MM

My house burnt down in November. I was lucky enough to salvage some of my crystals and stones. Most of my altar tools were just totally covered in smoke residue or the items melted, or cracked into a billion pieces. I have spent years collecting all these items, and wondered if there is anyway I can cleanse the negativity from anything I salvaged. The crystal spheres took alot of smoke residue inside. I am lost without these stones. If anyone has any idea what I can do with my altar tools, please let me know.

MP
Cendrena

You could cleanse it like any other items using running water or soaking crystals in salt solutions , blessed water , bury in Earth or under a pile of salt , lay out in the Sun or expose to the light of the Moon . Lay them on a special cloth outside when the winds and breezes are blowing . Visulizations can be used or you may want to channel healing energy to the crystals and items .

Before you expose a crystal to salt , water or fun sunlight , be sure that the crystal does not react chemically to sunlight , water or salt . An example would be selenite . It dissolves in water . So water is not an option for cleansing .

Bells , drums , rattles , singing or crystal bowls or by the means of cleansing sounds or chants or mantras are very useful in cleansing .

You may want to create your own cleansing rituals or your own method of cleansing my mixing and matching or by following existing formulas .

Use your intuition to decide ways to cleanse the crystals .

Good ol fashioned soap and water, and tlc in rubbing them.

If they are items that are hard, or cloth, you can rub first with Dawn dishsoap, and then rinse under running water.

If you can handle, a touch of Ammonia in a small amount of water will cut the smoke residue, which is oily, quickly, but is harsh, so wear gloves if you have dainty hands.


Not sure if baking soda water woud work or not, you culd always try.

Check out the encyclopedia, or magickal home board for other cleansing options.

Just mine from years of cleaning houses and businesses.

Greetings Cendrena,

I am so sorry to hear about your fire. Starting over does have its good points tho, and remember that fire clears the way for new growth and change.

Please try to remember that the fire itself is an element, and in itself is not negative. Without it, not much would exist on this planet. Also, although you loved your tools and crystals verymuch, they are but material things and can be replaced. A tool does not make the Witch.

Perhaps this is a time of rebirth and regeneration for you. Althought ht circumstances of the fire are probably not the best, it is essential that you move through the pain and emotions inlvoved and begin again....by harboring these items you cling to so tightly, you are inevitably bringing back some of the negativity with you.

In order to cleanse the things you desire to keep, you must look at the fire itself and the smoke, and how it worked. If something is smoke covered, I would look at this as something that needs to be placed aside till a later time. If it is broken or melted, it is time to look at that particular item and bless it and send it on its way to the Creator...whether you bury them, cast them into a river, creek or ocean, that is up to you. Remember that water is cleansing, and the Mother Earth will do her best to renew the items and become whole with them again.

The mundane ways of cleaning that have been mentioned are great ideas. The Spiritual aspect is, you have to rid yourself of the emotions inovled with this event first. Do meditations, journaling, and possibly look at speaking with someone who has been through a similat event, a counselor or support group. Fires can be devasting emotionally...for the entire family...be sure that you can give you and your family enough time to heal, and then get out what you have saved, and clean, clean clean...and welcome, to the new you.

Blessings Bright and Dark,

Blessings to you all that have offered advice and help with this delicate situation. I know all of the items can be replaced. And today I actually buried the ones that had melted or were worse for ware. I thought it only right to give the items a proper Goodbye. The hardest thing about this whole fire has been the loss of lives. We lost almost all our animals. And just recently one of the kitty cats that was saved died. That just added salt to an already open sore wound. She was the greatest. I have found journaling here has helped me begin to heal. In a very strange way the fire has been interesting. I say this because of the majority of the items we salvaged were religious. 1400 to 1600 degrees the fire burned for 45 minutes. We as a family have learned to appreciate life much more then we ever did. For three of our kitty cats were trapped in the fire. No one knows how they survived, for we were told they should have perished with the rest of the animals. So we are blessed to have been given more time with some of our furbabies.

I will try some if not all of the ideas for cleaning and cleansing the items. Thank you all so much for the support and pep talk. Right now I just feel so lost, and it lightens my heart to know that their are still people out here that care enough to listen and help anyway they can.
MP
Cendrena