Crystals and water, which crystals to avoid getting wet

By CRYSTALS.COMDecember 28, 2021

Crystal Care: A Comprehensive Guide to Safely Cleansing and Using Crystals with Water

There are many ways to cleanse crystals, and water is one of the easiest and most available ways out there, but is it ok to get every type of crystal wet?

And maybe you’ve heard of drinking crystal water as part of your self-care routine, or using crystal elixirs, crystal laced beauty spitzers and oils, or throwing some crystals in the bath with you… but it’s not always safe to do that with every crystal, so which ones do you want to use?

If you’ve ever been curious about which crystals can get wet, which ones can’t, and why you’d want to incorporate water into your crystal practice in the first place, you’re in the right place to learn!

Water as a frequency carrier

First off, we have to talk a little about the powerful healing and transformational energies of water itself.

Water can receive, store and transmit energetic information, just like crystals can provide amplifying energy. So when you pair water and crystals together, you get a synergy of the earth’s elements communicating with one another, and that makes each one even more powerful.

When you soak a crystal in water, the water becomes encoded with the energetic frequencies of the stone. The water then becomes a vessel to transmit those energies into your body, by bathing in it or drinking it as an elixir, for instance.

And every type of water has a different energy. For instance, tap water is going to carry much different frequencies than natural spring water has. A murky pond full of algae has different energies than a flowing stream or a waterfall does.

So take into consideration the state of the water itself that you’re using when working with your crystals, to start to understand how the water’s energy may affect them.

Cleansing crystals in water

There are a few different ways you can use water for cleansing crystals. You can do a quick rinse, a longer term soak, lay them outside when it’s raining or to collect the first morning’s dew, or even take them to a stream or the ocean waves.

All of these are potent cleansing mechanisms, but you don’t want to use water, especially salt water, with just any crystal.

To determine if they’ll be safe from being damaged by the water, a good starting point is the Mohs hardness scale.

This is a reference guide that ranks all minerals by their hardness on a 1-10 scale. In general, the harder they are, the more they’d be able to withstand a soak in water without deteriorating. The softer they are, the more susceptible they may be to dissolving, dislodging, dulling or otherwise becoming damaged from the water.

In general, most stones at a 5-6 on the scale or above are considered “hard” enough stones to be cleansed in water. But there are hundreds of minerals out there, and that rule doesn’t apply to every single one, so be sure to check the specifics on whatever new crystal friend you get.

You also can look at the mineral contents of each individual crystal to see if they contain elements that may rust if exposed to water, like iron ore or copper.

As a rule of thumb, most quartz based stones are perfectly a-ok to do a water cleanse with!

Crystals that are safe to cleanse in water:

Quartz stones:
Clear quartz, rose quartz, amethyst, citrine, smoky quartz, tiger’s eye
Jasper stones:
Ocean jasper, dalmatian jasper, red jasper, mookaite
Chalcedony stones:
Bloodstone, onyx, carnelian, agate, aventurine (salt water may be too abrasive for these)
Shungite
Obsidian

For most other crystals, a quick rinse under running water will not damage them unless they’re extremely soft, but you do not want to let them soak in water or leave them outside overnight if there’s moisture in the air.

Some common crystals you do NOT want to cleanse in water:

Black tourmaline
Selenite
Labradorite
Hematite
Kyanite
Fluorite
Calcite
Hematite
Pyrite
Malachite
Turquoise
Moonstone
Lapis Lazuli
Aquamarine
Lepidolite

This is a very short list of what could be a very long list, so do your own due diligence before you soak any stone.

Many of these stones are overly pourous, meaning they will absorb the water which may cause some of their elements to break down. Many will slightly dissolve, or become dull and lose their shine when exposed to water. Many are not quite hard enough on the Mohs scale to withstand the stripping and cleansing effects of water.

Crystal water & elixirs

If you’re going to ingest the water, or want to stick some crystals in the bath with you, in general the stones that are safe to cleanse in water are also safe to use in an elixir or self-care ritual.

But you have to be especially careful with this, as many common crystals contain harmful minerals that can leach into the water when they’re soaked, and you do not want to take a bath in copper or mercury, right?

To play it safe, stick to the quartz based varieties to place in the bath with you- Rose quartz to add healing and love. Amethyst for relaxation and calm. Smoky quartz to release negative energy. Clear quartz to bring clarity and a higher perspective. Citrine for optimism and joy.

For making crystal elixirs, unless you’re using one of the plain quartz types mentioned above, the safest route to go is to use the indirect method to create your elixir.

To do this:

Gather some spring or filtered water in a glass or ceramic bowl.
Then place your crystal of choice, or combination of a few favorite crystals, into a small glass jar.
Put the jar of crystals into the bowl of water, careful to not let the water overflow into the jar itself.
Cover the whole thing and let this sit outside overnight.
In the morning, you’ll have a crystal elixir!

The crystals will still be able to transmit their frequencies into the water, and the water will still be able to record and hold those frequencies, even with the glass in between.

You can also use a pure quartz test tube to hold the crystals and place that in the water.

After they soak overnight, the water will be energetically enhanced and encoded with the energy of the crystals. You can then drink it as is, or mix it with 25% alcohol or apple cider vinegar to preserve it and just take a few drops at a time, as needed.

SHOP CRYSTAL WATER BOTTLES HERE

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Remember its always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to caring for your crystals, and your own wellbeing. We hope this mini-guide helps you know how and when to use water with your crystals, so you can unleash even more of their magic into your everyday life!