Clear quartz is the most abundant crystal in the world. While its named clear, many specimens aren’t completely transparent — crystals may be semi-translucent, cloudy, mostly white, or even slightly tinted with color. There is no commonly accepted “best” level of clarity — there’s beauty and energetic ability in all forms of this gemstone.
Clear quartz is a versatile healing stone known as the master healer. This gemstone helps you clear your spirit, body, and mind of clutter, and assists you in reaching your highest potential and achieving your goals. Manifestation — the process of making your intentions, or goals, come true — is greatly aided by possessing, and believing in, clear quartz crystals.
What Is Clear Quartz?
Quartz is a form of silicon dioxide. Silicon dioxide — also referred to as silica — is a natural compound composed of two of the most common elements: silicon (Si) and oxygen (O2).
The Colors of Quartz
Pure quartz is colorless, or white. Quartz with a variety of chemical impurities exist, so you’ll find quartz crystals in a variety of colors. For example, amethyst is type of quartz that has impurities of iron which gives it a distinctive purple color. Another example is rose quartz, which derives its pink color from trace amounts of titanium or manganese. Clear quartz is simply quartz that was formed without the presence of chemical impurities.
When people hear the word crystal, its clear quartz that is usually the type of crystal that comes to mind. Clear quartz just simply looks like what people envision a crystal to look like. Clear quartz is also one of the most abundant natural crystals, so even people with no particular interest in crystals have encountered it at some point in time. Clear quartz is also referred to as rock crystal, crystal quartz, the universal crystal, and the master healer.
The word quartz itself is derived from the German word quartz, which means hard. And quartz is indeed hard — it scores a 7 on the Mohs hardness scale (a mineral hardness rating system that defines mineral hardness in a range of 1 to 10).
Where Does Quartz Come From?
Quartz is silicon dioxide (SiO2), a chemical compound that consists of one part silicon (Si) and two parts oxygen (O2). Quartz makes up a large percentage of the Earth’s surface, and is abundant in all parts of the world. Quartz forms in a range of environments and temperatures, and is very resistant to chemical and mechanical weathering. It makes up large parts of mountaintops, and is the main component of desert, river, and beach sand.
While its abundance means there are plenty of mineable deposits throughout the world, there are only a few places that have enough high-quality quartz to make mining feasible. For gemstone grade quartz, Madagascar, Brazil, and the Mt. Ida mountain ranges of Arkansas are the main sources.
Quartz Crystal Shapes
Clear quartz crystals — and crystals in general — come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Tumbled stones, points, and freeform are the three primary forms sought by people interested in gemstones.
Quartz Tumbled Stones
Tumbled stones are the most common form of quartz crystals available. Small chunks of quartz are placed together in bulk in a machine that slowly and continuously bounces the pieces about such that eventually each small rock has a smooth, shiny, polished surface.
Tumbled stones are irregular in shape — there’s no best or correct shape. And each stone is typically small — small enough that you can fit a few of them in your hand. That makes them versatile in that they can be carried with you in a purse or pocket, or placed several together in a bowl in your home. Tumbled stones are the form most often placed on the body to align and correct chakras.
Because tumbled stones are small, and fairly common, they’re the most affordable form of clear quartz crystal — you can find nicely polished quartz crystals for less than ten dollars apiece at an online crystal shop like Exquisite Crystals.
Quartz Points
In the world of crystals, a facet is a flat surface, or face, the stone. Facets can occur naturally on a crystal if during its formation one surface grows much more slowly than others. Gemstones like quartz can also have facets cut into them to enhance their appearance, and to allow them to better reflect light.
When facets come together to form a physical tip at an end of a stone, the resulting configuration is referred to as a point. Like facets themselves, points can occur naturally or be cut. Whether naturally occurring or cut, the facets that form a point are usually polished to enhance the look of the quartz gemstone.
A point is at an end of a crystal, so it is an end, or termination, point on the crystal. A crystal with a point at one end is a single point, or single termination, crystal. A crystal with a point at two ends is a two point, or double termination, crystal.
Point crystals come in a variety of sizes, from small ten dollar gemstones up to quite large specimens that sell for a few to several hundred dollars per stone.
Quartz Freeform Crystals
Tumbled stones and points are crystals that are typically fairly small. Larger quartz rocks are usually sold as freeform gemstones. Large stones are generally irregular shaped rocks, which is where the name freeform comes from.
