Cleansing jewelry

[Aubren]

I have some jewelry I want to cleanse of negative energy, and I don't want to do it in the typical ways other sites suggest:

1. If I left it out for 24 hours in my area, a person or corvid would probably steal them.

2. Due to the fact that I don't exactly know what stones, metals, and other materials my jewelry are entirely composed of, I'm worried about tarnishing them in water.

3. Soil has the same issue above, along with the extra cleaning necessity and the slight risk at potential toxins that might be released into the soil (especially with my etsy bought jewelry that probably contains paint).

4. For financial & species vulnerability reasons, I don't want to smoke them in sage.


Are there any other options?

[Jenett]

Are there any other options?

 
Several.

1) Ritual:

There are a number of ritual methods of cleansing objects - basically, whatever your ritual technology for cleansing yourself or your ritual space is, will likely work. (Such as banishing unwanted energies from the jewelry then blessing it with the energies you do want and sealing it.)

Some people find it easier to go through actual motions for this - if you've ever seen aura scraping, something like that, pulling the energetic gunk off, and shaking it out into something that will soak it up. (A small bowl of salt is my choice for this one, usually.)

Some people find it easier to seal the energies they want with a couple of drops of consecrated oil/perfume/water, depending on preference (not enough to damage - I'm talking a brief touch on the back of the jewelry or clasp here.)

Sprinkling lightly with blessed water and passing it through incense or a charged candle's smoke and then drying the piece immediately can also work, depending.

2) Salt:

Putting the item in a small bowl of salt (if you're concerned about material damage, putting a piece of cotton or linen between the salt and the jewelry will help protect it) and leave it on your altar overnight or longer, depending on need.

3) Selenite:

My HPS swore by a slab of selenite (the clear crystal form of gypsum, basically) as a cleansing tool: it's not a terribly expensive mineral to get an index-card sized piece of (under $10, in a lot of places, though like all mined stones, you may care about the source of the mining...)

Jewelry item on the slab overnight, for a fortnight, moon cycle, whatever seems appropriate.

4) Moon light (while inside)

Put the piece somewhere where it can soak up moonlight and/or sunlight from the inside, so it's protected from outside elements. This is a method that usually takes longer, but it can be effective, and especially if the negativity that's gunking up the piece is partly because of habits or things like that you're trying to change (because a break from carrying the piece can help you reset patterns in new ways.)

5) Not actually cleansing it in the first place.

The more I've done this Craft stuff, the more I've come around to the general view of magic as seasoning iron cooking gear. I don't necessarily want to scrub out all the stuff and start seasoning again: I want to do things that take those errors, those unwanted things, and transform them over time into something new and better.

Thus, I very rarely cleanse pieces any more. If I set up a piece for a really particular goal where I expect it to accumulate energetic gunk, it's usually with the goal of expecting to retire the piece and not use it once I'm done. (And I think I've done that maybe once in five years?)

I'm a lot more likely to spend some time with the piece when a phase is done, spend a day or two wearing it in places where it doesn't have to collect icky stuff, and then consider what I want to do next, and bring it out into the world to soak up joyful good stuff.

[SunflowerP]

Are there any other options?

 
To Jenett's several wonderful suggestions, I'd add,

6. Physical cleaning: The physical acts of removing dirt and tarnish, and polishing the piece(s), can be a very effective vehicle for energetic cleansing, especially when done mindfully.

Sunflower

[Emma Eldritch]

4. For financial & species vulnerability reasons, I don't want to smoke them in sage.

 
You could always smoke them in a different purifying incense instead of sage.

[Aubren]

3) Selenite:

My HPS swore by a slab of selenite (the clear crystal form of gypsum, basically) as a cleansing tool: it's not a terribly expensive mineral to get an index-card sized piece of (under $10, in a lot of places, though like all mined stones, you may care about the source of the mining...)

Jewelry item on the slab overnight, for a fortnight, moon cycle, whatever seems appropriate.

But do you need to clean the selenite afterwards?

5) Not actually cleansing it in the first place.

The more I've done this Craft stuff, the more I've come around to the general view of magic as seasoning iron cooking gear. I don't necessarily want to scrub out all the stuff and start seasoning again: I want to do things that take those errors, those unwanted things, and transform them over time into something new and better.

Thus, I very rarely cleanse pieces any more. If I set up a piece for a really particular goal where I expect it to accumulate energetic gunk, it's usually with the goal of expecting to retire the piece and not use it once I'm done. (And I think I've done that maybe once in five years?)

I'm a lot more likely to spend some time with the piece when a phase is done, spend a day or two wearing it in places where it doesn't have to collect icky stuff, and then consider what I want to do next, and bring it out into the world to soak up joyful good stuff.

There's a piece in particular that I wanted to get the deeply-embedded ex-gunk out of. It was ruining it for me, and I felt like it would contaminate my other jewelry if I put it into the jewelry box.

But yeah, there are others where this would be fine.

[Aubren]

Several.

Thank you ALL for all of the wonderful suggestions! Every single one of you had very helpful ideas that I'll probably do in the future!

For those curious, I took the 4th suggestion. It feels mostly clean.  There might be a little bit of something deep-set in there, but I can't tell if it's my own bias because it's a ring from an ex or if it's really in there. Regardless, I think it's safe to finally wear and put with the rest of my jewels (which isn't much, but still). I'm quite satisfied with the result.

Cheers!*

*But feel free to add new suggestions or reply to my other responses!

[Jenett]

But do you need to clean the selenite afterwards?

Not often. The usual thing is to stick the selenite under running water for a bit (putting it in the bottom of the shower when you were having one anyway is what she'd do) when you felt it wasn't working as well as it could.

[PiscesMoon]

Are there any other options?

When I get a new piece of jewelry, I will put it on my shrine and ask that it be blessed, and then position it so that it is amongst the crystals or stones that I use for cleansing.

I know it's not traditionally used as a cleansing crystal, but I was given as a gift a slice of very lovely labradorite, and the energy of it just feels right... I will leave new pendants resting on top of that for several days. Amethyst clusters are also supposed to be good, or clear quartz.