Clearly using ritual as in religion is a form of meditation. And it can't hurt. But what we have found out is that it enhances a placebo effect. Nothing 'wrong' with that. In fact, I cannot say that the USE OF CRYSTALS FOR HEALING, ENERGY, CHAKRA, REIKI, DIVINATION, AWARENESS etc. is anything more than that. Clean your crystals, certainly. But Cleansing them through elaborate ritual based on getting rid of negative energies from others, or enhancing the energy through UV radiation, washing with quartz crystals, stationing it in a half geode? Well maybe.

With our method, using microcrystallines and clay, Cleansing is IMPORTANT... but for reasons other than ritual or adherence to a pseudoscience... note... Reading the hundreds of blogs on Crystal Healing will give you hundreds of different cleansing rituals. Is any one of them better than any other? Pseudoscience... Folks, none of this follows a DOUBLE BLIND REPRODUCIBLE SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY. It's efficacy is based on anecdotes... and mysticism, and simple scientific sounding claims that sound great but have no basis in fact....and the scientist in me, Geochemist and Geophysicist, does not call anecdotal material "evidence".

So at this point you might expect me to say something condescending like "Well, if it works for YOU, do it!" No. I know that the application of minerals in powder form has had so many wonderful outcomes, there is more to it than placebo. But, my training will not allow me to call it SCIENTIFIC. Let's just say it works.

CLEANING

WE will detail this elsewhere but... Our cleansing is more like cleaning rather than energizing or avoiding negative energy.

1. Start with a clean crystal. Wash it, remove any matrix, surrounding materials. You can even use a wire brush if you must. Scratching it will not harm it in any way, after all we're going to pulverize it!

2. If the sample has more than one mineral in it, try to separate them so you have only one mineral.

3. Using metallic instruments, ex. a hammer or wire brush may contaminate your sample. When you crush it into a powder and then make it a paste using clean water, you may get iron filings. These filings can be removed by using a Saran wrap-covered simple magnet. Absolute purity is never achieved so don't sweat trying to be absolute... in anything!

4. Buy clays of industrial cosmetic or ceramic purity. We want no organic material incorporated and we try to not have other microscopic sized mineral grains. But again, do not sweat it... do the best you can.

5. Unleaded glass jars are the best places to store your powders. But if you have ritual jars, and they might add to the fun and mystery... and the placebo effect... go for it. Do not mix your powders of course.

On the internet there are hundreds of sites, wonderfully done, and sincere. And if you find ritual to be your companion in your search for WELLNESS and EXPANSION and Health... go for it! Which method will you choose?

NB... Remembering that AGATE is microcrystalline quartz, it's clear that using an agate geode, letting your mineral sit in or atop one for a given period of time, many say 24 hours including time in direct sunlight, is quantitatively more effective than using a single clear quartz crystal. Most sites recommend using large clear quartz crystals to cleanse your mineral. But here we are empowered to believe that formal cleansing is not necessary. UP to you! Have fun!