Working with crystals needs your time and attention and regular cleansing is an essential step in taking care of your crystals in order to get maximum benefits of their healing properties and purge them of any unwanted excess stored energy.
Cleansing crystal with water is the most popular and goto method for cleansing and charging crystals.
However, not all crystals are water-friendly.
Knowing which crystals can go in water and which cannot go is very important to prevent any irreversible damage to your precious stones especially crystal jewelry.
Which Crystals can go in water?
As per crystal experts, minerals that are a 6, or above, on the Moh’s Hardness Scale are safe to go in water.
This is a 1-10 scale that measures the hardness and scratch-resistance of minerals, with 1 being the softest and 10 being the hardest.
If you must cleanse a soft crystal with water make sure you just keep it for few minutes under running tap water and then completely pat dry with a soft towel.
All crystals from the Quartz family such as Smokey Quartz, Clear Quartz, Rose Quartz, Citrine, Amethyst are safe to cleanse in water.
Water Safe Crystals:
- Clear Quartz
- Rose Quartz
- Amethyst
- Smokey Quartz
- Citrine
- Agate
- Moonstone
- Carnelian
- Rutilated Quartz
- Jasper
- Tiger’s Eye
- Aventurine
- Lapis Lazuli
- Black Obsidian
Which Crystals cannot go in water?
Not all crystals are safe to be washed in water and knowing which ones are not water-friendly and may cause crystals to lose shine, density, or even completely dissolve with prolonged contact in water.
Knowing what kind of stones are water unsafe will be of great help in making sure you do not harm your precious stones in any way.
Stones that end with ‘ite’ are generally not water suitable like Selenite, Hematite, Calcite, Fluorite, Malachite, Celestite, Labradorite, Azurite, Angelite, Lepidolite.
Stones that have high iron content such as Pyrite, Hematite, Magnetite, and Goethite, should not be left in water for long periods because the iron has a tendency to rust.
If you do want to wash them, remove them from the water quickly and dry them well.
Soft Crystals that rate lesser than 4 on the Mohs Hardness scale have a tendency to lose density and dissolve in water and sometimes water may go in cracks in the stone causing the stone to disintegrate over time.
Water Unsafe Crystals
- Apatite
- Apophyllite
- Azurite
- Celestite
- Desert Rose
- Fluorite
- Gypsum
- Halite
- Hematite
- Labradorite
- Lepidolite
- Malachite
- Opal
- Pyrite
- Selenite
- Tangerine Quartz
- Turquoise
- Ulexite
Which Crystals cannot go in Salt Water?
Salt is known for its purifying properties hence is a very popular method to cleanse crystals.
Salt cleansing is very effective and especially recommend for crystals that are grounding and protective against negative energy such as Black Tourmaline, Obsidian.
But using salt for cleansing is a bit risky and you need to be careful how you use it.
Saltwater may especially be harmful to crystal jewelry and polished stones causing them to lose their shine and polish over time.
A safer way to use salt is to take a few granules of Himalayan salt or plain sea salt in a bowl and place your tumbled stones on it for 10-20 mins and then cleanse it with regular water.
Salt Water Unsafe Crystals
All water unsafe crystals from the above list cannot go in salt water either.
- Amber
- Angelite
- Azurite
- Black Tourmaline
- Calcites
- Carnelian
- Fire Opal
- Imperial Topaz
- Kunzite
- Kyanite
- Moonstone
- Red Coral
- Turquoise
Which Crystals can go in Moon Water
The calming balancing energy of the moon restores healthy energy to the gemstone and gently releases any unwanted excess stored energy.
To use moon water for cleansing fill a crystal bowl with drinking water and steep the stone in it leaving it out overnight preferably during a full moon.
All water-safe crystals from the above list are safe to go in moon water too.
If you are planning to ingest the water make sure the crystals are safe to be infused and ingested.
Which Crystals can be infused in water?
You can drink crystal infused water or crystal elixir from a glass bottle or crystal water bottle to imbibe the healing benefits of that crystal and flush out any unwanted energies and toxins.
Not all crystals are safe for infusion though and some are even toxic and must strictly not be used for crystal water or gem elixirs.
Potentially toxic minerals include those stones that have high copper, sulphur, asbestos, lead content in them.
Quartz crystal and other crystals belonging to Quartz family are considered completely safe for direct infusion in water.
For other crystals its better to use the indirect method.
- Amethyst
- Aventurine
- Black obsidian
- Carnelian
- Clear quartz
- Jasper
- Rose quartz
- Rutilated quartz
- Smoky quartz
Water infusion UnSafe Crystals
- Actinolite
- Azurite
- Chrysocolla
- Hematite
- Lapis Lazuli
- Malachite
- Pyrite
- Stibnite
- Tiger’s eye
You can use the below indirect method to create crystal water for water unsafe & toxic crystals.
In this method, we do not touch the crystal to the water as the crystal might dissolve in water and cause harm to you if you drink the water.
We use two separate containers (One big and one small) so that the larger container can be filled with water and the crystal can be placed in the smaller container.
The smaller container is then placed inside the water-filled larger container without allowing the water to enter the smaller container.
This avoids water from touching the crystal in the smaller container and causing any damage to the crystal as well as keeping the water pure from any toxic mineral which the crystal might release.
Leave this setup overnight particularly under the full moon.
Use this water in your regular drinking bottle or as an elixir to drink or spray as you need.
Final Thoughts
Every time you get a new crystal make sure you read about its composition and properties and how to cleanse it so as to achieve maximum benefits of the stone without causing any harm to you or your precious crystal.
Safer and effective ways of cleansing are Smudging with Sage or Palo Santo, Cleansing with Selenite, Moonlight or Sunlight cleansing.
Like many people, I began to search for answers to the deep questions of life, and the meaning of existence.
I sought out answers to “Who am I,” “Why am I here,” and “What was I sent to do?” The answer I found, and continue to find, can be summed up in 2 words: LOVE and LIGHT.
There is love in everything and everyone, and each of us is here to share that love with the world.
I am a spiritual healer and intuitive who has been using my healing gifts to help others.