If you’re lucky enough to have a calcite crystal, you need to know how to cleanse and charge it.
Calcite can be cleansed by putting it in healthy soil, in the smoke of a burning smudge or incense stick, in your own breath, or in moonlight to purify and re-energize the crystal.
It’s important to note that calcite is a relatively soft mineral with a 3 rating on the Mohs scale of hardness, so not all of the usual cleansing methods can be used. In fact, some methods damage, fade, or even dissolve your crystal!
Read on for all 11 safe cleansing methods, with step-by-step instructions on how to get the most from your cleansing ritual, and the two methods you want to avoid at all costs.
By the end of this post, you’ll have 11 safe and easy ways to cleanse and charge calcite.
How To Cleanse Calcite
Cleanse and charge calcite with…
Meditation and visualization
To cleanse calcite with visualization, take a good look at your crystal to get an idea of its shape and color.
Close your hand with the calcite in it. Then close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, coming back to your center and forgetting about the outside world.
Now picture the crystal in your hand. See the crystal’s shape and color in your mind. Keep picturing it until you have a clear view of it in your mind’s eye.
Next, visualize clean, clear spring water washing over the crystal. The stream can be as strong or gentle as you wish, and it can wash the crystal for as long as you are comfortable with the practice. Use some of these calcite affirmations to help cleanse, charge, and activate your crystal.
Once the crystal has been “washed,” picture it rising from the stream into pure, warm sunlight. Try to see the water beads of negativity evaporating from the crystal, until all that’s left is a shiny, cleansed crystal in your hand.
Here’s a simple, calming calcite meditation to try.
Soil
Mother Nature and the Earth are wonderful crystal cleansers.
Cleanse calcite by placing it in soil, either in the ground where there is good plant growth or in a plant pot with a healthy plant.
Cover the crystal with a light dusting of soil, so you cannot see it. You want the soil to touch all parts of the crystal, to absorb any negativity and to protect it.
Don’t put your crystal anywhere a child or animal might find it and swallow it.
Leave your crystal in the soil for at least 24 hours before rinsing it in warm water and patting it dry.
Smudging
A sage smudge is most popular for cleansing, like these white sage sticks, but you can also use smudges made from Palo Santo wood, cedar, sweetgrass, juniper, or yerba santa.
These handmade floral smudge kits from Amazon make the crystal cleansing ritual that much more beautiful.
To cleanse calcite with a smudge:
- Go outside or into a well-ventilated room, where the smoke won’t bother you.
- Light the smudge with a wooden match (these are the most beautiful wooden matches I’ve ever seen).
- Gently blow out the flame, making sure that the smudge keeps on smoking.
- Hold your crystal in the smudge’s smoke, turning it over and circling the smudge around the crystal to make sure the smoke touches each side of the calcite.
If you have a deluxe smudging kit, blow the smoke over your crystal with the feather to represent the element of air passing over your crystal.
- Do this for as long as your intuition tells you to do so, but make sure the smoke touches each part of the crystal at least three times.
- Once you’re done, let the smudge stick burn to the end or put it out in sand.
- Sprinkle any ashes from the smudging process on the ground outside, for the soil to absorb the old energy back into the earth.
Incense
You can cleanse calcite with the smoke from incense, much like you use the smoke from a smudge stick.
Choose any incense that you love – many people enjoy the smell of cedar incense blocks, white sage, frankincense and myrrh, or organic sandalwood incense.
If you want to use a candle’s smoke instead, try this magnificent pure white sage smudge candle.
To cleanse calcite with incense, light the incense stick and gently blow out the flame.
Hold your crystal in the smoke and slowly turn it over three times, to allow the smoke enough time to cleanse the crystal.
This should take about a minute to do, but you can leave it in the smoke for longer if you feel the crystal needs extra cleansing.
If you burn your incense in a covered holder, like this handmade distressed wood box, place your calcite crystals inside the box, light the incense, close the lid, and leave your crystals inside to be cleansed by the smoke.
Breath
Your own breath can be very powerful when it comes to crystal cleansing as your breath symbolizes the air element.
To cleanse calcite with your breath, sit down with the crystal in your hand. Close your eyes and take a few slow, deep breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Once you are completely calm, imagine a bright, warm light around yourself and your crystal. Slowly open your eyes and bring your open hands with your crystal close to your mouth.
Continue to breathe slowly. Take air in through your nose and exhale strongly through your mouth, directly onto the crystal.
Make your breaths intentional and imagine the light that is surrounding you passing through your breath and over your crystal.
Turn your crystal over with each breath, to make sure that you breathe on each side at least once.
Do this for as long as you feel you should, but you can stop after about four full breaths if that is enough for you.
