INSIDE: Crystals offer so many rich gifts in our lives, from healing vibrations to gorgeous eye candy! Let's learn how to store crystals to maximize their effectiveness while showing off their beauty and influence on your spiritual life.

 

Most naturally-occurring crystals have taken thousands, maybe millions of years to form beneath the earth’s surface. Similar to enduring food storage systems of traditional agriculture-based communities, the deep sturdy layers of the earth make the perfect vessel to protect these masterpieces of nature. 

By carefully preparing grains and other crops before placing them in durable structures for a period of time until needed, communities decrease their ecological impact and empower their members with healthy nutrition.

Crystals may not fill your stomach at every meal, but they can play a vital role in wellbeing – and contribute to some pretty incredible physical health benefits!

Treating crystals with the same care that we give healthy produce – starting with how to store crystals properly – can amplify their strength, energy, and vibrations to last even longer from this side of the earth’s surface!

How to Develop a System for Crystal Storage

Before you find the need for crystal storage, you will undoubtedly have spent time examining your crystals and learning to use them. Understanding the unique features of your crystals – from healing vibrations to physical characteristics – will help you develop an organized system for how to store crystals. 

Getting organized and developing a storage system will keep your stones safe so they can do the same for you when you need them.

Organize by Healing Properties

We want to start by focusing on the deep roots of crystal healing before talking about the physical characteristics that influence how to store crystals. That's because a helpful organizing system for your crystals revolves around the different energies they emit to empower, ground, and heal.

For example, you can store crystals by intention, setting aside special containers for crystals for grief, creativity, love, or focus. You can create chakra boxes with complete sets of chakra-balancing crystals that correspond to the healing color spectrum.

If you’re living in a studio apartment in Manhattan with limited space, you don’t have to worry about having multiple containers for each healing property – you can have one box with segments labeled for each grouping.

Once you’ve opted for a few healing categories, you can further group your stones by physical characteristics to keep them in their optimum energetic states and conditions.

Organize by Hardness

Some crystals, like Fluorite and Quartz, seem almost indestructible – their elemental structures form bonds that won’t scratch, chip, or budge. Learning about the “hardness” of crystals can give you important information about which stones can physically interact and which ones need their own special space.

In gemology, the Mohs scale measures a mineral’s hardness, which determines its ability to scratch other stones. Scratches in stones or damage caused by another crystal can’t always be seen, but you don’t need to get fancy equipment to check if your crystals have clashed.

If you store softer crystals (to be clear, they won’t feel “soft” to the touch) in padded and reinforced containers, you prevent them from meeting damage even from the hard edges of boxes, chests, and other stones.

Also, if you secure harder crystals separate from others, you will avoid causing damage to other stones.

Organize by Fragility

There are other ways to consider fragility that can influence how to store crystals.

Some crystals are water soluble, which sounds quite friendly, but actually means that they can dissolve in water! Beyond submerging crystals in water, you need to consider the environment you plan to keep your crystals in because humid places can gradually break down your stones.

Crystals also have varying sensitivity to sunlight. Calcite, for example, cannot endure long exposure to the sun. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hold potent sun energy though!

Light sensitivity can affect whether you place your crystals near a bright, open window or somewhere with a bit more shade and shadow.

Organize by Textures & Shapes

We recommend starting with classification systems that protect your stones when first deciding how to store crystals. Once you have in mind the crystals that play nicely together in environments optimum for their frequencies and properties, then you can further group your crystals by other physical characteristics.

Texture is a great way to store crystals together. Tumbled stones fit nicely together in a container, and their smooth surfaces are less likely to cause damage. Natural, rough crystals can chip or scratch smoother crystals, so consider keeping natural, unshaped stones together.

Shapes can also influence how you store your crystals. Grouping crystals by shape – pointers, wands, or carved shapes like crystal skulls – can make your crystals more easily accessible when you have very particular healing work to do.

Containing Crystals & Their Frequencies

With an organized structure in place, you can now think about what crystal storage makes the most sense for the stones, wands, and pieces you have. Some can fit in small boxes, while others shouldn’t be contained.

Boxes 

One of the most obvious containers for crystals are boxes, especially small ones meant to gift jewelry. Shoeboxes can also work for wands and pointers, but think of ways to beautify these containers. You can wrap the exterior in plain colored paper and carefully cover it with meaningful symbols, calligraphed labels, or sacred geometric shapes.

Wooden boxes and chests give your crystals a cozy home with a gorgeous exterior. You can then make a display of your crystals around your home on shelves and tables.

Be mindful though that if the box is in a high trafficked area, it’s probably not the best place for your crystals, which are sensitive to motion and the energetic auras of others.

The inside of a box matters even more for how to store crystals. Crystals should have soft padding to help keep them in place and to prevent them from knocking against hard sides. 

Drawers

Essentially just boxes in a different form, drawers keep your crystals tucked into a safe space that’s easy to organize. Inside drawers, you can jigsaw smaller boxes in place to group your stones and keep them steady.

You can find special towers of drawers that can take up small corners of a room or on which you can place a small Amethyst Zen Tree or activate a small crystal grid.

However, it’s important to not get carried away by fitting smaller boxes into drawers to store your crystals. You need to provide space for the energetic frequencies of stones to move and charge.

Piling too many on top of each other without thought to their arrangement will negate all the work you’ve put into creating a healthy storage zone for your crystals.

Bags

Many crystals, usually as tumbled stones, come in a little drawstring bags. These bags make great storage for crystals, but you need to keep in mind how to store crystals safely.

You want to avoid tossing crystals of different hardness into bags together. Without soft layers between each stone, they will rub against one another and can erode the crystals’ surfaces.

You also want to use natural fibers, even handmade bags, because the craftsmanship and energy will give off good vibes to your stones.

The downside of bags and small sacks is that you usually have to dig into them or empty their contents to really see what you have stored – unless you have a photographic memory or have sharpened your psychic ability.

Mesh bags aren't a good option because they do very little to protect the stones inside – they aren’t particularly soft and dust and other particles can collect around your crystals.

Out In the Open

Just as you can display your crystal boxes on a shelf or table, some crystals need the open air to thrive. Take Amethyst Geodes, for example. These wonders of nature are meant to be displayed so that their energy can encompass an entire room.

We mentioned earlier that you need to consider if a crystal thrives in sunlight or not and whether it can safely touch water. This will determine where you can display crystals openly. You might find that some can even rest outside and energize your garden!

Preparing Crystals for Storage

With so many ideas for how to store crystals, let’s step back to make sure that your crystals are ready to rest. Preparing your crystals and your storage will mean that whenever you need healing energy, it’s ready in your spiritual toolbox.

Cleansing

It’s always good practice to cleanse your crystals after any healing ritual. Crystals absorb so much energy – good and bad – and they need to be reset back to neutral.

They also need time to rest, which is why giving them a specially planned home within your home matters. 

Labeling

Labeling pertains more to the storage space than the crystal, but knowing how to store crystals includes knowing how to find them when you need them.

Consider ways to label and mark your containers for easy access – with beautiful labels or other creative marks. You can even explore phone apps to incorporate the gifts we can find in technology into maximizing the use and organization of your crystal collection.

Final Thoughts 

Now that you have ideas for how to store crystals, watch as your collection grows and grows! Remember that crystals hold different levels of living energy to cleanse your aura, balance your chakras, and protect your spirit.

Return the favor to your crystals with creative, durable, beautiful spaces where they can rest and recharge.