A large chunk of quartz is typically cut, or carved, to show off the natural beauty of the particular stone, and then the surfaces are highly polished. The result is always a unique, beautiful crystal that can be used as an ornamental or decorative piece. Because of their large size, freeform crystals aren’t carry-around items — they usually are cut with a flat base so they can be displayed on a desk or table.
Because of their large size freeform clear quartz crystals are much more expensive than their smaller cousins, the tumbled stones. A large freeform stone can sell for a few to several hundred dollars.
The Practical Uses of Quartz Crystals
The most interesting practical trait of quartz crystals is that they vibrate — or oscillate — at precise, known frequencies. The oscillation precision is so fine that quartz crystals are used time-keeping equipment and instruments that need to be extremely accurate. The most well-known example is the quartz watch.
A quartz watch has a battery that sends electricity to a very small quartz crystal. In response, the quartz oscillator vibrates at a frequency of precisely 32,768 times per second. An electronic circuit counts the vibrations, and when the counter reaches 32,768 the circuit knows one second has elapsed and then sends an electronic pulse to a tiny motor that moves the watch’s second hand one “tick.”
Today quartz crystals are in use as oscillators for literally billions of electronic meters, cell phones, computers, televisions, clocks, watches, electronic games, and radios.
The Metaphysical Uses of Quartz Crystals Throughout History
On a less practical note, quartz crystals have been used for centuries — and in some places thousands of years — for what many cultures believed to be their spiritual, healing, and even magical powers.
- Ancient Greeks believed that clear quartz crystals were a special type of frozen water that always remained in solid form. The modern day English word crystal, in fact, derives from the Ancient Greek word krystallos — which means frozen, or ice.
- Ancient Japanese believed clear quartz crystal formed from the breath of a white dragon and, believing it symbolized patience, purity, and peace, called it the perfect jewel.
- Australian Aboriginal people thought of clear quartz crystals as the mystical substance maban — objects from which the elders and shamans obtained their magical powers.
- Ancient Irish people carved clear quartz into spheres that they used in healing practices.
- Some South American cultures thought of clear quartz as vessels that held the spirits of deceased ancestors.
Clear Quartz Properties and Meaning
Clear quartz is referred to as the master healer crystal because when it comes to healing it’s one of the most powerful crystals. Because of this, clear quartz is a crystal that every spiritually-inclined person will want to own.
Clear Quartz as an Amplifier
One key property, or attribute, of clear quartz is that it is considered an excellent amplifier. To amplify is to make something greater, or larger — to increase the importance of intensity of something. Just what does clear quartz amplify? Energy, in its many forms. Clear quartz amplifies the energy of anything around it.
Clear quartz can amplify the fruition of your intentions. Intentions are the specific healing goals, or needs, that you hope your crystals will help you attain, or achieve. When you hold a crystal you should give thought to an intention and let the crystal convey its energies to help achieve, or accomplish, that intention — whether that intention involves acquiring more peace, love, abundance, or any other need. Thoughts are a form of energy, so clear quartz can amplify, or enhance, your thoughts.
This amplification of thoughts can also stimulate clearer thinking, thereby aiding in concentration, communication, and the unlocking of memories.
Keeping a quartz crystal by your other crystals — regardless of their type — amplifies the properties, or energy, of those other stones.
Clear Quartz Metaphysical and Spiritual Properties
Metaphysics refers to the principles of reality that transcend those of any one science. Spirituality, faith, and healing energies are examples of metaphysics. All gemstones have some such attributes, but when it comes to the metaphysical, for many people clear quartz is the “go-to” gemstone.
All the colors of the rainbow lie hidden within seemingly clear, colorless sunlight — just place a prism in the path of sunlight to reveal that magic. In the same way, clear quartz carries within it the complete spectrum of light. A clear quartz gemstone hides its power and energy, but it is all right there for your use. One of the clear quartz crystal benefits is its ability to transmit energy and convert energy from one form to another. This energy gives clear quartz numerous spiritually-related properties.
Clear quartz can amplify your psychic abilities and enhance communication with higher realms and your spirit guides. Carrying, wearing, or being in the same area with clear quartz will open your mind and make it more receptive to all elements and forces of the spirit world.
Spiritual pursuits such as spiritual healing, energy work, shamanic journeys, meditation, and channeling higher wisdom and knowledge are all enhanced and improved when clear quartz is included.