Sunlight
The right amount of gentle sunlight can have a wonderful cleansing and energizing effect on calcite, but too much direct or harsh sunlight for too long can make the crystal fade, change color, or even alter the energy of the stone.
To keep your crystal cleansed and preserve its color, place it out in a sunny spot at dawn or in the morning by 8 am. Don’t touch your crystal during this time.
Leave the crystal out in the sun for no longer than 15 minutes and, if you can, place it on soil for better cleansing.
Be sure to bring it inside by 9 am as that’s when the sun’s rays get harsher.
Moonlight
The moon’s rays are a wonderful safe way to cleanse calcite.
Click here to check when there will be a full moon or a waning moon in your area – you’ll need to search for your city in the top right search bar.
Once you find the moon phases for your area, look for the next full moon or waning moon, as these are the best times to cleanse a crystal with moonlight.
- A full moon is when the entire moon is visible, so you see a bright, complete circle of the moon. A waning moon comes after a full moon, when the moon starts looking smaller in the sky.
Put your calcite crystal outside under a full moon or waning moon to be cleansed.
It’s best to put the crystal in direct moonlight and on the ground where negative energy can be absorbed.
Leave it out there overnight if you can, but be sure to bring it in before the sun gets bright and hot the next morning.
Sound
Sound cleanses calcite by pushing away negative energy with its vibrations.
To cleanse calcite with sound, place the calcite crystal on a table or on the ground no more than 3 feet away from you.
Keep the area between you and the crystal open, so sound vibrations can move freely toward and over the crystal.
Sit down in a comfortable position and start chanting or making an appropriate sound.
You can either chant by making the “om” sound over and over, play a singing bowl like this one from Amazon, use meditation chimes, strike a healing tuning fork, or play cymbals.
You could even combine two of these by chanting and using one of the “instruments” at the same time.
Continue making the sound for a few minutes for effective cleansing.
Selenite crystal
Selenite is a clear cleansing crystal that can be used to cleanse calcite quickly and easily.
To cleanse calcite, put it in a selenite crystal bowl. These bowls are known as “crystal charging stations” because they release negative energy from all crystals, including calcite.
Keep a bowl in your home and use it to cleanse and recharge crystals as needed.
If you don’t have a selenite bowl, put your calcite on selenite crystals for the same cleansing effect. Try to get enough selenite sticks so you can wrap them around your calcite underneath, on the sides, and on top, so the selenite touches all sides of the calcite.
If you don’t have selenite on hand, replace the selenite with another cleansing crystal like clear quartz, amethyst, carnelian, or black obsidian.
Many crystal workers believe that there should be more of the cleansing crystal than the crystal being cleansed. Having a larger amount of the cleansing crystal amplifies its overall purifying energy, making it more effective at cleansing the smaller crystal.
It’s kind of like how a larger sponge is better at soaking up a spill than a smaller one.
Himalayan salt lamp
Salt has a wonderful purifying effect on crystals, but regular salt is far too harsh to cleanse calcite (see the next section where I explain why you should never use salt to cleanse calcite).
But there is a safe way to cleanse calcite with salt – simply use a Himalayan salt lamp!
Put your calcite next to the lamp and let the crystal bathe in the lamp’s light for several hours. Then turn the crystal over to expose the other side to the lamp’s light for a few hours more.
Brown rice
Brown rice can be used to cleanse calcite.
Simply bury the crystal in a shallow bed of dry brown rice and leave it there overnight, or longer if you feel it is necessary.
The brown rice will absorb all the negative energy from the crystal. Thank it and throw out the brown rice once your crystal has been recharged.
What Not To Do When Cleansing Calcite
Never cleanse calcite with…
Water
It’s best not to use water to cleanse real calcite crystals.
Calcite is mainly made up of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which dissolves quite easily in acidic water and can even dissolve in neutral or alkaline water when given enough time.
That’s why calcite formations in caves, called stalactites and stalagmites, can grow and dissolve depending on the acidity of the water dripping on them!
And you might be surprised to find out that many types of water have some acidity in them, even fresh rainwater.
Even if you put calcite in water and it doesn’t dissolve, the crystal is likely to lose its luster or become pitted if left in water for extended periods.
Salt water and sea water are also very bad for soft calcite crystal, as they are very corrosive and damage the stone.
So, while calcite won’t dissolve quickly in water under normal conditions, it’s best to avoid contact with water altogether, especially if you don’t know how acidic the water is.
Salt
While salt is commonly used to cleanse many types of crystals, it can be abrasive and scratch or degrade the surface of softer minerals like calcite.
Don’t ever put your calcite crystal in salt to cleanse it.
If you’re looking to cleanse or charge your calcite, it’s better to opt for the gentler, safer methods I listed above.
Once your crystal is charged and cleansed, click here for unique ideas on where to store it.
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