need longer periods of time. Check the stones daily and sense the energies within them by placing them in your non-dominant hand. If the vibrations are regular, healthy, the cleansing has been successful.

Another clearing method is to place your stone in natural running water, like a spring, stream, river or ocean wave. Place the stones in a net bag or devise some other method to ensure that they don’t wash away. Leave them overnight in the water, which gently washes away the impurities.

The third cleansing technique is to use the powers of the Earth. Return the stone to its birthplace by nestling it into the dirt, or even burying it underground for a week or so. When you retrieve it, sense whether it has been revitalized, and if it has, resume your magical work.

Charging crystals

Prior to programming your crystals, it is necessary to charge them. When we speak of raising the vibratory rate or the frequency of a gemstone, it is not that we are modifying or altering the energy of the stone. Each stone has a stable “personality” or evolutionary mission it is embarking on, and we cannot interfere with this blueprint. However, when we charge a stone, we help amplify the flow of their energy transmission so that more of the stone’s “message” can come through unfiltered.

One method of charging is done by placing the stone on a quartz crystal cluster, or in the centre of a circle comprised of other crystals— ideally terminated crystals whose points are turned to the center.

If neither of these options are available, allowing your stones to continue basking in the sunlight will also raise their charge or frequency. The Sun’s rays, because they are of the essence of all life and vitality within and around this planet, cause any substance— plant, animal or mineral— to react by opening its molecular structure, allowing extra particles of essential life force to enter it. The Sun’s rays shining down upon anything opens, within that being, a two-way street for the receiving and transmission of powers and energies. The molecular structure gets bent, giving more slack in the lines of energy. In this way, the Sun is an eternal battery off of which man and all of nature’s kingdoms can draw.

Using a prism to charge a stone allows a crystal worker to amplify a particular tone of color within a given stone. While pure sunlight without a prism amplifies the vitality that lies within the gem alone, a prism separates each color tone and allows the practitioner to concentrate on any hue needed. This raises up the powers or functions associated with the individual color ray within the charged stone.

Activating crystals

Before using them in magic, stones should be activated or programmed with your unique energy. Each living form has its own distinct vibration. You have a “signature” vibration on the etheric plane, in the same way that you have distinctive handwriting and fingerprints. It is through this signature or vibration that you can transfer or receive a charge to or from another person or object. Activating or programming your crystal through this energy bonds you to the stone and orients the stone to the use to which it is…