How To Clear a Crystal Aura

Note: Magick is the spiritual and occult practice, spelled with a "k" to distinguish it from the art of deception and illusion.

Way back in the dawn of time, only a few years after the extinction of the last meandering brontosaurus, I visited a “you dig ‘em” Quartz crystal mine in Arkansas. There I paid the small fee to dig my own crystal points out of the mud by hand.

Dragging out the hose to blast off the mud was only the start of my cleaning adventure. I needed tiny picks similar to dental tools to dig ground-in dirt out of crevices in the crystal clusters. Some clusters or individual crystals were stained yellow with hematite, which had to be removed with oxalic acid heated in a cheap dimestore slow cooker.

In short, the physical work of cleaning took serious effort. On the flip side, no other human had ever handled these crystals. Because I mined and cleaned the stones myself, they never picked up somebody else’s intentions.

They were psychically pure and ready for my magickal work.

Why we cleanse

Most stones we meet are the opposite. We find them in rock shops, flea markets, or online. They’re physically bright and shiny.

However, because Quartz is open to impression, these crystals may have picked up somebody else’s dreams and desires along the way. Before we put a new stone to work, we’re wise to clean its aura on the metaphysical level. Thus, I make a practice of doing a simple purification to clear away those old wishes, dreams, intentions, and other psychic attachments.

(Worth noting: Quartz is a friendly helper, not a gotcha stone. If you don’t purify your new crystal, soul-sucking demons won’t ascend from the bowels of the earth to herald the apocalypse. In fact, nothing much bad will happen at all.)

However, if you do purify your crystal, many good things can happen. A clean aura makes it easier for the stone to focus on your magical intention. Clarity of purpose is always going to be more effective than confusion and fuzziness of purpose.

Even the newest newbie can purify a crystal

Purifying a crystal is as simple or as complicated as you care to make it. Some people pull all of their metaphysical stones to bathe in the light of every full moon. That’s an ideal practice, but I’m a little more relaxed — which might be related to the fact that I own a few hundred pounds of stones.

In any case, I don’t bathe every stone every full moon. Instead, I schedule a crystal for a moon bath when I’m getting it ready for a specific magickal working. You do what feels right to you.

The moon bath is the world’s easiest purification ritual. Set your stones under the light of the full moon and let them bask. Easy peasy.

For some people, that might be all the cleansing ritual they ever need. Other people worry about losing momentum and sense of purpose while they’re waiting for the right phase of the moon. It’s a test of patience.

Hmm. There’s an argument to be made for patience. When you wait for the phases of the moon, you’re performing a magickal sacrifice. You’re not just snapping your fingers to make the magick happen.

Respect for the process makes your magick more powerful. It prevents intermediate to advanced workers from getting too sloppy and too cocky. The magick stays magickal — not something you can take for granted. You’re acknowledging the process and the partnership with natural forces.

Still, I’m not inclined to tell beginners to slow their horses. If you’re a new magick worker rarin’ to go, absolutely, you should go ahead and act.

Beginner’s mind is real, and so is beginner’s luck

You never, ever want to surrender those magickal first days and weeks of the new. You don’t want to get your supplies together, collect your first treasures, and then…

“Oh, I’ve got put this off until next Wednesday so I can bathe my stones in the Full Moon.”

We all know what happens if the momentum is lost before you achieve a result.

Nothing happens.

You forget.

The stones join your pile of unfinished dreams.

Easy alternatives to the moon bath

So, to cut to the chase, yes, of course, there are other ways to purify your crystals — including some steps you can take to purify your crystals right away. Again, a basic crystal clearing can be shockingly easy. Most of the time, I simply bathe the new stone in running water. In some cases, I choose to bathe the stone in the smoke of the incense from sage or sandalwood.

Easy, peasy. Immediate too.

However you choose to clear your stone, you want to be focused on your intention. If my thoughts are scattered and my intentions fuzzy, I might not be doing the most terrific job of cleansing the stone’s aura. That’s why I prefer to use a guided visualization while I work.

In theory, you can read the ritual as you bathe the stone in water or incense. It’s a little more difficult to read it by the light of the moon bath. Honestly, either way, the purification flows better if you have a recorded guide to your visualization prepared ahead of time.

For years, I have shared a very short version of a crystal cleansing meditation narrated by James Hutto. It can currently be found on my YouTube channel.

That one-minute meditation is often all you need to do the trick, but sometimes we relax more easily into a longer meditation. Below is a script for my current practice. Feel free to record the meditation below in your own voice to use in your own private work.

(Please note: it is a violation of my copyright to record my script for resale or to post online to your own site without permission. If you want to sell meditations, please write your own script and hire your own narrator. Or pay me a few bucks for the reprint rights to use mine.)

A meditation script for cleaning a crystal aura

I am sitting in a quiet place with my friend the crystal in front of me. I am completely relaxed in the company of my friend.

We are calm, strong, and relaxed.

A glowing white star sparks on like a light to shine about eight inches above the crown of my head. This is pure white light.

Calming. Relaxing.

Relax…

The white light swells and expands. The white light grows from a single star to a glowing white sphere.

It is a peaceful light. Darkness cannot touch the light.

The light grows.

Calming. Peaceful. Relaxing.

Relax…

The sphere is still growing. A ray of light begins to flow like a white river from the center of the glowing sphere down to the crown of your head. I feel its warmth. Its confident, secure touch. I am safe in the white light that flows into my crown and then down in a white river of light into my head.

Down to my third eye.

Down my neck.

The white light is now three beams of light. One that continues to flow like a river down my spine. Two others that flow into my shoulders

Then down my arms. Easy, warm, and easy.

Peaceful.

Relaxing.

The warm, white light has reached my hands. A white light begins to flow out of the palm of each of my hands. The white light is a direct link from the star which flows into my crown, then down into my body, then down my arms, then into my hands and out of the palms of my hands.

There is power, peaceful power, in the white light.

My hands cup themselves over my crystal. My hands glow from the power of the white light.

The white light is pouring out — shining like a moonbeam in darkness — shining out of the palms of my two hands to light up the crystal.

This peaceful light is the light of purity, of peace, of cleansing.

This light bathes my aura.

This light bathes my crystal.

My crystal dances. My crystal rejoices. My crystal bathes joyfully in the white light flowing from my palms which is flowing from the heavens above.

My crystal glows in the light.

My crystal is clean and ready to use.

My crystal is pure.

My aura is pure.

We are clean and ready together.

This guided visualization is fast, focused, and effective. The crystal is now cleansed and ready to be programmed with your positive purpose.

I'm a stone cutter and the author of The Moldavite Message and Crystal Cash: Fast Easy Money Magic Using Popular Stones. On sale everywhere, not just that one big place.