Clear Quartz and the Crown Chakra
Chakra — a Sanskrit word meaning wheel or disk — refers to the seven main energy centers located throughout each of our bodies. Clear quartz effectively balances and cleanses your chakras, and it’s especially adapt at stimulating the crown, or sahasrāra, chakra.
Known as the bridge to the cosmos, the crown chakra is the most spiritual of all the chakras. Positioned at the crown of your head, the sahasrāra chakra is your center of wisdom, enlightenment, and spirit. The crown chakra is so important to your spiritual life because it is responsible for communicating and interacting with the universe, your higher self, and the divine. The cleansing properties of clear quartz means when it comes to spirituality, this gemstone isn’t fooling around!
Clear Quartz Physical Healing Properties
You’ve just read that clear quartz is a must-have gemstone for spiritual work, but you should know that this master healer gemstone provides a wide variety of physical health benefits as well. This energy amplifier invigorates all aspects of the body so it can be used as an aid for just about any physical condition.
- Stimulates the immune system and rids the body of toxins
- Helps with digestive problems and alleviates nausea
- Can hasten weight loss by kick-starting the metabolism and stimulating the thyroid
- Improves balance and hearing and minimizes tinnitus and ear infections
- Thought to help with blood sugar levels, anemia, and diabetes
- Reduces pain and discomfort from fibromyalgia, arthritis, and chronic fatigue
Clear Quartz Mental and Emotional Healing Properties
Is it the clarity of a clear quartz crystal that promotes clarity of thought? Probably not, as even the whiter varieties of clear quartz are well-known for boosting clear thinking and clarifying thought processes and emotions.
Clear quartz aids in concentration, decreases mental chatter, focuses attention, and helps you absorb and retain information more efficiently. If you’re a student, or need to study or do research for work, keeping a clear quartz crystal by, or on, you is a must. The clarity of thought it brings can also increase creativity and inspiration.
The clarity of clear quartz aids in your mental well-being, but it also helps you emotionally. The gemstone is beautifully harmonizing and will keep the mind balanced. It promotes the recall of forgotten memories, illuminating thoughts and feelings we normally keep hidden from ourselves. In this respect clear quartz can be a great assistant in your personal development and self-help work.
How to Use Clear Quartz
Like any crystal, clear quartz can be used to manifest an intention — to bring to reality a goal, or need, of yours. Some of the intentions that clear quartz is best associated with include mental clarity, health and wellness, luck, and positive energy.
To get the most benefit from your clear quartz gemstone — or from any other type of crystal — you’ll want to program it. Programming a crystal simply means to focus its energies on an intention — on a specific goal, need, or desire in order to better bring about the manifestation of that intention. In short, programming a crystal makes it more likely that the crystal will help you reach a goal.
To program your clear quartz crystal hold it in either hand and then visualize a soft white light emitting from your crown and traveling to your hand, and into the crystal. While doing this, mentally state your intention. You don’t have to verbalize this information — thinking clearly about your desire, need, or goal suffices. The crystal’s vibrations will amplify your intention, sending it out into the universe.
Simply being around a crystal, or carrying it with you, is enough to reap the benefits of that particular crystal. But occasionally programming it will magnify those benefits.
Meditating With Clear Quartz
Meditation gives a person the opportunity to destress, quiet their thoughts, and look inward. Meditation requires very little time and is easy to do, so it’s a self-nurturing and self-help technique available to anyone. Many people who meditate believe that adding a clear quartz crystal to their routine makes it more effective by amplifying their inner voice.
Clear quartz improves awareness and reduces stress, so when it comes to meditation this gemstone is a natural. It can clear distractions and open the crown chakra to receiving information from your higher self, angels, and guides.
There are countless ways to meditate, and there are countless ways to incorporate clear quartz into your meditation routine. A simple yet effective technique is to hold a crystal in one hand during part or all of your meditation session. Physically holding the crystal — as opposed to just having it present — allows you to form a tangible connection with the gemstone. You can allow your consciousness to merge with the quartz stone, and the energies and vibrations of the crystal will amplify your connections to the universe.
Where to Place Clear Quartz
Feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of purifying the energy in a living space. Energy forces are used to harmonize a person with their surrounding environment. A crystal like clear quartz is all about energy, and amplifying energy, so the use of this gemstone pairs perfectly with the practice of feng shui.
Clear quartz is an all-purpose crystal with great flexibility, so placing it anywhere within any room in your house or apartment will bring about an increase in positive energy.
