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In a past post, I wrote about cleansing your crystals using sage, which is most often used with using smoke. As I was writing that article, I wondered if all smoke works in the same way that smudging does, and then spent some time burning different forms of incense to see if they have an energetic impact on my crystals. Can you cleanse your crystals with incense and why does it work? The smoke from incense can be used as a way to energetically cleanse a crystal. The belief as to why this works is because smoke changes the structure of energy around a person, place or object, breaking through lower vibrational energies such as negative thinking or stressful emotions. The smoke produced by different herbs, woods and resins affects these energies in different ways. Even though the smoke from incense does move through energy, is this the best way to cleanse your crystals? From my own experience, using incense is a way to cleanse crystals, but maybe not in the way you think it is. The smoke from incense can have an affect on the energy of more than just your crystal, which is where the healing power of its fragrance works best. When used in the right way, incense can be a tool to supercharge your practice with crystals, which includes the crystal cleansing ritual. The Energetics of Smoke to Cleanse Crystals And Does It Really Work? Using incense for cleansing purposes is called “smoke cleansing” and is different than “smudging.” As explained in this past post about sage smudging, the act of smudging is done in a ritual passed down from many generations, where a sacred plant is used - such as white sage or palo santo wood. When burning herbs and incense at home, this is often “smoke cleansing” your space or object. For this, you can use any dried herbs or incense sticks that you have at home. As you take your crystal and pass it through the smoke, the smoke should cleanse the energy, or aura, around that object so that it can go back to vibrating at its base frequency. However, from my experience, smoke from incense does not have that much of an effect on the actual energy of the crystal. It might momentarily do some energetic work, but as soon as the smoke goes away, the crystal may revert back to its original state. But I still recommend using incense for cleansing purposes when working with your crystals. Why? I have found that smoke works best to cleanse the energy in the space holding your crystal. Clearing the space holding your crystal is just as important as cleansing your crystal, as crystals are highly sensitive to the environments they are exposed to. It’s like they play energetic ping pong with everything around them. Smoke cleanses the air quality, changes the energy of the space -- and ultimately -- the fragrance works best to energetically and emotionally impact YOU. You are likely the entity holding space for your crystals, and it is you that is wanting healing. Your crystal will respond to your energy, so if you use the smoke of incense to heal yourself, this will impact your crystal. The best way to apply incense for cleansing purposes is to use it to establish a sacred space for you to do work with your crystals. Burn the incense so it fills the space you are wanting to connect to your crystal energetically and spiritually. Let the fragrance energetically take you to places you need deep work done. Allow the fragrance to clear lower vibrations in your mental, emotional and physical space so that you can go deeper into meditation and get more healing done with your crystal. Many people burn incense on an altar where they have established a sacred space to do spiritual work. So, using incense to create a sacred space to work with your crystals is the best way to use it. This is just from my experience. Experiment for yourself, keep doing what works best for you and intuitively feel what is best for the relationship between you and your crystals. The Best Types of Incense To Use The best incense you can find are dried herbs from plants that are in season in the area you are native to. If Palo Santo doesn’t grow in your area, don’t overdo it. Too much harvesting of this sacred wood is impacting the cultures and ancient rituals where it originated. For example, where I live in the Pacific Northwest in the United States, Pine, Juniper, Desert Sage, Lavender, Rosemary, and Cedar are wonderful options, and all plants I could wild harvest myself. This honors the land you are in, and helps sync you and your space to the environment around you. When picking out an incense, it is also worth doing some introspection and choosing one based on the energy you want to work through. If you are dealing with anxiety or stress, floral incense helps induce relaxation. If you have financial stress or are struggling with physical illness, wood incense like cedar and sandalwood are great grounding fragrances. If you want to connect to your spirituality, incense that opens your crown chakra and third eye are wonderful, such as mugwort and jasmine. How To Set Up Your Incense Cleansing Ceremony In order to create a sacred space, it may feel good to you to set up an altar, or continue to revisit the same area that you have set for spiritual work. This could be the place that you continuously go to meditate or do work with your crystals. Bring your incense, incense burning dish, lighter, crystal and meditation mat or cushion. Play soft music or sounds of nature if that feels good to you. Find a comfortable position and close your eyes. Begin to scan your body and energetic space and ask yourself what energies you are ready to move through in the present moment. Feel any disharmony within yourself and the space around you, and just experience it without judgement. After a few minutes, light your incense and experience how the energy shifts in the space around you and in your own space. Set the intention that the smoke is shifting the energy so that you can move through and transmute any unbalanced energy back into universal consciousness and to its original source. When you feel that your vibration has shifted, pick up your crystal and hold it in your hands. Pour loving light into your crystal and ask that it be cleansed of all imbalanced vibrations to be set back to its original source so that it can come back as loving energy. This is the most powerful way to cleanse a crystal. Make sure to keep proper air movement, and open a window or door to keep your space from getting too smokey. When the incense feels too strong, that means it is time to put it out. It should not distract you from your meditation. Making Your Own Incense For Supercharged Cleansing A fun DIY project and powerful way to set the energy of your incense is to make it yourself! You can blend a special incense cone specifically for the energy that you want to work through. This gives your the freedom to choose different essential oils, powders, resins and herbs based on energies that you want to shift. Here is a video that will walk you through each step and how to do that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEyezjRrQ0g My Recommended Incense For Cleansing Over the course of many years using incense, I have gravitated over and over again to certain companies or types of incense that have a huge impact on my energy. None of these links are affiliates or companies that I have a partnership with. I just really love them and highly recommend them. Incausa Breu Resin Incense Sticks: Breu resin is extracted from the Almacega tree of the Amazon rainforest. It is known for being used in Ayahuasca brewing ceremonies, and used to energetically ward of evil spirits and set the space for cleansing and healing. Incausa is a wonderful company that works directly with the artisans and ethically sources the ingredients to make their products. Prinknash Abbey Incense: Since 1906, monks from Prinknash Abbey in the UK have been hand blending these incense resins for spiritual ceremonies. Still to this day, the monks use their hands to blend these mixtures and bless them before they go off on their journey. They hold an extremely high vibration and move a lot of energy in a space. They are a mixture of Frankincense, Myrrh and essential oils. Fred Soll’s Pure Resin Incense: I have never experienced a more wonderful fragrance than burning Fred Soll’s Sweet Frankincense incense. All of their incense is very deep, pure and clean, and they burn for hours. This incense is wonderful at setting the space with a very pure energy. All their incense is handmade, hand dipped and dried in Tijeras, New Mexico. Related Questions Can smoke harm my crystals? No, the smoke from incense cannot harm your crystals. Just be careful not to apply the burning incense directly to your crystal as direct heat can, and probably will, damage your crystal. If your crystal is kept at a distance, and the smoke has enough ventilation to flow around the object, it will not do damage to your crystal. Are there scents or herbs that can negatively affect my crystal? Any smell that negatively affects the air quality in the environment can negatively affect your crystal - as your crystal is sensitive to the environment and wants to heal it. These smells include anything lower in vibration that is being burned, such as plastic, toxins, chemicals, etc. A lot of incense on the market is scented with unnatural and chemically altered fragrance oils, and contains a cheaply processed and toxic binding ingredient. These materials, when burnt and ingested, can be harmful to your physical health and the energy of your space. Make sure you are purchasing incense from a reputable source, and you can easily find a list of ingredients that do not contain chemicals or harmful binders. If you wild harvest ingredients from your nearby area, always cross check what you are burning with a professional who can help you identify if it is safe to burn in your home.