Place a quartz crystal on any windowsill to let it bathe in the light of the sun or moon, and to have it disperse a prism of light energy throughout a room. This allows warm, healing energies to flow about the room, surrounding you and any other occupants of the room.
One of the healing properties of clear quartz is its power to help decipher hidden messages within dreams. Placing clear quartz under your pillow, under your mattress, under your bed, or on an end table next to your bed will serve to amplify your dreams and help you make sense of them when you wake.
Your bathroom is a place of cleansing. Clear quartz is known as a cleansing stone, so keeping a crystal in your bathroom makes perfect sense. Place a clear quartz crystal on edge of the bathtub or on the sink counter to purify your spirit as you cleanse your body.
The use of clear quartz isn’t limited to placing the gemstone in your home — carrying a tumbled stone or two on your person — whether at home or away — can be very beneficial. Keep a small tumbled stone in your pocket or purse so that it’s always by you — you’ll find that you’ll establish a strong connection with your gemstone and its positive energy will be transferred to you throughout the day.
Cleaning Clear Quartz Crystals
Cleansing your clear quartz crystal provides it with an energy reset that keeps the gemstone fully functioning on your behalf, helping you to manifest your intentions.
Why Cleanse Your Clear Quartz Crystal
Crystals absorb and give off energy, and they can also be cleared, or cleansed, of the energies they hold.
From its place of origin to the place of sale and eventually to your home, your crystal has made a long distance journey that had it pass through many human hands and many geographic locations. Each step of the way the stone has been exposed to energies that may not have been in alignment with the positive energies that are best for you. When you initially get your clear quartz stone you’ll want to cleanse it so that it’s a clean slate, ready to do its work on your behalf.
A crystal retains energy from not only you, but also from other people and even the environment it resides in. So it’s important to occasionally cleanse, or clear, your crystal’s energy to prepare it for you particular intentions.
A crystal can act as a sort of energy filter, unbeneficial or absorbing negative energy from around you and transforming it into a more useful or positive energy. Cleansing your quartz flushes out any negative energy, keeping the crystal primed to act at full effectiveness.
How to Cleanse Your Clear Quartz Crystal
There are several methods available to clean your quartz stone. They all work, and they’re all very easy to perform.
- Cleanse with salt water Cleaning with salt water is a method preferred by many people. Getting water directly from the ocean is ideal, but for most people not practical. Using plain tap water with some sea salt (or other cooking salt) dissolved in it is also effective. Just drop your quartz into a bowl of the saltwater, let it soak for a couple minutes or longer, and then rinse with clean, unsalted water. Note that water or salt should not be used on soft, porous, or brittle gemstones such as hematite, pyrite, or opal. Clear quartz is none of those things, so you can feel free to immerse your quartz crystals in plain water or salt water.
- Cleanse with natural running water In addition to saltwater, your clear quartz crystal can be cleansed with natural running water such as that from a stream or from a recent rainfall. Collect a little natural water in a container and soak your crystal in it for a few minutes or longer. You can even place your quartz outside when it’s raining and let the fresh rainwater hit and splash the stone.
- Expose to sunlight The full spectrum light of the sun is a balancing energy that will clear out stored, existing energy held within your clear quartz gem. Simply place your quartz anywhere that it can get full, consistent sunlight for an hour or longer — such as a porch rail or a windowsill.
- Expose to moonlight Light from the moon is as an effective cleanser as light from the sun. Set your quartz outside and let it sit under the moonlight for an evening. The bright light of a full moon is best, but any level of moonlight will work. This crystal cleansing ritual has actually been used for centuries by many crystal-appreciating cultures.
- Smudging with sage Smudging is the act of burning herbs or resins as a ritual or ceremony to purify or cleanse the negativity of a person or place — its a thousands of years old tradition used by many cultures, including many Indigenous Peoples of North America. Smudging can be used to cleanse the energies of crystals. A smudge stick — a small bundle of an herb such as sage, artemisia, or palo santo — can be burned in fire-resistant container, and the resulting smoke can be fanned around a clear quartz crystal for as little as 30 seconds to cleanse the stone.
There are no hard and fast rules as to how often a crystal should be cleansed. If you carry or wear a clear quartz crystal on a daily basis, you might want to wash the stone once a week. Crystals that are positioned in your living space for positive energy might be cleansed only once a month. In other words, the more “work” you have a crystal perform, the more often you’ll consider cleansing it.